In slo-mo for extra hilarity, Runaway dramatically heaves a box toward the Cyborg, who angrily punches it away. Very impressive! That box must have weighed nearly ten ounces! Runaway, who actually seems a bit surprised that the cardboard box toss didn't accomplish anything, runs inside the warehouse where we find another million or so cardboard boxes. Who financed this movie, the Georgia-Pacific Company? Indoors they tussle some more; each guy opens his eyes and mouth as wide as possible as they yell like kids playing outside, like kids used to do. Runaway uses some martial arts to finally knock out redneck cyborg. It helped that the cyborg's method of fighting consisted of throwing a punch then standing still for ten seconds.
Runaway gets lost like a dummy and wanders around more boxes and some plastic drapes. He eventually finds another dinosaur that has just finished eating someone. We see more of the dino's deep red soupy vision, like he's missing the blue half of his 3-D glasses. In relatively easy fashion, Runaway tosses a knife at the dino's neck, killing it, which causes it to self-destruct. Outside, the woman who will one day be introduced as Sister Ann drives down the street. Dingbat Runaway manages to get himself hit by her car in broad daylight as he runs out of cardboard boxland. Sure, he can handle super strong cyborgs and ferocious raptors but they ain't got nothin' on those women drivers!
She gets out of the car and calls for help. She wears a nun habit but lots of good blond hair sticks out, to let us know she's still in training. Rather than take the unconscious Runaway to a hospital she brings him home for some reason. There to greet her is big guy Fred, who we already know will become a dino buffet later. He wears a giant picnic tablecloth... oops... I mean, a flannel shirt, the first of many and I mean MANY such shirts to make their appearance. Of course, it was the early nineties. Fred walks outside to help the Runaway in the pitch-black night so apparently Sister Ann has been driving around with the unconscious guy for several hours. Man, that Burbank traffic is a bitch!
Meanwhile, emergency workers and the police have shown up at the house o' boxes, in the part of Burbank where it's still daytime. The DP hasn't yet discovered how to film during the day though, as it still looks like the upper atmosphere is being swallowed by space. A uniformed cop calls over Captain Polaris (who is just a detective, not a Superman knock-off) to check out a spot on the ground. Having seen the film, we know the spot is a burn mark left by a self-destructing dinosaur but to these guys it shouldn't even get noticed; it looks like it could be an oil stain, some gravel or even a shadow.
Back at what appears to be a halfway house for druggies, overeaters and orphans, Fred and Annie commiserate over coffee though I have a suspicion that Fred is actually drinking rendered bacon fat. What the hell... an even more enormous guy named Romero walks in, offering cake and ice cream! Suddenly we've transformed from a goofy sci-fi action film to a sitcom: Two hippos and a nun! Comin' at ya this fall!
Annie gets all gloomy about her past, when she sold drugs and worked as a prostitute. As if she didn't already know, Fred tells her "When we met you were hiding from a pimp, you just did a month in the joint, you were suicidal and addicted". I bet she didn't recycle either. She feels bad about a friend of hers who died from drugs she had sold. Fred tells Annie to blow off all that stuff and focus on the good things, like brownies or donuts, I imagine.
In a bedroom, a nurse-friend of Fred and Annie examines the still-asleep Runaway. She pays special attention to the Runaway's neck device like its something more than a fancy dog collar. The nurse comes out to say the Runaway looks like he'll be okay but she's only a nurse with no equipment so your guess is as good as mine. She playfully scolds Annie for smoking then takes her cigarette and stamps it out on the kitchen floor!? Next, a young boy with a retro-80's mushroom hairdo walks into the kitchen to say good night. Who the heck else is gonna walk in, Harpo Marx? A Volkswagen full of clowns? Are Fred and Annie hosting an old-school variety show in their kitchen?
We clearly see the sun rise the next morning so I suppose the DP finally read a few pages of the film camera's manual. Runaway is now awake and Fred and Romero bring him a plate of food. It's probably the healthy food in the house that was collecting dust. Runaway shoves food into his mouth with his hands, probably the same way Romero and Fred do if they're alone. They wonder how to approach him since the nurse told them he doesn't speak English. The two big guys switch places for no apparent reason and Runaway doesn't respond to them. He probably thinks they're related to the dinosaurs. Annie decides to speak to Runaway alone. She asks him about his dog collar as if a person's neckwear were the key to their essence. He doesn't respond at first but then grabs Annie by the neck. He places the collar around her neck but can't explain anything further because he only speaks German... er... doesn't speak. Annie eventually figures this out so she attempts visual communication by furiously bobbing her head up and down for yes and the Runaway follows by bouncing his head around like a dork. I was absolutely endeared to these two actors for plowing through this scene despite having to know they were going to look silly as all hell... and isn't that what acting is all about, ladies and gentlemen?
Annie stands in front of a convenient world map, which dominates the room. She points at various places; he points at the ceiling, unsuccessful in his attempt to tell her to clean out her gutters, I mean, that he's from space. He grunts in frustration, slams his collar down and goes back to playing with an old radio, which will lead nowhere.
That evening, Max the kid plays in the living room while Runaway observes him. He's probably thinking how lucky he was to be raised in slavery without having to sport Max's hairdo. Annie walks in and continues to fail to understand that the Runaway is from space. He does know how to speak some basic English now, enough to be overqualified for a customer service operator job. A dinosaur breaks the monotony by smashing its way through the front window. Romero comes in from the kitchen presumably and promptly gets slammed down by the dino. I should say it was actually an obvious makeshift dummy that got slammed down; it wasn't even dressed up and took up considerably less space than the ginormous Romero. The smaller yet still huge Fred walks in with a shotgun and starts blasting away at the dino while Annie shoves young Max into a closet, where I'm sure he'll remain safe behind the cheap plywood door. Annie grabs on to Runaway and they, well, run away. I suppose Fred'll be able to hold down the fort, he can use dead or unconscious Romero's body as a barricade for any further dino attacks.
Annie and Runaway now leisurely stroll the mean streets of Burbank in the evening. She asks him "Who are you?" He answers "a tool." Don't get so down on yourself Daniel, you have a bright future where you'll be working with better actors, like Keanu Reeves... uhh, never mind... you'll make more money though! At night they make their way onto a freight train hauling hay for some strange reason and get to know each other some more. Runaway reiterates that he's a tool and explains that the cyborgs and their dino pets use humans to do all their work because humans have fingers. Exactly how the cyborgs came up with space faring vessels, time travel technology and all sorts of advanced machinery without the use of fingers beforehand is left to the imagination. Ann just so happens to have a plastic baggie of beef jerky on her, which they share. What a handy woman!
Ann blabbers some non-relevant bible passage. Runaway reveals he also knows the bible and begins quoting from it; okay, so when he got to Earth he knew the bible by heart but couldn't speak any language? Ann now seems to understand Runaway's story and doesn't seem terribly excited or surprised about it, I guess nothing can faze a former hooker/pusher turned nun trainee. We see a flashback/montage of Ann's recent past, the scrapbook she keeps containing pictures of her when she was a hooker and druggie (!?) and her praying in church and such. She voices her doubts to her... um... 'Nun Master' about how she doesn't deserve to wear the habit. Runaway tells her that the cyborg and dino trackers are resting right now and they'll eventually come back. Given Annie's downer stories, Runaway is probably wishing they'd come back immediately.
