The story follows a father and daughter living in post-apocalyptic wasteland as they fight against corporate control of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The film primarily draws from archival material that Baldwin kept in the basement of his studio space in San Francisco.

[9] A. O. Scott wrote that the Spectres of the Spectrum was "exhausting and ultimately bewildering…[but] not without a certain visual and conceptual brilliance, or, thankfully, a sense of humor.

"[10] Jonathan Romney of The Guardian called it "radical pop art, and head-spinningly entertaining storytelling, if you manage to keep up with it.

"[8] In his review for Variety magazine, Ken Eisner described it as a "concentrated lightning bolt of fascinating weirdness" but noted that it was relatively inaccessible for mainstream audiences and could become "a coveted item among youthful cognoscenti.