The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Buckaroo Banzai and his mentor Dr. Tohichi Hikita perfect the “oscillation over thruster,” a device that allows an object to pass through solid matter. Banzai tests it by driving his Jet Car through a mountain. While in transit, he finds himself in another dimension. After exiting the mountain and returning to his normal dimension, he discovers an alien organism has attached itself to his car. Dr. Emilio Lizardo, incarcerated at the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane, sees a television news story of Banzai’s success. In 1938, he and Hikita had built a prototype over thruster, but he tested it before it was ready and became stuck between dimensions. Though eventually freed, he was attacked by aliens while stuck between dimensions. Realizing that Banzai has successfully infiltrated the 8th dimension, Lizardo escapes the asylum.

Banzai and his band, “The Hong Kong Cavaliers,” are performing at a nightclub when Banzai interrupts their musical intro to address a depressed woman in the audience, Penny Priddy. During a song he performs especially for her, she attempts suicide, which is mistaken for an assassination attempt on Banzai. After bailing her out of jail, he realizes she is his late wife’s long-lost twin sister. Later, during a press conference to discuss his rocket car experience, the over thruster, and the specimen of alien/transdimensional life he obtained while traversing the 8th dimension, Banzai is dispatched to the phone, where he receives an electrical shock.