EPISODE 119 - Maximum Overdrive: LIVE!

[pscudese 701]

Did anyone find these things annoying regarding the deaths of Bubba and a random trucker?

 

1. We can all agree that besides the machines, the real villain in the movie is Bubba. Once we met him, we all knew he was gonna die at the end of the film. So when the time came and the machine gun truck blew him away... we don't get to see it happen! Tight shot of gun going off. Cut to Bubba riddled with bullets. So did the actor revolt against squibs going off on him? I mean they had the technology on set for there were two other patrons blown apart.

 

2. The last death is also so strange. The survivors are running towards the boat, but one random trucker veers off and decides now is a good time to steal a dead woman's wedding ring. So as a viewer, I am seeing him as an asshole and have no issue with him dying. So of course the goblin truck kills him which then leads to our "hero" blowing up the truck. If we are suppose to be very excited that the goblin truck is dead, why not have it kill a character we've grown to like. Namely "road twitch" or the newly married husband who has shown some heroism in the film.

 

Ugh! I hate this movie! This should have been shown at any D.A.R.E. meetings to convince kids that drugs will make you create shitty movies.

 

- Pete "The S Man" Scudese

[hypnotizingchickens 1025]

 

the series finale of Breaking Bad aired on September 29, 2013.

 

*groan*

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

So let me get this straight...

Anyone has access to a rocket launcher.

Anyone who shoots the rocket launcher; hits and destroys a truck.

There is no statement that "we have a limited number of rockets."

 

So with this information, stop fucking and start blowing up some god damn sentient trucks!

 

 

This is similar to the question posed by the audience member during the episode. I also had a question about it, but when I really thought about it, all that would reslly do is result in the truck stop-ers grisly demises.

 

Yes, they seem to have a ton of weaponry, but there is also a shitload of trucks. Due to what I'm sure were budgetary constraints, we only really see six or seven trucks, but during the fueling scene, we see trucks backed up for what seems like miles. They aren't just fueling the trucks that are there, but a whole slew of these demonic trucks--hence why it takes so long to fuel them. In the end, there is only so much damage an untrained rabble of riffraff would be able to inflict before being overwhelmed.

 

Honestly, I found this movie to have far less logic flaws then it appears at first blush. I think it's real flaw was in its inept execution, which makes you think there are logic leaps when, in actuality, it does make some degree of sense. For example, see wyldride's post regarding automatic sprinklers. I'm not saying everything is perfect and that Maximum Overdrive should be viewed as a documentary, but compared to a lot of the films HDTGM does, I found it to be better than most.

 

*sniffs a line of coke off the forehead of a Road Twitch*

[NathanielParker 43]

Did anyone find these things annoying regarding the deaths of Bubba and a random trucker?

 

1. We can all agree that besides the machines, the real villain in the movie is Bubba. Once we met him, we all knew he was gonna die at the end of the film. So when the time came and the machine gun truck blew him away... we don't get to see it happen! Tight shot of gun going off. Cut to Bubba riddled with bullets. So did the actor revolt against squibs going off on him? I mean they had the technology on set for there were two other patrons blown apart.

 

2. The last death is also so strange. The survivors are running towards the boat, but one random trucker veers off and decides now is a good time to steal a dead woman's wedding ring. So as a viewer, I am seeing him as an asshole and have no issue with him dying. So of course the goblin truck kills him which then leads to our "hero" blowing up the truck. If we are suppose to be very excited that the goblin truck is dead, why not have it kill a character we've grown to like. Namely "road twitch" or the newly married husband who has shown some heroism in the film.

 

Ugh! I hate this movie! This should have been shown at any D.A.R.E. meetings to convince kids that drugs will make you create shitty movies.

 

- Pete "The S Man" Scudese

The only explanation I can think of for #1 is that must have been part of the editing to get it down from an X rating. With how liberal they were with the gore on the other truckers getting shot, Bubba's was probably even more gruesome and then just badly edited in the end result.

 

As for #2 I think it goes more to how they were saying how all of the characters were basically assholes, so if you kill any one of us, we're then going to rocket launcher your ass!

 

After listening to this show I'm literally pulling my hair out over here at how much the gang missed or didn't understand.

I feel like this is what Jason must have felt like with Con-Air. You can point at all these things but it all adds up!

 

I love this movie! Out of all the 80's "horror" movies, I've probably seen this the most. But that might have more to do with they were always showing it on HBO or wherever.

[RikkiHo 84]

One of my favorite scenes in the movie happened right after Emilio discovered the jack-in-the-box in the Goblin Truck. When he gets out of the truck and is creeping alongside of it, under the Happy Toyz logo, the camera slowly pans over the phrase "GET READY FOR ANOTHER LOAD", and then sadly continues panning to finish with "OF FUN!".

 

I thought Jason was going to jump on that one.

 

Also, is this the poor man or rich man's version of The Happening?

[JonWithrow 10]

Why does this happen?

https://j.gifs.com/KzdG53.gif

[NathanielParker 43]

What if this is all going on at the same time as the movie Short Circuit is happening? And Johnny 5 is the alien resistance?!

[NathanielParker 43]

Q: Why does this happen?

https://gifs.com/gif/KzdG53

 

A: Cocaine

I've always took it as the kid's in a hurry and wrecks his bike and they just filmed it badly. I got no idea why his front wheel would lock up though. I don't think it's supposed to be his bike is a "machine."

 

So if you add a lot of cocaine to that idea I think it makes perfect sense.

[NathanielParker 43]

The one flaw I see that can't be explained away by cocaine is the passage of time. I always saw the gas pumping scene as taking place over 1-3 days as to why it was wearing them out. It takes quite a while to fill a truck up with a couple hundred gallons of gas and they ended up going through maybe 1,000+ trucks? They even had the scene with the gas truck coming for them to refill the underground tanks to fill up more trucks.

 

But then the end card tells us it's only been around 2 days from the ATM calling King an asshole to them getting on the boat.

 

Forget cocaine, you're going to need bathsalts or something to get away with that leap.

[CPiz 232]

Clarification: According to Wikipedia, the person injured was actually the Director of Photography himself, Armando Nannuzzi. He was injured when the lawnmower struck a pole, sending wood splinters, likely sheered off by the real blade that the coke-addled King insisted be used, into Nannuzzi's eye. Nannuzzi ended up LOSING HIS EYE because of the accident and did successfully sue for $18 million, as Paul said.

[Auden 1809]

- I've heard the phrase mother's helper used as a synonym for alcohol and valium, but a razor blade? "The children are being difficult today. Time to bring out mother's helper and give them a few slashes on the arm!"

 

- Are we meant to be disturbed or frightened by the bank sign and ATM flashing cusses? Because that makes me think of disgruntled employees messing around and not anything supernatural/extraterrestrial.

 

- There was a scene where a truck nudged Emilio to an oil tank, I thought that was cute.

 

- We don't even really need weapons to stop killer automobiles. The police could just roll out the spike strips.

 

- My love for Andy Daly increased when he pointed out the offensive portrayal of a black character.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I had the same thought as Andy regarding the sewers, and my conclusion was that Stephen King just likes to make his characters crawl through sewers. Just off the top of my head I can think of two other instances: the kids in "It" and Andy Dufresne in "Shawshank Redemption". I'm not thoroughly familiar with the entire Stephen King library so that may or may not be it.

 

Over the years, I think there have been MANY Stephen King adaptations that can be accurately described as "Rivers of Shit", so even if his characters aren't LITERALLY swimming through a sewer, it can still be applied metaphorically.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

The BEST line in the entire movie belongs to our beloved Road Twitch....

 

When Emilio decides to give in and provide the trucks with "pure uncut" gas, she says:

 

"It's like Neville Chamberlain giving into the Nazis."

 

Huh?

 

Obviously you are wondering, who is this Neville guy. Well Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany.

Neville Chamberlain isn't really THAT obscure of a reference, though. He was a pretty big figure in the lead-up to (and the year or so of) WWII.

Why does this happen?

https://j.gifs.com/KzdG53.gif

I made this one for the minisode thread because one of the theories was that he hit a divot in the ground or a molehill or something. I think the bike was throwing him off because the rules in this movie are 100% randomly enforced.

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

- Are we meant to be disturbed or frightened by the bank sign and ATM flashing cusses? Because that makes me think of disgruntled employees messing around and not anything supernatural/extraterrestrial.

It gave me kind of a They Live vibe.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Straight up going to try that 'lick my sweaty forehead move' on my wife tonight.

[blakejharrisnyc 10]

One (strange) thing that's not included in the oral history:

 

Blake: How did you decide on the look of the Happy Toyz Truck? At what point was Marvel contacted about the design? Or were you guys approached?

 

Martha: It wasn’t at all. In fact, Giorgio Postiglione, who was the production designer, he just designed it. And, you know, Stephen also—obviously his input with how it should look like and the happy face—this demonic happy face. I don’t think it was a Marvel comic, was it? Did we rip that off?

[ChrisKadlik 1]

Considering Stephen King's penchant for evil clowns, i was under the impression the reveal of that Jack in the Box behind the wheel of the main truck was kind of saying this supremely evil, supremely simple machine was the the one REALLY controlling the Happy Toyz truck. In the same way that cart can possess the machine gun, this evil Jack in the Box is possessing the truck.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

If someone else said this, forgive me, but wouldn't the satellite, or at least the controls for it, have been hijacked by the 'comet/ufo' too?

 

EDIT: Never mind, they covered it.

[NathanielParker 43]

One (strange) thing that's not included in the oral history:

 

Blake: How did you decide on the look of the Happy Toyz Truck? At what point was Marvel contacted about the design? Or were you guys approached?

 

Martha: It wasn’t at all. In fact, Giorgio Postiglione, who was the production designer, he just designed it. And, you know, Stephen also—obviously his input with how it should look like and the happy face—this demonic happy face. I don’t think it was a Marvel comic, was it? Did we rip that off?

I love this so much! 30 years after the fact, "Did we rip that off?"

 

Cocaine is a helluva drug!

[mikebonetti 3718]

If you want to direct your own movie based on a Stephen King short story about a killer truck, Uncle Otto's Truck is available for adaptation for $1 through Stephen King's Dollar Baby initiative. So get your cocaine and camera, and get on it aspiring filmmakers!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

If someone else said this, forgive me, but wouldn't the satellite, or at least the controls for it, have been hijacked by the 'comet/ufo' too?

I thought about this during the episode, too. Maybe June's gravity theory?

[MikeCabellon 1]

The discussion at the top about the logic of how cars "see" using their mirrors as if there was a driver and stuff is EXACTLY my problem with the world of Cars (the Pixar movie).

[OoofMaGOOF 348]

Jason scream singing "You're The Best Around" at the beginning absolutely slayed me, AND helped me wake up on my drive to work this morning! Holy cow was that great.

[NathanielParker 43]

I've never seen them, so I got no idea. Did they ever explain how, like, Herbie the Love Bug or Knight Rider's car could "see?"

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

I always found Yardly Smith (spelling?) upsetting in this movie. That whole relationship felt like watching a child bride being kidnapped.