Things That Bring Back Memories – Weird Science #MondayMemories 4


Things That Bring Back Memories
Weird Science

For this week’s “Things That Bring Back Memories” post, I am going to pick something in the topic of “MOVIES” and go with Weird Science.  This movie was released in 1985, and was one that a lot of guys really wanted to try at home.  I remember hearing stories from them about wanting that computer program, etc. ha/ha

If, for some reason, you are of an age that makes it difficult to remember the Weird Science movie, here’s a preview of the movie that we all saw before it came out:

Did you ever watch the Weird Science movie when you were younger? or have you seen it on TV or Netflix later in life?  Let me know what you thought of it, and if you have any memories of it in your life!

Weird Science


More Info on the Weird Science Movie:

Weird ScienceWeird Science is a 1985 American teen comic science fiction film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly Le Brock. The film’s producer, Joel Silver, acquired film rights to the pre-Comics Code Authority 1950’s EC Comics magazine of the same name, from which the plot is developed as an expansion and modernization of the basic premise in Al Feldstein’s story “Made of the Future” in the fifth issue.  The title song was written and performed by American new wave band Oingo Boingo.

As of 2013, a remake of Weird Science is in development at Universal Studios, with Joel Silver returning as producer and Michael Bacall attached as screenwriter.

Nerdy social outcasts Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnelly (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are publicly humiliated by Ian (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Max (Robert Rusler) for swooning over the girlfriends of Ian and Max. Dejected and disappointed at their direction in life and wanting more, Gary convinces the uptight Wyatt that they need a boost of popularity in order to get their crushes, Hilly (Judie Aronson) and Deb (Suzanne Snyder), away from Ian and Max.

Alone for the weekend with Wyatt’s parents gone, Gary is inspired by the 1931 classic Frankenstein to create a virtual girl using Wyatt’s computer; infusing her with everything they can conceive to make the perfect dream girl. After hooking electrodes to a doll and hacking into a government computer system for more power, a power surge creates Lisa (Kelly Le Brock), a beautiful and intelligent woman with seemingly endless powers. Promptly, she conjures up a Cadillac convertible to take the boys out to a bar, using her powers to manipulate people into believing Gary and Wyatt are of age. The boys come up with the name Lisa based upon a failed romantic experience of Gary’s that ended with Lisa kicking him in the testicles.

They return home drunk and happen upon Chet (Bill Paxton), Wyatt’s mean older brother, who extorts money from him to buy his silence. Lisa agrees to keep herself hidden from him, but realizes that Gary and Wyatt, while extremely sweet are very uptight and need to unwind. After a humiliating experience at the mall where Max and Ian pour an ICEE beverage on Gary and Wyatt in front of a crowd of people, Lisa tells them about a party at Wyatt’s house, of which Wyatt had no prior knowledge, before driving off in a Porsche 928 she conjured for Gary to spite them.

Despite Wyatt’s protests, Lisa insists that the party happen anyway in order to loosen the boys up. She goes to meet Gary’s parents, Al and Lucy, who, to Gary’s embarrassment, are shocked and dismayed at the things she says and her frank manner. After she pulls a gun on them (later revealed to Gary to be a water pistol), she alters their memories so that Lucy forgets about the conflict, and Al forgets that they’ve had a son altogether. Back at the Donnelly house, the party has spun out of control while Gary and Wyatt take refuge in the bathroom where they resolve to have a good time, despite having embarrassed themselves in front of Deb and Hilly. Meanwhile, Wyatt’s grandparents arrive and confront Lisa about the party, but she freezes them and hides them in a cupboard.

Upstairs in Wyatt’s bedroom, Ian and Max convince Gary and Wyatt to recreate the events that created Lisa, but Lisa chides them over their misuse of the magic to impress their tormentors. She also mentions that they forgot to connect the doll; thus, with the bare but live electrodes lying on top of a magazine page showing a Pershing II medium-range ballistic missile, a real missile appears through the house. Lisa resolves that the boys need a challenge to boost their confidence and has a gang of mutant bikers invade the party, causing chaos and sending the boys running.

The bikers take Deb and Hilly hostage, and Wyatt and Gary decide they need to save them. They confront the bikers with a new boost of confidence (and Lisa’s water pistol) to force them to back down. After they leave peacefully, Gary accidentally fires the gun, which is now real, and their bravery makes Deb and Hilly fall in love with them.

The next morning, Chet uncovers the disarray in which the house is — the missile protruding through the kitchen and floor joists and carpet of the bedroom, the kitchen being turned entirely blue, and his catatonic grandparents in the cupboard — before confronting Wyatt and Gary. Lisa tells the boys to escort the girls home while she talks to Chet alone. Gary narrowly escapes being pulled over by the police in a conjured Ferrari, while Wyatt proclaims his love for Hilly before being sprayed by her parent’s lawn sprinklers, and both girls reciprocate their feelings to the boys.

Returning home, they discover Chet, now transformed into a giant, talking frog, who apologizes to Wyatt for his behavior. Lisa assures them that Chet will return to normal, and realizing that her work is done and that they don’t need her anymore, she kisses both Gary and Wyatt before de-materializing and vanishing. As she is leaving all of the disarray is magically transformed back to normal, the missile disappears, the home is restored to its original fastidious state and Chet returns to normal just as Wyatt’s parents return home, unaware anything odd has happened at all.

Sometime later at their high school, a gym class of sweaty, pimply adolescent boys waiting for gym-class to begin is met by a beautifully fit coach in spandex. It is revealed to be Lisa who tells the class to “Drop and give me twenty”, causing all the boys in the class to faint and collapse. She turns to the camera and smiles knowingly.

Some of the Weird Science Characters:

Weird ScienceAnthony Michael Hall (Wayne Campbell) is an American actor, film producer, and director who starred in several teen-oriented films of the 1980’s. Hall began his career in commercials and on stage as a child, and made his screen debut in 1980. His films with director-screenwriter John Hughes, beginning with the popular 1983 comedy National Lampoon’s Vacation and the coming-of-age comedy Sixteen Candles, shaped his early career. Hall’s next movies with Hughes were the teen classics The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, both in 1985.

After a series of minor roles in the 1990’s, he starred as Microsoft’s Bill Gates in the 1999 television film Pirates of Silicon Valley. He had the leading role in the USA Network series The Dead Zone, from 2002 to 2007. During its run, the show was one of the highest-rated cable television series.  Hall’s breakout role came in 1984, when he was cast as Farmer Ted, the scrawny, braces-wearing geek, who pursued Molly Ringwald’s character in John Hughes’ directing debut Sixteen Candles.  Hall starred in two 1985 teen classics, both written and directed by John Hughes. He was cast as Brian Johnson, “the brain,” in the quintessential teen film The Breakfast Club, co-starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Molly Ringwald. Later that year, Hall portrayed Gary Wallace, another likable misfit, in Weird Science.

Weird ScienceIlan Mitchell-Smith (Wyatt Donnelly) was born June 29, 1969 in New York City, and began studying ballet at an early age. After his family relocated to Amherst, Massachusetts, he was enrolled in dance classes four days a week and eventually got a scholarship with the School of American Ballet. While at the ballet, he was discovered by a casting agent for director Sidney Lumet and was signed to play Timothy Hutton’s character as a young boy in the film, Daniel (1983). That led to a major role in The Wild Life (1984) in which he played a young man who had a romanticized notion of the ’60’s, a part that required a lot of research into the milieu of the times.  He is an American academic and former actor best known as the co-star of the film Weird Science (1985)

Weird ScienceKelly LeBrock (Lisa) was born March 24, 1960 in New York and raised in London. She is the daughter of a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother. Kelly LeBrock began her career as a model beginning at the age of sixteen. She has appeared on hundreds of covers and magazines including a Christian Dior ad. She became one of Eileen Ford’s most sought-after models. Her motion picture debut was in the movie The Woman in Red (1984) in which she played a model. She has appeared in many films including Weird Science (1985), Hard to Kill (1990), Wrongfully Accused (1998) and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2001). She was married to actor Steven Seagal whom she has three children, Annaliza, Dominic and Arissa.

Weird Science


Weird Science – Did You Know?

Anthony Michael Hall passed on starring in National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985) to be in this film.

According to Bill Paxton, Chet’s line “How about a nice greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?” was based on something his father John Paxton used to say to him when Bill was hungover from a night of drinking.

Kelly LeBrock’s character name was inspired by Apple Computer’s first GUI computer, the Apple Lisa.

The piano girl actually performed her own stunts. This included the use of a scaffold when hoisted up where the chimney is a makeshift vacuum where her clothes were ripped off and a crane when hoisted in the air where the piano girl lands in the swimming pool half naked.

One of the pictures Gary & Wyatt feed into the scanner to create Lisa is of David Lee Roth. The version of “Pretty Woman” that plays later when Lisa is in the mall was recorded by Van Halen when Roth was the lead singer.

Weird Science

 


Thanks for stopping by today.  Please be sure to leave a comment, if this show meant something to you, too.  Or to just let me know what you think of the story in this post!   TigerStrypes claims no credit for any images used on this post, unless otherwise noted.  Images in this post are copyright to their respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please email us with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.  Thanks and have a great day!!

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Mel
Mel
7 years ago

I so remember this movie!!! One of my favorites. #Childofthe80s

Carlee Colonneso
7 years ago

That was such an awesome movie and of course I started singing the song. I remember how cute Anthony Michael Hall was and funny!