EXPLORERS (1985)
EXPLORERS and What It Means to This Film Nerd-Turned-Film Writer
On July 12, 1985, Joe Dante’s magical movie, EXPLORERS, hit theaters. Unfortunately, the timing of this release just wasn’t right for this lovable and soon-to-be cult film. The epic Live Aid concert aired that weekend and masses of people stayed home glued to their televisions, watching their favorite musicians perform in a global effort to raise money for starving people in Ethiopia. In addition to this attraction, the already successful BACK TO THE FUTURE, a movie released nine days earlier, was already the main summer attraction at the cinema. At the time, all of these fun and interesting factoids probably mattered very little to the diminutive and very nerdy Mark Saldana, who had just turned 12 years old back in May.
I loved movies and rock music, but I was also a bit of a bookworm and was probably still obsessed with all things STAR WARS. I rarely went to the movies during the early and mid 1980s. Though my parents and two older sisters would occasionally take me to a theater, it was my parents’ thinking that, because we had cable television with two premium channels (HBO and Showtime), there was little need to go. We already had the access we needed to movies. And while I didn’t completely agree with this line of thinking, I accepted it and watched movies at home, read my books, and played with my Star Wars and Transformers toys.
As I started to outgrow the toys, I began watching way more movies and combined that experience with my book reading and my expanding tastes in music. I cannot honestly remember the exact time I first watched EXPLORERS, but I do know that it was at least a year or two after its dismal theatrical release. I had to have been 13 or 14 when I first saw it, but the minute I started watching, I was completely absorbed, captivated, moved, and thoroughly entertained. There was so much to like about this wonderful fantasy about young teens building a spacecraft and following their dreams of magical space exploration. I would spend most of my summers at home whenever I didn’t attend Boy Scout summer camp. I remember that one particular summer I watched EXPLORERS over and over again. I simply could not get enough of this wonderful movie.
Now comes the time where I should probably give a synopsis of this movie for those who have yet to watch it. EXPLORERS is the tale of three misfit kids, each with special and endearing qualities, but unhappy that they just can’t seem to fit in with the “normal” kids at school. Ethan Hawke (in his first role) stars as Ben Crandall, a young man obsessed with both science fiction books and movies. He dreams of one day becoming an astronaut, so that he can explore space like the heroes in his fantasy stories. This, at the time, seems unlikely as Ben struggles with school—he just can’t seem to focus on his work with his head always in the clouds.
Ben’s best friend, Wolfgang, makes (or at least, should make) very good grades at school, as he has the scientific aptitude for computers and technology. River Phoenix also makes his movie debut as the bespectacled, nerdy Wolfgang whose love for science, along with his social awkwardness, makes him an easy target for ridicule and torture from bullies and other classmates. This matters very little to the young scientist, as he spends most of his time working on various experiments at home. His latest project involves a dream Ben has been having where he envisions some unusual kind of circuit board. Based on Ben’s crude sketch of the board, Wolfgang creates the board and runs it on his computer. He shows his amazing discovery to both Ben and new friend Darren, another misfit who recently saved Ben from a nasty beating by the school’s main bully.
Darren is portrayed by Jason Presson, a young and talented actor who continued acting after this movie, but not at the same level as either Phoenix or Hawke. Darren’s personal obsession is with anything mechanical. He loves working on his mini-motorcycle and cars, and definitely has a knack for it.
What makes him a misfit is that his parents are very poor and often struggle to maintain employment. Darren carries this shame with him and makes him more antisocial and withdrawn from the “in-crowd”. When alpha-bully Steve Jackson starts attacking Ben, Darren intervenes. Now Darren and Ben share a bond and later meet up with Wolfgang to witness the breakthrough on his latest experiment.
As it turns out, the experiment is a success and leads to some exciting results. To make a long story short, the end result of this experiment is a space ship, on which Ben, Wolfgang, and Darren collaborate, each bringing their own specialties of imagination, science, technology, and mechanical know-how. After a rough, but exciting test flight, the Explorers are ready to venture into space and travel where no kid has ever traveled before.
What makes this movie so special, and so relatable, is the fact that three teenage misfit underdogs dare to dream and make their dream come true. Written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante, EXPLORERS is the ultimate fantasy for die hard science fiction nerds. As we read these wild and magical stories and witnessed similar types of stories play out either the big screen or television screen, we often dreamed and fantasized of experiencing these adventures first hand. At one time in my youth, I wanted to become an astronaut and explore space. Never mind that my math aptitude wasn’t great, and I had (and still have) bad eyesight, it was the fantasy of little nerdy Mark Saldana to explore space, much like the characters in my favorite sci-fi stories. One of the things that makes EXPLORERS so dear to me is that these misfit kids manage to do it despite all of the odds against them.
Filmmakers Eric Luke and Joe Dante have obviously made this movie as a love letter to science fiction and all of the nerdy, misfit dreamers who loved these types of stories and fantasized about living in these magical worlds. It is my guess that both Eric Luke and Joe Dante were misfits in school too and were probably science and/or science fiction fanatics as well.
This is most evident in Ben Crandall’s adoration of sci-fi books and comics, plus the movies which he watches religiously on TV. Ben is infatuated with THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, both of which debuted in 1953. EXPLORERS would be my first introduction to these remarkable science fiction titles and would further fuel my growing love and admiration for genre cinema.
As I experienced the joy, imagination and wonderment that EXPLORERS offers during the first viewing and all subsequent viewings afterward, I was always moved and captivated by this wonderful fantasy with relatable characters at its core. Just prior to writing this piece, I revisited this regular staple from my childhood for the first time in a few years.
This movie still holds up to this day. While the effects and certain elements are certainly dated, the pure heart and soul of the movie still resonates for me. And now that I have much more experience with various kinds of science fiction films, and can appreciate a more complete take of the movie, I still feel the same heights of excitement and joy that I did when I was a kid.
I now have a greater appreciation of the gorgeous visuals, the effects, the make-up and costumes, and especially the amazing, otherworldly score by Jerry Goldsmith. All of these key aesthetic elements enhance the overall experience. I also now have a better awareness and regard for Dante’s casting of actor Dick Miller in this movie and why he cast the beloved character actor in just about all of his films.
I chose this movie for Added To Watchlist because it is one of those key films from my childhood that I clung onto for love, support, and motivation. It helped me feel good about being a nerdy misfit and allowed me to remain true to what I loved and appreciated in life. If EXPLORERS is a love letter to science fiction and the misfits who love the genre, then this is my personal love letter to the movie EXPLORERS. Though not as widely popular as E.T. or BACK TO THE FUTURE, this is a film that deserves as much love as those movies receive.
