Explorers: Definitive Cut

[kidjupiter92]

EXPLORERS: DEFINITIVE CUT

Project Info

Explorers: Definitive Cut is a personal project that has been dwelling within my heart for many years. I first fell in love with Explorers as a young boy, introduced to it by my father via VHS in the end 90s'. It quickly became one of my favorite movies as a kid and stuck with me throughout the years. After that VHS were tossed away thanks to the rise of DVD, the 2004 Paramount Widescreen Collection DVD came into my life before being replaced by the Warner Archive Collection DVD almost a decade later. I would hold onto that Warner Archive DVD like a great treasure until this year when Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the rights to release the film on blu-ray.

I was more than excited when I realized that this would be the first time Explorers would be available in HD in the US. I grew even more excited when I found out that the Theatrical Cut, which I had never seen due to Joe Dante creating a shorter cut for home video, was going to be included in the new release. I preordered the blu-ray a month in advance, and couldn't wait to get it. It was Christmas in May when the blu-ray came to me a week before street release. I watched both cuts back-to-back that day, and it reaffirmed why I love the film so much. It would be a month later when I would complete this Definitive Cut, after going back and forth between either or not I really needed to do this. 

I sat on this cut for months, enjoying it for myself before realizing that maybe there were people like me who wanted a complete experience of the film and not have to choose between either cut. And that is why I am sharing this cut with you all now. Please enjoy.

Video: The Classroom Daydream Sequence from the end of the Home Video Cut has been seamlessly reintegrated into the Theatrical Cut to present a more complete version. Explorers: Definitive Cut clocks in at 110 minutes, making it 1 minute longer than the Theatrical Cut and 4 minutes longer than the Home Video Cut. Additional color grading was done to give this cut an HDR look and feel. Both cuts were sourced from the Shout! Factory Shout Select blu-ray release.

Audio:
LPCM: English 5.1 (Sourced from the DTS HD-MA 5.1 audio from both cuts)
LPCM: English 2.0 (Mixed down from the 5.1 track)
Dolby Digital+: English 5.1 (Converted from the LPCM 5.1 track)
Dolby Digital+: English 2.0 (Mixed down from the DD+ 5.1 track)

Screencaps:

Status: Complete. PM for download.

[SilverWook]

Saw it twice in theaters, once on a double bill with The Goonies.  Was the one of the first movies I ever owned on Laserdisc. Nearly wore out the soundtrack cassette. (One of Jerry Goldsmith's most underrated scores.) The Japanese LD was supposedly the theatrical cut, but that pressing has always eluded me.

Now if we could just get a Wak action figure!

[deleted user]

One of my least favorite Dante/Goldsmith movies but I still like it. How could you not like a Dante/Goldsmith movie. I had no idea there was a different cut, although I knew that allegedly he was never able to finish the movie properly (perhaps why I don't like it as much as his others).