The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! (also more simply referred to as Buckaroo Banzai) is an American science fiction film that has reached cult film status. It was released in 1984, directed and produced by W. D. Richter and concerns the efforts of the multi-talented Dr. Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller), a physicist, neurosurgeon, Samurai, rock musician, Jet Car driver and comic book hero, to save the world by defeating a band of inter-dimensional aliens called Red Lectroids from Planet 10. The film is a cross between the action/adventure and science-fiction movie genres, and also includes elements of comedy, satire, and romance. It is also made to feel like one in a series of movies, by the use of ongoing allusions to other characters, adventures and events. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... W. D. Richter (born December 7, 1945) is a screenwriter and has occasionally directed and produced. ... Neil Canton is an American film producer from New York City. ... Peter Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor, director and lecturer. ... This article is about the actor. ... Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe Award-nominated American actress. ... Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... For other persons named Christopher Lloyd, see Christopher Lloyd (disambiguation). ... Lewis Smith (born : August 1, 1958 in Chattanooga, Tennessee), American actor, best known for the role of Charles Main on the first and second part of North and South miniseries, and as Perfect Tommy in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. ... Michael Lehmann Boddicker is an American film composer and session musician, specialized in electronic music. ... Fred J. Koenekamp (born November 11, 1922) is a U.S. cinematographer. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... This article is about the day of the year. ... This article is about the year. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... USD redirects here. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A cult film is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. ... // Events The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name. ... W. D. Richter (born December 7, 1945) is a screenwriter and has occasionally directed and produced. ... Buckaroo Banzai Buckaroo Banzai is the lead character, played by Peter Weller, of the eponymous 1984 cult film, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. ... Peter Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor, director and lecturer. ... Not to be confused with physician, a person who practices medicine. ... Neurosurgery is the surgical discipline focused on treating the central and peripheral nervous system. ... For other uses, see Samurai (disambiguation). ... Rock and roll (also spelled rock n roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still, an archetypal science fiction film. ... For the gay mens lifestyle magazine, see Genre (magazine). ... Comedy film is genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humor. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... While most films have some aspect of romance between characters (at least as a subplot) a romance film can be loosely defined as any film in which the central plot (the premise of the story) revolves around the romantic involvement of the storys protagonists. ...

Tagline

• Beings from Another Dimension have invaded your world. You can't see them . . . but they can see you. Your only hope is Buckaroo Banzai.

Plot

Buckaroo Banzai spans roughly 50 years and begins in the middle of the story. It doesn't fill in some of the earliest parts of the story until the viewpoint characters themselves unravel the mystery — roughly halfway through the movie. In its essentials, the plot concerns the efforts of the multi-talented Dr. Buckaroo Banzai (Weller), a physicist, neurosurgeon, Samurai, rock musician, Jet Car driver, and comic book hero, to save the world by defeating a band of inter-dimensional aliens called Red Lectroids from Planet 10. For other uses, see In Medias Res (disambiguation). ...

The theatrical release version of the film opens with Banzai performing a test-run of his Jet Car, a heavily modified pickup truck powered by a jet engine and capable of exceeding Mach 1. The car is also equipped with a device called an oscillation overthruster, which allows it to drive through solid matter. The test is a success; Banzai stuns onlookers by driving the Jet Car directly through a mountain. Emerging from the mountain, Banzai finds that an alien, pod-like organism has attached itself to the car during transit. The best selling North American pickup truck, the Ford F-Series. ... A Pratt and Whitney turbofan engine for the F-15 Eagle is tested at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, USA. The tunnel behind the engine muffles noise and allows exhaust to escape. ... An F/A-18 Hornet at transonic speed and displaying the Prandtl-Glauert singularity just before reaching the speed of sound Mach number (Ma) (generally pronounced , sometimes or ) is the speed of an object moving through air, or any fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound through that substance...

Hearing of Banzai's success, Italian physicist Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) breaks out of the New Jersey insane asylum where he's been imprisoned for some years. In a flashback sequence, we learn that Banzai's assistant and mentor, Dr. Hikita (Robert Ito), was present at a failed overthruster experiment of Lizardo's in 1938. Failing to transit through the target wall, Lizardo is briefly trapped in the 8th dimension where his mind is taken over by Lord John Whorfin, hence his current diagnosis of a delusional disorder. This article is about the actor. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... Robert Ito (born July 2, 1931 in Vancouver, BC) is a Canadian voice, television and movie actor. ... Delusional disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental illness that involves holding one or more non-bizarre delusions in the absence of any other significant psychopathology (signs or symptoms of mental illness). ...

Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) salutes his Black Lectroid ally as he descends under parachute at the end of the movie.

Whorfin is the leader of the Red Lectroids, a race of alien reptiles whom he had led on an expansionist campaign on Planet 10. After being defeated by the peace-loving Black Lectroids, Whorfin and his band of followers were banished into the formless void of the 8th dimension. Lizardo's failed experiment accidentally released Whorfin, where despite being trapped in Lizardo's body, he maintains his leadership of the Red Lectroids. He soon brings over a thousand of them to Earth in an incident that was reported by Orson Welles in his radio broadcast The War of the Worlds, only to have it retracted as fiction. Image File history File linksMetadata Buckaroo_banzai. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Buckaroo_banzai. ... Peter Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor, director and lecturer. ... Reptilian humanoids are a common motif in mythology, folklore, science fiction, ufology, and the conspiracy theories of John Rhodes and David Icke. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American director, writer, actor and producer for film, stage, radio and television. ... For other uses, see The War of the Worlds (disambiguation). ...

These Red Lectroids now pose as employees of a defense contracting company named Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems. They have been working on building a large spacecraft under the cover of a US Air Force program, the "truncheon bomber", and intend to rescue the remaining exiles in the 8th dimension, then travel on to Planet 10 and take over. The lack of a working overthruster was a problem until Banzai manages to produce one, and Whorfin hopes to steal it. Banzai's team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, becomes aware of the Yoyodyne link, and hacks into their computer. They discover that everyone there has the first name John, with various last names such as Yaya, Smallberries, and Bigbooté. At first they think it's a joke, but then they also note that they all have the same birthday, November 1, 1938, the day after the The War of the Worlds broadcast. They deduce the connection between Lizardo, Yoyodyne and the Lectroids, and inform Banzai. Yoyodyne is a fictional defense contractor introduced in Thomas Pynchons V. (1961) and featured prominently in his novel The Crying of Lot 49 (1965). ... This article is about computer security hackers. ... Look up John in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In the meantime, a Black Lectroid spacecraft orbiting Earth contacts Banzai, giving him a cryptic nonverbal message that enables him to see through Lectroids' natural pheromonic camouflage. (To unassisted humans, Black Lectroids appear to be Rastafarian Jamaicans, while Red Lectroids appear as caucasians.) The ship also sends a "thermo-pod" to Earth, with a messenger who brings Banzai a holographic message from the Black Lectroids' leader, explaining Lord Whorfin's history and motives, and giving an ultimatum: stop Whorfin and his Red Lectroid army, or the Black Lectroids will protect themselves by staging a fake nuclear attack and letting the U.S. and USSR destroy the world in a burst of Cold War paranoia. The Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station. ... Fanning honeybee exposes Nasonov gland (white-at tip of abdomen) releasing pheromone to entice swarm into an empty hive A pheromone (from Greek φέρω phero to bear + ‘ορμόνη hormone) is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species. ... Rasta hairstyle Rastafarianism is a religious movement that believes in the divinity of ex Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. ... Jamaica is a country in the Caribbean Sea, located south of Cuba and to the west of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Soviet republics Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ...

With help from the Black Lectroid messenger John Parker, and his usual posse of helpers ("those hard-rockin' scientists, the Hong Kong Cavaliers"), Buckaroo succeeds in his mission, destroying the Red Lectroids and saving Earth. During the end credits, there is a screen title proclaiming the upcoming sequel Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League (see below). Posse may refer to: Look up Posse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Cast

Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai, a renaissance man, a top neurosurgeon, particle physicist, race car driver, rock star and comic book hero. In the film, his latest experiments open the door to the 8th dimension and unwittingly start an interstellar battle for the world. Peter Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor, director and lecturer. ... Buckaroo Banzai Buckaroo Banzai is the lead character, played by Peter Weller, of the eponymous 1984 cult film, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. ...

The Hong Kong Cavaliers are the assistants of Banzai in the movie, and are similar to Doc Savage's Fabulous Five. They reside at the Banzai Institute, a think-tank located in Holland Township, New Jersey. They are experts in a variety of fields and also are his rock and roll band. They are referred to by code names or nicknames and, except for New Jersey, their real names are unknown. Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Holland Township highlighted in Hunterdon County. ...

• Clancy Brown as Rawhide, arguably Buckaroo's lieutenant, and plays piano.
• Pepe Serna as Reno Nevada who plays saxophone.
• Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy who plays rhythm guitar, and is generally accepted to be perfect.
• Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, whose real name is Dr. Sidney Zweibel. He is a neurosurgeon colleague of Dr. Banzai from Columbia. He sings a little, dances and plays piano.
• Billy Vera as Pinky Carruthers, one of Buckaroo's Blue Blazer Irregulars. Plays bass guitar.

In addition to the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo Banzai is assisted by a network of supporters and fans. The Radar Rangers are an amateur radar enthusiast group that helps Buckaroo track major threats. The Blue Blazer Irregulars are people of all ages and from all walks of life and help in various ways. Their organization includes assault teams in its structure. The Rug Suckers are a team of armed civilians who operate a rug cleaning company, but are available to help Banzai when called on. Clarence J. Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. ... Pepe Serna (born July 23, 1944- ) is an American film actor and artist. ... Lewis Smith (born : August 1, 1958 in Chattanooga, Tennessee), American actor, best known for the role of Charles Main on the first and second part of North and South miniseries, and as Perfect Tommy in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. ... Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (born October 22, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Billy Vera (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actor. ...

Production

W. D. Richter and writer Earl Mac Rauch met through the Dartmouth College Alumni magazine.^[1] Richter had read a review of a book that Mac Rauch had written called Arkansas Adios, then bought and read it. He enjoyed the book so much that he wrote Mac Rauch a letter asking permission to adapt it into a film.^[2] Mac Rauch was flattered and agreed. The two men began corresponding and when the writer told him about his interest in becoming a screenwriter, Richter offered him an open-ended invite to visit him in Los Angeles where he was attending the University of Southern California^[1] and working as a script analyst for Warner Brothers.^[2] Dartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as Trustees of Dartmouth College,[6][7] it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine colonial colleges founded before the American Revolution. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... The Trojan Shrine, better known as Tommy Trojan located in the center of University of Southern California campus. ... Warner Bros. ...

Screenplay

Years passed and Richter became a successful screenwriter. Mac Rauch took Richter up on his offer and arrived in L.A. Richter proceeded to introduce the writer to producer/director Irwin Winkler who gave Mac Rauch rent money for the next six months. Over several dinners, Mac Rauch told Richter and his wife about a character named Buckaroo Bandy that he was thinking of writing a screenplay about.^[1] Richter and his wife liked the idea and paid Mac Rauch $1,500 to develop and write it. According to MacRauch, his script was inspired by "all those out-and-out, press-the-accelerator-to-the-floor, non-stop kung fu movies of the early '70s".^[3] Richter remembers, "Mac's working technique then was sort of improvisational. He would write 30 pages and then give them to us. We'd comment on them, and he'd take them away and so radically alter them no matter what we said that he'd come back with a new storyline, new characters".^[1] Mac Rauch recalled, "It's so easy to start something and then - since you're really not as serious about it as you should be - end up writing half of it . . . You shove the hundred pages in a drawer and try to forget about it. Over the years, I started a dozen Buckaroo scripts that ended that way".^[2] Irwin Winkler (born May 25, 1931) is an American film producer and director. ...

Mac Rauch's original 30-page treatment was entitled, Find the Jetcar, Said the President - A Buckaroo Banzai Thriller.^[2] Early on, one of the revisions Mac Rauch made was changing Buckaroo's surname from Bandy to Banzai but he wasn't crazy about it.^[1] However, Richter convinced him to keep the name. The Hong Kong Cavaliers also appeared in these early drafts, but, according to Richter, "it never really went to a completed script. Mac wrote and wrote but never wrote the end".^[1] Another early draft was entitled, The Strange Case of Mr. Cigars, about a huge robot and a box of Hitler's cigars. Mac Rauch shelved his work for a few years while he wrote New York, New York for Martin Scorsese and other un-produced screenplays.^[2] Hitler redirects here. ... For other uses, see New York, New York (disambiguation). ... Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (b. ...

In 1980, Richter talked with producers Frank Marshall and Neil Canton about filming one of his screenplays.^[4] Out of this meeting, Canton and Richter formed their own production company and decided that Buckaroo Banzai would be the first film. Under their supervision, Mac Rauch wrote a 60-page treatment entitled, Lepers from Saturn.^[2] They shopped Mac Rauch's treatment around to production executives who were their peers but no one wanted to take on such unusual subject matter by two first-time producers and a first-time director. Canton and Richter contacted veteran producer Sidney Beckerman at MGM/United Artists who Canton had worked with before.^[4] Beckerman liked it and introduced Richter and Canton to studio chief David Begelmen. Within 24 hours they had a development deal with the studio.^[2] It took Mac Rauch a year and a half to write the final screenplay and during this time, the Lepers from the treatment became Lizards and then Lectroids from Planet 10.^[4] This article is about the early 20th century chess champion. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... This article is about the film studio. ...

However, a Writers Guild of America strike forced the project to languish in development hell for more than a year. Begelmen left MGM because several of his projects had performed poorly at the box office. This put all of his future projects, Buckaroo Banzai included, in jeopardy.^[2] Begelmen formed Sherwood Productions and exercised a buy-out option with MGM for the Banzai script. He took it to 20th Century Fox who agreed to make it. Mac Rauch ended up writing three more drafts before they had a shooting script.^[3] The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries in the United States. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ...

Casting

For the role of Buckaroo Banzai, the studio wanted a recognizable movie star but Richter and Canton wanted to cast a relatively unknown actor.^[2] Richter has been impressed by Peter Weller's performance in Shoot the Moon and met with him.^[4] He was hesitant, at first, to take the role because he was unclear on the overall tone of the movie. "Would it be campy? Would it be a cartoon? Or would it be the sort of wacky, realistic film that would catch people sideways - and not be a cartoon", Weller remembers.^[2] Richter told him Banzai's story and convinced Weller to do the film. The actor says that he based his character on Elia Kazan, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Adam Ant.^[4] Shoot the Moon is the title of the fourth music recording/album by singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke, her first since leaving Elton Johns label Rocket Records, released in 1982. ... Elia Kazan, (Greek: Ηλίας Καζάν, IPA: ), (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was a Greek-American film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and cofounder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947. ... Jacques-Yves Cousteau (June 11, 1910 - June 25, 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. ... “Einstein” redirects here. ... “Da Vinci” redirects here. ... For similar terms like Adam Adamant, Atom Ant, adamant, adamantium, etc, see Adamant (disambiguation). ...

For the role of Dr. Emilio Lizardo, the studio wanted to cast an unknown actor but Mac Rauch had written the role with John Lithgow in mind. Like Weller, he was not sure about the character but Richter convinced him by "claiming what a real feast for an actor this wonderful Jekyll and Hyde character was", the actor said.^[2] For Lizardo's accent, Lithgow spent time with an Italian tailor at MGM and recorded his voice. He changed his walk to that of an "old crab, and because my alien metabolism is supposed to be messed up".^[4] Lithgow said of his character, "playing Lizardo felt like playing the madman in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".^[4] The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (original title: Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari) is a groundbreaking 1920 silent film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. ...

Ellen Barkin describes the film as "if Terry Southern had written Star Wars. None of the characters are quite what they should be - just my kind of thing."^[4] Richter's only choice to play John Bigboote was Christopher Lloyd. Richter first met Jeff Goldblum on Invasion of the Body Snatchers and wanted him to play New Jersey. The actor admired his writing and was eager to work with the cast the director had assembled. Lewis Smith was asked to dye his hair blond and it took eight hours and he saw it go from red to orange to fluorescent yellow to white.^[4] Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was a highly influential American short story writer, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer. ... This article is about the series. ...

Clancy Brown said that his character is "very common sensical. He's the everyman of the film".^[4] Robert Ito was so determined to get the role of Dr. Hikita, that he disguised himself as an old man, designing his own makeup job to age himself 30 years.^[4]

Pre-production

Production designer Michael Riva had worked with Richter before and spent two years working on the look for Banzai before pre-production.^[4] He and Richter studied all kinds of art and literature for the film's look, including medical journals, African magazines, and Russian history. The inspiration for the look of the Lectroid masks came from Riva sporting a lobster on his nose. Their outfits were influenced by contemporary Russian lifestyles and they went with greens, blues and yellows because, according to Riva, they are "sick and anemic."^[4] For Buckaroo's look, the costume designer had him wear a Gianni Versace sports jacket and a Perry Ellis suit and tie. He also wears a recut Giorgio Armani fabric suit.^[4] Gianni Versace (December 2, 1946 – July 15, 1997) was an Italian designer of both clothing and theater costumes. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the fashion designer. ...

Principal photography

By the time of filming, Richter had a 300-page book called The Essential Buckaroo^[1] that consisted of notes and had every incomplete script Mac Rauch wrote over the years.^[2] Principal photography began during the second week of September 1983 on locations in and around Southgate, an industrial suburb of L.A.^[2] Buckaroo's neurosurgery scene with New Jersey was shot at the Lakeview Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley.^[4] The jet car sequences were shot in October on a dry lakes north the San Bernardino Mountains. The vehicle was designed and built by Riva, art director Stephen Dane and Thrust Racing owners Jerry Segal and George Haddebeck. Segal started with a Ford F-350 truck, reinforced the frame assembly, added the front end from a Grand National stock car, borrowed air scoops from a DC-3, and a one-man cockpit modelled after a Messerschmidt fighter plane.^[4] Under the hood, Segal modified the Ford engine with an oversized carburator and nitrous oxide injectors. The Oscillation Overthruster was created by Riva and visual effects superviser Michael Fink out of a gyroscope to which a metal frame, wires, circuits, and tiny strobe lights were added.^[4] San Fernando Valley from its southwestern edge. ... San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are short transverse mountain range northeast of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. ... The F-Series is a series of full-size pickup trucks from Ford Motor Company sold for over 5 decades. ... Douglas DC-3 VH-AES at Avalon in 2003. ... Messerschmitt is a famous German aircraft manufacturer, known primarily for their World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262. ...

The Banzai Institute exteriors were shot in Rustic Canyon with the interiors filmed in an Art Deco house designed in 1931 by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons for his wife, Delores Del Rio.^[4] Deserted rooms at Brentwood's V.A. hospital were used for Dr. Lizardo's room at the New Brunswick Home for the Criminally Insane. Lizardo's 1938 laboratory was filmed at a deserted industrial site, Alpha Tubing. The set decorators rented a collection of 1930s electrical props used in the original Boris Karloff Frankenstein films.^[4] The interiors of Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems were shot in an abandoned Firestone Tire Factory. The production rented warhead nosecones from Modern Props and had televisions going all the time on the set. Wilmington's Department of Water and Power provided the location for Dr. Lizardo's shock tower and served as the Yoyodyne exterior.^[4] Weller remembers that during the scene where his character is tortured by Dr. Lizardo, "I never laughed so hard in my life! They had to stop takes on that segment over and over because of the banter between [Christopher] Lloyd and [John] Lithgow."^[5] The Armco Steel Plant in Torrance housed the Lectroid launch hanger. Finally, 12-weeks of filming were done on the backlot and soundstages at MGM.^[4] Asheville City Hall. ... Brentwood is the name of several places in the world: Cities Brentwood, California, United States of America Brentwood, Essex, England, United Kingdom Brentwood, Maryland, United States of America Brentwood, Missouri, United States of America Brentwood, New Hampshire, United States of America Brentwood, New York, United States of America Brentwood, Pennsylvania... Boris Karloff (born William Henry Pratt) (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s. ... This article is about the 1818 novel. ... The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. ...

Richter and Riva did not want metal spaceships and opted for a more organic look like a deep sea oyster shell.^[4] Gregory Jein, Inc. and Stetson Visual Concepts built the spaceship models and worked off sketches by production illustrator Tom Cranham and used seashells as guides.^[4]

Soundtrack

The film's music coordinator and sound designer Bones Howe worked with musician Michael Boddicker, who wrote and performed the score, on the theme music and sound effects.^[4] Howe selected the source music for the club scene and put together a special arrangement of "Since I Don't Have You" that Buckaroo sings to Penny Priddy. Weller, an accomplished musician, played the guitar, trumpet, did his own vocals, and learned to mime piano playing. Howe and the filmmakers decided not to go with a rock music score and instead opted for an electronic one instead. He wanted to "integrate music and sound effects so that everything would merge on the soundtrack with no distinction between music and sound".^[4] Boddicker was Howe's first choice for composer. They had worked together on the soundtrack for Get Crazy. Boddicker had just won a Grammy for his song, "Imagination", on the Flashdance soundtrack. In addition to composing the score, he also produced alien sound effects while Alan Howarth was hired to create the sounds of the 8th Dimension.^[4] Michael Lehmann Boddicker is an American film composer and session musician, specialized in electronic music. ... Get Crazy is a 1983 film directed by Allan Arkush and starring Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, and Ed Begley, Jr. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music... Flashdance is a musical and romance film released in April 1983, and was one of the most successful films of the early 1980s. ...

Reception

Fox hired Terry Erdmann and a team of publicists to promote Buckaroo Banzai at Star Trek conventions with a few film clips and free Banzai headbands which have now become highly sought after collector's items by fans of the film.^[2] The studio made no attempts to sell the film to a mainstream audience with traditional promotion. Studio publicist Rosemary LaSalmandra said, "Nobody knew what to do with Buckaroo Banzai. There was no simple way to tell anyone what it was about - I'm not sure anybody knew".^[2] This article is about the entire Star Trek franchise. ...

Buckaroo Banzai was originally scheduled to be released on June 8, 1984 but was pushed back to August 15. It opened on 236 screens and faced stiff competition against the likes of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Ghostbusters. It made USD $620,279 on its opening weekend before finally grossing $6.2 million in North America.^[6] is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the day of the year. ... Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Paramount Pictures, 1984; see also 1984 in film) is the third feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... This article is about the film. ... For other uses, see Ghostbusters (disambiguation). ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... North American redirects here. ...

The film was not well-received critically and currently has a 68% rating^[7] on Rotten Tomatoes (vs. 50%^[8] by its Top Critics) as well as a 5.9/10 rating^[9] on the Internet Movie Database. Dave Kehr, in the Chicago Reader, wrote, "Richter seems to have invented an elaborate mythology for his hero . . . but he never bothers to explicate it; the film gives you the mildly annoying sensation of being left out of a not very good private joke".^[10] In his review for the New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote that Buckaroo Banzai "may well turn out to be a pilot film for other theatrical features, though this one would be hard to top for pure, nutty fun".^[11] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For the in-memory database management system, see In-memory database. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 1971[2] by a group of friends who attended Carleton College. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – September 15, 2000) was an American film critic. ...

Buckaroo Banzai has since attracted a loyal cult following and was quite popular on home video.^[12] Richter said, "It has had the most dramatic reactions of anything I've worked on. Some loathe it and others are willing to die for it".^[12] The director feels that the film failed commercially because the narrative was too complex, he would have liked to have had more coverage for certain scenes, he could have edited the film better and there were too many master shots and two-shots that left little for the editor to work with.^[12] Entertainment Weekly ranked Buckaroo Banzai as the #43 in their Top 50 Cult Movies.^[13] Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ...

Other versions of the movie

A substantially longer print was shown in test screening in Texas and in Washington State before general release, but the "restored" DVD print is still missing much of the test print material. For other uses, see Texas (disambiguation). ... This article deals with the U.S. state. ...

The DVD of the film restores a deleted opening scene consisting of a "home movie" from Buckaroo Banzai's childhood, narrated by Clancy Brown, who plays the character Rawhide. The scene depicts an early test of a precursor to the Jet Car, built by Buckaroo's parents and Dr. Hikita. The test ends in disaster, as the Jet Car has been sabotaged by the evil Hanoi Xan, leader of the World Crime League. The "home movie" ends, and dissolves to the present-day opening scene of the film depicting Buckaroo's test run of the latter-day Jet Car. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Buckaroo Banzai's mother, Sandra Banzai. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc - see Etymology) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... Clarence J. Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. ... Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American film actress and an author of childrens books. ...

The novelization by Mac Rauch is told through fake documents written and compiled by Reno Nevada, and further expands on the backstory of the film, including the murder of Peggy Banzai (her twin sister Penny plays a role in the movie) by the minions of Asian crime lord Hanoi Xan, the deaths of Buckaroo's parents in an early Jet Car accident, and at least two other fictitious novels. A false document is a form of verisimilitude that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience etc) a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief. ... In narratology, a back-story (also back story or backstory) is the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. ...

The 103 minute version released on DVD in January 2002 has a subtitle track that has director's commentary-style information that also has a fake documents feature. The entire packaging and literature with the DVD maintain a mythos that Buckaroo Banzai is a real person, the Banzai Institute exists, and that the movie is in fact a docu-drama of the real adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. The producers make claims such as they had brief tours of the Banzai Institute, and had met and interviewed several members of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, and that the script needed approval from the Institute. A false document is a form of verisimilitude that attempts to create in the reader (viewer, audience etc) a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief. ...

Comic books

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics adapted the film into comic book form in Marvel Super Special issue #33. The adaptation was also released as a two-part limited series. This article is about the comic book company. ...

Moonstone Books

In 2006, Moonstone Books began publishing comic books depicting the further adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers. Moonstone Books is a comic book publisher based in Chicago. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

• The first story, called Return of the Screw, was written by Buckaroo Banzai's creator, Earl Mac Rauch. The black-and-white preview edition of the comic was released in February 2006, featuring a behind-the-scenes article by Dan Berger regarding the transformation of the rejected Buckaroo Banzai television pilot script Supersize those Fries into the present comic book miniseries. The three issues of this comic have been collected into a trade paperback.^[14]

• In December 2007, Moonstone released a new Banzai comic story A Christmas Corrall in the Moonstone Holiday Super Spectacular compilation, also written by Earl Mac Rauch and drawn by Ken Wolak.^[14]

• A prequel to the movie will be released in early 2008 called Of Hunan Bondage written by Earl Mac Rauch with art by Superman Returns storyboard artist Chewie.^[14]

• Moonstone will also release a special oversize one-shot Wild Assess of the Kush written by Earl Mac Rauch with art by Paul Hanley.^[14]

Black-and-white or black and white) can refer to a general term used in photography, film, and other media (see black-and-white). ...

Failed sequels

Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League

The credits mention a sequel, Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, which was never made; the film reportedly would have focused on the League and its leader, Hanoi Xan.

Buckaroo Banzai TV Series

In late 1998, the Fox Network tried to develop a Buckaroo Banzai TV series, entitled Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries, but nothing ever came of it.^[15] The special edition DVD of the original movie contains a short computer animated sequence that was made as a test for the series. The clip depicts a Space Shuttle trying to land with broken landing gear. Dr. Banzai maneuvers his Jet Car under the Shuttle and uses it to take the place of the broken gear. The Fox Broadcasting Company is a television network in the United States. ... This article is about the space vehicle. ...

Buckaroo Banzai books

The novelization of the first movie was reprinted to coincide with the release of the movie on DVD. In the foreword Mac Rauch mentioned that the Buckaroo Banzai series would be continued in a series of novels. The first of these novels, Buckaroo Banzai: Return of the Screw, was published on September 15th, 2007.

Computer game

An early example of the computer industry licensing movie titles is The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, a text adventure published by the now defunct software publisher Adventure International and written by Scott Adams. Original unopened copies of this game are extremely rare. A copy of the game sold for $2,300 on eBay in 2002. This game is a text based language parser and playable online reengineered versions of it exist on the net. Zork, an early work of interactive fiction, running on a modern interpreter Interactive fiction, often abbreviated as IF, is a simulated environment in which players use text commands to control characters. ... Adventure International was a video game publishing company started in 1978 by Scott Adams and his wife Alexis. ... Scott Adams (born July 10, 1952) is the co-founder, with wife Alexis, of Adventure International, an early company producing computer games. ... This article is about the online auction center. ... In an Adventure game, a text parser takes typed input (a command) from the player and simplifies it to something the game can understand. ... This article is about emulators in computer science. ...

References

Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 201st day of the year (202nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Starlog is a monthly science-fiction film magazine published by Starlog Group Inc. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... This article is about the year. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 35th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Starlog is a monthly science-fiction film magazine published by Starlog Group Inc. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For the in-memory database management system, see In-memory database. ... The Chicago Reader is an alternative newsweekly in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 1971[2] by a group of friends who attended Carleton College. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For other uses, see 5th October (Serbia). ... This article is about the year. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Starlog is a monthly science-fiction film magazine published by Starlog Group Inc. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Moonstone Books is a comic book publisher based in Chicago. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension at the Internet Movie Database
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension at Allmovie
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension at The Numbers
• MGM's site on the movie
• Official Banzai Institute Website
• World Watch Online Website
• Buckaroo Banzai FAQ
• Review by Science Fiction Weekly
• Moonstone Books - Return of the Screw comic book
• Review by DVD Review

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