History Film / TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension

* HeroesRUs: the Banzai Institute, located in East Brunswick NJ is Buckaroo's headquarters and the place where the Hong Kong Cavaliers and the rest of Buckaroo's staff bunk between assignments/jobs/missions.

* HomemadeInventions: the Jet Car.

* HypercompetentSidekick: John Bigbooté ([[RunningGag pronounced "big-boo-TAY"!]]), Lizardo's right-hand-man and head of operations at Yoyodyne, is deadly in combat, methodical, smart, and sick as hell of Earth and working for an obviously unhinged slob. Unfortunately his boss doesn't really give a shit about his advice and winds up shooting him.

* MissionControl: Banzai has one at the start of the film while testing the oscillation overthruster, as well as near the end - where a dangerously incompetent member of Banzai's Mission Control team mistakes Banzai's orders not to fire as a last-ditch call for a first strike on Russia. Thankfully, the plot is resolved before much damage can be done.

"Tell him 'yes' on one, 'no', on two."
''(beat)''

-> Laugh while you can, ''MONKEY BOY''!

* CowTools: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVXpCNFOSg "Why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll tell you later."]] [[http://www.thegeektwins.com/2014/02/the-real-reason-for-watermelon-in.html Two reasons:]] InUniverse, Team Banzai had a ZanyScheme to end world hunger via air-droppable watermelons, and only realized they'd blown a fortune ''after'' successfully cultivating [[AwesomeButImpractical a watermelon that required industrial equipment to cut]]. Out-of-universe, the production staff got so tired of the ExecutiveMeddling they started shooting crazy scenes just to wear them out. Once the watermelon scene came and went with no fanfare, they realized they had ProtectionFromEditors and could proceed to go absolutely bananas.

* FiveManBandConcert: Buckaroo Banzai and The Hong Kong Cavaliers are both a crime-fighting and a music band. They give a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF_Ed1pt_WA concert]] at "Artie's Artery". TheAce and [[TheLeader Leader]] Buckaroo rocks it on the electric guitar, Reno is the trumpeter, Perfect Tommy plays the bass, Rawhide is the pianist, and Casper on the drums. There is a couple of extra characters playing the guitar and the trumpet as well, so it's more like a seven-man band concert. Later, when Buckaroo asks Dr. Sidney "New Jersey" Zweibel to join the group, their rise their numbers. [[spoiler:The numbers sadly decrease when Rawhide dies]].

* BeleagueredBureaucrat: The President and his cabinet - even the folksy, personable Secretary of Defense - are easily overwhelmed and buckle under pressure. On top of that, the President himself appears to have some kind of bizarre medical condition that renders him useless at anything more than pen-pushing. Thankfully, they have Team Banzai to rely on for any heavy lifting.

* AliensAreBastards: While Whorfin is a genocidal maniac, even the aliens who are ostensibly the good guys are willing to goad Earth's two main political powers into nuking each other and everyone else to smithereens if it means getting rid of Whorfin. Thankfully, John Parker is an exception and gives a rundown on the situation to Banzai before it's too late.

* {{Troperiffic}}: The opening crawl lets us know what we're in for. Buckaroo Banzai is a neurosurgeon who got tired of medicine and studied martial arts and now he travels the world with the Hong Kong Science Boys. [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot He's a guitar playing half-Japanese half-American ninja science cowboy.]] '''''IN SPACE'''''

* Yakov Smirnoff as the National Security Advisor

-->'''John Parker:''' It looks like one of our thermal pods, but it’s a very bad design.

* HypercompetentSidekick: John Bigbooté, Lizardo's right-hand-man and head of operations at Yoyodyne, is deadly in combat, methodical, smart, and sick as hell of Earth and working for an obviously unhinged slob. Unfortunately his boss doesn't really give a shit about his advice and winds up shooting him.

* PowerWalk: Averted in the end credits, though it can be thought of as an embryonic version.

* AscendedFanboy: Buckaroo has a worldwide fan organization called the Blue Blaze Irregulars, who monitor the airwaves to answer the call from Buckaroo at a moment's notice. Casper Lindley and his son Scooter answer one such call and end up accompanying Team Banzai for the rest of the movie.

** According to WordOfGod [[spoiler: Rawhide got better too.]]

* CowTools: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVXpCNFOSg "Why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll tell you later."]]. [[http://www.thegeektwins.com/2014/02/the-real-reason-for-watermelon-in.html Two reasons:]] InUniverse, Team Banzai had a ZanyScheme to end world hunger via air-droppable watermelons, and only realized they'd blown a fortune ''after'' successfully cultivating [[AwesomeButImpractical a watermelon that required industrial equipment to cut]]. Out-of-universe, the production staff got so tired of the ExecutiveMeddling they started shooting crazy scenes just to wear them out. Once the watermelon scene came and went with no fanfare, they realized they had ProtectionFromEditors and could proceed to go absolutely bananas.

* FiveManBandConcert: Buckaroo Banzai and The Hong Kong Cavaliers are both a crime-fighting and a music band. They give a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF_Ed1pt_WA concert]] at "Artie's Artery". TheAce and [[TheLeader Leader]] Buckaroo rocks it on the electric guitar, Reno is the trumpeter, Perfect Tommy plays the bass, Rawhide is the pianist, and Casper on the drums. There is a couple of extra characters playing the guitar and the trumpet as well, so it's more like a seven-man band concert. Later, when Buckaroo asks Dr. Sidney "New Jersey" Zweibel to join the group, their rise their numbers. [[spoiler: The numbers sadly decrease when Rawhide dies]].

* MacGuffin: The perfected oscillation overthruster; after its use in the jet car test in the opening scenes reveals that it allows travel to the 8th Dimension, much of the plot is driven by the good guys having to keep it out of the hands of the villains. [[spoiler: Tellingly, it isn't used again -- not even in the climax. Lizardo/Whorfin loses patience with the search and declares the ''original'' overthruster will suffice for their needs. It doesn't.]]

* PreInsanityReveal: When [[spoiler: Dr. Emilio Lizardo]] first appears he's locked up in an insane asylum and acts crazy. While he's undergoing self-inflicted electroshock therapy there's a FlashBack of what happened to him. [[spoiler: He was originally a scientist who worked with Professor Hikita to develop a prototype version of the Oscillation Overthruster. During a test of the device he was possessed by the Red Lectroid leader Lord John Whorfin.]]

* ShootTheBullet: Banzai does this when one of the Red Lectroids spits at him[[note]]which we've seen is deadly[[/note]].

* WaitHere

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Banzai isn't a Japanese surname. It's a part of the famous Japanese "banzai charges" during World War 2, in which Japanese soldiers would shout "''Tenno Heika Banzai!''" which roughly means "Long live His Majesty, the Emperor!"

** In the novelization, Lizardo's original consciousness ''is'' is still present, but can only assert itself when Whorfin is starved of electricity. He ''wants'' to use this moment of control to commit suicide and stop Whorfin, but isn't able to.

** Penny Priddy is.... less than emotionally stable... but still manages to pull off a few moves that save the team, including hiding the overthruster in plain sight.

* LargeHam: Creator/JohnLithgow gorges himself on scenery as Lord John Whorfin. He admits as much in retrospective interviews.

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