Friday, June 11, 2010

Science Fiction Comedies from the 80's


Two days in the making! Hours and hours of research, endless hours of typing! But the hard work has paid off because its finally here! My monster post for Sci-fi Comedies from the 80’s! Comedies from the 80s have a silly nature to them that I love; they just don’t make them like this anymore; sadly. To tell you the truth, I miss that silly nature that these movies have! But in honor of silliness, I’ve compiled some of the coolest and most memorable sci-fi comedies from the decade of decadence! I left out a couple of sci-fi comedies that I have not been able to see for whatever reason. For example, I left out Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders (1989), Morons from Outerspace (1985) and Star Crash (1978). I don’t know if Morons from Outerspace or Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders are any good, but I’m desperate to see Starcrash which I hear is tons of cheesy fun. Unfortunately, it hasn’t reached DVD or Blueray yet, so I guess my wait continues. Plus Starcrash isn’t from the 80s, so that’s why its not here. I know theres tons of sci-fi comedies from other decades, but I decided to focus only on the 80s. I might be doing a future post on sci-fi comedies from other eras, so be on the look out for that in the future. If I have left out any more that you might have seen, feel free to mention them! This way, I can catch up on them. I hope this will help some of you fill up your Netflix Queue’s and your must watch lists! Enjoy!

Title: Galaxina (1980)

Director: William Sachs

Galaxina stars 70’s playmate Dorothy Stratten as the titular Galaxina. She is an android who is aboard a spaceship with a very special mission, they are out in the search for the Blue Star! But more on that later. Galaxina is on board this mission to make sure everything runs smoothly with the mission, they send her because the captain and the crew aren’t exactly known for being reliable. She is a super hot looking android, but there is a catch. No one can touch Galaxina! If you try to squeeze or touch her in anyway, her body zaps you with an electroshock! That is until she reprograms herself and starts to fall in love with the ships captain. This “Blue Star”they are out in the search for is an artifact that allows its wielder to “control the whole fucking universe” with it! By the way, that is a direct quote from the movie, so now you know the kind of film you can expect. Little did I know that there was another Star Wars spoof in the universe besides Mel Brooks’s Spaceballs, but here it is! Galaxina mainly makes fun of two sci-fi classics: Star Wars and Alien. There are many similarities between this film and Spaceballs, even some jokes are the same. Space ships leave skid marks in space, a person gives birth to an alien. The villain also makes fun of Star Wars. Unfortunately, if you ask me, Galaxina is nowhere near as funny as Spaceballs. Many jokes in Galaxina simply fall flat on their asses. By the way, this is the only other film besides Total Recall (1989) where you will see an alien prostitute with three breasts! Also, this movie has many similarities with another sci-fi comedy from the 60's, I speak of course of the awesome Barbarella (1968). A far superior picture that was an obvious influence on Galaxina. On a sad note, Dorothy Stratten died shortly after making this movie, her jealous husband decided to murder her before the films premiere.

Funny Line: “I don’t eat bars. I’m a rock eater. Rock eaters don’t eat bars; they eat rocks. Bar eaters eat bars. Rock eaters eat rocks; that’s how we get our rocks off!”


Title: Ice Pirates (1984)

Director: Stewart Raffill

Ice Pirates tagline “bad taste in outer space” lets us know exactly what we are in for. On this film, water is scarce on planet earth so Ice Pirates steal ice, and resell it to the highest bidder! As a result, the powers that be are constantly chasing them down. This movie has many crazy things going for it. For example, how crazy is it to see Angelica Houston acting in a space farce like this one? You should see her schwasbuckling abilities! Then we have Ron Perlman on board as well as one of the pirates. Among other crazy ideas this movie has we get to see the good guys break into a spaceship and stumble upon an alien taking a dump in the toilet! One of the androids in the film has intestinal problems! As a punishment to criminals, the government castrates them and turns them into albino man servants! This movie has many funny moments going for it, like one scene in which they travel so fast through space and time, that time begins to speed up, until everyone on board is old! Its funny seeing the heroes of the film running from the bad guys with long white beards! This movie comes to us from one of the worst directors of all time, Stewart Raffill the guy responsible for Mannequin 2: On the Move (1991) and Mac and Me (1988), so take that for what its worth. In my opinion he only made one watchable movie in his life time, and it was Ice Pirates.


Funny Line: “I’m afraid I have some bad news. Well, maybe it’s not that bad. The Princess is pregnant!”

Title: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984)

Director: W.D. Richter

At first glance, this movie might seem a bit hard to decipher. Can’t say I blame first time watchers for being completely lost with this here film. It is a very layered sci-fi comedy, who’s main character is a Neurosurgeon, Rock Star, Superhero, Samurai…you name it and he does it. So the film tends to overcomplicate things, when in reality, it’s simply a film about creatures from another dimension who want nothing more than to conquer the earth! But in order to do so, they must first steal Buckaroo Banzai’s dimension traveling vehicle, which reminds me a lot of the time traveling DeLorean from the Back to the Future movies. This is a very entertaining movie precisely because it has so many elements going for it. It doesn’t spell things out for you either, and it’s a fun ride filled with many colorful characters. The cast includes Peter Weller as Buckaroo, Jeff Goldblum as a member of Buckaroo’s gang of misfits who call themselves The Hong Kong Cavaliers and John Lithgow as the films villain who calls himself Dr. Emilio Lizardo! The always attractive Ellen Barkin plays the love interest Penny Priddy. Its one of those movies that is so convoluted with its plot; that it keeps things interesting and fun to watch.

Funny Line: “We are not in the eight dimension. We are over New Jersey, hope is not lost”


Title: Weird Science (1985)

Director: John Hughes

Weird Science is one of those quintessential 80’s comedies. It was part of the films that legendary 80’s director John Hughes directed and produced himself. It tells the story of two teenagers who want to make their dream woman come true. So they mix a little voodoo with their computer, and poof! A mega hot babe appears in their bedroom willing to do whatever they ask of her. Aside from satisfying their sexual fantasies, this mega bombshell helps these two nerdy guys regain their self respect and have a little fun along the way. The gorgeous bomb shell helps them become men, in more ways then one. A climactic scene takes place during a party in which characters from other dimensions begin to appear in their house thanks to their computer, which has gone awry. So suddenly we have mutants appearing in the living room! We have men that turn to monsters made of shit (really!) and nuclear weapons shooting out of the house’s fireplace. Like I said, the movie gets crazy! Which is precisely what makes it such a fun movie to watch, I wish they would still make movies like this one.

Funny Line: “Making a girl…actually making a girl. Like Frankenstein, only cuter.”


Title: Back to the Future I (1985 ) and II (1989)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

For those not in the know, the Back the Future films are a series of films that spans centuries! Marty McFly and Doc Browns adventures through time are always fun, and fast paced. Part one is all about Marty McFly having to escape through time from a bunch of terrorists that are trying to kill Doc Brown because he used the plutonium he was supposed to use for building a bomb for them for his newly constructed time machine. So he uses the time machine, to escape. Only thing is he doesn’t realize he is traveling back in time to the year 1955! When he gets there he meets his mom and dad when they were teenagers! Things get complicated when his own mother falls for him! He has to get his mom to fall for his dad, or else he will cease to exist! This is a series of films that has some great continuity to it, part II continues right were the first one left us. I like the second one for different reasons, but most of them have to do with the inventive action sequences that take place in the future which involve flying cars, hovering skateboards and 50 dollar soda cans. It’s a very imaginative sequel that I love. On the second film we are even treated to an alternate future in which Biff (the films villain) is the most powerful man in the world! And the world has fallen into chaos!

Funny Line: “Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, that he’d melt my brain!”


Title: My Science Project (1985)

Director: Jonathan R. Betuel

This film is extremely similar to John Hughes's Weird Science. The basic premise is the same. A group of teenagers comes across a machine that can bring all sorts of creatures and strange beings from other dimensions. But, while Weird Science concerns itself with two teens trying to gain their self respect and become men, My Science Project is more about showcasing some nifty visual effects. This movie doesn’t really want to teach you anything, the machine that can open rifts in time is simply an excuse for adventure and special effects! These kids turn on the machine right in their highschool, so suddenly dinosaurs roam free in the schools gymnasium! Mutants from the future run rampant through the schools hallways! Will these crazy kids be able to shut off the machine before god knows what comes through the time rifts? An added bonus for this film is that Dennis Hopper appears in it as a crazy science teacher who gets sucked into a time rift and travels back in time! An amusing and entertaining flick that aims at nothing more than making you have a good time.

Funny Line: “When you’re cool, the sun shines on you 24 hours a day!”


Title: Explorers (1985)

Director: Joe Dante

I have two Joe Dante film on this list! Well, he rightfully deserves this because during the 80’s he produced some fine sci/fi horror films, I only wish he would go back to making movies that are worth a damn instead of crap like Space Jam (1996) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). But what can you do, the man loves his Looney Tunes. What I like about Explorers is that it’s kind of like a love letter to that time in your life where you are a pre-teen, in between being a kid and being a young adult. It’s the story of these three friends who get contacted by aliens! They are sent plans so they can build a spaceship! They are sent messages through dreams! Somebody is definitely trying to contact these guys. So, they do what they have to do, they build their little spaceship made from spare parts they find in a junkyard and off they go! Special make up effects for the aliens was done by none other than special make up effects GENIUS Rob Bottin. I gotta say, these are some of his wackiest creations! The film stars a very young Ethan Hawke and also a very young River Phoenix. It also has some of the first computer generated graphics ever. This was when CGI was in diapers, when the first few computer generated effects started to appear in films like The Last Starfighter (1984) and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).

Funny Line: “Look, I know I must look weird to you, but how do you think you look to me? Listen, I watched four episodes of Lassie before I figured out why the little hairy kid never spoke. I mean, he rolled over, sure, he did that fine, but I don’t think he deserved a series just for that”


Title: Short Circuit (1986)

Director: Richard Benjamin

This is the story of Johnny 5, a robot who suddenly becomes aware that he is alive! Johnny 5 is a robot that was created by the military for destructive purposes, but when lightning strikes Johnny 5, suddenly he doesn’t want to be a war machine anymore. Now he loves and respects life and is willing to do anything for his freedom. Most of the film has Johnny 5 running from the military on his search from freedom. The film in my opinion serves as an allegory for personal freedom. Same as Johnny 5, we might be programmed when we are children to think and act a certain way, but just like Johnny 5, there comes a time in our life when we reprogram ourselves and take reign of our own lives and start thinking for ourselves. This movie is funny and sweet; it’s a childhood favorite that still works today. Short Circuit was followed by a lesser, yet still enjoyable sequel. Funniest part of the movie is the chemistry between Ben Jabituya (a very funny Fisher Stevens) the creator and designer of Johnny 5, and the military guys who are trying to catch the runaway robot. The film also stars Steve Guttenberg.

Funny Line: “What if it goes out and melts down a bus load full of nuns? How would you like to write the headline on that one? Nun Soup?!”


Title: Terrorvision (1986)

Director: Ted Nicolaou

For those of you who don’t understand my obsession with this movie, Terrorvision is about this crazy family who’s satellite dish is malfunctioning. A lightning bolt hits it and through that lightning bolt from space, an alien creature suddenly invades their home! A vicious and hungry creature willing to devour anything and anyone that gets in its path. It’s up to Sherman, the pre-teen son to stop the creature along with his war crazy grandfather. What I love about this movie are the crazy characters. Sherman’s sister, Suzy looks like a Cindy Lauper/Madonna wannabe, her crazy boyfriend; a metal head known as O.D. looks like a KISS reject. And if that wasn’t enough, Sherman’s parents are a pair of swingers! I mean this movie is all sorts of crazy and that’s precisely why I love it. The monster effects are pretty creative, and I really think they achieved a lot no such a low budget. The movie has all sorts of gooey and slimy effects, cause you know, it was made during the 80s. A time when latex monsters and slime where king. Those were the days…

Funny Line: “Remember that movie? You know, the one about the little space guy? Made you cry like a butthole?”


Title: Innerspace (1987)

Director: Joe Dante

I happen to think that Innerspace is Joe Dante’s finest day as a director. I mean, yeah, he has made many wonderful films that I love. Amongst them Explorers (which is included on this list) and the Gremlins movies. But in my opinion, Innerspace is his best film. It’s about this group of scientists that have perfected miniaturization. And speaking of miniaturization, this film works like an update on the idea presented in the science fiction classic Fantastic Voyage (1966) where a group of scientists get shrunk down to microscopic size and travel through the human body. On this one, Dennis Quaid serves as the guinea pig for the project. Dennis Quaid is miniaturized, while inside of submersible pod. He is to be injected into a lab rabbit, only problem is after Quaid has been miniaturized and placed inside of a syringe ready to be injected into the rabbit, terrorists attack the lab and attempt to steal the project from the scientists so they can use it for military purposes! One of the scientists escapes with the syringe and injects the miniaturized Dennis Quaid into the first schmuck he encounters, which happens to be Martin Short. The film turns into a race to get Quaid out of Martin Shorts body before his pod runs out of oxygen! Don’t know how many of you guys agree with me, but for me Martin Short is a comedic genius! Everything he does just makes me burst into laughter, so for me, this movie is made that much more special just because it has Martin Short as its central character for most of the running time. Aside from that, the film has excellent visual effects; it even won an Oscar for them, the only Oscar that any of Joe Dante’s films has ever received.

Funny Line: “Eat Me, drink me? What is that? From The Exorcist? No! Alice in Wonderland! Alice drank something to be big and ate something to be small!”


Title: *batteries not included (1987)

Director: Matthew Robbins

This movie is a film about people. It might have little aliens who come from another world in their miniature spaceships, but this is primarily a film focused on characters who are struggling to survive in the middle of an ever growing city. You see this small group of people live in a little apartment building that is being threatened by the construction of big buildings for a private corporation. The corporation is looking for a way to get everyone out of the building so they tear it down and continue on with their “progress”. In other words, it’s the story of David and Goliath. The people vs. the system. The poor vs. the rich. When we meet these characters we get to know them on a personal level, we know that this is their home, and they shouldn’t be forced to go anywhere. One is a lonely mother to be, one is a struggling artist, and the elderly couple runs a little restaurant on the first floor of the building. So you kind of get to hate Big Money when they come with their gangster techniques to try and get them to move out. Good thing the little aliens known as “the fix-its” (because they can fix anything that is broken) come from another galaxy to watch over them, like some sort of miracle. A heartwarming, light family comedy that comes to us from producer Steven Spielberg and director Matthew Robins, the director of such 80’s classics as Dragonslayer (1981) and The Legend of Billy Jean (1985).

Funny Line: “Frank, it’s the love boat to Cuba! You know what they do? They put little umbrellas sticking out on the top so that when it rains, it doesn’t thin out the liquor!”


Title: Making Mr. Right (1987)

Director: Susan Seidelman

Jeff is a scientist who is cold and disconnected from society because he thinks everyone is inferior in intellect to him. He thinks the most important thing humans should be focusing their minds on is deep space exploration (actually I wholeheartedly agree with this character, the answers are in space!) so he builds an android specifically built for deep space exploration. One that wont be affected by being isolated from humanity for long periods of time. Frankie is the public relations person assigned to handle Ulysses, she is supposed to humanize him a bit so that congress will be happy with who they are sending out into space. Problem is, Frankie ends up falling in love with the Android!

This is one of John Malkovich's first film roles. Its really interesting to see Malkovich who is cast in serious roles all the time playing the complete opposite of that. On this movie he flexes his comedic muscles playing the android who knows nothing about women, and has everything to learn from Frankie. What I personally enjoyed the most about this movie is how Malkovich plays Ulysses with such innocence and naïveté. Kind of like Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands. The innocent sensitive fellow who has everything to learn in life.

The real highlight of the film is of course John Malkovich who plays both the Ulysses robot and the scientist who created him. There’s a very marked difference between the two. One is cold and calculating, only caring about his "work" and concentrated on eliminating feelings from himself. The other (the Ulysses robot) is open to learning everything he can, especially from the women he meets. Ulysses was built to be cold and calculating; but when the Ulysses robot comes in contact with a female he begins to develop feelings and see things differently. And he discovers he wants nothing more than to be loved. Ultimately what the movie is really about is relationships between men and women. This movie goes all over the spectrum of relationships, leaning more towards a woman’s point of view of things, which can be of course quite informative and refreshing.

Funny Line: “Paging Dr. Nebitol. Dr. Nebitol, your pizza is here”


Title: Spaceballs (1987)

Director: Mel Brooks

Along with Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs is one of Mel Brooks’s best and funniest films. It makes fun of various science fiction films, not just Star Wars. This one spoofs films like Planet of the Apes and Alien…but lets not kid our selves, this one mainly makes fun of the Star Wars universe. In Spaceballs, the good guys have to stop the inhabitants of Spaceball City from stealing all the oxygen from the peace loving planet of Druidia. Bill Pullman plays this films Han Solo, Daphne Zuniga is this films Princess Leia, John Candy is Chewbacca… and Joan Rivers is C3-PO. If that doesn’t sound crazy enough for you, Rick Moranis is this films Darth Vader! Only he has a Jamaican accent when he speaks with his helmet on! On this film they don’t only have light speed, they got ludicrous speed! Since the Star Wars universe is so vast, this movie had a lot to feed from, and at the hands of Mel Brooks, well, they even make fun of Princess Leia’s hair do on this one. As in most of his films, Mel Brooks himself makes appears. On this one he plays the role of Yogurt the wise…Yogurt the magnificent…or as he prefers to be called “Please, please, I’m just Plain Yogurt.”

Funniest Line: “It’s not that were afraid. Far from it! It’s just that we’ve got this thing about death…its not us!”


Title: My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)

Director: Richard Benjamin

This one is about a scientist whose scientific experiments dealing with gravity cause a disturbance on an alien planet which causes the alien race to become curious about our planet and its scientists. So they send one of their own to investigate. The alien comes in the form of Kim Basinger, and the scientist she must investigate is Dan Aykroyd. It’s a fish out of water story where the alien must adjust to our planet and our way of life. Many funny situations ensue where the alien almost gives away her true nature, like for example, when she eats cigarette butts for dinner or juices her self up by sucking on car batteries. And she carries a huge alien inside of her purse! But, Aykroyd ends up falling in love with her in spite of her being from another planet. I know what you are thinking. It’s completely unrealistic for a bombshell like Basinger to fall for a nerdy guy like Aykroyd, but remember, she’s an alien. She doesn’t know any better! Will the aliens end up destroying our world or saving it?

Funny line: “I saw her drink the battery juice from your Honda!”


Title: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Directors: The Chiodo Brothers

This is one of the craziest movies ever. Killer Klowns from Outerspace have just crash landed on earth, and they are looking to eat a human or two! It’s up to a pair of teenagers and the town’s police to stop these killer clowns! What I love about this movie is how inventive it is. The evil clowns are essentially monsters who kill people in the most creative ways. They have little popcorns that turn into monsters! They have toy guns that turn you into a cocoon! They suck your blood with a straw! The film is filled with all sorts of gags like for example a clown who boxes with a guy, and knocks his head off with one punch! The creativity displayed on this film comes to us from the Chiodo Brothers, a threesome of brothers who do everything from traditional animation to stop motion animation, to commercials to films like this one. They filmed this little movie with less than 2 million dollars! There was talk of a possible sequel, but somehow, it never came to be.  

Funny Line: “I’m supposed to read you your rights. But you’re in Mooney’s Jail, and in Mooney’s Jail you ain’t got no rights!”


Title: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Director: Stephen Herek

This comedy is about two complete losers who are the best of friends. They are flunking school, but ask them if they care! It’s all a joke to them! But anyhows, things stop being funny when they realize that if they flunk high school they will be sent to military camp! All they have to do in order to pass is prepare an incredible presentation for their history class. Pretty soon, they are visited by Roofus (George Carlin!) an old dude from the future who tells them they have a time machine at their disposal to do their history presentation. All they have to do is travel through time, gather the different historical figures they need for their presentation and boom, they pass. I mean, how are you not going to pass if you bring the real Abraham Lincoln to your presentation? Or how about the real Genghis Kahn? I like this movie because of the friendship between Bill and Ted which is obviously profound and genuine, and I love the crazy story. Traveling through time to gather historical figures for your history exam? Ha, genius. This film stars a very young Keanu Reeves. Its worth watching it for that alone, to watch Keanu acting all juvenile. And then theres Alex Winters, who went on to have a career as a film director. He directed the film Freaked (1993), and is currently directing the remake for The Gate. This film was followed by a superior sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1990). On that one, Bill and Ted go to heaven, to hell and even end up playing a game of Battleship with Death for the redemption of their own souls!

Funny Line: “Okay Ted. One George Washington. The Father of our Country. Two: Born on Presidents Day. Three: The Dollar Bill Guy!”


Title: Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

Director: Joe Johnston

This one is another classic of mine. A crazy scientist leaves his shrinking machine unattended and his kids start to play around with it and suddenly, the kids all get shrunk down to microscopic size! The cat sees them and mistakes them for lunch! So they run off to the safest place they could think of, the backyard! This movie has some great special effects; the kids confront all sorts of dangers like giant ants! The lawnmower! And giant drops of rain! Will their dad every find them even though they’ve been miniturized? And will they ever be restored to their natural size? Rick Moranis plays the father which of course is a plus. Something interesting about this movie: It was produced by Disney! But it was written by Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna two writer/director/producers who are better known for directing grizzly horror movies like Re-Animator (1985) and Bride of Re-Animator (1990)! Can’t blame them for wanting to make some cash. Thing is, Honey I Shrunk the Kids! is a very entertaining children’s movie and it became a huge success that summer. So much so that it was followed by a sequel called Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992) a film in which they took the story in a completely different direction by making one of the kids a giant rampaging through the city!

Funny Line: “I don’t think were in the food chain anymore Dorothy!”


Well, thats it boys and girls, hope you enjoyed this blog post! Now, which ones did I leave out? Have you seen any that werent mentioned? Share them with me!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Gonzalez,

I really enjoyed your list of 80 Sci-fi comedies. Have you ever thought about making a Sci-fi comedy?
I'm writing a historical science fiction web serial that in my opinion is funny - or at least funny to me.
NEWays, I liked your list. Many are my favorites too. Like “Inner-space” and “Back to the Future”. Some sounded familiar like “The Explorers”, and “Batteries Not Included”. I guess I'll have to watch them again to be sure I've seen them.

Thanks for the recommendations,
-Zac

Franco Macabro said...

Actually, I did make two horror comedies that have sic-fi elements to them, like teleportation, and mind reading, they were called Cannabis Cannibal and Cannabis Cannibal Exodus. Im pretty sure I'll revisit this genre, cause in reality, I love making and watching cheesy movies. They lighten up my day, and Im sure Im not alone on this either!

Thanks for commenting Zac, hope to see you around again!

Manuel Marrero said...

Hey you forgot Mac & Me, that movie was funny...oh yea the movie blows. Why did you put Buckaroo Banzai their? I didnt kno it was comedy, if it was it didnt make me laugh well except Jeff Goldblum's cowboy outfit; What was he thinking?

Franco Macabro said...

I didn't put Mac and Me because that movie blows! Also, because Mac and Me isn't really a comedy, its more of a family film, trying to be like E.T., though I will say it is unintentionally funny cause its such a bad film.

Buckaroo Banzai isn't funny?? Are you freaking nuts?? That film is hilarious! Its got so many funny elements to it? And its based on a COMIC book, the dialog is funny, the names of the characters are hilarious, I mean christopher Loyds on it! And his name is John Bigboote!! Big Booty?

Fritz "Doc" Freakenstein said...

Francisco, I thought your assessment of Galaxina was fair, although I did think it was funnier than you did. There are two things that still make me laugh when I think of Galaxina - keeping mind that I haven't watched it in over ten years: Every time one of the characters in the film says the words Blue Star aloud, a resounding heavenly choir is heard and all the characters look around to see where the singing is coming from; and the scene where all the male crew members agree they are going stir crazy and need some r'n'r, so they decide to take shore leave on the planet Porno and upon landing they all form a conga line as they exit the ship and start chanting "Porno! Porno! Any old port in a storm! Any old port in a storm!" BTW: Galaxina doesn't compare favorably to Barabrella (which was released in 1968, not the 70's) for many reasons, but at the very least because Barbarella had a much higher budget which allowed for better acting talent, better costumes, better sets and better special (for the 60's) effects.

odenat said...

it's sad that Dorothy Stratten is killed. She was so young. There's 2 movies out there made about her story.

Hans A. said...

Francisco, this is a fantastic post! It really shows some dedication and insight! I was going to list a bunch of films, sci-fi and 80s, and then realized they weren't comedies. Only unintentionally funny. I like also how you include funny lines from the films. So many quotable lines of dialogue. Like in My Science Project, so says Hopper, "If you don't have a stellar project, you both get Ds!" To which Fisher Stevens responds, "Hey, I'll take it!" Or another from Weird Science by Anthony Michael Hall at the beginning, "Wyatt, we know the reality. Why are you trying to kill the fantasy?" Great stuff, Francisco, and I've been enjoying all your work.

Franco Macabro said...

@Fritz:Oh Snap, you are absolutely right, Barbarella is from 68! Sorry bout the typo!

But I do think they both compare:

-Beautiful hot chick who travels through space
-Changes wardrobe every five seconds
-Is some sort of space cop
-Has sex on various occasions in the film
-Is blond

The only true difference between the two is what you mentioned, Barbarella was higher budget, while Galaxina is obviously a low budget affair.

I did find it funny at times, for example those scenes with the Heavenly Choir after someone says "Blue Star" that was funny.

@Thanks for the info Odenat, Ill look into those! I wasn't even aware of that.

@ Thanks Hanz, glad you enjoyed the post! I had a hard time choosing funny lines because some of these films have so many funny ones, like spacebars for example, that one gave me a tough time. And Buckaroo Banzai which is hilarious in my book!

I didnt include some movies because they weren't really comedies, like for example THE LAST STARFIGHTER, which has funny moments but is more of a family adventure film.

I want to make a future post with sic-fi comedies from the 70s and 80s, I have some movies I could definetly include.

I Like Horror Movies said...

So many great movies here I dont even know where to start Franco! KILLER KLOWNS is definitely one of the greatest B-Movies of all time without fail, just popped it in this week and it holds up so amazingly well. I cant get the wife to watch BILL AND TED for the life of me, but I absolutely love it to this day. Such fond memories growing up. I remember HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS being one of the first films I ever saw in theaters, along with THE LAND BEFORE TIME, but the clear winner IMO will always be BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Franco Macabro said...

KILLER KLOWNS will forever be cool, its so cheesy! My favorite character, he always cracks me up is Officer Mooney, he's hilarious. "A clown took your wife in a giant balloon? You don't need the police, you need a psychiatrist!" That line, cracks me every time!

BILL AND TED, they have this innocence to them that I love. The sequel ranks a little higher for me because the effects and story were a bit more epic. But I still love the original as well, in fact, I think I will be giving it a re-watch pretty soon. "Put them in the Iron Maiden!" "Excellent!" "Execute Them!" "Boguss!"

And finally, totally agree with you on HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS, I remember seeing that one on the summer it premiered in theaters, I saw it in a double bill with GHOSTBUSTERS II, which premiered that same summer. What a summer that was, cool movie after cool movie.

By the way, is it just me or has this summer of 2010 sucked ass as far as movies go or what?? Wow, there hadnt been a summer this sucky in a long time!

Unknown said...

Fantastic article and trip down memory lane for many of these films! Now, would you consider GHOSTBUSTERS or REAL GENIUS as SF comedies? I guess, GB has more of a horror/fantasy vibe and RG is more comedy with very little SF involved.

Ah, BUCKAROO BANZAI... love this film! So many insanely quotable lines ("Laugh a-while you can, a-monkey boy!"). One of my all-time faves. Whenever I'm feeling depressed, watching this film always cheers me up. There is so much going on and so much suggested backstory to the characters that it makes for all kinds of speculation on who these characters are. It's really a shame it was so obscure that it never did all that well as I would've loved to have seen a sequel. Oh well...

I'm also glad to see you mentioned MY SCIENCE PROJECT! Wow, I haven't seen that film in ages but I remember being obsessed with it when it first came out on home video. Man, I really need to watch this one again.

Franco Macabro said...

I left out a couple of movies because they get talked about so much, like for example GHOSTBUSTERS. I would consider it for this list, but left it out, I would also include HOWARD THE DUCK, but Ive mentioned HOWARD THE DUCK so many times, I would like to talk about other films as well. Though I did manage to squeeze some of my favorites like TERRORVISION and ICE PIRATES.

I read about REAL GENIUS, but Ive never seen that one so thats I why I didnt include it, but hey, its on my must watch list now.

BUCKAROO is just a favorite of mine, I can understand why others would not like it, but hey, its their loss. About the sequel, there had planned one called BUCKAROO BANZAI VS THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE (they even advertised this sequel in the ending credits of the film) but since this first film never made any cash, well, we never saw that sequel.

MY SCIENCE PROJECT, I mustve watched it a thousand times during my teenage years, but I remember loving it, specially all the cool visual effects, the lightning, and the blue light, it reminds me in that way of another movie that had lots of visual effects like these: Tobe Hooper's LIFEFORCE.

Crazy Ivan said...

Ok, so MODERN PROBLEMS, TIME BANDITS, and CONDORMAN were all released in 1981. And though I'm sure cases could be made against including any one of them, you do have BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, which is not a comedy at all, and has far less science fiction than GHOSTBUSTERS or HOWARD THE DUCK.

Franco Macabro said...

Ive mentioned MODERN PROBLEMS a lot on previous posts, which is the same reason why I left out HOWARD THE DUCK, I talk about them so much, I just wanted to give others a try. I included them in a list I did a while back on 13 cheesy movies from the 80s.

*batteries not included is a family comedy, along the lines of films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. They are not slap stick har har slap in the knee funny, but they got their comedic elements.

TIME BANDITS is a fantasy film, I think that is obvious, this was a list of sci-fi related comedy films.

CONDORMAN is a film I used to see a lot when I was a kid, I actually saw it in theaters, but that one would fall under the category of superhero films, I think CONDORMAN would fit nicely on another kind of list. Superhoro comedies maby?

Thanks for commenting Crazy Ivan!

Snipes said...

Nice list. I always think about checking out Galaxina, but usually never do because I've never heard anything good about it. Good in the sense that it's so bad that it's good.

You'll like Starcrash, mark your calender, September 14th DVD and Blu-ray release! It's going to be a two disc release, I have no idea what kind of extras they might have. Maybe the indirect sequel, which I hear is completely awful.

Franco Macabro said...

Galaxina is not a horrible film, its got its b-movie charm, its just that it isnt THAT funny.

I wrote down the release day for the Starcrash DVD, thanks for the info!

Carlos Abraham said...

"Morons from outer space" was an alternative name for "Explorers".

Franco Macabro said...

I guess they didnt use that title much because there was also a science fiction comedy from that same year (1985) called Morons from Outerspace, directed by Mike Hodges. Never got to see that one by the way.

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