MovieChat Forums > The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) Discussion > confusion possibly related to netflix ve...

confusion possibly related to netflix version help!

posted 11 years ago by chaosbaron
3 replies | jump to latest

I am watching the film on netflix and I am think that maybe there are some major scenes or lines missing.

So it shows buckaroo banzai who is the main character in some kind of car with wings when he goes off course and travels through a mountain seeing all sorts of weird stuff. Then I learn he and the other super scientists who all carry guns for some reason are also a part of a band. It cuts to a crazed John Lithgow electrocuting himself and having a flash back to when he was a scientist also trying to go through walls but fails and presumably becomes possessed.
Banzais band goes to play at a show where banzai sees a women crying, she tries to shoot herself which results in everyone pulling out guns and randomly pointing them (?) and the girl is dragged away.. ok. So then they go and get cowboy jeff golblum from a police station which happens to be holding that girl that the guy explains might be the sister of some girl he used to know and its also mentioned she is "homicidal". Am I supposed to know who this girl is?
Then they are at some meeting with suicide girl and Jeff Golblum on the board for some reason explaining to a tiny crowd the immense discovery they just made when they get a call from the "president" who turns out to just be aliens flying around in a broken tree who then electrocute him through the phone (?!?!) and release a spaceship or monster called a thermopod. Then Somehow Banzai knows that evil aliens are in the audience and I guess... nobody else just noticed the pair of aliens in suits sitting in the stands lol and Doc Brown from back to the future takes one of the Banzai group hostage. And then it shows that Doc Brown and John Lithgow are actually just aliens... I think that is them driving the truck anyhow.

I watched it a little further, and it didn't help. So I restarted it. I am so confused. Am I supposed to have some degree of background information before watching this film? I am utterly confused. Stuff just keeps happening before I can even understand the last thing to have taken place. Should I just turn it off or finish it to understand what is happening. This usually isn't a problem for me. Thanks!

[–] ghost_hat 11 years ago

No, that's pretty accurate so far with nothing missing. You just get dropped into the "world" of Buckaroo Banzai without a lot of pre-explanation (though this version has a little opening text, did you read that?). You pick it up as you go, by the end a lot is explained but not all. It's not for everybody, but I love this movie.

It's kind of like watching Star Wars and wondering "what's a Jedi? Who are all these people in the cantena, are any of them important? Why does Han Solo owe "Jabba" money?". If you've seen the SW films you know some of this is explained and some isn't, but people have been filling in the gaps for years. BB is similar, it has more to it than just appears on film.
"Why is there a watermelon there?"- there is an answer if you really want to know!
My advice is not to give up on it, but I'm a huge fan.

[–] dijomaja-382-516639 11 years ago

As the post above says, it's easy to assume you missed something. There's a DVD release with a few extra scenes but not much that answers the OP's questions. There's also a book version of the story by screenwriter Earl Mac Rauch which helps a bit and hanging around here fills in the odd blank but even then, as the post above notes, you pretty much have to accept the BB universe as it is.

In fact, the first time I started watching I gave up early, figuring the filmmakers were having more fun than I was. Years later, though, I put together a "Family Music" band and named it The Radar Rangers (after my Radar Range microwave oven). Researching the name I read that the name appears somewhere in the BB world. Several viewings, a reading of the book and an inquiry here failed to confirm this but, by that time, I was enjoying the story so much I didn't care.

(Warning: shameless pluggery ahead)

For our first "official" Radar Rangers video we spoofed a spoof and incorporated some adventure-serial-style ideas. Anyone who has a kid, knows a kid or was one might appreciate it. For some reason the link won't paste but anyone interested can go to You Know Which Tube and look for 'The Elbow Mambo' by The Radar Rangers.

Feedback is welcome, thanks.

[–] chaosbaron 11 years ago

Thanks for the responses, they make sense. I believe I ended up finishing the film. I read afterwards that BB was intended to be a series but couldn't find the financial backing it wanted.

I understand the Star Wars comparison, that makes perfect sense I suppose. It is probably different because I watched Star Wars for the first times as a kid and I am watching BB as an adult and my logic mind has taken over my imaginative mind.