Explorers

Summary

“We come in peace.”

Last year I had the unique opportunity to interview the great director Joe Dante. It was 2020, the coronavirus was raging, and people were for the most part locked up in their homes (unless they were essential workers.) I remain incredibly grateful that Joe would dedicate the couple hours of time he gave to our tiny site for the interview. At the time of our interview, a few films of Joe’s remained unreleased on Blu-ray stateside inexplicably. One of them was Small Soldiers and another was Explorers. It was bizarre that these two films that are well loved by the director would remain off the HD format for so long, but thankfully both have been released in the last year. In the case of Explorers, Shout! Factory has released the film in a two disc Collector’s Edition which contains both the Theatrical and Home Video cuts of the film. The release also comes with an excellent hour long documentary featuring interviews with Joe Dante, Ethan Hawke, the screenwriter, and more. On top of that, Paramount also allowed Joe and Shout! Factory include numerous deleted scenes that Joe had discovered on a Betamax tape in his belongings. This is the first opportunity for fans of the film and fans of Joe to get a better idea of what the project may have turned into if it had been given a bit more time to be properly finished. It made me happy to see this film get the deluxe treatment from Shout! Factory.

In 1984, Joe Dante had a huge hit in the theaters with the release of Gremlins. Hollywood took notice and he began to receive offers for numerous other opportunities. As Joe discussed in our interview, the experience of Gremlins had been great but somewhat exhausting and he was hoping to make a smaller film for his next picture. Paramount offered him the film Explorers which was originally a picture slated for Wolfgang Peterson to direct. The biggest issue that the film faced was an incomplete third act. Based on the assurances of the studio, Joe proceeded with the project. Unfortunately – while Joe was working on the film, the studio changed hands. The result of this was that the film was rushed out and never completed in the way that Joe had hoped. The film was a commercial failure at the box office, hampered by both Live Aid and the release of Back to the Future. The film was mostly criticized for the weakness of the third act. The film still managed to be seen by thousands of children over the years due to cable television and VHS rentals. I rewatched the film with my oldest son on this Saturday morning.

Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke) is a teenager living in the suburbs. When he has a dream one night of an elaborate circuit board, he draws it when he awakens. He shares the drawing with his friend Wolfgang (River Phoenix.) Wolfgang is a precocious science whiz who lives in a family full of scientists. At school, Ben and Wolfgang are bullied by a jerk named Steve Anderson. When Ben is attacked by Steve after school, an outcast boy named Darren (Jason Presson) steps in to help him. The three boys develop a friendship. Wolfgang plugs in the ideas from Ben’s drawing into his Apple II. To their surprise, the design causes a sphere of energy to appear that they can control using the computer. It is not long before the children realize that they can use this technology to cause flight without experiencing inertia. This makes it capable for the boys to create their own space ship out of an old tilt-a-whirl. 

This film comes close to becoming something very special. The direction by Joe Dante is excellent; the score by Jerry Goldsmith is perfectly suited to the material – some of his best work; the cinematography by John Hora is fantastic; the young leads are all well cast and very good in their roles. Unfortunately – the film’s third act basically unravels. Once the boys meet the aliens, the film does not resolve what they should do with them. The character played by Dick Miller never returns so the intentions of that character are never known. The film basically just ends. That said, the film is better upon second or third viewings. My son was happy with the film which shows that it has stood the test of time pretty well. There is so much to like about the film, that it almost overcomes the shortcomings of the final act.

This Shout! Factory release is an important one for the film because it is the first opportunity given to the public to see some of the footage that Joe had shot that was not included in the theatrical or home video releases. There are additional sequences with the family members that give extra dimension to those characters. There is a sequence where Dick Miller’s character returns for the final act and explains that he also had similar dreams. All of this footage lends towards a better understanding that if Joe and his team had been given the time to “find the film in the editing room,” the film may have become the E.T. style blockbuster that they had hoped. In recent years we have been lucky enough to see the Snyder cut of Justice League, Ridley Scott’s Final Cut of Blade Runner, Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Godfather III  have been given new cuts, so maybe one day it is not out of the realm of possibility that we get a finished version of Explorers? Probably not, but for right now, this disc goes the furthest that any release has gone to show the film’s potential.

Video

Shout! Factory presents Explorers in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 utilizing an MPEG-4 AVC codec. One of the selling points of this release is that both the theatrical cut and home video cut have been presented here. I looked at both presentations and the home video cut looks slightly healthier, whereas the theatrical cut does have some specking. Regardless, both transfers look good overall and should please fans of the film that have waited over fifteen years for the film to come to the Blu-ray format. I appreciate that Shout! went the extra mile to gain rights to the theatrical version which has not been on home video in years. 

Audio

Explorers features a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track that sounds great. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is one of Goldsmith’s best creations. The music for the film is full of wonder and joy and makes the film better than it could have been in the hands of another. The music comes across the sound field well and is presented clearly. The numerous action scenes benefit from the surrounds. Clarity is very good. This is an excellent track.

Supplements:

DISC ONE: Home Video Cut

• A Science Fiction Fairy Tale: The Story of Explorers – This excellent hour long documentary features new interviews with director Joe Dante, David Kirkpatrick (Senior Executive in Charge of Production at Paramount), screenwriter Eric Luke, Darlene Chan (Junior Executive in Charge of Production at Paramount), and actor Ethan Hawke. Fan of the film, and writer of Ready Player One, Ernest Cline also shares his thoughts on the film which is one of his favorites. Kirkpatrick and Luke are interviewed on Zoom. The rest of the interviews were conducted in-person. This is a really fantastic piece that goes a long way towards telling the story of Explorers’ expedited schedule and disastrous release during Live Aid. Ethan Hawke shares some great stories about working with River including one about how his pride was hurt when he went out for a role in Stand by Me and lost the role to his friend. I felt sympathy for Ethan that he for years had felt like the film had not performed well because of his performance. That obviously was not the case. It was nice to hear the studio’s side of the story as well. Fans of the film need to watch this piece. 
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Joe Dante  – This is one of the selling points of this Collector’s Edition for fans of the film that have been curious for years what some of the additional footage was that had been excised from the film. Joe Dante located Betamax tapes from a workprint of Explorers inside of his garage, and Shout! Factory managed to get the rights to show them. I highly recommend watching these scenes with the commentary by Joe so that you can get a better idea of what the film he wanted to make would have been.
• Interview with Cinematographer John Hora – the late great cinematographer John Hora very briefly discusses working on Explorers.
• Interview with Editor Tina Hirsch – Hirsch gives a quick but informative interview where she discusses working with Joe on editing the film and the performances by Dick Miller and Robert Picardo.
• Theatrical Trailer

DISC TWO: Theatrical Cut (three minutes longer)

Overall Scores:

Video: 4/5

Audio: 4.5/5

Supplements: 5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Explorers is a compromised film. The studio hampered the intent of the project and what is left behind is just a shell of what the final product could have been. It is my belief that if Joe Dante had been given the opportunity to finish Explorers properly, it could have been another huge success. The performances and casting in the film are excellent. The film gave the world Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in their first roles. The problem remains that the final act of the film fizzles out due to underdevelopment. It is a shame because the first two thirds of the film are incredibly charming and inventive. The good news about Explorers is that there is still a lot to enjoy about the first two thirds of the film and it still managed to engage the imaginations of an entire generation of young kids on VHS and cable. The good news about the Shout! Factory release is that it contains two cuts of the film and some incredible supplements. I have wanted to see what they had in mind for Dick Miller’s character for years because the character’s arc just stops in the original cuts of the film. As Joe hinted in our interview, he was meant to come back! Now you can see that sequence along with others from a Betamax that Joe located in his garage. He performs a commentary over the newly located deleted scenes. These deleted scenes are not the only joyous supplement. The retrospective documentary A Science Fiction Fairy Tale included on the disc is fantastic and engaging. While the film will always feel a little undercooked, this is an incredible way to experience the film and understand the challenges that it faced. Kudos to Shout! Factory for putting together this excellent package.