Movie Robots You’ve Never Heard Of. part 1
I may have mentioned before that I am quite the robot fan. Nothing grabs my attention like a character in a movie that is 100% artificial. Also, in relation to my robot fetish, I love terribly lame movies - particularly lame movies from the 80’s. That being said I want to introduce to you a new segment I call “Movie Robots You’ve Never Heard Of”. Hopefully this will provide you with some culture and possibly (though probably not) some mild entertainment. So now without further ado:
Terminac
“Solarbabies”, a 1986 masterpiece about a post-apocolyptic earth, featured an awesomely lame robot known as Terminac. As I suppose you can tell by his name, this robot was used solely for evil purposes. Without getting too deep into the movie’s plot I’ll just tell you that Terminac was a robot built to destroy pretty and innocent things. Apparently, he was pretty good at it too.
from the movie,
“Gentlemen, this is Terminac. He’s a multi-capable masterpiece, he can squeeze the color from a ruby or deftly pluck the eye from a living bird. And he’s been programmed to enjoy what he does.”
Sounds like a pretty bad robot, right? Well every robot has their vulnerabilities and Terminac is no exception. Apparently, if you were to chop off his antenna-like eyes Terminac would lose all bearings and begin spinning out of control. Fortunately, the movie’s roller skating heroes managed to discover this weakness. After breaking into the top secret government bunker and disposing of many, many armed guards with no more than hockey sticks, they were able to dispose of Terminac with little effort.
So many quesitons:
1. “Without getting too deep into the movie’s plot”
Really? That movie had a plot and moreover if you explained the entire plot would it take more than 10 words and on top of that if you explained the plot fully to your readership would it ruin our enjoyment of the movie?
2. Where can one rent, buy or download this movie? It doesn’t seem like Netflix has it and Netflix doesn’t have it who does?
3. Was this a ‘Something About Mary’ moment to get her hair like this http://www.badmovies.org/movies/solarbabies/solarbabies7.jpg
That is all.
Comment by Bear — January 10, 2006 @
1). lol, well first of all, I know I called this movie lame and it is, but it happens to be one of my favorite movies ever. the plot is somewhat weak but I can assure you that there is one - roller skating orphans find a magical alien orb that helps them overcome the baddies and release earth’s water supply back to the people. There i think that was 23 words.
2). I actually received this movie (in VHS no less) as a gift from my wife for Christmas. She paid $5 including shipping off eBay and it was easily the best present I received this year.
3). no comment
Comment by leadingzero — January 10, 2006 @
Ok. I went to the badmovies.org and viewed some of those pics and videos. And [cringe] I can actually remember wanting to go see that movie when I was 7. Now, using my hieghtened spider sense of recognition and memory, I would like to point out that the two male leads were also in other crappy movies around the same time.
The one guy (who dramatically jumps the canyon) is the older brother from “Lost Boys” (vampire movie) and he more recently starred in the under appreciated “Narc” with Ray Liotta. The other less hunky guy from Solarbabies is the tougher (and less hunky) cop opposite Jonny Dep in 21 Jump Street who later went on to star as a retarded fishman in Sea Quest.
I can’t place the black kid (who dances with the glowing orb–no that’s not stereotypical). I know he was in some other stuff, but I am drawing a blank. He’s probably in some straight to VHS crap or a commercial you’d only see on TV Land now.
I think we all recognize the brunette with hair problems–I mostly remember her as the bitchy wife from Twister but she was also the hot and slutty girl from the vampire cave in Lost Boys (I think her name was “Star?”). She also starred in a sitcom. But it was so good I can’t remember the name.
I have no idea why I posted all of that.
Comment by Evan Tishuk — January 10, 2006 @
dude what are you talking about? “Lost Boys” was great. Its definitely dated (as it starred both Corey Haim and Corey Feldman) but Kieffer Sutherland (leader of the vampire gang) went on to do great things (…don’t forget season 5 of 24 starts this sunday).
Also the girl in Solarbabies and Lost Boys has been in plenty of stuff i think. Besides Twister I know her best as the phone sex operator in a Seinfeld episode that couldn’t “spare a square”.
I never saw 21 Jump Street but I probably should since I dig the 80’s so much lately.
I don’t know why but I get a sick fascination by being able to rattle off obscure movies that obscure actors have been in.
Comment by leadingzero — January 10, 2006 @
Lost Boys also starred Bill S. Preston Esquire from Bill & Ted’s excellent Adventure–he was the blonde vampire with crimped hair. Lost boys was not a “bad” movie but it certainly wasn’t a real resume builder for the actors involved. Kieffer Sutherland and the Frog Brothers had the best roles in that movie.
How did you miss 21 Jump Street!? It was like the 90210 of its time–except one of its stars actually went on to be truly famous.
Speaking of Famous people who have been in bad movies… Did you know Liam Neeson was in “Krull.” Now THAT’S a real piece of early 80’s cinematic junk.
Comment by Evan Tishuk — January 11, 2006 @
lol, I just found out a few weeks ago that the little kid in “Space Camp” was Joaquin Phoenix.
Comment by leadingzero — January 11, 2006 @