When people talk about having a second childhood, I don’t think this is exactly what they mean, but before long, everything I obsessed over as a child is going to be back in full effect. We’re already neck deep in Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises, The A-Team has come around again, Knight Rider is on the way, and Red Dawn and RoboCop both made me sad. Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, but we’re about add one more to this list, because Joe Dante’s 1985 sci-fi classic Explorers.

Directed by Joe Dante of Gremlins and The Howling fame—also key pieces of my youth—Explorers was a flop in the theaters, but grew to bona-fide cult status once it hit home video. The third act is a strange mess, largely because they kind of made it up as they went, due to money issues. The film tells the story of three young friends—played by River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke, both making their big screen debuts, and Jason Presson, who no one has heard from since—who take an old Tilt-A-Whirl and turn it into a fully functional spaceship in their back yard. And their craft is named Thunder Road, which is pretty badass.

If you were a burgeoning young science fiction fan in the early 1980s, it’s reasonable to imagine that you have fond memories of 1985’s Explorers. You remember, it’s the one where a bunch of kids build a spacecraft out of an old Tilt-A-Whirl, the ride featured at every county fair that spins you around until you spew vomit. When you work at a carnival that must be the assignment you get when you’re new or really piss someone off. A new piece of fan art pays tribute to this under appreciated genre gem.

Steven Spielberg’s classic film E.T. hit Blu-ray this week, so I got to thinking about something that’s one of my favorite things to do: a double-feature. Sure, sometimes the schedule is so hectic that you’re luck to be able to sit through one movie, much less two. But there’s just something enormously satisfying about the double feature, especially if you’ve put some thought into picking the perfect pair of films, whether they’re united by genre, theme, creative talent, or even some obscure joke only you and your friends understand.

I’m betting some of you will be picking up E.T. on Blu-ray and watching it for the first time in a while, or maybe ever showing it to your kids for the first time ever. Because GFR is a full-service kind of place, I’ve sifted through the heaps of cinematic history and pulled out eight family friendly science fiction movies that will pair quite nicely with E.T.. We hope the results will be something to phone home about (ahem).