BRAIN 17 (1982)
Article 4970 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-27-2015
Directed by Michael Part
Featuring Masahiro Kamiya, Tadao Nakamaru, Akihiko Hirata
Country: USA / Japan
What it is: TV-Movie edited from Japanese kiddie action series

A supercomputer called Brain goes rogue and creates robots to take over the world. However, one of the robots takes the side of good, and with the help of a child, takes on Brain.

Within ten seconds of this movie starting, I pegged the movie as one of those TV-Movies culled from episodes of a hyperactive Japanese kiddie action series about giant dueling robots. The special effects are bottom of the barrel for this sort of thing, you could do better dubbing in your own home, the dialogue is beyond goofy (“I’ve got a plan, and it’s a humdinger of a doozy!”), and the robots (a giant steamroller robot, a fire-breathing robot dragon, a hurricane robot that looks like a giant pinwheel, and a big jack-hammer robot) are ridiculous. It’s basically a variation on “Ultraman”. Yes, it’s awful, but it hits me in my soft spot; I can’t help but grin, shake my head, and just get lost in the nonsense. I love this sort of thing, but if you don’t, you’re liable to end up with a headache. It’s easily the funniest thing I’ve seen in a couple of weeks. Incidentally, the TV series from which it was culled is DAITETSUJIN WAN-SEBUN.