Over Christmas Moonbase Junior and I watched Batteries Not Included [1987]. We'd seen it before together about a year ago but he wanted to watch it again courtesy of Prime I think.
Batteries is one of the close classic slices of Spielbergian joy where aliens are always benign and make being human just that little bit more bearable. A bit like the idea of swimming with dolphins.
In this case the aliens are little fix-it robots, akin to the elves in the Elves and the Shoemaker tale. The tiny alien bots; Flotsam, Jetsam and Wheems and their parents, come to the rescue of a group of desperate tenants fighting the wrecking balls of a corrupt developer.
The bots constantly restore things to how they were; wiring, furniture, the lot, in an increasingly fraught situation until the glorious finale in which the little fellows literally build a wondrously happy ending.
The Grandson and I had tears in our eyes.
Despite it being a fabulous film there appear to be no toys associated with it. None that I could find anyway. You would have thought the three robots and the parents would have been ideal candidates for the toy shelf back in the 80's. All I could find were 3D printed moderns.
Its strange that such a life-affirming children's' flick didn't generate any toys and games, especially one called Batteries Not Included, the very essence of toy marketing catchphrases!
Do you know of any readers?
I've never seen any tie-ns to this movie Woodsy. I've only seen the movie once, and while I enjoyed it, it's one of those that fly consistently below my radar.
ReplyDeleteI think those little UFO's cannot be detected by radar Ed! ha ha
DeleteNo toys as far as I know. BNI is a movie etched in my memories, not because of the film itself, but because I got to meet my idol, Greg Jein while he was working on it at ILM back in the mid 80's.
ReplyDeleteGranted, he was just passing me on the staircase in the Model Shop
"Oh yeah, I got your letter" he quipped as he powered past.
He was a busy man...
Aw, what a story Lewis! The stuff of dreams! He got your letter! He knew you Looey! I've just read his biog on Wiki; what a guy! Sadly no longer with us, he did it all when it came to film models and sets. The Mothership in Close Encounters no less! Now that is my fave spaceship of all time and he built it! How talented he must have been. I must watch 1941 and Angels in America now! Thanks for sharing this Looey. I have to ask, did Greg inspire you to follow in his footsteps?
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