Lord John Whorfin: Where are we going? Red Lectroids: Planet Ten! Lord John Whorfin: When? Red Lectroids: Real soon!
Orderly: Who are you today, Doc? Einstein? Lord John Whorfin: Lord John Worfin. If there's one thing I hate, it's to be mistaken for somebody else.
Perfect Tommy: Emilio Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once? Buckaroo Banzai: You're thinking of Mr. Wizard. Reno: Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dumbkopf. Perfect Tommy: So was Mr. Wizard.
Lord John Whorfin: May I pass along my congratulations for your great interdimensional breakthrough. I am sure, in the miserable annals of the Earth, you will be duly enshrined.
[intro to a flashback] Television voice: Nineteen thirty-eight! Can you imagine what it must have been like then... then... then...
Trivia:
Jamie Lee Curtis played Buckaroo's mother in a flashback, but this scene was cut.
Overall concept and several names appear to be taken from the Doc Savage pulp magazines of the 30's and 40's: both main characters are multi-talented surgeons, adventurers, and musicians; and both have an inner circle of sidekicks with nicknames (Renny, Ham, Monk, Long Tom, and Johnny, compared to Reno, New Jersey, Perfect Tommy, and Rawhide).
When it came time to film the end titles sequence, where Buckaroo and pals are walking around a dry LA aqueduct in step to the music, the music wasn't ready. Composer Michael Boddicker told the film crew to use "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel as a placeholder because it was the exact same tempo. Those scenes were filmed with "Uptown Girl" blaring from a boom box tied to the back of the camera truck.
Peter Weller is really playing the guitar in the nightclub scene.
Many names and terms were taken from Thomas Pynchon's book "The Crying of Lot 49".
DVD Easter Eggs: (Hidden So You Don't See Anything You Don't Want To See)
Edition: MGM Special Edition
Region: 1
Description: Multiple hidden features
a. If you select the middle Jet Car image on the first menu screen, you will be able to scroll through a selection of quotes from Doctor Banzai.
b. If you select the yellow circle in the top left corner of the first menu screen, you will be able to scroll through 36 alternate DVD menu designs.
c. If you select the Banzai Institute logo on the Banzai Institute Archive Menu screen, you will be able to scroll through two alternate DVD cover designs.
d. If you select the watermelon image on the first Deleted Scenes Menu screen, you will be taken to an article called "Food from the Skies?" which discusses why the Banzai Institute was putting watermelons in high guages.
e. If you select the BB logo on the second screen of the "Food from the Skies?" article, you will be taken to a video clip of W.D. Richter called "Why?" where he discusses watermelons and shows a recipe for Chicken in a Watermelon.
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