World Watch OnLine: The Buckaroo Banzai Mailing List
#  22
Submissions: WWatchOne@aol.com
Editor: Banzai88@aol.com
Archives: http://members.aol.com/wwatchone
                ftp://members.aol.com/wwatchone/download
FAQ: http://www.slip.net/~figment/bb/bbindex.shtml


Number of subscribers: 391
(NOTE: anyone who doesn't have an "@something" behind their name is
from 'aol.com.')

Contents:
Greetings
BB
re: BB on HBO
TABB
New Buckaroo Banzai Website and Stuff
Webring Update
BBshirts

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Greetings,

Hope everyone has had a chance to see the comet. If not, make sure
you mark your calendars for the next time. <g>
BB was on HBO again a few times this last week. If you missed it,
this coming Sunday (the 13th) at 4:30pm and Wednesday (the 16th)
at 7:45am. Times are Pacific. Not sure about the rest of the world.
Carl (John Parker) Lumbly's "M.A.N.T.I.S" is on (or soon will be) the S-F Channel. 
And...if anyone has a web page (BB or not) that they'd like me to put
on the Links page at World Watch OnLine, just let me know.
Also, someone (who's message I've seem to misplaced; if you could
resend...) runs a BBS and would like to archive past issues there
on a more permanent basis. Objections? (for those new to the list,
I only post 'the latest issue' on the WW1 webpage, but you can email
for any ones you've missed)

Enjoy life...
ArcLight

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Subj:	Re: World Watch OnLine 21 -21 Mar. 1997
Date:	97-03-23 00:36:31 EST
From:	beej_martin@earthlink.net (Beverly Martin)

In response to Chris Crowell's comments about Doc Savage, in many ways,
BB was meant to be a man of Bronze for the 80's: a surgeon, humitarian,
rock and roller, particle physicist, renaissaince man who, like Savage,
surrounded himself with many eccentric and loyal allies and had wild
adventures with them.

If you look at the campiness of the Doc Savage movie, there are many
places where that same lightness was in BB:At8D.

On another note, the reason why HBO's broadcasting of BB looks so
MARVELOUS is that they use 1" professional broadcast video tape... plus,
if we are lucky, perhaps Credit Lyonnase provided a nice clean copy. 
Did anyone catch the opening credits?  The end ones still mention ole
wretched RKO people and such.

	Beej Martin
	aka BBI Komish
	aka John Mr. Pibb
	found at beej_martin@earthlink.net


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Subj:	BB
Date:	97-03-20 20:09:40 EST
From:	RNorman326

Go-fone transmission (text only)
From:  BBI "Skyboss"

Greetings WW1.  Am ectstatic to find that the Irregulars are still operating.
My post in eastern North Carolina (first in flight and home to Big Yeti
Mechawerx) has been long devoid of contact with the Banzai Institute staff.
Yep, just me, my kites, boomerangs, juggling blades and powered exoskeleton
prototypes.  
First contact with the Banzai Institute:  @1986.  The docudrama was not
procured by local cineplex operators, necessitating a VHS monitor scan when a
cassette became available at a local rental outlet.  Paperback novel and
large-format comic book acquired very soon afterwards.  The docudrama remains
as informative and entertaining now as it did 11 years ago.  
I would greatly appreciate being added to the electronic medialink.
Also, I am new to computers and the net.  I have begun experimenting with web
page design and have taught myself some basic HTML, enabling me to build a
page from scratch.  I would like to pull an image or three off this site for
use in a page or sub-page of my own devoted to Banzai.  In particular, my
site (should it actually fly) will focus on Banzai RPG applications.  Mekton
Z (R. Talsorian Games) and Feng Shui (Daedalus Games) are my two main gaming
systems.  Or rather "were" until my group and I got careers.  
My main question is:  what are the rules for pulling images off one site and
putting them on another?  

I'll take up no more of your time.
Ja ne
Blue Blaze Irregular "Skyboss" signing off


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Subj:	Re: BB on HBO
Date:	97-03-23 10:31:15 EST
From:	synth@swcp.com (Vince Mora)

Well folks, I caught the recent HBO run of BB, and I don't know if anyone
noticed, but this is a *totally* different film-to-video transfer from
the 1984 Vestron and 1990 Video Treasures home video releases.  Evidence
of this includes:

- The opening credits are letterboxed, instead of stretched to full-frame.
  (I wish they just could've left the rest of it in lbx ... :)

- The pan&scanning is performed differently!  In the original video,
  when Buckaroo, prepping to launch the Jet Car, takes out the Oscillation
  Overthruster and reaches behind him to lock it in its housing, the
  p&s is very abrupt and choppy.  In this version, it's a more smooth,
  natural pan.

- In Artie's Artery, Buckaroo stops the music and asks the crowd, "Is
  anyone not having a good time?"  In the original you can see Pinky
  Carruthers react and raise his hand (a great joke).  In this version,
  Pinky is totally cut out of the frame and we miss his reaction.

Also, as others have pointed out, the colors are brighter, the picture
is much sharper, and the sound is gorgeous.  After 13 years of watching
this movie on nothing but the original VHS and LD releases, I'm seeing
and hearing details I've never noticed before.  Definite evidence of a 
new & improved film-to-video transfer.

This is a very good sign for fans -- the fact that the creators have
made this new transfer mostly likely means that they are gearing up for
a new home video release.  This is really the first indication that they
are able to work on this film again since the fiasco with the president of
Sherwood Productions and his chokehold on the rights to the film.  It's
conceivable that now we may finally see a new laserdisc release, a
soundtrack ... the possibilities are exciting.

Speaking of the above president of Sherwood, I dug up an old Usenet post
from 1994 which gives a tidbit about the said fiasco with the evil
Sherwood president:

-- begin included text --

>Newsgroups: alt.video.laserdisc,rec.video.releases,rec.arts.movies
>Path:
kitsune!tantalum!bbx!mimbres.cs.unm.edu!newncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!world!cls
>From: cls@world.std.com (Charity Stafford)
>Subject: Re: The video industry: what's the point?
>Message-ID: <CJ6q1q.CwM@world.std.com>
>Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
>References: <2gcj8d$fnb@lost-boy.cs.jhu.edu>
>Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:41:49 GMT
>Lines: 29

stiller@lost-boy.cs.jhu.edu (Lewis Stiller) writes:

>Would someone explain the economics behind decisions like not
>releasing an uncropped (or Criterion, for that matter) Buckaroo
>Banzai, The Fly or Koyanisqaatsi on laserdisc but releasing multiple
 
Last year Buckaroo Banzai was shown as part of the annual 24-hour
sf-movie marathon in "Boston" (Brookline, actually) at the Coolidge
Corner - beautiful big screen, it was great. Even better, the 
director, W. D. Richter, was there and did a VERY long Q&A after.
He said that it was quite unlikely that there will ever be either a
better video release or any kind of laserdisc release because the
producer [sic] really hated the movie and would do nothing to support
it. He told a lot of interesting stories about doing the movie under 
such hostile conditions - apparently the producer [sic] had said that 
Peter Weller would only be allowed to wear glasses three times in the 
movie because heroes don't wear glasses, and he appointed a stooge
to hang around the set and let him know when/if this or other trivial
"rules" were violated so that he could shut the production down.
Only problem was, although he never "got" BB, his stooge did, so 
he just hung around and didn't tattle to his boss. He also told
at least two explanations of what that watermelon was doing there,
the most plausible of which was that the scene was shot relatively 
late in production and it was just one of many randomnesses committed 
merely to bust the ass of said producer. Good stories, sad conclusion:
we don't seem too likely to see any decent kind of home-viewing format
for this wonderful movie during the lifetime of the producer...

-- end included text --

My sources back in the 80's at 20th Century Fox had said the same thing -- 
that the only way we would see a hope for a sequel, a soundtrack, etc. was
if the Sherwood president miraculously turned over the rights, or died.
Then a year ago he commits suicide, and the rights are turned over to the
studio and the producers.  (Seems they were right ... :-/ )

I doubt we'll see a sequel, though, now that actors like John Lithgow,
Ellen Barkin and Jeff Goldblum have since become much too high-priced
to make casting them affordable.  It's a pity, though, because many of
them throughout the years repeatedly stated that they'd jump at the
chance to do a sequel.  Bad timing now, I would guess ... or maybe
they'll all do it for scale?  :)


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vince Mora                                         www.swcp.com/synth/
BB Trivia and References page / BB script page          synth@swcp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Shut up John Bigbootie you coward! You are de weakest individual I
 ever know!"


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Subj:	TABB
Date:	97-03-26 15:55:53 EST
From:	cragholm@Princeton.EDU (Christina Cragholm)

Hi Everyone,
  I had my computer search for Buckaroo Banzai websites on a whim, and
was thrilled to find out that I'm not the only person who thinks that
TABB is one of the great treasures of American cinema!  I'm 21, but I 
still remember seeing the trailer for TABB in the movie theatre 13 
years ago.  I was home sick one day a few years ago and happened to 
stumble upon an afternoon showing of it.  From that moment on, I was 
hooked.  I know there are a lot of Rawhide fans out there, but I have to
say I'm a Perfect Tommy woman myself.  Perhaps I'm the only person in
Massachusetts (other than my father) who realizes the genius of this
movie, but I had no trouble finding a Vestron Video copy at my local
mall for $9.99.  Every videostore around me has copies of for sale as
well (which was a good thing since my VCR tried to eat my copy when I
was home for Spring Break-- luckily, it was right after the credits
ended).  I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the book, though (now
that I know what I've been missing).  Well, thanks for letting me mouth
off about the greatest movie ever made.
Leigh
lhines@princeton.edu


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Subj:	New Buckaroo Banzai Website and Stuff
Date:	97-03-28 20:46:58 EST
From:	ernest@bga.com (Ernest Cline)

Greetings Amigo,

First, thanks for sending me the world watch one archives.
Unfortunately they never came through. Compuserve sucks
beyond comprehension, so I've ditched them for a local ISP.
My new e-mail is at:  ernest@bga.com
If you get a chance, I would really appreciate it if you could
send them all one more time. Thanks a million!

I've also totally redone my Buckaroo Banzai website at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ernestc/banzai.htm
I've added a ton of new graphics, animated logos, tons of new photos,
everything I could think of. I think you'll dig it. I'd really like your
opinion.

Ernest Cline
ernest@bga.com
http://www.bga.com/~ernest


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Subj:	Webring Update
Date:	97-03-29 01:19:48 EST
From:	buckaroobanzai@geocities.com (Princess Rachel)

Right now there is 9 sites in our little ring and it's still growing.
There is one problem though, geocities is revamping itself and the main
page for the webring is down because unfortunately along with new
hardware geocities has all of Area51 is down.... so the ring might be a
little off when people travel it.
I thought I'd just drop you all a line to make sure everyone knew what
was going on, any questions or whatnot.. EMAIL me.

Rachel
buckaroobanzai@geocities.com
BBWEBRING MANAGER


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Subj:	BBshirts
Date:	97-03-29 05:57:18 EST
From:	atom@icepop.straight-edge.com (atom)

does anyone know where i can get 100%cotton buckaroo bonzai t-shirts?


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"Buckaroo Banzai" and related characters and concepts are copyright
Credit Lyonnaise.
The story itself, however, is copyright 1985 our very own Apache (lf@cais.com), 
and can not be re-distributed or archived anywhere without her express permission.
For those that missed previous parts, email WWatchOne@AOL.COM and 
I'll get it out to you.
**Be aware** There's some language in here that wasn't in the PG rated movie.
Not much, but it's there. Also, a bit of violence. Sorry I missed the warning
in the previous parts.

"Help" pt 3
-- Apache (lf@cais.com)


	The two men said nothing, just stood trying to catch their breath. 
Rawhide looked around:  the mare was standing placidly down the draw, only
a few feet from her victim, munching on a bush.  The gelding was nowhere
to be seen. 

	Buckaroo followed his eyes, and seemingly read his thoughts.  "He
bolted uphill," he said.  "Prob'ly went up to the cabin,"  Rawhide said. 
He turned to face Buckaroo, and saw the wounded man behind Buckaroo weakly
raising his left hand with something in it, something that glittered and
caught the sun. 

	Without looking, Buckaroo Banzai whirled like a dervish,
counterbalanced by the blade.  As if guided by telepathy, the machete
struck and severed the hand in which the wounded man had tried to raise a
throwing knife. 

	Showing no emotion, Buckaroo Banzai stepped over to the man and
said a word that seemed to be "John?"  The dying man spit out a furious
syllable.  Blood pumped out of his wrist at the rhythm of his failing
heartbeats. 

	Chilled to his soul, Rawhide watched.  That guy didn't have enough
strength left to throw the knife.  The casual ferocity of what he'd just
seen made his stomach heave.  Cutting an arm off a man who was already
bleeding on the ground -- that wasn't battle. 

	Banzai turned and saw the sickness in Rawhide's face.  He
straightened subtly and stood still while a few drops of blood fell one by
one off the machete, looking Rawhide in the eyes with neither explanation
nor apology.  Rawhide stared back, and what he saw was as far outside the
cowboy code he himself lived by as anything he'd ever encountered in any
part of the world.  At the core of Buckaroo Banzai was a pure barbarian
spirit. 

	 Rawhide swallowed.  He turned and clucked to the mare.  She
ignored him.  He looked back at Buckaroo Banzai, then, pointedly, at the
Oriental features of their attackers. 

	"Damn, Buckaroo," he said at length.  "You were expectin' ronin."

	Banzai bowed his head momentarily.  Nothing in his face marked the
fierce joy that flashed through him. 

	Rawhide cleared his throat.  "Reckon we oughta bury these
varmints," he said in the tone he used for mentioning chores.  "Or will
someone be comin' for them?" 

	Buckaroo shook his head.  "They failed -- dark disgrace," he said. 
"Their names will have been forgotten in Sabah by the night of this day." 

	"Sa-bah?"  Rawhide gave it a Texas inflection.

	"Malaysia, where they're from."

	Malaysia?  Who the hell would come all the way from Malaysia to
kill a 24 year old surgical resident?  Rawhide looked at Buckaroo's face. 
It was full of trouble, conflict, even indecision.  Everything in its own
time, he decided.  He clucked for the mare again; this time she
generously walked up the draw. 

	He mounted and stretched a hand down to Buckaroo.  "Let's ride up
to the cabin and get some shovels," he said.  "We want to get 'em dug
under before the vultures get attentive.  There's a box canyon nobody ever
bothers with; we'll put 'em down there."  I'm going to bury two Malaysians
on Uncle Joe's ranch without a word to anyone, he told himself.  This is
one hell of a friendship so far. 

***

	The sun was well up in the sky before the two young men rode out
of the little canyon, following the thin line of a creek. 

	Rawhide grunted, reined in, and dismounted in a single motion,
then wavered as his left leg hit the ground.  He waded into the stream and
motioned to Buckaroo to do the same. 

	Rawhide dipped his big hat in the water and dumped its contents
over his head, closing his eyes with a smile of pure pleasure.  He tipped
his head back to aim rivulets down the nape of his neck and between his
shoulder blades.  "A-a-a-a-h." 

	 Rawhide laid down flat in the shallow creek, and again waved at
Buckaroo to do the same. 

	"I don't want my aunt to see any blood."

	Buckaroo Banzai nodded, and gave careful attention to soaking out
the stains in his clothes.  Rawhide noticed him scraping at one tough spot
with his nails. 

	"We could rub some dirt into it," he said.  "My brothers and I
used to fool her that way." 

	"Yeah."  Buckaroo Banzai stood up, water pouring off him. 
"Anywhere else?" 

	Rawhide inspected him carefully.  "Nope."  He also stood up, and
wobbled again. 

	"What's that?"  Banzai gestured at Rawhide's left knee.

	"Nothin'.  A little crunched."

	The physician nodded skeptically.  "Walk."

	Rawhide limped over to his horse and climbed on.  Buckaroo Banzai
walked back to the bay gelding, which they'd found waiting peacefully at
the winter shed's hitching rail.  "What it is, is a lot sprained," he
remarked.  "What about that?" 

	Rawhide shrugged.  "The truth.  Manners came down 'n caught m'leg. 
Wouldn't be the first time." 

	Buckaroo Banzai wore a philosopher's smile.  "The truth always is
the best lie, isn't it?"

	"Mmm-hmm."  Rawhide scratched the back of his neck and drew and
released a deep breath.  Buckaroo gave him a measured look. The two men
rode at a flat walk, steaming dry, both sunk deep in thought and memory. 
Half an hour passed before Banzai spoke again. 

	"I told you my father was murdered."

	"Mmm-hmm."

	"He was murdered by an enemy -- an enemy to my entire family."

	"So he's gunning for you," Rawhide pondered.  "Who is he?"

	"His name is Xan, Hanoi Xan."

	Rawhide's eyebrows climbed.  "And who is he when he's at home?" 

	Buckaroo drew a long breath.  "He's the Napoleon of crime, Watson."

	At that, Rawhide drew rein.  "You're not kiddin'."  It was a
statement, not a question.  He nudged the mare and she walked on. 
Eventually the two men booted their horses into a canter, riding back to
the ranch in silence. 

***

	The hand that held the phone in the Ranchero Motel of Cody,
Wyoming, was shaking uncontrollably. 

	"Mystery..."  the voice cracked. 

	"Well?"  A snarl.  Even diluted with the crackle and hiss of
intercontinental transmission, the voice menaced life and limb. 

	"Our plan miscarried...." the man's throat closed with terror, but
he had said enough. 

	"Spawn of a pig!  Excrement of a microbe!  How do you dare to tell
me that you failed this simple task?" 

	"Greatness, as you ordered, I watched in hiding.  There was a
horse..." started the speaker.  His voice wavered. 

	"A horse?"  Thousands of miles away, the voice was diverted
momentarily from its tirade. 

	"It killed---"

	"Bah!" roared the voice from Sabah.  "Scum!  Make no excuses!  I
will sew you into the belly of a living horse, roast you in a pit of your
own digging and feed your worthless carcass to mice! ... 

	"But first," the voice cooed, suddenly so smooth and reasonable
that it turned the hearer's bones to water, "first you will perform your
errand.  Remain where you are.  See no one.  Speak to no one.  I will
arrange." 

	"As you wish, Brilliance," quavered the man in Cody.

***

	"Molly called the boys, oh, I disremember... Flopsy, Mopsy, Bugsy,
Cottontail, and the Weasel..."  Betsy was stretching a fond aunt's
prerogative to its furthest limit.  "Why can't I recall it-- which one
were you?"  She turned saucy eyes on her nephew. 

	"I was Rawhide," the cowboy said austerely.  Everyone at the table
knew perfectly well that this sudden fit of reminiscence was strictly for
Buckaroo's benefit. 

	"Hmph," said his aunt, pretending to be affronted.  "Taking
advantage of my dotage, you are." 

	"Yes, ma'am," said her nephew.

	"If your Mama were here, she'd send you to the barn for a week." 

	"Yes, ma'am," Rawhide said again.  He smiled, imagining it.  "She
surely would."  The smile stretched into a grin. 

	Rawhide's uncle leaned forward, waving a forkful of steak in
Buckaroo's face.  His tone was at odds with his wife's kindly teasing. 
"I'll tell you something, young man.  Most everyone in this family is
snake-mean, but this boy has his mother's nature." He ate his bite of
steak and continued, "She was a real nice lady." 

	Rawhide's feet shifted under the table.  "Yeah, she was," he said
in a low voice. 

	"His older brother, on the other hand, ain't worth the bullet it
would take to shoot him."  Rawhide compressed his lips. 

	"And Michael--"  Uncle Joe paused as Rawhide fixed a look on him
from under his brows.  "Mike's gone," Rawhide said.  If he hadn't been
talking to his uncle, the tone would have been a threat. 
	
	"Just as well," said his uncle in an equally hard voice.  There
was a silence. 

	"Old Buggsy," Rawhide said, taking a big swallow of beer.

	"Born to be hanged," Old Joe said, also swallowing beer.

	That was one past the limit.  Rawhide's chair scraped harshly
against the floor and the big young man was out of the room with the
screen door slamming shut behind him before either Old Joe or Buckaroo
could react. 

	"Now, Joe, you shouldn't set him off like that," fretted Betsy. 
"You know perfectly well--"  The sound of a match being scraped and
igniting came into the house.  Not finishing her sentence, she rose to
follow her nephew onto the porch. 

	"Sentimental," judged Old Joe.  "From a bad brood and too stubborn
to admit it." 

	"You can hardly fault a man for sticking by his family," Buckaroo
murmured. 

	"Yeah I can," snapped Old Joe.  "He's the only worthwhile thing
this blood's kicked up for two generations, and I'm damned if I'm just
going to watch him go to waste.  If Molly had lived, maybe he would have
been freed up of all those pest brothers, but he's been carryin' them one
way or another -- if he ain't actually bailing one of them out of some
fix, he's lettin' 'em eat away at his belly." 

	Old Joe scraped his fork along his plate.  "If they were his own
sons, I think he'd kick their ass for them, but they're Molly's sons...." 

	Buckaroo was silent but completely attentive.

	"The young son of a bitch has four or five M.A.'s and Ph.D's and I
don't know what the fuck all by now.  I can't name you a corner of the
earth he hasn't been to, and I also can't name you a single damn thing
that either he or the world at large has to show for it." 

	Old Joe shook his head slowly, his anger fading.  "The other damn
thing is, I've hardly ever seen him happy."  Buckaroo noticed the man was
looking at him hard. 

***

	The Splendor of the Asias was feeling cranky.

	The fledgling son of his old enemy was proving absurdly resistant
to being murdered.  Why had the child not perished in the original
explosion?  Why had the student not frozen in the Antarctic storm?  It had
been quite arduous to tamper with polar weather in that fashion, and for
what?  It was becoming vexatious. 

	He raised a jeweled hand.  "Send me Lo Pep," he opined in a dulcet
tone.  Lackeys scurried to do his bidding. 

	Lo Pep grovelled in, shivering slightly as his master's eye fell
upon him. 

	"Greatness, you summoned me?" 

	"Lo Pep, you will perform certain tasks.  You will dispatch a
cadre to the Wyoming state, where they will await further direction.  You
will find for them housing and transportation in that place, as well as a
liberal supply of indigenous currency.  In addition, you will procure one
airplane of the 747 variety capable of departing from Sabah, and a second
airplane of the Lear variety to depart from a private hangar in the
Western United States of America.  You will have each of these aircraft
furnished and decorated in a manner suitable for conveying me.  You will
recall, merely to draw an item to the forefront of that feeble organ, your
mind, that my favorite tea is Lapsang Souchong.  You will, of course,
accomplish these things by tomorrow." 

	"Yes, Greatness," said Lo Pep, beginning to inch his way backward
from the presence. 

	"Lo Pep," said the dry voice.  "I have an afterthought."  Lo Pep
hoped that he would not be required to commit suicide after completing his
tasks.  "Certain smaller of the customary conveniences, such as the koi
pond, I permit you to omit in the interests of expedience." 

	"Thank you, Greatness," Lo Pep breathed devoutly, scuttling out.

*** to be continued ***










