World Watch OnLine: The UnOfficial Buckaroo Banzai Mailing List
# 130 (22 April 2000)
Submissions: WWatchOne@aol.com
Editor: WWatchOne@aol.com
Homepage: http://www.worldwatchonline.com
Calendar: http://members.aol.com/wwatchone/web/2000cal.htm
FAQ: http://www.figmentfly.com/bb/bbindex.shtml
Official BB site: http://www.banzai-institute.com

Number of subscribers: 521
(NOTE: anyone who doesn't have an "@something" behind their name 
is from 'aol.com.')

Contents:
Greetings
Friends
RE: Welcome to World Watch OnLine!
Pandemonium has arrived
The Only Reason for Time...
At The Auctions
Dragon Tales

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Greetings,

Early one this week. Two reasons: 1) to give heads-up
about 'TABB' showing on the S-F Channel this afternoon
at 1500 eastern, and B) I'm not gonna be around tomorrow
night to send it.

About the 'TABB' showing; despite the fact that they
chop it to bits and sometimes even mess up the end
title march, I think emailing them and thanking them
for showing it would be a good idea. Let them know
we're still out here.

Meanwhile, the next ish of the newsletter should
be up on the site. For those that missed out on
the original World Watch mailings, this is a great
*free* way to get copies. All you need is an
Adobe Acrobat reader for the PDF files and time
to download them.

Happy holidays to those so inclined.

Later...
ArcLight

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Subj:	Friends
Date:	4/16/00 9:16:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	BanzaiSGI

Did you tell a friend last week how much they mean
in your life?

That hit a place in my heart. I will be away for a week attending a memorial
service and events for my crew that was lost at Desert One Iran on 24 April
1980 when our bird blew up. 20 years has gone by and it seems like time has
stood still. 

So, like it says above...tell a friend how much they mean. We were a band of
brothers and now we are five less. They will be remembered and never
forgotten.

Jim/BanzaiSGI

**** Not just friends/family. If there's *anyone* who's
made a contribution to your life, let them know if
you can. As a long time comic book fan, I've been
reading obituaries nearly every week in the "Comics
Buyer's Guide" for creators whose work I've enjoyed
since I started reading comics in kindergarten. 
- ArcLight ****

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Subj:	 RE: Welcome to World Watch OnLine!
Date:	4/17/00 9:35:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	jennifer@feelthe.force9.co.uk (Jennifer Yates)

Why at times do I feel like I'm the only person outside of the US who has
heard of the sterling work of Team Banzai? I do believe that if the movie
had of been named differently, more people would have taken it seriously -
maybe enough to have actually watched it.

But hopefully the new TV series will come to fruition, and again the world
can be reminded that we need people like Buckaroo to do the impossible feats
in saviour of the world. Feats that Foundation Imagine will no doubt make
even more exciting than the real thing.

Ever watchful....

Jenny

**** You're not the only one out there, trust me.
I don't keep track of who is where, but I think
we've about covered all the continents. Check out
http://www.geocities.com/worldwatchfiles
for an idea of where we are. - ArcLight ****

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Subj:	 Pandemonium has arrived
Date:	4/19/00 6:43:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	dawn@newman-editorial.com (Dawn Newman)

BBI Panda was born to BBI Stomp and BBI Replay Sunday at 1:06 pm. See the
following temporary link for the announcement and a quick picture. A
permanent link is to come later.

http://members.xoom.com/editcat/kris.html

A reward is available to the person who can provide information on the WLC
perpetrator or perpetrators who infiltrated BBI Replay's yard and planted
poison ivy, from which she is recovering rather more slowly than from the
birth itself.

Please pass on this information to the World Watch Two list; BBI Replay
will add more when she is back home with her computer.

BBI Agate

**** Congrats can sent to Replay at jetlightfoot@juno.com.
- ArcLight ****

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Subj:	 The Only Reason for Time...
Date:	4/20/00 4:32:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	oblivion@usunwired.net (Corey Bond)

>From the April 19, 2000 edition of The Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/

New 'Time' To Keep Everything From Happening At Once

CAMBRIDGE, MA--On what is now known as "Monday," a team of MIT scientists
unveiled "time," a revolutionary new event-sequencing protocol which
organizes phenomena along a four-dimensional axis, preventing everything
from taking place at once. "No longer will the extinction of the dinosaurs,
the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the Earth-Xabraxiq Pod Wars all
collapse into a single point," theoretical physicist Dr. Lawrence Chang
said. "With time, we can now contextualize each of the universe's infinite
number of occurrences in its own spatial-temporal plane, creating order
where there once was chaos." Added Dr. Erno Toffel: "Using time, one event
can be positioned chronologically so as to be the cause of another. For
example, a man's death may result in a gun being fired at him. Or the other
way around. We're still working out some of the kinks."

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Subj:	 At The Auctions
Date:	4/21/00 12:03:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	alandsmith@uswest.net (BBI Dragon (Alan Smith))

At The Auctions with BBIs Dragon & Crazy Horse

This is a new weekly feature that the two of us are going to collaborate
on and present to the fans of Buckaroo Banzai. The intent is to do a
sort of cross between 'Siskle & Ebert - At The Movies' and Ralph Nader's
- Consumer Watchdogs for the BB items at auction on the net.
This last week we spotted some interesting and amazing items to tell you
about, here they are.


The Banzai Watch

Dragon: YES THE WATCH!!!  This is the second time around with this
"Banzai" watch that I know of. It didn't sell last time, obviously. When
I first saw it I contacted another 'old guard' BBI and ask him to take a
look at it. He didn't know of any BB film prop like it and didn't think it
was anything but "some watch that has the word Banzai on it". Abacus
made the observation when I showed it to her that, "If it's really
Banzai, why are there roman numerals on it? Wouldn't they use Japanese
looking numbers?"  I continued the thought with, " Or, use a brush
stroke font for the numbers a least." We all think it's just a watch
that happens to have the word 'Banzai' on it.  And 'no band'??? No
speculation about the stone in it. The seller thinks it's a small diamond.

Crazy Horse: Well, the deal with the watch is just plain BULL! Just
because it says "Banzai" on it, the guy thinks he can sell it to some
gullible BB fans. I wouldn't be surprised if the seller offered to sell
us some "Banzai Trees!"

The Banzai Watch didn't sell again at a starting price of $19.99 but we
all bet we'll see it again up for auction.

------

BB Patches for re-sale!
Dragon: Oh, say, did you catch all the patches for auction too? Some
user by the name of 'starbase...' is selling BB patches in set's of 2.
Set # 1 - #4. They really look like Starland re-sales. I contacted
Starland and asked them to take a look at these auction BB patches and
they said, "Yes, they look just like the ones we sell." Starland does
not sell BB patches at eBay.

Crazy Horse: Yes, Starland resales!! An easy, but questionable, way to
make a buck!  The patches are a sad joke. I can't imagine paying 3 times
the normal amount for an item that can be easily bought from a
"reputable" website. And the bootleg patches are just horrible. Looks
like someone had some spare time and thread, and decided "Gee, I could
make some Buckaroo Banzai patches and sell  them on eBay for lots of
money 'cause some people will buy anything that has to do with Buckaroo
Banzai!"

 A week later it's individual patches. Starbase-... is back at it with a
new offering of individual BB patches! They are auctioning off BB
patches again, and get this little description / explanation of theirs:
"The Banzai patches we are selling were produced many years ago under a
restricted fan license that only allowed them to be sold to the comic
book, fantasy shop convention dealer market. For this reason, their
distribution was not very good and so are not easy to find today."

So, what's that mean really? They 'aren't' re-selling Starland's
patches? Or what? $7 to start for a $4.95 patch?

We contacted this seller about the patches and this is what we got:

US: I see that you have several Buckaroo Banzai patches up for auction
at eBay.
I'm curious about your source for these. Have you had someone producing
them for you special or are you getting them from a retailer or ?
thank you

Their reply:
HI
I have a store but I've picked them up at conventions I have attended.
So I don't really know the source.
Regards
starbase...

So our conclusion is that it's not quite as devious as it could be...
they are likely buying them from Starland AT conventions (no postage
costs equal more profits) and reselling them.

As for how the actual auctions go with BB patches, the sets of two, only
one of 4 sets had a bidder and that set was sold for the minimum of $10
plus $4.40 for shipping. Of the single patches about half sell at
auction and usually for the minimum bid of $7 or a little more. Some
sell for around
$10, plus $1 shipping. There is a Yoyodyne single patch that has a few
bidders and is currently at over
$12 with a few days before the end of the auction. Looking at past
auctions for the single Yoyodyne patch they have gone for over $14. At
Starland they are $4.95.

------

Work Print copy!

Dragon: This is the second offering of the BB 'work print' in the last
month. The last one sold at auction for just over $12. What the heck,
looks like this seller is kicking these things out one every few weeks!?!?!?!

Crazy Horse:  The BB workprints must be bootlegs. This seller must be
printing them up by the dozen!

We contacted the seller of this 'work print' when it disappeared from
the auctions site and were told simply that ; "Ebay pulled it."


------

Movie Poster One-Sheet!

Dragon: A fan I gave a button to recently told me they'd lost their BB
poster in a flood so I turned them on to one for auction. They had the
highest bid up to the last 30 seconds. It was another sniper killing!
The winning bid beat her by $1 in the last 30 seconds!!! The highest bid
was $31.

Crazy Horse: Officially, eBay frowns on sniping. On the other hand,
Webtv encourages it. In it's "Introduction To Auctions," Webtv advises
that you wait until the last moment before placing a bid. Whether you
love it or hate it, sniping is part of eBay. I have done it, and it has
been done to me. About the only thing that you can do
about it is to add an extra 50 to your maximum bid. Sometimes, that
will throw off the snipers.

-----

The BB Limited Edition Score

Dragon: This is a very professional looking and presented piece. The
seller states: "Sound Track Library 019 - Mint Unsealed - Complete Score
to Buckaroo Banzai composed by Michael Boddecker with 11 tracks at 32
minutes. Also contains score to Saturn 3... Limited to only 500" In a
search of the web neither of us can find a copy of this for sale. Why?
Remember, there is no official CD of the soundtrack/score to Buckaroo Banzai.

Crazy Horse:  $66!?!?! What the hell is that? They can't even spell
"Banzai" right!!! This is the same soundtrack that another seller
offered to "burn" for me for $15. And who the hell would want to listen
to the SATURN 3 soundtrack anyway?

Dragon: You are right! The 'Banzai'  on the actual cd is spelled with
an 'o', not an 'a' !?! Yes, it sold at auction with some rather active
bidding for $66. Currently there is another one of these from a
different seller and the minimum bid is $35.95, no bids yet, but there
will be.

-----

Well that's it for this weeks At The Auctions. Until next issue, save us
the aisle seats please.

BBI Dragon
BBI Crazy Horse

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Subj:	 Dragon Tales
Date:	4/21/00 12:04:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:	alandsmith@uswest.net (BBI Dragon (Alan Smith))

Sweet chili sauce on chicken.
Sorry, it's been great weather here and we've been barbecuing.

This is going to be a short one this issue. Most of my time and juju
went into the new feature BBI Crazy Horse and I did.
The Gabbs have been mixed. Wednesday evenings continue to be well
attended. This last evening I fell into a sort of 'bartender' roll and
everyone played along as we did our usual banter. Come drop by some
time.
As for the weekend Gabbs, we are still working them out.

Next three Gabbs are:
Sunday April 23 (easter), 6 PM PDT and 9 PM EDT
Wednesday April 26, 6 PM PDT and 9 PM EDT
Sunday April 30 , 6 PM PDT and 9 PM EDT

At the Team Banzai server: http://www.team-banzai.net/Chat/chat.shtml
Or, point your IRC at: irc.team-banzai.net and then: /join #Buckaroo
Chats will last for around two hours.

It looks like the polls over at the Onelist for BB are winding down. The
'Button Project chapter 2' seems to have two close first and second
place choices. The number one most popular idea for a next button is the
Banzai Instituted logo. A close second place is the Blue Blaze Irregular
logo in yellow and blue. A third choice is the saying, " Remember, no
matter..." with a small winged Bs graphic.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised by the poll's outcome. I expected "the
saying,..." to be first choice.

Catch you all at a Gabb or next issue.

Always True Blue,
BBI Dragon

A random novel quote:
For some time speech was impossible, but finally he said,
"What's it to me?"
"Well, I know you have been interested in this sort of thing," said Xan
cagily.
"You'll recall you once came to me through my associate in Hong Kong, a
chap named Lo Pep, seeking funds for your research in this area."

Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission: http://near.jhuapl.edu/
Team Banzai Chat server: http://www.team-banzai.net/Chat/chat.shtml
GABBs (Gathering All Blue Blazes) are scheduled twice weekly
Weds. & Suns. 6 PM PDT/9 PM EDT but you are welcome to drop by anytime.
Team Banzai.net is at: http://www.team-banzai.net/
B. Banzai e-mail list: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/BuckarooBanzai

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