Beware Buckaroo Banzai Videotape

[David Fiedler]

Susan and I are both big BB fans; in fact we heard about it first here
on the net, and have been avidly following the antics in LA such as
midnight showings. We just rented the tape and were *totally appalled*
at the number of cuts that were made.

The first time we saw BB was in NJ when it had just come out. We saw it again
in Harvard Square a few weeks later, and the infamous "sugar-in-the-coffee"
scene had been excised. But the tape is even worse. Here is some of what you
will miss if you rent (or even make the mistake of buying) the tape:

- the license plate on the jet car
- many closeups of the control room, including "Overthruster Armed" on
Hikita's panel. Much of the jet car run is missing.
- the sugar, of course.
- more than a two-second glance at the Declaration of War (short form).
Most of the interesting text on same is gone.
- most of the action during the Yoyodyne fight.

It's almost impossible for us to remember all the things that were cut.
We could swear that Whorfin/Lizardo's speech to the Lectroids was much
longer, for instance. What burns us most is that many of these little
scenes or parts of scenes add to the impact and/or humor of the film,
and nothing is gained by leaving them out. Sure, now it can go on TV
better with commercials (the running time of the tape version is 103 minutes),
but TV will probably do their own cuts anyway. Since Sherwood Productions
seems to have gone out of business (at least, I could get no phone
listing for them at their last known address), who ya' gonna call to complain?

Phooey. We were really looking forward to the tape, but remembering
what has been lost makes us sad to watch it. Maybe we can pressure
20th Century Fox to re-release the tape (Now! The Uncensored Version!)
but I doubt it. What would Rocky Horror be like without all the cute bits?
--
Dave Fiedler
{harpo,astrovax,whuxcc,clyde}!infopro!dave People Phone: (201) 989-0570
USMail: InfoPro Systems, 3108 Route 10, Denville, NJ 07834

[Hedley K. J. Rainnie]

I got a Warner videotape of "The WIld Bunch" and found at least one important
segment removed. The scene where Deke Thornton is taken by the police is
no more. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the uncut film enough times to
find any other omissions. The removal of this important scene is inexcusable,
and since they will never be able to show this film on TV anywhere near
even the videotape version, strange. There are some slight breaks in
continuity in the videotape that I am sure Peckinpah would never allow.

I saw the 1968 flako-film "CANDY" on HBO and on TV. Since the meterial is
rather sexual, it is understandable that some meterial on the HBO version
cannot be seen on TV. However, there is material on the TV version not
on the "uncut" HBO video. In addition, the HBO version had the last few
minutes of the film (with the credits) sliced off the end and tacked to
the beginning. I found a similar situation with CADDYSHACK.

In most of the situations where a segment has been removed, the version
suffers. It would be great for us Movie Buffs to be able to see every
segment of a particularly cherished movie--probably by taking the union
of every version made from the film.

Rei SHinozuka
ihnp4!cmcl2!acf4!hkr4627

[Jim Gillogly]

I was given the tape as a present, and did not notice any scenes cut.
I've seen it about 4 times in theaters, and don't remember the coffee
scene mentioned by the previous poster. I claim the entire Whorfin
harangue is there.

Many of the complaints mentioned are due (I think) to the fact that
the tv picture is centered on the screen - they don't, for example,
pan to show John Gomez sucking the battery in the Yoyodyne van, or
to Perfect Tommy's expression when B. Banzai tells Scooter he has
Tommy's job. Annoying, but almost acceptable.

However, there is a pronounced 60-cycle hum on the tape. That's the
noise you get on your hi-fi system when it isn't grounded. I turned
in the first copy for a replacement and the hum is also on the second
copy. It's most apparent in quiet places, as you might expect, and
you sort of learn to tune it out. However, I consider that a serious
bug in an $80. tape. Also, it seems to me that the picture quality
is not as good as on tapes of other movies I've rented.

All in all, I hope they re-release a better job of it.
--
Jim Gillogly
{decvax, vortex}!randvax!jim
j...@rand-unix.arpa

[Jeff Meyer]

I'm glad that the original article was posted, as it pointed out details I'd
apparently missed during my first three showings in the theatre. But I
don't think the cuts are nearly as noticable as are indicated there. The
only thing I noticed were that some of the scenes of Team Banzai entering
the YooYooDyne factory seemed shorter. And I think that the "short form"
Declaration of War bit was uncut, also.

I got the Beta version, and I think that almost all people who enjoyed the
movie will not be disappointed by the video (especially if they get it in
stereo). I saw the video AFTER reading the article, and still didn't notice
any differences (except for the one noted above), and I've probably seen it
more times than most non-Banzais (non-Buckaroos? (i.e. Banzais are to
BUCKAROO BANZAI as Trekkers are to STAR TREK...)). This is backed up by
another netter I've talked to, who also bought the tape in Beta.

"History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark."

Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
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{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!mori...@uw-beaver.ARPA

[Gary Traveis]

I just went down and rented Buckaroo Banzai and found that
it didn't have any hum in it -- maybe the bad tape you had
was from a bumb run. They did "not-pan" in that one segment
with the red lectroid sucking on a lantern battery, but
they didn't really have a lot of time in that shot.

Oh well, still, I wish it came out on tape for $39.

gary