[6] Ben Crandall is a young teenage boy living in a fictional Maryland suburb, who experiences vivid dreams about flying through clouds and over a vast, city-like circuit board, usually after falling asleep watching old sci-fi films (The War of the Worlds is a favorite).

Upon waking from the dream, he draws a diagram of the circuit board and shows the sketches to his friend, child prodigy Wolfgang Muller.

The boys venture out to meet their "captors", Wak and Neek: two aliens whose knowledge of Earth comes almost entirely from pop culture, particularly television reruns.

It is revealed that Wak and Neek are brother and sister and the gigantic creature is their father; they have taken his ship out for a "joy ride", sending the dreams to the boys in the hopes of meeting humans.

Transmissions of old movies have kept the extraterrestrial populace at a distance – except for the curious Wak and Neek – due to the way humans depict violence toward alien life.

The boys make it safely back to Earth, but a malfunction results in them crashing the Thunder Road into their neighborhood lake.

A rumor persists that the script for Explorers had been circulating Hollywood offices for years before it was made, and that it was bought by the studio because a scene of "children flying through the sky on bicycles" appealed to Steven Spielberg for his film E.T.

[7] The film was originally to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen having initially impressed Paramount executives with his family-targeted The NeverEnding Story.

The studio decided to settle in the States with an American director and Petersen was not long after commissioned by 20th Century Fox to take over the production of Enemy Mine.

"The funny thing about it is that when I was first given the script, I was coming off Gremlins and in a rare point in my career I was like 'hey, let's get this guy,'" said Dante during a Q&A and screening of the film in 2008.

"'[5] During the dreams when the children fly over the circuit board, some of the camera angles and moves are meant to mimic the flight to Neverland from Peter Pan.

Dante and his editing team submitted a rough cut by the late spring of 1985, but Paramount wanted to take advantage of the busy summer market.

"They said "just stop editing the picture, we're gonna put it out, and we got a perfect date for it and we know it'll make a lot of money," said Dante.

[10] In the drive-in scene of the young couple, the boy who calls the special effects "fake" is supposed to be Ben's brother.

[4] When the Los Angeles Times compared the film with other commercial failures that summer, a Paramount executive responded, "here was a wonderful piece of material.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said, "Explorers" itself is bubble-thin, but it glides by gracefully on the charm of its three young heroes and their vividly envisioned adventure in space.

The site's consensus states: "With a terrific young cast (including Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix) and some typically energetic work from director Joe Dante, Explorers soars past its '80s kiddie flick competitors with wit, good-looking effects, and tons of charm.

Some of the home video releases would be slightly recut to remove two scenes, where Wolfgang has an encounter with Steve Jackson and his gang of bullies and a brief bit where the boys chase the Tilt-a-Whirl ride after they push it up a hill.

[18] Originally before the end credits, in the theatrical cut, the alien Wak "broke the fourth wall" and remarked on people who were still in the theater from the smell of popcorn.

An album was released on MCA featuring selections from his score plus three songs (including "All Around the World" as performed by Robert Palmer; the Little Richard version is heard in the film).

According to The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, Paramount was developing a remake of Explorers through their now defunct low-budget label Insurge Pictures written by Geoff Moore and Dave Posamentier and produced by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.