Item: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension
Rating: 9
Author: Rick Sanchez

When I first got my DVD player several years ago, I made a mental short list of about 12 movies that I would shoot my dog to get brought over. At the top of that list is my all time favorite cult movie, Buckaroo Banzai. It is with great pleasure and a tremendous relief that I can tell you today that the Special Edition DVD of this movie is AWESOME and I didn¿t even have to kill my dog.The MovieChances are very high if you¿re bothering to read this review you¿ve already seen the movie and just want to know about the plethora of special features. Rest assured, I¿ll get to that in a minute and spend most of my time writing about it, but for the uninitiated, here¿s the basic facts. Before you read further, I must stress that no review can truly capture the quirky kooky quality of this movie.First off, the full name, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension! Wow, what a mouthful. We will not be referring to the full name of the movie again for the duration of this review. In a nutshell, the movie is about Buckaroo Banzai, a world famous scientist, brain surgeon, rock star, who discovered a way to pass through solid mater and into the Eighth Dimension using a device known as a Ossolation Overthruster. Unbeknownst to Buckaroo, a group of evil Red Lectroids from Planet 10 have broken out of their Eighth Dimensional prison and have set up camp in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Their Evil Leader Emilio Lizardo, aka Lord John Warfin, determines to steal the Overthruster so that he and his goons can return to Planet 10 and take over.

That, gentle readers, is the big picture, which totally fails to account for the off beat humor that is pervasive in the film. Here¿s an example. Lizardo is a patient in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. During a scene in the hospital, the PA system has a number of announcements in the background like, ¿Tranquilizers are being dispensed to all patients between the hours of 10 and 11 am Tuesdays, Fridays, and Wednesdays.¿ or ¿lithium is no longer available on credit.¿ I could go on and on but if you haven¿t seen the movie, I don't want to spoil the really good stuff. If you enjoy movies like Big Trouble in Little China you¿ll like this one.Before you see my score for this movie, I have to offer a bit of a disclaimer. People who have seen this movie either love it or hate it. I confess that I absolutely love it and my score reflects that.9 out of 10

Dr. Emilio Lizardo, aka Lord John Warfin, enjoying a bit of electricity.

The VideoI¿ve just got two words for you. Anamorphic Widescreen!!!!! I believe that for the first time ever, Buckaroo Banzai is being presented in it¿s full widescreen glory. Not only that, but it is enhanced for you lucky dogs with widescreen TV sets. Both of the tape versions of the movie as well as the laserdisc were pan and scan. There was a bootleg tape going round for over a decade that was letterboxed, but it wasn¿t full widescreen. There is so much going on visually in this movie that the widescreen nature of the DVD alone is worth the $20. Lucky us, there is so much more yet to discuss!The transfer is also top notch. There were no compression artifacts in any scenes. NONE! The color quality was also excellent, rendering true flesh tones, deep blacks, and vibrant colors. The Superbit movies have raised the bar for visual quality, but I¿ve got to tell you that this movie still looks outstanding.9 out of 10

The Hong Kong Cavaliers jamming at Artie'z Artery

The AudioThe DVD has a new 5.1 Dolby Digital sound track that is outstanding. I can¿t honestly say that the soundtrack it is up to the same quality of any movies released in the last, oh, ten years, but compared to my laserdisc, the audio is heaven.8 out of 10The ExtrasIf you haven¿t seen the movie and don't want me to spoil anything for you, don't read this section past the list of special features. You were warned.MGM released this disc with ¿Special Edition¿ appended to the name, and for a change, it truly is a special edition disc. You get more extra features than you can shake a stick at. Here¿s the list:

Alternate Opening - The original opening that was shot for the film and explains the origin of Buckaroo. You can choose to watch the movie with the alternate opening included.
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified Documentary - A documentary hosted by W.D. Richter about the making of the movie. Not the best doc I¿ve ever seen, but still fun.
Deleted Scenes Archives - more about this later
Commentary with W.D. Richter and writer Earl Mac Rauch
Character Profiles
Banzai Institute Archives
Photo Gallery
Jet Car All Access
Pinky Carruther¿s Unknown Facts
Teaser Trailer
Nuon features

Quite a list, ain¿t it?Last chance to avoid spoilers!

Okay then. Lets start with a little history. For over a decade, a bootleg workprint version of Buckaroo Banzai has been floating around comic book shows and sci fi conventions. The bootleg version didn¿t include any of the final music, sound effects or audio sweetening that usually goes into a movie. The bootleg version also contained footage that wasn¿t shown in the theatrical release. The most important section of the bootleg was the opening sequence that explained Buckaroo¿s origins. It is shot home movie style and shows a young Buckaroo with his father and mother (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) at a test range where his father is trying out the first prototype of the Jet Car that Buckaroo would later use to test his own Overthruster. The test is sabotaged, however, and kills Buckaroo¿s mother and father. The sequence is narrated by Rawhide, Buckaroo¿s right hand man, and gives a lot of the backstory of the movie. All through the rest of the workprint are snippets of dialog that are not in the theatrical release. Almost all of them refer to Hanoi Xan, Buckaroo¿s arch nemesis and the man responsible for killing his wife Peggy. The bootleg version of the movie much more closely followed the book that writer Earl Mac Rauch wrote to accompany the film. With the exception of the opening scene, almost all the deleted scenes were good choices for the flow of the movie.Now on to the DVD. The opening sequence has been remastered and you can choose to watch a version of the movie that includes the original opening. A very nice touch I must say. The deleted scenes section looks like it includes all the dialog snippets from the workprint edit that were excised from the theatrical release. All the snippets are placed in context with bumper scenes from the theatrical release before and after the snippets.

The best feature, however, is watching the movie with Pinky Carruther¿s Unknown Facts turned on. With this feature enabled as you watch the movie, facts about the making of the movie or the characters or bits of wisdom from luminaries like Einstein, Arthur C. Clark and Buckaroo himself appear in the subtitle space. A lot of the facts come out of the book and there are a number of surprises that are revealed for the first time (the big on concerns Buckaroo¿s pal Rawhide.)Another very cool feature is the character profiles. All the major characters and some of the minor ones get mini-bios, and there are details about Hanoi Xan that make the deleted scenes make more sense.In the Banzai Institute Archives there are tons of pictures, factoids and other oddities for the die hard Banzai fan. One of the neatest archives is the movie tie ins section that shows all the posters, stickers, video tape covers and other memorabilia that was created for the film.The commentary from Richter and Rauch is interesting, but not as entertaining as the commentary on Carpenter¿s The Thing or as illuminating as the commentary a lot of other discs. A good addition all the same.There is also an animated sequence that was used as a teaser to try to green light an animated series based on the Banzai characters. The animation is quite cool and a very nice tidbit that most Banzai fans probably haven¿t seen before.My only complaint about the Carruther¿s Unknown Facts and the Character Profiles is that they occasionally contradict things in the book. To discuss any specifics spoils the fun of the DVD too much, but suffice it to say that I felt compelled to read the book again to verify the inaccuracies. It is a very minor quibble but if you¿re a hard core Blue Blazer Irregular like myself, it is a bit puzzling considering they went to such trouble to be true to Richter and Rauch¿s original intentions. 10 out of 10I have always loved Buckaroo Banzai (in a platonic way) and am thrilled that it finally came to DVD. I am even more thrilled by the special edition treatment that this landmark cult film has received at the hands of MGM. The video is great, the sound is great, there are tons of extras and most importantly, say it with me, widescreen! Bottom line, if you're a Buckaroo fan, this is the home video version you have been waiting for. As an aside, the paperback edition of Buckaroo has also been re-released, so not only can you get your movie fix, but you can find out all about Hanoi Xan and Penny Priddy's secret (that isn't on the disc!)Overall 9 out of 10