‘Gremloids’: The bizarre sci-fi that spawned Lord Buckethead
The political landscape can be an odd place at the best of times, but there’s something distinctly British about a low-budget Star Wars rip-off giving rise to a candidate that’s gone on to stand in several elections.
Almost as soon as George Lucas’ sci-fi epic became the biggest hit cinema had ever seen, there was an almost immediate explosion in thinly veiled imitators and parodies. One of the first to get out of the blocks was writer and director Todd Durham’s Gremloids, a 3D comedy released in 1984.
Liberally aping everything about Star Wars, the movie saw Robert Bloodworth’s Lord Buckethead and his evildoing henchmen accidentally touch down in a remote backwoods town on the search for a princess called Serina.
Deciding to make the most of it, Lord Buckethead confuses local baker Chester with notorious outlaw Captain Starfighter and transmission repair employee Karen as Serina, abducting her for interrogation and pitting his alien forces against humans in an altogether half-hearted and uninspiring spoof of Star Wars.
At the time, nobody could have predicted that Gremloids‘ lasting legacy would emerge in the stuffy world of the United Kingdom’s political system, but video distributor Mike Lee had other ideas. Forming the Gremloids Party, he’d adopt the Lord Buckethead persona without authorisation from the filmmaker and try his hand at standing in the general election.
After running opposite Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and John Major in 1992, the helmeted politician would then vanish for a decade and a half until it was decreed the incoming threat of Theresa May was something that an intergalactic overlord simply couldn’t abide sitting by and letting happen.
Replacing Lee under the suit was Jonathan Harvey, who gained viral fame for appearing – in full costume, of course – opposite May when taking her on in the 2017 general election. Seeking to usurp her on her home turf of Maidenhead, a whopping 249 votes were cast in favour of the Gremloid Party, which equated to a massive 0.4% of all the ballots filled out.
Since then, Lord Buckethead has appeared on Last Night Tonight with John Oliver to campaign for the chance to lead Brexit negotiations, popped up at Glastonbury to introduce Sleaford Mods, become embroiled in a copyright dispute with Gremloids director Durham, and returned to the political fray once more.
Representing the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in the 2019 general election, Lord Buckethead was unsuccessful in defeating Boris Johnson, with his voting percentage dropping down to 0.3. Make no mistake, though, the next time the race is announced to declare a brand new Prime Minister; he will inevitably rise from the ashes once again to take pride of place among the pantheon of politicos chasing the highest office in the land.
