5) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

(3 's out of 5)

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so." 

Director 

Garth Jennings

Cast 

Martin Freeman - Arthur Dent

Mos Def - Ford Prefect

Sam Rockwell - Zaphod Beeblebrox

Zooey Deschanel - Trillian

Warwick Davos- Marvin

Alan Rickman - Voice of Marvin

Stephen Fry - Narrator 

Helen Mirren - Deep Thought
John Malkovich - Humma Kavula
Bill Nighy - Slartibartfast

The last thing I expected after watching the 2005 movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was the hint of depression it would leave with me. I anticipated a comedic satire, and that's actually what I got. Still, if I'm to take the movie's advice and that of the author of the book it's based on, Douglas Adams, seriously, well... what's the point of anything in life? 

I wasn't familiar with Adams's book of the same until after I saw this movie several years ago. 

I had heard of title before then, but that's about it. After seeing this, then I read the book. However, I haven't read any of sequel books.  

I've seen this movie several times before now because I thought maybe there was more to it than I initially caught. Or, I was reading too much into it. 

I had no idea what to expect going into this movie for the first time. 

Though sci-fi spoofs are nothing new ("SpaceBalls" and "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" for instance) this movie has an original feel to it. I did get a subtle taste of old fashioned anti-organized religion sentiment in the movie. At least, it's satirized. 

In this movie the world has been inconveniently demolished by a bunch of unemotional and unreliable bureaucratic aliens called Vogons who need the earth’s occupied space for a hyperspace express route. In the plus column, two people actually survive the end of the world. What are the odds, huh? Maybe they're similar to the odds of being rescued should you ever find yourself floating aimlessly in the infinite vacuum of space?

The film starts as Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up as usual, on a Thursday morning, feeling a little down because he totally blew it with a girl named Trisha 'Trillian' McMillan (Zooey Deschanel) at a costume party the night before.

All that is pushed aside when he finds a demolition crew outside his home getting ready to tear his house down to make way for a bypass. 

Dent lies down in front of a bulldozer in an attempt to stop them. Meanwhile, his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) somehow manages to convince Dent to join him at a nearby pub despite his home moments from being demolished. 

At the pub, Ford reveals that he's actually an alien from the vicinity of Betelgeuse. He's also writing a new book called, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." And what's worse, he warns Dent about the impending doom about the befall Earth in a few minutes. So, they need to drink up!

During their chat, Dent mentions how he blew it with Trisha when were interrupted by a guy who claimed to be from another planet and invited Trisha to see his spaceship.

As they leave the pub, a large Vogon destructor fleet surrounds the entire planet. 

Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel,
and Mos Def in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Before the Vogons carry out the plans to destroy the planet, Ford sneaks Dent and himself onto one the Vogon ships. 

Of course, the Vogons quickly discover their presence and take them into custody. 

They attempt to torture Ford and Dent by reading them Vogon poetry, which the film's narrator (Stephen Fry) says is the worst poetry in the universe. 

While Ford suffers under the unbearable pain, the poetry has no effect on Arthur. 

They're then placed in a cell, only to be kicked off the ship through an airlock and left in the vacuum of space to die. 

As improbability would have it, they're picked up by a starship called "Heart of Gold." 

Onboard, they find Ford's semi-cousin, Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), who's also the newly elected president of the entire galaxy, and Trisha McMillan. Their also joined by Marvin, a depressed robot programed with GPP (Genuine People Personality) played by Warwick Davis and voiced by Alan Rickman. 

It turns out Zaphod happens to be the guy from the costume party who invited Trisha to see his spaceship. 

Zaphod, by the way, is being chased by the Galactic Vice-president Questular Rontok (Anna Chancellor) and the Vogons for kidnapping himself, the president of the galaxy. He's on a mission to find out the answer to the "ultimate question" of life, the universe, and everything. 

A supercomputer known as "Deep Thought" attempted an answer to that question centuries ago only to come up with the underwhelming answer, "42." As Deep Thought puts it, it needs to know what the actual question is before the answer makes sense. 

Zaphod thinks the answer can be found on the planet Magrathea. The only way he can get to Magrathea is by using the Heart of Gold's "improbability drive" which will take the ship to any random part of the universe without having to bother going through hyperspace. Zaphod keeps using this feature to hopefully get to Magrathea someday.

At one point, the improbability drive takes everyone on board to the planet Viltvodle VI. Magrathea will have to wait a moment now. His presidential opponent, Humma Kavula (John Malkovich) resides there. And Zaphod has a bone to pick with Humma, who had the audacity to call him "stupid" during their presidential campaigns. 

Also, Humma possesses coordinates to Magrathea that Zaphod wants to get his hands on. 

Humma offers to give him those coordinates if Zaphod finds the "point of view" gun, created by Deep Thought, and brings it back to him. Anyone shot by this gun temporarily sees things from the shooter's point of view. 

As they're about to leave Viltvodle VI, the Vogons show up to rescue the president and shoot his kidnapper (again, himself). They take Trisha as prisoner instead for aiding the president in kidnapping himself. So, Dent, Ford, and Zaphod have to go rescue her. 

While in Vogon custody, Trisha learns that the destruction of Earth is Zaphod's fault as he signed the paperwork to have it destroyed thinking the form was an autograph request. 

Zaphod goes to the Vogon offices to sign a presidential prisoner release form to rescue Trisha and then escapes before the Vogons realize the president's kidnapper is within their grasp. 

As they escape, the improbability drive finally takes them to Magrathea. However, while approaching Magrathea, they're met with a couple of automatic defense missiles launched from the planet. 

In an attempt to escape, Dent hits the improbability drive again which takes them, despite the odds, right back to Magrathea. Thankfully, this makes the missiles turn into a bowl of petunias and a very confused whale. 

After they land, the crew come across some interdimensional transports which Trish, Ford, and Zaphod jump through. Dent is too scared and misses his opportunity. 

The transports take Zaphod and the rest of them to Deep Thought who tells them after coming up with the answer "42," it designed a supercomputer that could come up with a better answer. Unfortunately, the Vogons blew up this supercomputer in order to make room for a hyperspace express route. This supercomputer, which is obviously Earth, was commissioned by interdimensional beings that appear as mice. 

Zaphod recovers the point-of-view gun just before he, Trish, and Ford are captured by unknown entities. 

Still on Magrathea, Dent runs into a guy named Slartibartfast (Bill Nighy) who designs and builds entire planets in a factory. 

He takes Dent to the planet showroom where they have a second backup Earth just about ready to go for habitation. 

His house is also recreated on this backup Earth where Dent meets his pals, Trisha, Ford, and Zaphod. 

The mice who commissioned Earth's construction are also there. The mice prepare an exquisite feast for everyone which puts all but Dent to sleep. Then the mice reveal their true plan - to take Dent's brain. This, they think, is the last piece they'll need to get the answer to life's ultimate question. 

But Dent gets the upper-hand and kills them. 

Then the Vogons show up, and this is the last chance for Dent, Ford, Trish, and Zaphod to take them down once and for all. 

Spoiler - they conquer the Vogons. And after they do, Dent agrees to explore the universe with Trisha, Ford, and Zaphod. But first they plan to stop for a quick bite at a restaurant at the end of the universe. 

"Hitchhiker's Guide" is a movie unique in style and atmosphere as far as sci-fi films go. It's also a movie solely for fans of Douglas Adams's works. I think anyone else will find this movie too bizarre, convoluted, confusing and, maybe, a bit full of itself while not taking itself seriously, to be enjoyable. 

I can't think of another movie similar to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Part of it feels like a parody of science fiction while trying to make a satirical statement about the shortness of time, the meaning(less) of life, creation, human behavior, and the insignificance of it all according to Adams. It's comedic just as it is depressing and sad. It's as though all the tidbits of life and the universe are neat and nice to look at like shiny little trinkets, but in the end, it's all meaningless. And when it all

goes away, what will it matter to anybody? While everyone in the story hitchhikes around the galaxy, what's meaningful to some is pointless and useless to others. Still, as the movie suggests, it would be fun to galivant around the galaxy and see all the pretty things.  

A lot of the effects are done through practical effects and puppetry, created by the Jim Henson Workshop, which I truly value and appreciate. Their work is impressive and beautifully constructed. 

However, the acting is off at times, such as the moment Trillian is told Earth has been destroyed. She's annoyed, but it's the kind of irritation someone would have after being told they have to come in to work Saturday and Sunday. 

I found the movie entertaining and visually fun enough; however, there's a variety of themes that don't sit well with me. 

For instance, the more the characters try to comprehend the purpose of life and all of creation, the more unhappy and disappointed they seem to be. This ties into the idea that creation, time, improbability, impossibility, plausibility...is all absurd. 

All the "sciency" jargon, like the improbability drive, demand the audience understand these concepts. Of course, audiences likely aren't experts on these things, just like the characters aren't either. Concepts like these are confusing, and the movie (and Adams) know that. And they know that the audience knows they're confusing. So, audiences are just as surprised as the characters are when situations and circumstances go a certain and unexpected way. It's an ingenious method of storytelling that works for this movie. 

As for creation, and the human desire for exploration, the movie acknowledges that it's exciting to explore until something is discovered. Discovery is reduced to the fizzling out of the thrill of exploration. 

The mice are anxious to know what the answer is to the "ultimate question... of life, the universe, and everything." Of course, they don't actually ask a question. Still, this non-question leads to an underwhelming non-answer. And all the characters end up in an endless pursuit. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, they pursue, and THEY PURSUE, and they pursue, pursue, pursue, pursue. 

But how often, the movie asks, does discovery meet expectations? 

It's a downer of a satirical comedy. 

The joys of life are really meaningless in the end, or so the movie indirectly claims.

"Time is an illusion," Ford Prefect tells Dent. "Lunchtime, doubly so." Well, that stinks! 

4) D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)

(2 🤖's out of 5)

"A machine becomes human when you can't tell the difference anymore." 

Director

Simon Wincer

Cast
Barret Oliver - Daryl
Mary Beth Hurt - Joyce Richardson
Michael McKean - Andy Richardson
Kathryn Walker - Ellen Lamb
Colleen Camp - Elaine Fox

Danny Corkill - Turtle Fox

Amy Linker - Sherie Lee Fox

Steve Ryan - Howie Fox

Josef Sommer - Dr. Jeffrey Stewart

In my youth, the 1985 sci-fi movie "D.A.R.Y.L." was a title I often saw on the video shelf in the kids' section of my local video rental place, California Video, back in the early 90s. I distinctly recall the cover showing a boy in some kind of control center watching the Jetsons on a computer screen. However, I've never seen it until now.

"D.A.R.Y.L." is an 80s movie that doesn't quite get the nostalgic attention other movies from the decade receive. 

It stars Barrett Oliver, the kid from "The NeverEnding Story," in the lead role, although he doesn't get first billing in the credits nor on other cast lists for some reason.  

The film opens as a helicopter chases a vehicle driven by a mysterious man with a kid in the back seat. 

He drops the kid off on a rural mountain road, and then tries to lose the helicopter before driving off a cliff.

A couple find the boy wandering the mountains. He seems to have amnesia, but remembers his name is Daryl. They take him into the nearest small town before child protective services pick him up and take him to an adoption center.

He's quickly paired with foster parents, Andy and Joyce Richardson (Michael McKean and Mary Beth Hurt).  

Daryl is a parent's dream come true. He's amazingly polite, incredibly intelligent and intuitive, very likeable, and instantly superior at pretty much everything he does. The kid is a perfect miracle! 

Though he doesn't quite know how to relate with kids his age, Daryl becomes friends with a boy everyone calls Turtle (Danny Corkill). 

Daryl's foster parents and friends are astonished with his amazing effortless skills.

For instance, Turtle and his sister watch as Daryl outperforms both of them while playing the game "Pole Position" on their Atari even though he's never played it before. 

Daryl also excels in baseball, and gives Andy an incentive to put him on the little league he coaches as a "secret weapon" to beat other teams. 

Later, Daryl helps Andy solve an issue with an ATM machine. And when Andy isn't looking, Daryl manipulates the ATM to increase the amount of money his foster dad has in his bank account. 

Barret Oliver as Daryl in "D.A.R.Y.L."

Government officials eventually track down Daryl during a little league baseball game. 

They tell the Richardsons that Daryl's real parents are looking for him and he needs to be returned to them. 

Little do the Richardsons know that the two posing as Daryl's parents are really Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Josef Sommer) and his assistant, Dr. Ellen Lamb (Kathryn Walker). They're Daryl's creators and programmers. 

But they pretend to be his biological parents and take him back to TASCOM facility in Washington, D.C., to restore Daryl's memory. 

It turns out Daryl is a government-made prototype for an artificially intelligent super soldier, with a microcomputer for a brain. His name is an acronym for "Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform."

Now that he's been found, the government wants to abandoned the project and orders Dr. Stewart to completely destroy Daryl. A military official is sent to oversee Daryl's 

Dr. Stewart thinks that since Daryl relies on his organic body, it's enough to make him a real person. So, he takes a moral stance against destroying Daryl. But the government doesn't care. They want the boy destroyed.

Dr. Stewart sneaks Daryl out of the TASCOM facilities and tries to take him to a safe place. Of course, he and Daryl are chased by military officials and local police.  

Daryl manages to escape, but Dr. Stewart isn't as lucky. Daryl manages to hijack a fighter jet from an air force base and takes off. 

The government now has its crosshairs on the jet which they are going to blow up. But Daryl isn't going to go down so easily. 

It's an innocent enough movie that lacks flavor and excitement. It could have been memorable movie, but much of the writing is too flimsy. 

"D.A.R.Y.L." barely gives its audience any suspense, other than keeping them wondering what Daryl is supposed to be. 

The first half of the movie is predictable and drags on until the movie shifts on a dime, turning into a dark and improbable story. That is, improbable as far as the military being so eager and "cartoonishly" villainous to completely destroy a half-human individual. This movie plays completely by the rules, and follows the basic formula for family entertainment, even with the villainous military trying to destroy Daryl. 

During the first half, it takes a while for something exciting to happen once the movie establishes how intelligent and effortlessly talented Daryl is.  

The movie doesn't really kick into gear until the final act. But I suspect the ending had something cut before being theatrically released. In the final scene, we see Daryl lying unconscious...maybe dead...back at the Richardson's home? And then the scene shifts to him running down the street towards his buddy Turtle. I'm sure something happens between Daryl's unconsciousness to charging down the street. Maybe the writers knew how predictable an ending it was for Daryl to just wake up and go see his pal. So, they cut the middle man and got straight to the resolution. 

Josef Sommer and Barret Oliver.

What throws me off is the movie's explanation of what Daryl, or D.A.R.Y.L., actually is. I initially thought he was some sort of half robot, half human. In one scene, Dr. Lamp tells the Army General overseeing Daryl's destruction, "A machine becomes human when you can't tell the difference anymore."

In another scene, when Dr. Stewart brings in Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, along with Turtle to the TASCOM facility to show them what D.A.R.Y.L. really is, Turtle exclaims, "Holy sh*t! He's a robot?"

Dr. Stewart replies, "He's more than that, Turtle. He's a lot more."

He explains that DARYL was cloned out of genetic material in a test tube with a computer brain. 

However, his name is an acronym for "Data Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform." So, is he a robot or what? He's a prototype for a super soldier, rather than a full-fledge robot. 

He develops true emotions, feelings and a personality. He's real, or real enough.  

According to IMDB, he's a cyborg. And as a cyborg, he still relies on a human body, respiration, circulation and a heartbeat. The only thing that's computerize inside Daryl is a chip implanted in his brain. 

And the military is hellbent on destroying Daryl no matter what. They ultimately resort to letting him blow up with the self destruct mechanism in the jet he steals. The General remains resolute in the will of the government. Just "let him die." Daryl makes them think they blew him up in order to survive. The movie turns dark really fast. 

Overall, the movie is a cut and dry story with not much excitement to carry the audience through. Barret Oliver does as much as he can with this character that's not given a lot of opportunity to impress the audience. He's just a likeable kid, and that's as far as it goes. The movie is simply too bland all together, even though all the excitement is saved until the end, trying to save this already dud of a movie. 

And by the way, I didn't see the Jetsons anywhere in "D.A.R.Y.L."

3) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

(4.5 's out of 5)

"Only when we fight to stay human, we realize how precious it is to us." 

Director

Don Siegal

Cast
Kevin McCarthy - Dr. Miles Bennell
Dana Wynter - Becky Driscoll
King Donovan - Jack Belicec
Carolyn Jones - Teddy Belicec
Larry Gates - Dr. Dan Kauffman
Virginia Christine - Wilma Lentz
Ralph Dumke - Police Chief Nick Grivett
Kenneth Patterson - Stanley Driscoll
Guy Way - Officer Sam Janzek

The 1956 original film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is a movie truly ingrained in American pop culture, even for those who've never actually seen it. 

For me, it's easily the "Citizen Kane" of B Sci-Fi movies. Some may consider other B Sci-Fi movies to be the "Citizen Kane" of the genre. But for me, it's this one. 

This movie goes past the typical paranoia that existed in the era it was made - the atomic age of sci-fi/horror movies when audiences were weary of space invaders traveling across light years to visit earth and, maybe, pick a fight with us, starting with an innocent small American town.

Instead, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" relies on the fear of losing our capacity to love our loved ones or losing their love to the point of no return.

I would love to see the atomic age of sci-fi horror reemerge in modern Hollywood with aliens and nuclear monsters intruding in on our peace of mind. I thought maybe a new atomic age might resurface after all the congressional hearings in Washington D.C. involving documented military experiences with UFOs, or UAPs as they're now referred to. 

The idea of UFOs and government cover-ups is no longer the stuff of far-fetched conspiracies. It's all over mainstream news outlets. Our government is taking a serious (give or take) look at the possibility we're not alone in the universe. 

Despite this currant attention, it doesn't seem anything new about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets has come about. So, I guess that leaves all this back to being...well...government cover-ups and far-fetched conspiracies just like before.    

Alien movies still pop up in theaters once in a while. Jordan Peele's 2022 alien movie "Nope" comes straight to mind. 

Still, the general public just isn't as interested in aliens like it used to be. If the government right now declared aliens are real, and are visiting our planet, and an actual alien spacecraft landed on the front lawn of the White House or the U.S. Capital, with the entire world watching, millions of people still wouldn't care as much. They'd likely be way more interested in something like...I don't know... Taylor Swift being seen attending another Chiefs game, or what'll happen in the next "Frozen" movie. 

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is based on Jack Finney's 1954 science-fiction novel "The Body Snatchers."

The movie centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy). 

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

It opens with a panicked Miles in an emergency room while in custody. He tells the doctors that he's also a doctor, and then recounts the events that led him to being in police custody and being taken the emergency room. 

He works as a psychiatrist in Santa Mira, and suddenly sees a surge of people suffering from Capgras syndrome, which is the delusion that someone close to us has been replaced by an identical imposter. He even encounters a young kid who's convinced his mother isn't really his mother anymore. It's a very effective scene. 

Miles meets up with a former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who just went through a divorce. 

They spend some time together, have a drink, and then are interrupted by Miles's friend, Jack Belicec (King Donovan) who wants Miles to examine what appears to be a dead body that suddenly appeared in his house. 

Even though the sudden appearance of a dead body is weird enough, what's stranger is that the cadaver doesn't have any distinguishable facial features nor any fingerprints. 

Within a short period of time, the dead body begins to develop facial features which are identical to Belicec. 

Later, Becky finds another cadaver in her basement that looks just like her. 

Miles calls fellow psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kauffman over. By the time he gets there, both bodies are gone. 

Sometime later, Miles and Becky along with Jack and his wife, Teddy (Carolyn Jones), discover duplicates of themselves hatching from some weird alien pods inside Miles's greenhouse. 

It soon dawns on the group that everyone in Santa Mira is being replaced by alien doubles.  

Jack and Teddy head out of town to find help.

Miles tries contacting the feds, but his attempts are futile.

All the exact doubles show no humanity or emotion. They're nothing short of mindless cattle. 

So, Miles and Becky crash in Miles's office for the night. They realize, too, that if they fall asleep, they'll be replaced by their alien doubles. 

When morning comes, looking out from the office window, they see a truck out front with loads of pods arriving in the town square. 

They hear the police chief instruct inhabitants to take pods to the neighboring town. 

Kauffman and Belicec have become pod people now and find Miles and Becky up in the office. 

They brought some pod people to replace Miles and Becky along with them. 

The police chief arrives in the office to keep Miles and Becky from escaping until they're replaced with the alien doubles.

Becky and Miles happen to escape and run for their lives all the way to an abandoned mine while the alien towns people chase them. 

They managed to hide and elude their chasers. But they're exhausted and want to sleep.  

While hiding, they hear music playing somewhere. Miles goes to see where its coming from, leaving Becky behind. When he returns, he finds that she fell asleep and became one of "them." 

Becky alerts the other aliens that she has Miles, but he runs off making his way onto a busy highway where he tries to stop traffic and warn people about the alien pods. Miles finds a truck hauling pods to San Francisco. 
"They're here already! You're next! You're next," he shouts. That's when he ends up arrested and at the emergency room. 

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is, without a doubt, the best B-SciFi movie I've ever seen. I didn't understand how the alien doubles take over the real people when they fall asleep. I'll need to re-watch the movie to figure that part out. 

Still, the movie feels like a fresh take from the usual sci-fi movies of the era. It's not another movie about alien versus earth's might. It's about the need to keep a tight grasp on our humanity. 

The fearful element lies with the trepidation and personal insecurity of our nearest loved ones suddenly becoming strangers. It may be an element in other sci-fi movies of the era, but it's the primary foundation for this particular movie. 

McCarthy's character development from a rational doctor to a frantic and fearful man shows how vulnerable we all are. 

McCarthy has become a horror icon, appearing in classics such as "Piranha," "The Howling" and "Twilight Zone: The Movie." He also stars as the antagonist alongside "Weird" Al Yankovic in a movie close to my heart - "UHF." 

As a fun fact, Billy Peltzer watches "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" up in his bedroom in a scene in Gremlins. McCarthy also cameos as Dr. Miles Bennell in the 2003 movie "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." 

Some interpret this movie as a metaphor for the communist threat of the era. And that makes sense. It's a political ideology that leaves its victims as mindless unimportant pawns.  

The theme of society becoming dehumanized, and the disappearance of empathy is always a relevant one. This movie captures that theme respectably well. 

2) The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

(3 👽's out of 5)

"No matter where you go, there you are!" 

Director

W.D. Richter

Cast

Peter Weller - Dr. Buckaroo Banzai
John Lithgow - Dr. Emilio Lizardo / Lord John Whorfin
Jeff Goldblum - Dr. Sidney Zweibel
Christopher Lloyd - John Bigbooté
Ellen Barkin - Penny Priddy
Lewis Smith - Tommy "Perfect Tommy"
Robert Ito - Prof. Tohichi Hikita
Vincent Schiavelli - John O'Connor
Bill Henderson - Casper Lindley
Damon Hines - Scooter Lindley
Carl Lumbly - John Parker
Clancy Brown - Rawhide

No doubt Sci-Fi fans across the interwoven makeup of my personal social media accounts have waited with shaking breath full of anticipation, unable to contain themselves wondering what movie I'd post about next. Well, here it is. 

When I came up with this particular blog, the 1984 star-studded cinematic Sci-Fi experience, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" was one title I had on forefront of my mind to watch and comment on.

And by star-studded, I mean it has RoboCop himself, Peter Weller along with John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Vincent Schiavelli, and that moody prison guard from "Shawshank Redemption," Clancy Brown.

I have never seen this movie before, but I've definitely heard of it. You don't forget a title like "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension." It sounds corny yet intriguing. It draws you in with the idea that you just gotta see this. It's one of my favorite Sci-Fi titles, second to the 2001 movie, "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack." It just rolls off the tongue.

This movie feels like an ode to all self-proclaimed nerds and geeks out there. Perhaps that wasn't the case back in 1984 when it was released. But it sure feels that way now.

Banzai (Peter Weller) is a half Japanese, half American race car driving nuclear physicist, neurosurgeon, rock star crime fighter who has to battle aliens. 

He and his mentor, Dr. Tohichi Hikita (Robert Ito), have successfully designed a breakthrough device called an "oscillation overthruster" which allows a solid object to pass through another solid object. 

The film opens as they test the overthruster by strapping it to a jet car that Banzai drives straight towards the side of a mountain. 

The car successfully travels through the side of the mountain and comes out on the other side in one piece. When Banzai is within the space occupied by the mountain, he breaks through into the 8th dimension. 

When he's back in the normal dimension on the other side of the mountain, Banzai discovers an alien creature attached to the underside of the car. 

Anyhow, this amazing scientific breakthrough makes the news. Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), who's incarcerated at the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane, catches the story on T.V. 

This news sets him off as he and Hikita built a prototype oscillation overthruster back in 1938.

Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai.

However, Lizardo tested it before all the kinks and bugs were fixed, and his attempt to pass through matter caused him to be stuck between dimensions. 

While in the 8th dimension, Lizardo was attacked by aliens until his colleagues were able to free him. 

He came out of his experience with much more violent aggression than he previously had. 

Well, now he knows Banzai has travelled across the 8th dimension. So, Lizardo escapes the asylum to go find and steal the overthruster. 

Meanwhile, Banzai and his band, "The Hong Kong Cavaliers" are performing at a night club when Banzai stops the music to address a girl, Penny Priddy (Ellen Barkin), who's crying in the audience. 

He talks to her for a moment before dedicating his next song to her. While he croons Penny, sheattempts suicide by pointing a gun to her head. 

However, someone bumps her arm, and she accidentally fires in the air. The band mistakes the gunshot as an assassination attempt, leading to her arrest.

Banzai goes to visit Priddy in jail and discovers she's the long-lost identical twin sister of his late wife, Peggy. So, he gets her out of prison. 

Later, during a press conference where Banzai answers questions about the overthruster, the journey through matter, the alien creature he found on his car, and his experience in the 8th dimension, Banzai gets a phone call from the President of the United States. 

When he takes the call, there's phone interference caused, unbeknownst to Banzai, by aliens in their spacecraft heading to Earth. 

The aliens send an electric shock to him through the phone which programs his brain to see aliens disguised as humans. 

John Bigbooté (Christopher Lloyd) and John O'Connor (Vincent Schiavelli) are two of these humanoid aliens present at the press conference. 

They disrupt the conference and kidnap Hikita before Banzai chases them around and rescues his mentor. Banzai can see them as the horrible aliens they really are. The Cavaliers come to rescue Banzai and Hikita, and then all return to the Banzai Institute.

While they're all there, a humanoid alien named John Parker (Carl Lumbly) delivers a message to Banzai on behalf of the leader of the peaceful Black Lectroids of Planet 10.

The message is from a female Lectroid named John Emdall (Rosalind Cash) who informs Banzai that the Black Lectroids have been at war with Red Lectroids, and banished them from the 8th dimension. 

When Lizardo was trapped in the dimension back in 1938, the leader of the Red Lectroids, Lord John Whorfin, took over Lizardo's mind and body. On top of that, Whorfin helped a lot of his allies escape that day. 

So, now that Banzai and Hikita have successfully mastered the overthruster, Whorfin and his allies will certainly try to steal it so they can free more Red Lectroids.

John Emdall wants Banzai to stop him. If he doesn't, she promises the Black Lectroids will attack Russia from their ship, blame it on the U.S. and that'll start a nuclear war which will destroy the world and the Red Lectroids. 

Well, Banzai doesn't have much of a choice now.

Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Sidney Zweibel.

So, he and the Cavaliers track the Red Lectroids to a company called Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in New Jersey.

They also figure out, thanks in large part to Dr. Sidney Zweibel (Jeff Goldblum) that Orson Welles's 1938 broadcast of "War of the Worlds" was actually a real news broadcast cover the arrival of the Lectroids. But they forced him to claim it was all fictional.

At Yoyodyne, the Reds have been trying to build a craft, disguised as a U.S. Air Force Bomber, that can successfully cross into the 8th dimension.

As the Cavaliers are figuring out what they're going to do, Red Lectroids break in and kidnap Penny Priddy. It won't be long before the aliens realize she has the overthruster with her. 

Banzai and the Cavaliers need to rescue her and get the overthruster back before it falls into the hands of the Red Lectroids, and the Black Lectroids attack Russia which will destroy humanity. 

"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" is definitely a product of its time. Still, it's a movie that doesn't get enough attention. 

After all, it was up against some strong competition as "Ghostbusters," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "The Terminator," "Amadeus," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," and "Gremlins" were all released the same year. 

It's a spectacle that needs to be experienced firsthand. 

It's a cult classic in the true meaning of the term. That is, it has its fanbase while it tends to whiz past mainstream audiences. I sincerely appreciate that fanbase. 

John Lithgow's performance really carries the movie. He has so much energy and enjoyment in his insane villainous role. It's a performance that deserves so much acclaim and nods, if it hasn't received a lot already. Check out this 2016 interview where Lithgow discusses his role in this film. 

A lot of the lines, as quirky as they are, are hard to forget. There's a lot of quotable catchy stuff in this flick. 

"History is-a made at night. Character is what you are in the dark."

Or, "Lithium is no longer available on credit."
How about, "Evil pure and simple by way of the eighth dimension!"

John Lithgow shouts this line in brilliantly insane over-the-top typical 1980s Lithgow fashion, "May I pass along my congratulations for your great interdimensional breakthrough. I'm sure, in the miserable annals of the Earth, you will be duly enshrined." 

Then there's this line! 

"Buckaroo, I don't know what to say. Lectroids? Planet 10? Nuclear extortion? A girl named 'John'?" Try dropping that line out of context at a party, or something. 

Also, Christopher Lloyd's character is called "John Bigbooté." That can't be ignored. It definitely came from the mind of an eight-year-old. All throughout the movie, they keep addressing him as "Bigbooté." It's said over and over again! Bigbooté!

I believe this is the directorial debut of writer W. D. Richter. His name would next be found as a writer for the 1986 John Carpenter movie, "Big Trouble in Little China." He was also a writer on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978) and the 1991Stephen King movie "Needful Things" which stars Max von Sydow.  

This movie is like a mix of Dr. Who, Star Trek, and a of 80's punk to taste. 

It drags on a bit at times, especially with Banzai and the Cavaliers chasing aliens and all that. 

It packs in too many plot points for the audience to take in, coming across as scatterbrained and disjointed. 

Even so, the movie has creativity which makes it clear that the movie is trying really hard. It deserves recognition for its efforts. 

It's supposed to be a Sci-Fi satire, but the satirical nature comes across subtly, except with names like, well... Bigbooté. 

Some of the lines sounded very scripted and are delivered awkwardly. 

And some of the actors portraying aliens clearly sound like they're talking through Halloween masks. That's likely because they're wearing masks.

However, the characters are likeable enough, but too many of the side characters aren't captivating nor interesting. And I have no doubt Goldblum tapped back into his role, Dr. Sidney Zweibel, when he played Dr. Ian Malcolm in "Jurassic Park."   

Looking past all the problems, the movie manages to be a fun film that allows the audience to let loose, not take the experience seriously, and escape life for 102 minutes. I can see why "Buckaroo Banzai" has a cult following. The imagery and story, as overpacked as it is, is imaginative and fun. 

The movie ends with the claim that Buckaroo Banzai would return in "Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League." That unfortunately never happened. I'd watch it. 

Anyways, this movie is definitely an experience to say the least.