Bionicle VI: Island of Doom

Bionicle VI: Island of Doom (also known as Bionicle 6 and Bionicle Ignition: Island of Doom in Europe) is a 1986 Vlokuzuian-Australian sci-fi action tokusatsu film. It is the twelfth Technic Heroes installment and the sixth Bionicle installment.

Bionicle VI is the first Technic Heroes film to be filmed and produced in Australia and it is the one of two Bionicle films to be produced by Film Australia.

Plot
Taking place three years after the events of Quest for the Masks III: Mask of Light and twenty years after the events of Bionicle V: Web of Shadows, the film tells the tale about Toa Nuva, who were found out that Mata Nui is not asleep, but dying.

To save him, they're told to venture to Sydney in Australia to retrieve the Kanohi Ignika. However, when the heroes arrive, they are quickly overpowered and imprisoned by the Piraka; a group of former Dark Hunters of the Skakdi species, who after raiding Makuta's lair, had the idea of claiming the Ignika planted into their minds by Makuta's surviving spirit, real name Teridax.

Travelling to Sydney, the Piraka - carrying Teridax's essence in the form of a substance stolen from professor Denero Bromley called Antidermis- pose as Toa before enslaving nearly all of the residents of Sydney with it; forcing them to carry out tasks in relation to finding the Ignika. Denero responded the crisis by travelling to Canberra to warn the Australian prime minister Bob Hawke about the Piraka's presence in Sydney, but Hawke was dismissive.

Meanwhile, Group 6 were at El Kadsre City. They spend their time going to Northland where they go through numerous shops, played in the arcade where they met Ryu Hamasaki in person, attended the movie where the patient transforms into the werewolf and attacks the nurse, and then spent the night at the Rinoshi Hotel

The next day, Em, Kouji, Aquila and Darren bring groups 5 to 8 to the tour around the Kayosbunker, where they entered the myserious region after one of the members of Group 7 accidentally unvield the secret entrance in the "Inhazrak" (Karzahni spelled backwards) restaurant room. While taking the look around the region, they discovered the gate where Group 6 became trapped by the invisable force, forcing the rest of the group to abondon them.

Group 6 later discovered that they're in the realm of Karzahni, where they are forced into the labor of rebuilding damaged people by its demented ruler of the same name. The party eventually escape via Toa canisters heading to Earth, landing straight to Sydney, but prior to arriving, bolts of lighting from an object called the Red Star which orbits their planet transform them into the Toa Inika; Toa with entwined lightning powers.

With help from a small resistance force, J-MIBS, the Japanese alien investigators and the ancient being Axonn, the new Toa battle the many guardians and challenges set by the Ignika and chase the Piraka underground to its chamber. Upon arriving at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, they find the Skakdi already defeated by the mask's final guardians; the insane seventh Piraka Vezon that the Ignika has fused itself to and his spider-like steed Fenrakk, the latter later re-arising as a Kardas Dragon.

The immense battle climaxes with the pair getting trapped in a stasis field, but as Matoro retrieves the mask, Vezon unfreezes and the dragon fires an energy blast that knocks the Ignika out of his hands and up out of the chamber.

Followed by the revived Piraka, the Toa chase after the mask, which eventually plunges into the sea. After receiving a clue about a city beneath the ocean and conversing with the recently freed Toa Nuva, the Toa Inika descend through the concrete tunnel that links to any part of the world in the hope of reclaiming the Ignika.

Cast

 * Antanico Matsushita as Akita Maximino/Jaller
 * Goro Yukimura as Hiroshi Yoshimura/Matoro
 * Sandra Ozlins as Danny Ripley/Hahli
 * Phillip Stringer as Leo Terrell/Kongu
 * Zlata Lugnov as Irwin Davey/Hewkii
 * Talon Winter as Wilson Harshal/Nuparu
 * Andy Wilson as Jamie Howard/Takanuva
 * Hideki Hamasaki as Jiro Fujioka/Tahu
 * Jonacus Reinder as Adam Jullen/Kopaka
 * Yasi Tanaka as Hana Fujioka/Gali
 * Sylvester Jalen as Andrea Hashimoto/Lewa
 * Hank Jeroem as Mick Kendal/Pohatu
 * Dean Norman as Jarrod Baxter/Onua
 * Christopher Berger as Turaga Vakama
 * Vaughn Nathans as Turaga Nuju
 * Maja Prebensen as Turaga Nokama
 * Mervyn Cropper as Turaga Matau
 * Akira Yamaguchi as Turaga Onewa
 * Noach Irwin as Turaga Whenua
 * Jon Pertwee as Turaga Dume
 * Marvyn Atkinson as Zaktan
 * Lorne Fear as Hakann, Nektann and Botar
 * Alger Black as Avak
 * Jerrold Spence as Vezok
 * Takara Maki as Thok
 * Max Fairchild as Reidak and Tyrone Hanraets
 * James Lugton as Ilar Abramo
 * Ryota Yukimura as Katsu Tasukuda
 * Bertha Romilly as Mirjam Traylor
 * Burnji Yarran as Stephen Janson
 * Don Yamasima as Kurd Yamoto
 * Dederick Sidney as Ninian Chastain
 * Kruku Makusa as Em Yoshimura
 * Darren Nye as Andie Wilson
 * Yuki Hayashi as Susimo Maximiro
 * Norm Linville as Can of Diced Tomatoes
 * Halcyone Ferrara as Aquila Hadaway
 * Ryouichi Andrews as Kouji Nishimura
 * August Andreasen as Darren Lange
 * Velibor Košar as Bož Bo Petrović
 * Mark Fitzroy as Derrick Jennings
 * Milford Jimi as Brandom Davison
 * Natasha Mills as Barbara Hanarets
 * Gerard Aarens as David Hanarets
 * Lilibet Pender as Lily Hanarets
 * Kouki Yamashita as Takeshi Koizumi
 * Ryosuke Sakamoto as Janeda Fujioka
 * Arata Oshiro as Axonn
 * Harve Bachchan as Eden Brute/Brutaka
 * Jason Bramley as Umbra
 * Jess Griffin as Arlen Dean
 * Marcel Casey as Aaron Bromley
 * Jepson Macías as Prof. Denero Bromley
 * Nicky Garrard as Bruce
 * Marlowe Strudwick as Nick
 * Yoshirou Padmore as Dave
 * Ilbert Elder as Toby
 * Andy Stacey as Peter
 * Yoshi Akiyama as Vezon
 * Liliana Alamilla as Beryl Maximino
 * Jirou Kita as Ren Maximino
 * Juro Koizumi as Sander Shinobu
 * Sharona Garrett as April Davey
 * Deven Elliott as Lenny Jon
 * Shouhei Fujita as Karzahni
 * Bryan Marshall as Mr. Reynolds
 * Shin Isikawa as the horror movie patient/werewolf
 * Sandra Harper as the horror movie nurse
 * Jarrod Paine as Policeman #1
 * Ryu Takushi as Policeman #2
 * Kimm Charleston as Mrs. Maslin
 * Świętopełk Wrzesiński as the singer in the El Kadsre City bar
 * Ryu Hamasaki as himself
 * John Howard as himself
 * Max Gillies as Bob Hawke
 * Kerry Packer as himself
 * Bert Newton as himself
 * Kids of as children spectating the battle in Sydney
 * as a man spectating the battle in Sydney (uncredited)
 * as the daughter of the man spectating the battle in Sydney (uncredited)
 * as a Aboriginal spectating the battle in Sydney (uncredited)
 * as the band in the Sydney bar (uncredited)

Production and release
Bionicle VI was announced along with Bionicle IV and Bionicle V in 1982 and it was originally titled Bionicle VI: The Great War. This version of the film takes place in 1968 and it involves the Toa Metru teaming up with the West El Kadsreian army and the EEKRT to fight the East El Kadsreian army and the Dark Hunters during the invasion. Vlokozuian Media Union, the media company who owned El TV Kadsre at the time, ultimately scrapped the original draft to pay respects to the Kayos family and putted Bionicle VI into development limbo. Takima Susima, who is the producer of Technic Heroes visited Australia in 1983 and when Peure, Susima and Gim visited the restaurant in Maison El TV Kadsre, they pitched Bionicle and wrote the story for the film. This story has little traces of the original script, despite Sung Gim has never read a original script. The film was renamed to Bionicle VI: Island of Doom and Film Australia was hired to help develop the film.

Filming of Bionicle VI: Island of Doom lasted from April 23 to June 9, 1985. The film was mostly filmed in Sydney, while some scenes from the movie are filmed in Canberra, El Kadsre City, Eirabourne, El TV Kadsre Television Centre for Karzahni scene, Seven Network's Epping studios and WIN's Kingston studios for most of the indoor scenes and the theater in the University of El Kadsre for the cinema scene. The Rinava concert footage was filmed at The 12:00 Dance Hall in Capulco.

The character of Mrs. Maslin (who is killed by the Piraka) was named after New York Times film critic, who gave Bionicle V: Web of Shadows a negative review, calling it "an awful film that's comparable to being held at gunpoint."

The film premiered at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on May 13, 1986. The film was released on VHS, Betamax, TVD and Laserdisc by El TV Kadsre Home Video in October 1986 and the extended version was released in January 1988 as part of the Technic Heroes Extended Pack. The film was first released on DVD on June 2, 1997 and on Blu-ray in December 2007. A version was made in limited quantities, and so were, , , flash drive, and  releases. One of the French VHS releases was a Cinevoice English-learning version. A release was also made as part of the Technic Heroes lineup.

Lionsgate re-released the film on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States under it's revival of the Vestron Video label in 2018

A DVD release contained within a birthday card was issued by El TV Kadsre Home Entertainment and PartyPlannerz in 2015.

Reception
The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. While it was praised for its costume design and the story, the film was criticized for its casting and its misleading title, where it says it takes place in the island while it in the film it takes place in the city. The film holds a 63% approval rating review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews. The film was Vlokozu Union's most viewed and highest-grossing film in 1986. Bionicle VI: Island of Doom came in 4th place in 1986 World Film of the Year.

Internet popularity
After the thirtieth anniversary of the film's release, Bionicle VI: Island of Doom had an unexpected rise in popularity as an internet meme. The popularity began in 2007, when the El Kadsreian YouTuber, janusshin85, uploaded the video titled "Worst Line Ever", which shows the scene from the movie where Barbara and David, having the conversation in the car after the incident caused by her stepfather and his gang. The video was taken from VidSpace, where it was uploaded in 1999 and it was called "Stupid Scenes in El Kadsreian Movies #35: Bionicle VI: Island of Doom". Nine years later, The Sentanese YouTuber, Liam Alexander uploaded the video called "Bionicle VI: Island of Doom but all the characters in the film are having vocoder voice problems" where the sound of the film is synthesized, then 2 months later, It literally came here directly from planet Uranus, the scene from the film, had become an internet meme. There were plenty of people, as well as Bionicle fans trying to explain the phenomenon. It has also been suggested that the spread of such videos was inspired by the preceding popularity of the We Are Number One meme, due to the similarity in content spawned by both phenomena. When El TV Kadsre found out Bionicle VI: Island of Doom's internet popularity, they stated on its official Facebook page, "That film was released three decades ago, and now it has become a meme now."

Shortly after El TV Kadsre posted the Facebook status, they published a YouTube video called What's the Deal with the Bionicle VI Meme? where they documented the whole process of how the meme became popular.

El TV Kadsre has since merchandised the two characters more often, including a chocolate bar suggested by Brock Baker named "The Worst Line Ever: The Candy" engraved with a rendition of the image, and new action figures of them, sold with a toy of the VCMC Grasshopper they were in.