Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League
October 12, 2022 5:27 PM - Subscribe
The long-awaited sequel to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is finally here after more than 35 years! As told by the Reno Kid to Buckaroo Banzai chronicler E.M. Rauch, this tale follows everyone's favorite scientist-surgeon-entertainer-daredevil as he sets off on a brand-new hair-raising adventure!
Still mourning the losses of his beloved Penny Priddy and his surrogate father Professor Hikita, Buckaroo Banzai must also contend with the constant threat of attack from his immortal nemesis Hanoi Xan, ruthless leader of the World Crime League. To make matters worse, Planet 10 warrior queen John Emdall has sent her Lectroid legions against Earth with a brutal ultimatum. Or is her true target Buckaroo Banzai? As the apocalyptic threats continue to mount, only Buckaroo and his Hong Kong Cavaliers stand in the way of global destruction.
2.2 at Goodreads.
Still mourning the losses of his beloved Penny Priddy and his surrogate father Professor Hikita, Buckaroo Banzai must also contend with the constant threat of attack from his immortal nemesis Hanoi Xan, ruthless leader of the World Crime League. To make matters worse, Planet 10 warrior queen John Emdall has sent her Lectroid legions against Earth with a brutal ultimatum. Or is her true target Buckaroo Banzai? As the apocalyptic threats continue to mount, only Buckaroo and his Hong Kong Cavaliers stand in the way of global destruction.
2.2 at Goodreads.
Pluto Gangsta - you may wanna read the Goodreads reviews first, a lot of them are pans from very disappointed fans. (A lot of them mention a lot of sexual grossness going on in the text and that alone is putting me off.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:59 PM on October 12, 2022
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:59 PM on October 12, 2022
You can read a sample on Amazon. Or you can try anyway.
posted by Naberius at 9:33 PM on October 12, 2022
posted by Naberius at 9:33 PM on October 12, 2022
I was super excited about this, then I, too, read the reviews on Amazon and GoodReads. I'd dabbled in other EMR Buckaroo stuff in the past (Return of the Screw) and... look, Buckaroo is super formative for me, I have the movie poster facing me on my wall right now, "No matter where you go, there you are" featured in the only art I've ever commissioned, and I'm frankly surprised I don't have a Blue Blaze Irregulars tattoo somewhere.
I think I'm just going to let the movie exist as its own thing I really really like, and steer clear of decades-later byproduct.
posted by Shepherd at 2:39 AM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
I think I'm just going to let the movie exist as its own thing I really really like, and steer clear of decades-later byproduct.
posted by Shepherd at 2:39 AM on October 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
Wow. Those reviews are a hell of a read all by themselves. A line that stands out: "I've never read a book where so many characters genitalia were described." Whatever I was expecting from a Buckaroo Banzai book, it was not lots and lots of descriptions of genitals.
Reading the "Screenplay" section on the Buckaroo Banzai wiki I get the impression that Mac Rauch has always been kind of an unhinged idea machine and director W.D. Richter (who is also a screenwriter with a number of hits to his credit) may have had a major role in shaping the film's story. I suspect that when Mac Rauch wrote this book he really needed Richter there to say, "Actually, I don't think we need these philosophical dialogue scenes that go on for chapters at a time. And, about all these descriptions of genitals..."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:09 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Reading the "Screenplay" section on the Buckaroo Banzai wiki I get the impression that Mac Rauch has always been kind of an unhinged idea machine and director W.D. Richter (who is also a screenwriter with a number of hits to his credit) may have had a major role in shaping the film's story. I suspect that when Mac Rauch wrote this book he really needed Richter there to say, "Actually, I don't think we need these philosophical dialogue scenes that go on for chapters at a time. And, about all these descriptions of genitals..."
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:09 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
*mind blown*
does it explain why that watermelon is there?
posted by chavenet at 4:16 AM on October 13, 2022
does it explain why that watermelon is there?
posted by chavenet at 4:16 AM on October 13, 2022
"As told by" The Reno Kid. Poseur.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on October 13, 2022
posted by kirkaracha at 7:45 AM on October 13, 2022
does it explain why that watermelon is there?
No, but this quote by the director does:
No, but this quote by the director does:
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.posted by kirkaracha at 7:50 AM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
Whatever I was expecting from a Buckaroo Banzai book, it was not lots and lots of descriptions of genitals.
My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:51 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:51 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
This reminds me...has anyone read the supremely weird novelization of the original? The whole thing is written as if by some kind of Victorian-era Watson type who (as far as I can tell) didn't appear in the movie, and he constantly refers to "B. Banzai" and "syncopated music" while calling people things like "You great fellow". Just bizarre.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:07 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:07 AM on October 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal, which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.
I hope it didn't sound like I think descriptions of genitalia have no place in fiction. I mean, I write smut. I love genitals and I love describing them! But I do think a Buckaroo Banzai novel is a strange place to find lots and lots of descriptions of genitalia.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:01 PM on October 13, 2022
I hope it didn't sound like I think descriptions of genitalia have no place in fiction. I mean, I write smut. I love genitals and I love describing them! But I do think a Buckaroo Banzai novel is a strange place to find lots and lots of descriptions of genitalia.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:01 PM on October 13, 2022
Since Rauch is the only credited author on the novelization of the original, I'd assume that any weirdness is probably close to his original vision.
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:35 PM on October 13, 2022
posted by Halloween Jack at 3:35 PM on October 13, 2022
A line that stands out: "I've never read a book where so many characters genitalia were described."
Er, Breakfast of Champions, maybe?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
Er, Breakfast of Champions, maybe?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 PM on October 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:44 PM on October 12, 2022