Astronomy 101 (Killer Klowns from Outer Space / Spaceballs / The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

This box set of three movies tries to take advantage of a college course theme to generate interest for films already available in these same editions. This collection uses Astronomy to bunch together three lighthearted science fiction adventures. The films are Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Spaceballs, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension. The lesson we’re really learning here is how corporate quests for profits can reach almost ridiculous proportions. Many studios are running low on the films in their libraries that have yet to be released but still have a market to sustain a DVD title. The obvious answer to this dilemma is double, triple, and beyond dipping. The idea is to repackage a film, maybe add an extra or two, often not, and put it in a newer, shinier package. In theory we unsavvy buyers are like wild raccoons who can’t resist putting their hands on that new glittering design and will buy products which we already own. It would sound silly, except that it works. Record companies have been doing it for decades. Elvis has been dead for almost 30 years, but there’s still at least one new Elvis CD every year since. OK. Rant out of the way. Let’s talk about the three films in the package.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Coulrophobia is the irrational fear of clowns, and quite frankly, haven’t we all been a little wary of those colorful manic performers in baggy pants? Duoinvidaphobia is the somewhat more rational fear of DVD’s of films re-released with no upgrade or new extras to show for it. But like it or not, MGM has graced us with an unnecessary version of Killer Klowns From Outer Space. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that just about anything at all, no matter how innocent it might seem, can be deadly. From tomatoes to repackaged DVD’s to killer klowns, I guess we’re never really safe. The film itself is a mildly entertaining cult favorite with more than enough laughs and chills to make it worth seeing. The film does a grand job of creating the most spine-tingling clowns you will ever see. These animatronic beasts are by themselves worth your first look at the film.

Aliens have come to Earth in a spaceship that looks remarkably like a circus big top. They’re hungry, and we’re on the menu. Using every circus tradition they can, the film has their clowns firing popcorn guns and others that turn humans into tasty little globs of cotton candy. Yummy! Of course a few local teens are wise to the whole thing, but in true Invasion Of The Body Snatcher fashion, nobody believes them until too late. Particularly insistent among the unbelievers is Officer Mooney, played for a few great laughs by film veteran John Vernon. The film is certainly a tent stake to your funny bone, but there are some effective creepy moments to be found. Grant Cramer and Suzanne Snyder do a serviceable job of screaming their way through as the teens in the know and on the run. Most of the film is your typical monsters picking off locals fare. No question this nightmare is more like a sweet dream, but the Chiodo Brothers do deliver a lasting film. It doesn’t take long before you too will realize, “There’s something funny happening around here.”

Spaceballs

From the moment that George Lucas first took us on his journey to a galaxy far far away, we knew it would not be so long before somebody used it to mine some comedy gold. Fortunately for us it was Mel Brooks doing the mining, and we got to keep the mother lode. Mel Brooks has made a living by spoofing everything from James Bond (Get Smart) on television to Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein), the old West (Blazing Saddles), and even the golden age of silent films (Silent Movie). In Mel’s parsec of the universe things have changed. We find the spoiled Princess Vespa from Druida (Zuniga) fleeing her planet, and in particular her arranged marriage, only to be relentlessly pursued by the evil Dark Helmet (Moranis). Her knight in a shiny Winnebago is the space ace Lone Starr (Pullman) and his faithful companion Barf (Candy). Brooks, as usual, joins the cast, this time in the dual roles of The Galactic President and the wise master of The Swartz, Yogurt. You’ll relive some of your favorite Star Wars memories, but from a slightly warped perspective. But you likely already have this same DVD from a previous release. So, enjoy that one, and “May the Swartz be with you”.

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8^th Dimension

The world of Buckaroo Banzai is a strange world indeed. Of the three films from this collection, this one leaves me scratching my head the most. The film sports an almost A list of actors, but you must remember almost none of these people were that well known when Banzai was filmed. Peter Weller is break-out good in the title role. Banzai is the son of two scientists who were killed during an experiment to cross over into the 8th Dimension. He has been obsessed with proving their theories and making the breakthrough himself. Of course nights he’s part of a rock band. He’s attracted to a woman at one of his gigs who looks exactly like his own dead wife. Ellen Barkin is a bit over the top as Penny Priddy. Jeff Goldblum, Lewis Smith, and Clancy Brown are the rest of Banzai’s gang. As it turns out, that first attempt was sucessful after all. Dr. Lizardo (Lithgow) has been inhabited by a leader from the 8^th Dimension, and his cronies include Christopher Lloyd and Vincent Schiavelli. The usual zaniness ensues as Banzai and the boys must stop these 8^th Dimension invaders from taking over the Earth. Again, this is the same DVD you could have gotten years ago and likely still can for just a couple of bucks only proving that “Wherever you go, there you are”.

Video

All three films look the way they did before. There are no upgrades to be found. Mostly these are very average transfers with very average results. Killer Klowns and Buckaroo Banzai are in their original wide presentations. Spaceballs is in wide but a very poor non-anamorphic presentation. There is also a flip full version side on this disc.

Audio

All but Killer Klowns come in a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Klowns is only in 2.0. None of these tracks are better than average. There isn’t anything aggressive to warrant the surround transfers. Dialog is OK on all three films, but don’t look for anything dynamic on any of these discs.

Special Features

Each film has something in the way of extras, but nothing was done new for this release.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space:

Deleted Scenes: There are 2 additional scenes with optional commentary. These come to just 2 minutes total. Yawn!

Killer Bloopers: About 3 minutes of playful mess-ups and mayhem. Be warned, there’s an F Bomb dropped when Zuniga hits her head on a windowsill

Storyboard and Production Galleries: Some nice stills you can browse.

The Making Of Killer Klowns: The Chiodo Brothers sit down and talk about the film. It’s 13 years later in this session, and they do very candidly talk about the creation of the cult icon. There’s plenty of trips down memory lane and quite a few anecdotes. There is also a ton of footage from the set. You get to see some footage that was deleted because of technical problems that was intended to open the film.

Komposing Klowns: John Massari talks about auditioning for the job of writing the score for Killer Klowns. He then talks about how the score was developed. It’s 13 minutes and is mostly all John.

Visual Effects: Gene Warren Jr. supervised the nice f/x work on the film. Here he sits down with the brothers in what appears to be the same time as the earlier session. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do much of the talking and appears uncomfortable throughout. There is some vintage rough footage on the f/x which is actually worth seeing.

Kreating Klowns: By now you might be tired of the K game but admit it, it is clever, or at least it all was the first time this stuff was released. Again there’s plenty of set footage taken by a camcorder. Unfortunately the volume on most of this stuff sucks.

Spaceballs:

Audio Commentary with Mel Brooks: Brooks provided this commentary for the laser disc version of the film, so I’d already heard it. He rambles somewhat. It was nice to hear the kind words he had for Gene Wilder who couldn’t do this film and had set off on his own. He only mentions about 1000 times how much he loved Rick Moranis. I was a little disturbed even back when to hear Brooks call this a film aimed at children. Many of the jokes are a bit risqué, and there is definitely some child-unfriendly language.

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8^th Dimension:

Audio Commentary: Have you ever listened to two guys talking and felt completely like an outsider? That’s what this conversation with Director W.D. Richter and writer Earl Mac Rauch felt like. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of information here, but I still felt like an outsider.

Alternate Opening: You have the option to view this piece at the beginning of the film, which is how I recommend you do it. Basically it’s some footage that depicts Banzai as a child with his parents, made to look like old 8mm footage. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Mom and it does pretty much what it was intended to do … eh what was that again

Buckaroo Banzai – Declassified: With vintage footage and sound bites that all looks like a bad VHS dub, you get some insight into the making of the film including character development, props, and f/x. They play this out like a making of a documentary.

Deleted Scenes: There are 14 deleted or extended scenes which are in various stages of development. There is a play all option, but you need to step to the second screen, and there it was at the end. Too late for me, of course.

New Jet Car Trailer: There was a proposed television series called Buckaroo Banzai Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries. It’s a CGI potential show opening. Pretty boring actually.

There are other features, but they can only be played if you have one of the 2 or 3 DVD players that had NUON technology. This was a short-lived operating system that was intended to better display motion more smoothly. Processing speeds caught up with the third gen machines, and there were only four DVD’s made with this option.

Final Thoughts

All three of these films have their moments and are relatively fun to watch. The transfers are all quite dated, and again, I don’t like the double dipping. With the new HD formats there will be reason enough to update some of your favorite films; to do so with below average quality SD repackaged stuff makes no kind of sense to me at all. I doubt I’ll buy a double dipped film in SD again, and because you’re savvy enough to be reading DVD reviews, I am confident you won’t be either. Still, I suspect MGM expects us to fly down to our local video store to get this stuff at “ridiculous speed”.