''Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind'' (1980) is a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

spoof of the classic

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

film ''

Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film, science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François ...

''. The film was written and produced by Rick Harper and Bob Rogers.

Plot

In the film, sewage worker Roy Dreary and a number of unusual characters meet up with strange extraterrestrials traveling to earth in a giant pie in the sky. Dreary develops an obsession with mashed potatoes, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries. He encounters singing mailboxes, truck radios that spout bubbles and bubble music, and one pie in the face after another, before finally finding himself at the Sara Loo pie factory-and his close encounter of the nerd kind. Other characters include a wide-eyed cherubic child, a famous French scientist, a bewildered wife, plus

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

on a motorcycle complaining that he is blocking the road. The film also includes a mysterious code (which turns out to be the first nine digits of the

mathematical constant A mathematical constant is a number whose value is fixed by an unambiguous definition, often referred to by a special symbol (e.g., an Letter (alphabet), alphabet letter), or by mathematicians' names to facilitate using it across multiple mathem ...

pi) and an oversized xylophone on which Dreary signals to the aliens. All of the character voices are over-dubbed by voice artists

Corey Burton Corey Burton is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transformers'', Brainiac in the DC Animated Universe, Count Dooku and Cad Bane in ...

(in his first film role) and Sandy Stotzer.

References

External links

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''Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind''
at Pyramid Media American parody films 1980 short films 1980 films American independent films 1980s parody films American comedy short films 1980 comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language comedy short films {{short-comedy-film-stub