SOLARBABIES

The Film: SOLARBABIES

The Guest: Jon Bjorling

I didn’t wanna! I didn’t wanna watch Solarbabies, but JON MADE ME! I guess I’ll get him back by making him watch Neon Maniacs.

I had seen Solarbabies as a young teen, on TV? Maybe as a rental? I don’t remember, but I do remember it as a decent waste of time. That is, it’s a lazy Saturday afternoon flick -something you stumble upon that somehow manages to grab what little attention span you have, and holds it just enough. Images would be burned in your mind forever, but damn it all if you can’t remember the entire plot 20+ years later.

If you want a comprehensive look at Solarbabies, point your cursor HERE; otherwise, stick with us for a light stroll down strange ’80s cinema as we explore this tale of a GLOWING ORB and its band of good-natured roller derby orphans as they escape a futuristic totalitarian regime, evade bounty hunters, and thwart an ultimately not-too-threatening ‘killer’ robot – all to make it rain on a desert. Yay.

It’s a hodge podge flick of post-apocalypse tropes, mining everything from Mad Max to Star Wars, DUNE and even, just barely, THX 1138 (though the original intent was to, indeed, make a THX 1138 for teens, down to the white attire. Alas, as you see by the poster and the photo, that did not happen).

Not one single thing about this movie should work as well as it does. But even so, it just squeaks by on dusty wheels when it should be firing all cylinders!

So, if you wanna, go ahead and listen to Jon try to justify liking SOLARBABIES while Andrew rejects the notion, because…reasons.