When Mike first approached me about doing some developmental work for a proposed Buckaroo Banzai TV series, he had me at hello. I was stoked. Banzai is offbeat, irreverent, and one of a kind. Once I read the wacky script, “Super Size Those Fries!”, I was nuts for it. Dr. Emilio Lizardo plans to steer the Earth out of it’s orbit like a big sailing ship, powered by the combined energies of the world’s potato fields (remember science class? Getting electricity from a potato? No kidding!). This is Banzai at it’s best. There is no money, says Mike, we’re just trying to give Rick (W.D. Richter) all the ammunition he needs to sell the series. Count me in, Mike! I’m there!
(Above) Buckaroo and his famous oscillation overthruster driven Jet Car.
For those of you in the know, The Banzai Institute is in New Jersey, but what most don’t know is that there is a Banzai West, and it inhabits several abandoned missile silos in the Arizona desert. That’s about one of the coolest things I ever heard! let me at it! I checked it out on line, and anyone can buy an abandoned missile silo! Not so crazy!
Click for a better look at the Banzai institute West.
For more Buckaroo at drex files -
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/the-banzai-trek-connection/
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/the-buckeroo-banzai-that-never-was/
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/supersize-those-fries-buckaroo-banzai/
A small taste of John Lithgow as Lord John Worfin in “Buckaroo Banzai”
No wonder my dear friend keeps insisting I see this!
Oh man, post as much Buckaroo stuff as you can… please?
I’m glad to hear you say that! Interesting stuff to come!
Backaroo Banzai revisited?? Coooooollllll!!!
Gahh!! “Backaroo”??? Damn! I was so excited I misspelled his name. *facepalm*
Will the coolness never cease? Please do keep the BB stuff coming.
I’m an Blue Blaze Irregular from the original days and still adore the flick for all it’s quirky charms, even if I can’t convince my wife of just how cool it is
I’ll front the money for the silo if you get the show going! I don’t live that far from them here in sunny AZ!! Long live Lord John Worfin.
WHERE ARE WE GOING!
Was this the test project where they had filmed the jet car being used to help land the space shuttle? Man that is one show that I think could find an audience today (maybe with Max Headroom!)
Dave D, Yes, that’s right!
PLANET TEN!
WHEN?
REAL SOON!
(I love how some of Whorfin’s Lectroids are so disillusioned and just plain bored that they give him the finger.)
cool..
anyone ever get close to making a BB game?
would love to see nuttiness like that online…
like max headroom– so ahead of its time….
cube3
OMG, I watched the Lithgow video and was dying…I *love* him!! I went to youtube and watched a trailer…I feel like I’ve known this movie my whole life! I laughed a lot in those brief 2 minutes; I’m checking this out asap. I must have hung out with the wrong people ’cause this movie never came up. Oh, the wasted years (tear). Doug, your blog sometimes makes me feel like I’ve been in a hole…a deep dark hole! Shine the light on me, baby!
Lithium no longer available on credit?
Well, no choice then.
Stick ‘em up Drexler!
You know, for all the times that I have heard of the references between Buckaroo Banzai and Trek, it never once occured to me that I should check the movie out. :: shakes head :: Well, Netflix, here I come!
Doug, where we’re going, we don’t NEED roads!
oh wait wrong movie
Matt — Buckaroo Banzai is great ’80s cult Sci-Fi fun. I need to watch it again as it’s been years for me. My uncle loved it and got me hooked on it.
I love the Underground Complex cutaway. Did all boys draw that kind of “ultimate underground secret command base” blueprints (complete with rocket launcher, helicopter pad, and alligator-filled defense perimiter moat) in social studies class, or was it just me? I blame Jack Kirby and those layouts of the Baxter Building and Avengers’ Mansion he drew back in the Marvel Age of Comics!
Jay! The Baxter Building cutaway! Did you hit that nail on the head or what?!
With my enchanted uru hammer, no less!
MMMS!
i always preferred the “new” BATCAVE and Fortress drawings- i was a DC kid.
giant pennies,a T-rex, and supermans galactic menagerie trump a 4 part hover car any day:)
c3
MMMS!
I still have my secret base drawings from when I was in elementary school…
And I am 36 now!!!!
lol
Man those were the days…
Any of you souls been following the Moonstone-published comics projects of this ilk?
Speaking of tech-art and comic books, here’s another guy you need to add to the pantheon: Eliot R. Brown! I swear, get that man into the same room as the rest of youse, and watch the tech-art sparks fly!
Dwight! Wow! This guy is cool! I need to digest his site!Do you know him?
I’ve been pretty much worshipping from afar as a fan until he set up that site, Doug. He’s even done stuff for Omni back in the day, dealing with Larry Niven’s “Known Space” as I recall…
My goodness… I will take it all in for a while.
I took the first half of my online name from this movie. It’s one of my all-time favorite films. Five points for anyone who can guess where the “hawk” in my name comes from.
I actually saw this film in a theater when it was first released. It completely dumbfounded my friends and me, but in a bizarre turn of events, instead of dismissing the film as just too damn weird, we decided to see it again. It turns out that even though it confused the heck out of us, we were determined to figure it out. It all clicked into place during my third viewing of the film and it was like a whole new world opened up for me. Imaginative and quirky, the movie blissfully defies any attempt to classify it. It behaves as if the characters have always existed, like this was the third or fourth film in a series and you should already know them. A great movie stuffed with so many quotable lines that it’s hard to choose just one.
It’s too bad that the proposed TV series never saw the light of day. The presentation film of the jet car rescuing the space shuttle is great stuff and if it had been done right it would have been so much fun to join Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers on their weekly adventures.
The compound cutaway is a nifty glimpse into what might have been. Thanks for showing it off for us!
Oh man, I LOVE Buckaroo Banzai! From the moment I heard about this series I was anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. Sadly, it was not to be.
“Bigboo-TAY!
What a great movie!
I’d love to see a count of just how many times the Oscillation Overthruster turned up in Star Trek.
(I about flipped when Peter Weller was on Enterprise.
)
Buckaroo Banzai was a sweet movie. Too bad there wasn’t a sequel.
And surprised there wasn’t a starship class named after Dr. Akita.
I have wiped the foam and drool from my mouth long enough to ask: Where can one see this presentation film of the Jet Car rescuing the Space Shuttle?
My bad, I meant Dr. Hikita.
BUCKAROOHAWK… BB and Hudson Hawk?
Thank you for keeping the fires burning Doug!
The Moonstone comics story arc was “Return of the Screw”. It had that same “did I miss a chapter somewhere?” feeling that the original movie had, and left you wanting more of the crazy! I am not sure what else they have put out recently as my comic habit has had to fall to the wayside in the current economic climate.
you crazy Marvel Zombies you!
I really ought to give that film another chance. I tried watching it a while ago but just couldn’t get in to it for some reason. Odd since I usually love anything with John Lithgow, Clancy Brown or Jeff Goldblum! I think it’s one of those films where you either get it, or you don’t get it. So far, I don’t get it.
Sweet pix, Doug. More please! Blue Blazers unite!!
ErichMohr: You win the five points! I’m one of the dozen or so people in the world who actually likes “Hudson Hawk” and the two words just seemed to click together.
L.M. Oliver: The BB TV series presentation is on the Special Edition “Buckaroo Banzai” DVD in the Special Features section.
The Special Edition DVD is a “must have” for any BB fan. The special features include an alternate opening and deleted scenes, but the real gem is the commentary track by writer Earl Mac Rauch and director W.D. Richter, who talk as if all the characters are real people and the movie is simply a film version of one of their adventures. They comment on whether the actors actally look like the “people” they portray in the film, which scenes are based on “real” events and which are just made up, and make reference to other strange events in the Team Banzai case files. It’s completely bizarre and a lot of fun.
Heck, all this talk has got me jazzed to watch the film again. I’m gonna pop it in the old DVD player right now!
hello all.
if youre into B movie/cult stuff like BB then drop by..
WASP WOMAN NIGHT IN THE CINEMA INSOMNIA SCREAMING ROOM SAT NIGHT- 23th 10 PM PST
its all online using 3D avatars and virtual browser stuff..
http://www.cube3.com/lobopr1.html
first of many we hope…trying to get more and more users into web based 3d spaces..:)
fun stuff
cube3
Moonstone’s still doing one-shot graphic novellas featuring the Team Banzai characters. Most recent one was within this past month!
As for Dr. Hikita…I saw just enough easter eggs from the TNG Okudagrams over the years to suggest to me that he probably did get a starship class named for him. I could see these guys meeting up with the likes of Gary Seven from time to time.
Umm.. Wait. A Bakaru Banzai series ?? When ??? I saw these movie a lot of time ago and was funny.
A stupid question ..
Bakaru Banzai, come from a comic ???
If Peter Weller grew miniature trees on his windowsill, would they be Buckaroo Bonsais?