I've been ionized, but I'm okay now

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

The man's been through solid matter, for crying out loud. Who knows what's happened to his brain? Maybe it's scrambled his molecules. All I'm saying is, Mr. President, let's not panic.

The Mystery Machine · Nov 18, 2005

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

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

Home... home is where you wear your hat... I feel so breakup, I wanna go home.

Towncrier · Nov 18, 2005

"Laugh while you can, monkey boy."

The Mystery Machine · Nov 18, 2005

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Now you get this straight...you're up to your (ehem, edited for content)*back ends* in alligators, and
I'm here to drain the swamp. So I'm gonna use this phone...because it
is all over for you, Baby Blue...
(picking up the phone)
This is the Secretary of Defense at the poorly guarded west gate. I
wanna speak to John Bigbooté, person to person. Okay, okay...Bigbooté.

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

The White House wants to know is everything ok with the alien space craft from Planet 10 or should we just go ahead and destroy Russia?

Tell him yes on one and no on two.

WDWHound · Nov 18, 2005

Why is the there a watermelon there?
I'll tell you later.

note: there was actually a reason there was a watermelon there, and it had noothing to do witht he plot of the film.

WDWHound · Nov 18, 2005

Where are we going?
Planet 10!
When?
Real Soon!

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

One more word out of you, Bigbooty...

WDWHound said:
Why is the there a watermelon there?
I'll tell you later.

note: there was actually a reason there was a watermelon there, and it had noothing to do witht he plot of the film.

Yes, but the reason may be weirder than the film............

WDWHound · Nov 18, 2005

Perfect Tommy: Wasn't he on TV once?
Buckaroo: You're thinking of Mr. Wizard.
Reno: Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dummkopf.
Perfect Tommy: So was Mr. Wizard

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

Buckaroo Banzai: Let her out.
Perfect Tommy: Let her out?
Buckaroo Banzai: That's right, let her out. I'll be responsible.
Perfect Tommy: But she's a killer.
Buckaroo Banzai: No, she's not. Now, let her out and give her your coat.
Perfect Tommy: Why me?
Buckaroo Banzai: Because you're perfect.
Perfect Tommy: You have a point there.

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

I've come for your tv. You've been using too much juice. Another 10,000 kilowatts again this month. Beats me how an old, homicidal loony can use that much power.

WDWHound · Nov 18, 2005

Galahad said:
Yes, but the reason may be weirder than the film............

The story goes that, during filming, higher ups at the studio kept complaining about all the wierd stuff in the film they saw when watching the dailys. They wanted the filmed toned down and made less strange. Then one day the complaints stopped coming. After a week or two, the director decided to check if any of the higher ups were still watching the dailys, so he inserted a complete nonsequetor into one scene (yup, the watermelon). When that didn't draw any comments, they knew the higher ups had simply stopped paying attenion and they were free to do whatever they wanted.

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

WDWHound said:
The story goes that, during filming, higher up at the studio kept complaining about all the wierd stuff in the film they saw when watching the dailys. They wanted the filmed toned down and made less strange. Then one day the complaints stopped coming. After a week or two, the director decided to check if any of the higher ups were still watching the dailys, so he inserted a complete nonsequetor into one scene (yup, the watermelon). When that didn't draw any comments, they knew the higher ups had simply stopped paying attenion and they were free to do whatever they wanted.

Sounds much more plausable than the explanation that I read (which essentially said that it was about a non-published sub-plot having little to do with the story line but may have been referenced in a never made subsequent movie).

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

Buckaroo Banzai: It flies like a truck.
John Parker: Good. What is a truck?

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

From the Director (in 1986)

"I can only imagine Buckaroo trying to grapple with this question. When cornered (as I feel now), he often quotes H.L. Mencken's nasty remark about how every complex question always has a simple answer...that is usually wrong. But it is high time poor New Jersey's honest inquiry be answered. Let me rephrase the question first one way, then another. "Why is a watermelon trapped between those monstrous pressure plates deep within the Institute's Critical Stress Laboratory?"

Team Banzai botanical agronomists have been for years hard at work on the problem of hunger in Third World countries under constant revolutionary turmoil. A non-political, humanitarian effort, their goal has been to find ways to feed starving peoples in remote areas where traditional food delivery systems prove woefully inadequate. Often the only way to get the nourishment into the bellies of the needy is to hit and run, avoiding all petty ideological side-taking.

What you see in the Critical Stress Lab is a revolutionary watermelon capable of withstanding impact pressures of 300,000 pounds per square inch! Sweet, juicy and vitamin-packed, this remarkable fruit can be dropped from the bomb bays of low-flying aircraft into the backyards of disenfranchised villagers in the remotest backwaters of this angry planet. Just another Team Banzai effort to cut through all the unnecessary crap around us and help people help themselves. Look for high-impact, low cholesterol eggs next... and sooner than you think, shatter-proof whole-wheat taco shells.

Rephrasing Number Two: "Why is there a watermelon in the movie at that particularly tense moment? Doesn't it clutter the narrative flow?" Absolutely, it does, in answer to part two of your question. But isn't life full of things that get in the way?

Those of us making the movie that day felt under particularly severe pressure from forces who would rather we'd all just stayed in bed. Not much of what we were doing didn't clutter the movie. With a mountain rushing up in our faces, was there any point in putting on the brakes? Would Buckaroo put on the brakes?? Would a watermelon in the midst of a chase sequence not be, in its own organic way, emblematic of our entire misunderstood enterprise? At once totally logical and perfectly irrational?

Exactly. We knew it would confound and upset certain authoritarian types. So we did it. And it worked."

[The question that this all brings up is, of course, if you create a watermelon that can withstand the impact from being dropped from an airplane, how do the people that find it open it up?]

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

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 inscribed.

WDWHound · Nov 18, 2005

Galahad said:
Sounds much more plausable than the explanation that I read (which essentially said that it was about a non-published sub-plot having little to do with the story line but may have been referenced in a never made subsequent movie).

I got my version from the director's narration on the DVD. Now I will grant that much of that narration is tounge in cheek (they pretend Buckaroo is a real person throughout the whole thing), but much of it was in a more serious vain and I suspect this story is fairly close to the truth.

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

Galahad · Nov 18, 2005

Rawhide: If it Ain't One thing, It's something else

I've been ionized, but I'm okay now

.....an appointment

Sunrise at my house. :+)

.....an appointment

DIS Legend

Sunrise at my house. :+)

.....an appointment

DIS Veteran

DIS Veteran

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DIS Veteran

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.....an appointment

DIS Veteran

.....an appointment

.....an appointment

.....an appointment

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DIS Veteran

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