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This issue was originally published in April, 2002.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension: The Full Story Declassified At Last!
By Sean Murphy
Only one official release of W.D. Richter’s docudrama The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) has been available on VHS, Betamax, and laserdisc since 1985. The Banzai Institute has long wished to oversee the production of a special edition of the film, but legal issues surrounding the rights did not permit this to occur. The only available access to the full story was a letterboxed, bootlegged, 14th generation workprint videotape containing extra footage, which spread throughout fandom from the epicenter of a certain table at certain science fiction convention.
Everything changed when MGM stepped into the picture. Legal issues were resolved and a standard, movie-only DVD release of the film was planned. When this information hit the web, fan response was immediate. The Powers That Be were obviously listening, because a Special Edition DVD of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension was released in January. To achieve this end, the Banzai Institute —with customary largesse—opened their archives to fill the DVD with 14 previously cut scenes (including two not eve found in “the convention tape”) and newly declassified extras. The film’s director, W.D. Richter and Banzai Institute Historian Reno Nevada discussed the new DVD with VIDEO WATCHDOG after recording an audio commentary for the disc.
“I’m very happy to be back at the Institute,” said Richter, “especially so given the circumstances. The new transfer of the film looks astounding and I’m very happy with everything that the Banzai Institute has dug up and declassified for inclusion on the DVD.”
“Buckaroo’s exact quote,” according to Reno, “was ‘I hope the supplemental material will be abundant.’ I’ve made sure that MGM had access to all of the relevant information that’s available. They’ve done a wonderful job with it.”
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension stars Peter Weller as Dr. Banzai—as Dr. Banzai-world-famous scientist, philosopher, philanthropist, rock star, comic book protagonist ("I am not a superhero," he humbly insists), and extra-dimensional adventurer who ventures beyond the unsuccessful experiment that claimed the lives of his parents by traveling through solid matter with the aid of his Oscillation Overthruster-powered Jet Car, which propels him through the solid mass of a mountain and into the Eighth Dimension. The alien Red Lectroids, who are unhappily trapped on Earth, notice this amazing feat. Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), a human who became possessed by Red Lectroid leader John Whorfin while experimenting with his own Eighth Dimension vehicle in the 1930s, leads the Red Lectroids along with right-hand alien John Bigboote (Christopher Lloyd). The Red Lectroids want Buckaroo's Oscillation Overthruster so they can enable their own ship to return them to their homeworld, Planet 10.
Not everyone, however, wants the Red Lectroids back on Planet 10. The Black Lectroids, represented by John Emdall (Rosalind Cash) and John Parker (Carl Lumbly), who assume the form of Rastafarians because they think that's how all three dimensional Earthlings look, will blow up the Earth if Buckaroo fails to stop John Whorfin before he escapes.
Buckaroo is assisted by a group of friends and band-mates
called the Hong Kong Cavaliers. This team consists of Rawhide
(Clancy Brown), New Jersey (Jeff Goldblum), Prof. Toichi Hikita
(Robert Ito), Reno (Pepe Serna), Perfect Tommy (Lewis Smith),
Pinky Carruthers (Billy Vera) and several others, including Dr.
Banzai's paramour Penny Priddy (Ellen Barkin), and a worldwide
network of extraordinary, helpful, ball-capped men, women and
children known as the Blue Blaze Irregulars.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (hereafter simply Buckaroo Banzai) is an extremely dense film that immerses the viewer in a richly detailed world populated with eccentric characters. Richter made it clear that the version of the film released to theaters in 1984 was the version he wanted to be seen at that time.
“At no point did Buckaroo tells us what we could and could not include in the film,” said Richter, “but we were sensitive to the fact that the original opening prologue of the film, with Buckaroo’s parents, was based on real footage of their deaths. At the time [of the original release] he felt that the tone of the footage was too serious for the lighthearted mood of the rest of the film and we agreed. Now, with the passing of time, Buckaroo was able to look at the footage with new eyes and decided that prologue should be restored to the film.”
Reno added, “The elimination of the prologue also helped to streamline the already multi-layered story by removing references to Buckaroo’s arch nemesis, the scourge of Burma, Hanoi Xan [pronounced Shan]. Although Xan is never seen in the film, his existence overshadows everything Buckaroo does.”
The Death Of Buckaroo’s Parents (The Restored Prologue)
The DVD provides two options to view the docudrama, either with
the scrolling text found in the original theatrical release or
the newly restored prologue. The prologue shows Buckaroo as a
young boy when his mother and father are killed in the explosion
of their prototype Jet Car. The footage was shot in 16mm to look
like a home movie and is entirely silent except for Rawhide’s
somber narration and the sound of a projector. The prologue
contains a substantial amount of information and is a very
welcome addition to the film. Young Buckaroo is played by Greg
Mires, with James Saito playing his father Masado and Jamie Lee
Curtis playing his mother Sandra.
“When we were casting the prologue,” explained Richter, “Jamie
Lee Curtis was dating one of the members on the crew. I didn’t
approach her for the part because I didn’t think she would be
interested. I was very surprised when she said ‘I’ll do it’ and
she quickly became Buckaroo’s Mom.”
The footage begins with Rawhide’s voiceover narration and the young Buckaroo filming his own feet. He then pans up to everyone standing together at the Jet Car test site until Professor Hikita approaches and takes over the camera. Buckaroo is shown receiving a birthday cake from his parents. We see everyone preparing for the experiment with the Jet Car. When something goes wrong, Sandra Banzai rushes towards the Jet Car while Hikita grabs Buckaroo and runs to safety. The explosion occurs offscreen and Hikita protects Buckaroo from the blast debris.
Curious differences exist between Rawhide’s narration, as it is heard on the DVD, and as it is heard on the workprint—the whereabouts of which, according to Richter, are presently unknown, though he has "suspicions."
Rawhide’s Narration as found on the DVD :
Onscreen legend: “The following unedited footage has been declassified by the Banzai Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Strategic Information.”
“At the age of five and already a highly unusual person, Buckaroo Banzai makes a movie of his own tiny feet. The location is the American Southwest; the Year, 1954.
“Young Buckaroo finds himself in the company of an eccentric group of particle physicists headed by maverick professor Toichi Hikita, seen here taking the camera from the precocious child and scooting him over to his parents, Dr. Masado Banzai, preeminent Japanese quantum theorist, and Dr. Sandra Banzai, Texas-born pioneer in negative mass propulsion. Enamored of the great American West, it is Dr. Banzai who insists that his son bear the unlikely given name of Buckaroo, a tribute to his adopted homeland. Thus the boy celebrates his fifth birthday, at a most deceptively peaceful time. As the advent of Soviet Nuclear capability ushers in a dangerous new phase of the Cold war, Buckaroo seems content to enjoy what all children most require, a pair of loving parents.
“Electromagnetic Particle Acceleration. In 1954, a highly unpredictable phenomenon. Professor Hikita, encouraged by President Eisenhower, assembles a team of crack scientists at the Texas school of Mines. Their daring objective: to prove that man can indeed pass unharmed through solid matter. Dr. Banzai is joined in the cockpit of his highly theoretical but virtually homemade gravity catapult by the fastest man on earth, British race car driver George Campbell.
“But it is not speed alone that will do the job today. This is the secret ingredient: a radically redesigned Oscillation Overthruster. Buckaroo, understanding little of what his parents are doing, becomes an eyewitness to history.[The Jet Car experiment begins off-screen.]
“A sudden precipitous rise in cabin pressure signals the beginning of the end.
[Sandra Banzai runs towards the smoking Jet Car and the vehicle explodes off-screen.]
“The origins of this mysterious malfunction are later traced to a crude incendiary device planted under Dr. Banzai's seat by none other than the infamous Hanoi Xan.”
Rawhide’s Narration as found on the Workprint:
“The following unedited footage has been declassified by the Banzai Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Strategic Information.
“1955. The American Southwest. The United States enters the rapid race to develop ever-more sophisticated weapons, resurrecting maverick Professor Toichi Hikita's work in electromagnetic particle acceleration, despite the dismal record of failure that stalled the project since the late 1930's.
Dr. Masado Banzai, pre-eminent Japanese quantum theorist, joins Professor Hikita and declares himself anxious to work for the forces of freedom. Dr. Banzai sires a precocious son. Enamored of the Great American West, he tags the tiny child Buckaroo, a tribute to his adopted homeland.
Dr. Sandra Banzai, Texas-born pioneer in negative mass propulsion, wife of Masado Banzai. Loves Buckaroo. Though racially-mixed, a boy like any other, possessing what all children most require: a pair of loving parents.
Given a second chance after his secret pre-war laboratory disaster at Princeton, Professor Hikita finds new life at the Texas School of Mines, assembling a team of crack scientists willing to gamble he’s right in the daring assertion that man can, indeed, pass unharmed through solid matter.
Sir Godwin Lloyd Jones of Cambridge, a brainy, affable limey, co-developer with Whitehead and Lord Russell of the world's most advanced theoretical gravity catapult, travels to Texas to join Masado Banzai for the first test of a radically-redesigned Oscillation Overthruster.
[The Jet Car experiment begins off-screen.]
A sudden precipitous rise in cockpit temperature…
[Sandra Banzai runs towards the smoking Jet Car and the vehicle explodes off-screen.]
...later traced to a crude incendiary device planted in the two-man speed vehicle by none other than Hanoi Xan. Tragically, three lives are lost.”
The information revealed in the prologue is significant on several levels. The fate of Buckaroo’s parents is explained and Hanoi Xan is mentioned as the mastermind behind the explosion. Professor Hikita becomes the new father figure in Buckaroo’s life. The Jet Car experiment is the second failure for Professor Hikita. The first Jet Car experiment is seen during a flashback later in the film when Hikita’s partner, Emilio Lizardo, makes it only halfway into the Eighth Dimension and, after being pulled out of a solid wall, emerges with newly-wild hair, possessed by the Red Lectroid John Whorfin. The third Jet Car experiment, the only one to be successful, occurs when Buckaroo enters the Eighth dimension himself.
The theatrical version of the film begins with a scrolling text,
not found in the shooting script, which quickly brings the
audience up to speed with an abbreviated history:
Buckaroo Banzai, born to an American mother and a Japanese father, thus began life as he was destined to live it…going in several directions at once. A brilliant neurosurgeon, this restless young man grew quickly dissatisfied with a life devoted solely to medicine. He roamed the planet studying martial arts and particle physics, collecting around him a most eccentric group of friends, those hard-rocking scientists The Hong Kong Cavaliers.
And now, with his astounding Jet Car ready for a bold assault on the dimension barrier, Buckaroo Banzai faces the greatest challenge of his turbulent life…
…while high above Earth, an alien spacecraft keeps a nervous watch on Team Banzai's every move…
“Once we decided to remove the prologue, we felt that a brief history of Dr. Banzai was needed to bring the non-fans quickly up to speed,” Richter explains. “The scrolling text achieved this goal, but with the inclusion of the original prologue on the DVD, the viewer can decide which version they would like to see.”
The Evil Hanoi Xan
“Hanoi Xan is a central, central image [to the world of
Buckaroo Banzai],” Richter insists, though none of the film’s
mentions of this nemesis were sanctioned by The Banzai Institute
until now. “Xan’s a much more powerful force than Lizardo.
Lizardo is just a crazy fluke from another part of the universe.
Xan is Moriarty [i.e. Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis].” As Reno
put it, “Xan is the single greatest threat to humanity.”
The original prologue was the only footage that could be found in 2001 and reinserted into the DVD of Buckaroo Banzai. Fortunately The Banzai Institute had archived a copy of the workprint in 1984 at Richter’s request and it was this precious artifact that yielded the deleted footage found on the DVD. Two sequences complementing the Hanoi Xan reference are included.
The first reference occurs in Buckaroo’s bedroom. Penny Priddy has found a picture of Buckaroo with a woman that closely resembles herself. She questions Buckaroo about the woman and discovers that she is his dead wife Peggy. We learn that Penny and Peggy were sisters who never knew of their sibling’s existence because they were separated at birth. This scene was intended to follow the footage of Professor Hikita being attacked in his laboratory by a Red Lectroid. (All new dialogue and footage is in italics.)
Penny : “Where is she?”
Buckaroo Banzai : “She's dead. Murdered. A present from Hanoi Xan.”
Penny : “Hanoi Xan. The boss of the World Crime League. The guy in the comic books.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “No, not the guy in the comic books. The guy out there.”
The second reference comes later when Lizardo captures Penny. He orders the Lectroids to torture her to discover what she knows about Buckaroo’s Oscillation Overthruster. As she is forced from the room she cries out, “Not on your life! You think you're gonna destroy me like you did my sister! You think I don’t know who you are, Hanoi Xan!” Lizardo looks perplexed by this comment, reasonably asks, “Hanoi Xan? Who's that?”
Getting To Know the Hong Kong Cavaliers
“I’m very happy to see all of the footage in the deleted scenes section in regards to the Hong Kong Cavaliers, “ enthuses Reno. “The additional interaction between the band mates really gives you an idea of what it’s like to be part of the Banzai Institute.”
“There is usually a good reason for cutting footage from a film, “said Richter. “Pacing and keeping the story moving are key and those realities lead to some of this footage being removed.”
There are nine scenes found in the deleted footage section relating to the Hong Kong Cavaliers, including two that were not found in the bootleg workprint. Each sequence focuses on different aspects of the characters or the plot and help to give the audience a more in-depth look at Dr. Banzai’s inner circle.
The fact that the Cavaliers don’t always take life too seriously can be seen in the additional footage before Buckaroo and his band go onstage at Artie’s Artery.
Prof. Hikita : “Buckaroo, I've done a spectrographic analysis on the specimen you pulled off the Jet Car drive shaft.”
Perfect Tommy hands Buckaroo a viewer (which looks like a large ViewMaster) to look at the Professor’s work.
Buckaroo Banzai : “Anybody we know, Tommy?”
Perfect Tommy looks into the viewer. We see a shot of a nude woman from the waist up.
Perfect Tommy : “Who put this dirty picture in Buckaroo's viewer?”
Prof. Hikita (still discussing the specimen) : “I ran it through the centrifuge but it came up acidic.”
Reno: “It's dead though, right?”
Prof. Hikita : “By whose standards?”
Perfect Tommy : “Look like a roly-poly to me.”
Rawhide: “Pay the band.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “Uh, Rawhide, you're keen on bugs, what do you think?”
Penny Priddy is introduced while the Hong Kong Cavaliers are performing. Buckaroo, mysteriously intuiting that someone in the crowd is not having a good time, stops the show and asks her name. When she replies, he thinks she says 'Peggy,' the name of his late wife.
Penny Priddy : “No. My name's Penny. Penny Priddy. There, I said it. But it doesn't matter, it's not important. I just, I just sponged up a little too much Vat 69, that's all. I'm down to my last nickel in this lousy town. And they wouldn't even take my luggage in hock. And I lost my room at the Y this morning. But it's cool. You know, it's like this jerk at the unemployment office says to me. He said, little girl, as long as there's a sidewalk you'll always have a job. (The crowd laughs) He meant it as a compliment! “
Buckaroo Banzai (to the crowd) : “Hey, hey, hey, hey now. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean. 'Cause, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”
Penny’s extra lines reinforce the fact that she is really down
on her luck, while her response to the laughing crowd shows that
she still has some fighting spirit left. The additional footage
puts Buckaroo’s request, “Don’t be mean,” into a deeper context
as the crowd is laughing directly at her rather than just at her
situation as found in the theatrically released version.
The camaraderie amongst the Hong Kong Cavaliers carries over into another scene extension when everyone walks into the Banzai Institute. They are met by Mrs. Johnson (Laura Harrington) and the Cavaliers head off to the bunkhouse without Penny, where they meet computer expert Billy Travers (Michael Santoro).
Penny Priddy : “Well, where are they all going?”
Mrs. Johnson : “Bunkhouse. Off limits.”
Rawhide, New Jersey, and Reno walk into the room where Billy Travers, the resident computer expert, sits working on a computer.
Billy Travers : “Hi fellas. Lay down some background vocals tonight?”
Rawhide : “I wish life were so simple Billy. Hey, you remember that outfit the Justice Department was checking into last year?”
Billy Travers : “Which one?”
Rawhide : “Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems.”
Billy Travers : “Y-O-Y-O-D-Y-N-E. The big space and weapons high tech consortium. Way behind on the delivery of the new Truncheon Bomber.”
Perfect Tommy : “Don't be so laconic Billy. Buckaroo's orders. Gotta break into their databank and attack their system. You up to it?”
Billy Travers : “I'm a little short handed tonight. My phone phreaks are in town at the big ice cream social.”
Perfect Tommy : “What does that mean?”
New Jersey : “So we'll help, let's get cracking.”
Billy Travers : “Who are you?”
New Jersey : “Sid Zw...(He mentally decides that his real name is not needed)....New Jersey.”
[This scene would have been followed by the Red Lectroids trying to get into the Black Lectroid thermopod].
This footage is a good introduction to computer expert Billy Travers (Michael Santoro) and helps establish him as a member of the Banzai team while at the same time showing how New Jersey is trying to ease himself into the group. In the theatrical version, Billy Travers just appears during the scene where the Cavaliers break into Yoyodyne systems.
The Conference Room
The original beginning of the conference room scene, in which Buckaroo explains his Jet Car experiment to the media, contains nice character development between Buckaroo and his father figure/mentor Professor Hikita.
John Bigboote stuffs packets of sugar from a coffee table into his pockets as Buckaroo and his men arrive. Buckaroo gets up on stage and whispers the following introductions:
“Professor Toichi Hikita, Penny Priddy. Senator Margaret Cunningham from New Jersey.”
When he sits down, Professor Hikita hands him some papers and says, “Lizardo.”
Penny realizes she is the only one standing and quickly sits down.
Buckaroo says to Hikita, “Yes, Reno's going to hang around, go with you for a couple of days. Okay?”
Professor Hikita replies, “Are you kidding? I can take care of myself.”
The scene then continues as found in the release version with an introduction by the Secretary of Defense and Buckaroo explaining his successful experiment.
A reporter interrupts Buckaroo during the same scene with a question about Emilio Lizardo. Lizardo is on everyone’s minds as he has just escaped from a mental institution that morning.
Buckaroo says, “The rest of this rock is actually only empty space. So, back in 1937, Professor Hikita here and Dr. Emilio Lizardo... “
A reporter interrupts to say, “Excuse me. Is that the same Lizardo that just...”
To which Buckaroo replies, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. The same old ugly snoot you probably woke up to in today's paper. Anyway, Dr. Lizardo and Professor Hikita...”
[The scene continues normally from here.]
Emilio Lizardo is mentioned twice during the conference, reminding the audience that he’s playing an important part in later events. Professor Hikita’s assertion that he doesn’t need extra protection proves very wrong as, soon after this exchange, John Bigboote and several other Red Lectroids kidnap him.
Even the life of a Cavalier can be boring at times when there is nothing to do but wait around. Buckaroo, riding a motorcycle to catch up with the kidnapped Professor Hikita, is forced off the road and this is immediately followed by new footage:
The Hong Kong Cavaliers are waiting around in the conference room looking bored. Penny slowly plays notes from ‘Since I Don't Have You’ on a piano. Perfect Tommy reads a newspaper while a policeman tries to peek at the Eighth Dimensional life form in the beaker, which Buckaroo found affixed to the underside of the Jet Car after its successful exit from the mountain.. Perfect Tommy tells him to keep moving.
The Secretary of Defense Goes Ape
The first of two scenes found exclusively in the deleted footage section on the DVD occurs while the Hong Kong Cavaliers are waiting on the bus to attack Yoyodyne:
Secretary of Defense : “Anybody got anything? Hmm? Or are we still blacked out?”
New Jersey : “We sit here for twelve more minutes. Buckaroo's orders.”
Secretary of Defense : “Damn Buckaroo!! I’m the eyes and the ears of the President of the United States of America. In loco presidentis. That means I’m in charge here.”
Perfect Tommy : “Not on this bus you’re not.”
Secretary of Defense : “Who the hell do you think you are? Huh?”
Perfect Tommy (after cocking his gun) : “Perfect Tommy.”
Secretary of Defense : “Well you listen to me Mr. Perfect Tommy. I don’t have to take this shit. I could be on easy street right now. With a cushy job in the private sector. Instead I’ve got me a damned 900 million dollar way-the-hell-behind schedule top secret bomber being built down there right now by Yoyodyne Propulsion systems. And I do not intend to sit here, twiddling my silly thumbs while your boss goes crashing around my airplane looking for his girlfriend. Driving a vehicle, I might add, that in itself is worth more to this country than all the damn tea in China. We’re talking national security risk. We, we’re going in there, like gentlemen, and straighten this damn thing out before somebody gets hurt.”
The Secretary of Defense grabs New Jersey’s gun.
Secretary of Defense : “You got that?”
The Secretary of Defense runs to front of bus and fires the gun into the windshield.
Secretary of Defense : “Hit it, soldier boy. Move this bus.”
Perfect Tommy : “Relax. Go ahead Louie, do like the man says.”
The Secretary’s speech and the entire scene are way over the
top, which may or may nor reflect how the scene played out in
real life. While it is great to see the footage, the decision to
cut it was probably a wise one.
Find a Penny, Pick It Up
Once the Cavaliers are in Yoyodyne, not everything is going as planned. When Buckaroo, New Jersey, and Perfect Tommy find Penny strapped to the torture device deep in the bowels of Yoyodyne, more discussion transpires before Buckaroo leaves with John Parker.
New Jersey : “Leave her to me. You take care of business.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “Thanks. (Looking at New Jersey) Get her to the bus. (Looking at Perfect Tommy) Get her to the bus.”
New Jersey : “Go. Go.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “Right. Right.”
John Parker leaves, followed by Buckaroo Banzai.
Perfect Tommy : “How is she?”
New Jersey : “Not good.”
They hear something, then the lights flicker. Perfect Tommy hands New Jersey a gun.
Perfect Tommy : “Piece of cake.”
What, Me Hero?
The second of two scenes found exclusivelyas a DVD supplement occurs after Buckaroo has parachuted to safety and asks Perfect Tommy how Penny is doing. They walk by several Red Lectroids that are being frisked. Twinkies are scattered all over the ground.
Buckaroo Banzai : “How is she? Okay?”
Perfect Tommy : “He said he'd pull her through. Quite a guy, you want my opinion.”
Perfect Tommy : “You just saved the world Buckaroo.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “Not alone.”
Perfect Tommy : “I don’t mean China or Cincinnati, I’m talking the entire planet Earth.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “All in a days work.”
Casper Lindley : “That’s right.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “How’re we looking?”
Reno Nevada : “We’re o.k. These things are the only ones that didn’t get in the spaceship. What are we going to do with them? If they were Mexicans they’d throw the book at them.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “Get outta town.”
Reno Nevada : “The way I see it, they’re illegal aliens, they haven’t got their green cards. So why don’t we get immigration over here, throw ‘em in jail and toss away the key.”
Buckaroo Banzai : “And let the American taxpayer foot the bill? No way Jose. We send them right back where they came from. Back to the Eighth Dimension with the rest of their cronies. As soon as we find the Overthruster. It wasn’t in Penny’s purse and Whorfin didn’t have it. If I have to turn this place upside down and inside out.”
The scene then picks up with the Secretary of Defense trying to bribe Scooter Lindley with a twenty dollar bill in exchange for the Overthruster.
The audience learns where Dr. Banzai is coming from when he takes the responsibility upon himself to get the Red Lectroids back into the Eighth Dimension. This scene sums up a basic tenant of responsibility that Buckaroo strives to teach through his actions. Although it is a shame this was cut from the film in the first place, fans will be happy to see the footage in the deleted scenes section of the DVD.
The Evil Red Lectroids (From Planet 10 Via The Eighth Dimension)
“Why are the Lectroids called Lectroids? Because they feed on electricity,” explains Richter. “That’s why Emilio Lizardo is using so much electricity per month in the institution and why John Gomez is carrying around a battery [in the following scene].”
After the Red Lectroids have fled from Buckaroo’s press conference in a van, John O’Connor picks up an emergency beacon signal from a Black Lectroid thermopod (i.e. spaceship) that has crashed.
John O'Connor : “What is it? What is it?”
John Bigboote : “Black thermopod emergency beacon.”
John Gomez is seen sucking the electricity out of a car battery through a straw.
John Gomez : “Here? On Earth? Why? John Bigboote, why?”
John Bigboote : “John Whorfin. They must have heard he escaped. What's the location? Give me a fix.”
John Gomez, misunderstanding what Bigboote wants, offers a hit from the battery he's “smoking.”
John Bigboote : “No thanks, I'm driving.”
This short amount of extra footage was removed at the request of Sherwood Productions because they felt that the Red Lectroids were not being portrayed as evil and menacing enough. The producers felt that showing the Red Lectroids as alien ‘pot heads’ wouldn’t convey the idea that they were a real threat to Earth. The joke the producers weren’t getting was the fact that the Red Lectroids aren’t much of a menace to Earth anymore. They have been here for over 40 years and have grown soft during that time. The true menace at the moment are the Black Lectroids, hovering above the planet in a spaceship, who will destroy the Earth if the Red Lectroids are able to make it back to Planet 10.
Thermo-What?
John Bigboote, John Gomez, and John O’Connor search the crash site of the Black Lectroid thermopod mentioned above and the following footage occurs just before Buckaroo frees Hikita from a crate in the van.
John Gomez : “It's a three man thermopod.”
Highway Patrolman : “Thermo-what?”
John Bigboote : “Very TS. Top Secret. Right, John Gomez?”
Emilio Lizardo’s possession by the Red Lectroid leader, John Whorfin, is reinforced in the sequence where Buckaroo is tortured for the secrets of his Overthruster.
Dr. Lizardo : “Only you can save her from a fate even worse than that of your friend, Mr. Rawhide! Solve these equations. Please, Banzai. I must-a go home.”
(The cut sequence detailed earlier with the Secretary of Defense ranting on the bus occurs here.)
Buckaroo Banzai : The missing circuit’s in your head.
Dr. Lizardo : Whorfin? How did you know that was my secret identity?
Buckaroo Banzai : John Emdall spilled the beans.
Dr. Lizardo : (curses in Italian) Bigboote... activate your probes!”
The Good Black Lectroids (Also From Planet 10 Via Their Extremely Large Spacecraft)
When the Black Lectroids contact Buckaroo and his crew, they do so through a holographic recording of John Emdall, the Black Lectroid leader. A little extra footage reveals that what they are seeing may not be a recording after all.
John Emdall : “And now, you, Buckaroo Banzai, have unintentionally helped John Whorfin with the success of your Oscillation Overthruster. For our intelligence warns us that he intends to steal your Overthruster. If he should attempt this, we will have no choice but to disrupt world-wide electronic communications, and fire a particle beam weapon from your airspace to Smolensk, in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.”
Perfect Tommy : “That's an action the Kremlin would most certainly misinterpret as an American first strike! They're already a little trigger-happy as it is!”
John Emdall : “Exactly, Perfect Tommy. The Soviets will retaliate, and your President Widmark will launch a massive counterforce strike, and within twenty minutes, the danger to Planet 10 will be removed. But, because we're good guys, we're giving you a chance to save your planet. Stop John Whorfin before sunset! If you fail, we will be forced to help you destroy yourselves.”
What was thought to be a holographic recording seems to be a two-way communicator, making the threat to the Earth that much more immediate.
“What does that mean?” Richter ask rrhetorically, “Is it [the
hologram of John Emdall] reacting to us? Is this a message or is
it a live transmission? Or is it something else entirely? We
love to keep throwing these questions at the audience to make
them question what they’re seeing.”
What Does The Future Hold?
Reno was very happy to reveal that the Buckaroo Banzai pulp novel Across the Eighth Dimension by Earl Mac Rauch has been republished by Pocket Books, with the possibility of more adventures still to come. Reportedly, several additional stories have been approved by Dr. Banzai for release to the public, with the understanding that they will be marketed as fiction so as to not alarm the general public. Fans can always catch up on the latest Buckaroo Banzai information at the official Banzai institute website at http://www.banzai-institute.com.
And what about Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, the long-awaited sequel promised at the end of the original docudrama?
According to Richter, “The sequel is something that we’ll have to see about after some other developing situations resolve themselves one way or another. Of course, there can only be a sequel if Buckaroo gives us the go-ahead.”
Reno agrees: “Buckaroo would love to see a sequel made.”
The Author extends special thanks to W. D. “Rick” Richter for
his time and continued interest in bringing the world of
Buckaroo Banzai back to its many fans, along with screenwriter
Earl Mac Rauch. Thanks to The Banzai Institute for allowing
Video Watchdog to make this information public, to Reno for his
valuable time, and to Mrs. Johnson for organizing the interview.
Last updated by Sean (figment@figmentfly.com) on March 14th, 2021.