In 1985 a movie came out called EXPLORERS. (IMDB) It had “Ethan Hawke, in his film debut, Jason Presson and River Phoenix who play grade school kids who, in different ways, are outsiders and not well-liked at their school. Their home lives are equally complicated, with parents who are either affectionate, odd or irresponsible. When their shared, recurring dreams of an alien circuit board (which resembles the Flux Capasiter from “Back to the Future”) become increasingly vivid, they decide to build the thing. What begins as the discovery of a new, powerful, spherical force field leads to the inspiration to build their own spaceship.
The early scenes evoke a true sense of awe and Spielbergian feel of urban restlessness. This is about growing up in the suburbs, longing for adventure and an acknowledgement of the great possibilities that are outside of your neighborhood. As the poster tagline put it so perfectly, “An Adventure That Begins in Your Own Backyard!” The three leads give winning, natural turns, with Phoenix particularly amusing as a kid even nerdier than Matthew Broderick in “War Games, but rather than come across as obnoxious, they’re intelligent and resourceful.
Kurt identified with the River Phoenix character: child prodigy WOLFGANG, while he saw his friend Mark as the Ben Crandall character. I should note that the little aeronaut in the header is also the way he saw himself as a child.
To whit:(from Wiki)
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). Every night, upon waking from the dream, he draws the circuit board. Ben shows the sketches to his friend, child prodigy Wolfgang Muller.
Both boys meet punkish-but-likable Darren Woods, with whom they share their circuit-board concepts. Wolfgang builds an actual microchip based on Ben’s drawings. The chip enables the generation of an electromagnetic bubble which surrounds a pre-determined area. As the boys discover, the bubble is capable of moving at near-limitless distances and speeds without the usual ill effects from inertia. They construct a rudimentary spacecraft out of an abandoned Tilt-A-Whirl car; they name their ship the Thunder Road, after Bruce Springsteen‘s song of the same name.
After Ben receives more dreams about the circuit board, Wolfgang discovers a means of producing unlimited sustainable oxygen; this means longer flights, whereas previously they were limited to whatever a typical oxygen tank could hold. They finalize their plan to explore the galaxy in search of alien life. The boys complete lift-off, despite interference from the authorities (one of whom silently wishes them well). Shortly after breaking Earth’s orbit, something overrides the boys’ personal computer-controls. The Thunder Road is beamed light years away into deep space and is tractor-beamed aboard a much larger spaceship…. Etc.