# Rewatching the Mad Max series - spoilers of course **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148 "2015-05-03T11:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/41 "2015-05-10T02:07:28Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I also took it as a kind of wink to the audience. > Like in “Deadwood” when Charlie Utter sees the character of Mr. Wolcott for the first time. He does a double take and looks at him oddly while walking away. The actor who played Wolcott in season 2 played Jack McCall in season 1 and killed Utter’s best friend Will Bill. It would make no sense for them to be the same character since the Voice over at the end of The Road Warrior, told by an adult “feral kid” says he goes on to lead the group of civilized survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/42 "2015-05-10T13:50:01Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Same actor - [Bruce Spence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Spence) - but different characters. Hiring the same actor for a very similar role is a strange directorial decision. Is there anyone who didn’t initially think it was the same character from ‘The Road Warrior’? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/43 "2015-05-10T18:51:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I always assumed he _was_ the military guy. All those road bandits had to have some sort of life before the apocalypse, right? His was a respected role in the military, until everything went to hell, and he found his true calling as a wasteland warlord. He is, himself, a symbol of how totally society has collapsed. I don’t see how. That was a black and white photo which looked really old. To me it looked like the couple, based on what they were wearing were supposed to be from circa WWI. Remember, WWI had much more of a psychological impact on Australia and the US. If anything the pilot guy who seems like a parody/homage to the popular image of WWI fighter aces. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/44 "2015-05-11T12:03:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Considering how often movies get guns wrong, you can’t necessarily rule out the possibility that they’re _supposed_ to be the same gun, and the props guy just couldn’t tell the difference. I think this is likely. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/45 "2015-05-11T17:35:49Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I never understood why the oil tanker in _Road Warrior_ was filled, even partly, with sand. The extra weight would just reduce its maneuverability, speed and range. I always assumed that they had sand because an empty tanker would handle much differently than a full one - they didn’t want the marauders to take a quick look at the tanker and say “fake! go for the bus!” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/46 "2015-05-11T23:56:51Z")
Goose ain’t The Humungous. Walk away. Just walk away. And I think Max was angry, not crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/47 "2015-05-12T03:18:31Z")
As an aside, reviews are starting to roll in for _Fury Road_ and they’re almost universally stellar. “Bugshit crazy” seems to be the common thread. I’m beginning to get really jacked for this. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/48 "2015-05-15T21:23:05Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > And I think Max was angry, not crazy. He wasn’t insane, as in not aware of what he was doing or in control of himself. But it’s clear from the dialogue and contents of the movie, he’s not just angry, he has lost his focus, his humanity, his moral compass, his compassion. Note that he tried to quit before, but kept getting lured back. The conversation with Fifi was all about that. Note his repeated statements to his wife, about going out to the beach and staring at the ocean to find and center himself whenever things were bad. Note his repeated concerns that he was going to lose it, that the stuff he was seeing was getting to him. All of that is about his slipping his hold on his moral center. After the loss of his wife and child, he goes out to the beach, but it no longer works. That is when he gets his gear, takes the Interceptor, and hunts down the bikers. And then the world goes to hell and civilization is lost and he’s out fending for himself in the Road Warrior world. By the way, Charlize Theron was on The Tonight Show this week (and I didn’t recognize her in the role from the commercials, with her head shaved. But then she tends to be something of a chameleon.) Anyway, they described it as “a reboot of the franchise” which, I suppose, is technically true, as they are kicking off a new movie after 30 years (shit, has it really been that long since Thunderdome? Checks imdb - Thunderdome was released in 1985. Yep. Damn, I’m getting old.) Jimmy also said something like it was a reboot of The Road Warrior, which is not technically correct, as it is a completely different story than that movie. It is not a reboot in the way that the Daniel Craig James Bond movies was a reset or even the way Star Trek (2009) was. For starters, it doesn’t retell Mad Max. Now not having seen it, I don’t know if they intend it as an alternate story to The Road Warrior, or if it’s meant as another story in the life of Max. There was one line I saw in one of the trailers that does have me a bit suspicious. Charlize Theron’s character is talking with someone about a “spot of green” and if it is real, and she says yes, because she was raised there and abducted as a kid. Now this is concerning, because she is 40 years old this year, so that makes the timeline a bit funky. If this is the same Max, and he’s not 30 years older than Thunderdome, and Charlize was a kid after the apocalypse occurred, then something is all higglety pigglety. I guess we’ll just have to watch the movie and find out. I suppose that’s for another thread - I’d rather not corrupt this discussion of the old movies with something that is fresh and new that nobody has seen yet. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/49 "2015-05-19T20:31:39Z")
**Irishman** , I find that I think of Mad Max much like I think of lots of _2000 A.D_ comics: yes, there’s a timeline; no, not all stories actually fit into the timeline neatly. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148/50 "2015-05-19T20:35:17Z")
Oh, and I finally finished the original trilogy. IMO, _Road Warrior_ is still the best of this lot, the first movie is clearly visionary and exceeds it’s B-movie limitations by a longshot, and While Tina Turner was awesome, overall _Thunderdome_ wasn’t any better than good. I saw _Fury Road_ last night and I have to put it right up there with Jackie Chan’s _Rumble InTheBronx_ for an absolutely perfect chase/action movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewatching-the-mad-max-series-spoilers-of-course/719148.md?page=2)