the comparison makes Arthur and Curt seem more childlike and sweet rather than the reverse.the comparison makes Arthur and Curt seem more childlike and sweet rather than the reverse.

Exactly! When you first were pondering the connection of those images I imagined Todd remembering the astonishment (unconsciously perhaps, if that's not too old hat) from seeing MP in childhood, and then dreaming up the spaceship as something that would astonish our guys.