EPISODE 119 - Maximum Overdrive: LIVE!

[wiscomedy 212]

Has any other movie flummoxed the panel like this? They really seemed hopeless trying to figure it out the plot resolution.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Also my most important question of the week is who won the Star Wars gif battle in the mini-ep thread. I need to know for reasons...

 

I think we all win just by being witness to it.

 

[pscudese 701]

 

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.

 

 

I hear you, but the slew of trucks didn't come till much later. In fact the introduction of the rocket launcher was when there were around 7-10 trucks. Again not hearing there is a limited supply of rockets, we witnessed 5 trucks getting blown up. And with the other weapons, they could have shot the shit out of the tires. So they could have all escaped before every truck in NC shows up.

[DorkyButCool 86]

That picture of the couple in the car just looks like they had a child very quickly after making this movie, and then named that child Haley Joel Osment.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

the gang covered it and cameron H's gif illustrates it ... how a simple step to the left or right could have saved so many lives in this film ... which reminded me alot of Runaway.

 

which led me to a theory. what if it wasnt the space dust or aliens that caused all these machines to come alive. what if someone found a warehouse full of chips made by gene simmons and then inserted them into all the machines ... i think we all know who we need to call ..

 

[pscudese 701]

1. Blue collar workers still went to middle school, which is where I learned who Chamberlain was. This is only ~40 years WWII. It would be similar to someone today knowing who Margaret Thatcher is.

 

2. Your random-ass font sizes/colors make my eyes bleed.

 

1. Okay. fine.

2. Sorry

[FisterRoboto 7499]

the gang covered it and cameron H's gif illustrates it ... how a simple step to the left or right could have saved so many lives in this film ... which reminded me alot of Runaway.

 

which led me to a theory. what if it wasnt the space dust or aliens that caused all these machines to come alive. what if someone found a warehouse full of chips made by gene simmons and then inserted them into all the machines ... i think we all know who we need to call ..

 

I REALLY want to see this movie.

[NathanielParker 43]

C'mon guys! Don't make me be the guy to defend this flawless movie's logic...

 

 

 

I assume that since he was hit head on by a truck into a ditch and has been suffering from exposure for the better part of the day, they aren't sure what condition he will be in when they get to him. If he can't walk, they can put him in the sleeping bag and carry/drag him back to the truck stop.

 

 

 

I get where you're coming from, but I don't think that is something that particularly interests King--coke or not. I get the feeling he doesn't want to show us aliens being fought tooth and nail by hardened military guys. He wants to show how some strange, paranormal, apocalyptic event would effect the normal person. You see, in King's mind, we're the inbred, sexist, dummies trapped in the truck stop. How would we handle the situation?

All these random characters stuck in a small place during an outrageous phenomenon. This movie is King's attempt to do Night of the Living Dead.

[jarrycanada 2483]

once you open the Pandora's box of aliens it could really be anything.

 

when it comes to the UFO mythology they can pretty much do anything, so long as it's not a boat.

so if it's got electricity or not it doesn't matter.

[KennethArthur 24]

I thought this was interesting:

 

- The Breakfast Club (1985) starring Emilio Estevez. At one point, Judd Nelson says, "Eat my shorts." Presumably this was the origin of the term in pop culture.

- Maximum Overdrive (1986) starring Emilio Estevez and Yeardley Smith. Laura Harrington shouts, "Eat my shorts!"

- The Simpsons starring Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright, Bart Simpson popularizes the term "Eat my shorts."

 

It certainly has to be a coincidence but I think it's a great one.

[Dave D 8]

Is it possible that Comets/Meteors are a metaphor in Steven Kings mind for Cocaine? There are a lot of his stories that have comets or meteors that reap destruction. Tommyknockers, the Tales From the Crypt, Under the Dome (Yes I unfortunately watched some of that show), Maximum Overdrive all deal with a meteors crashing into earth and messing stuff up. I'm not a huge King fan so there may be more examples. Did King feel that his Cocaine use was like a comet heading to earth and it was going to ruin everything? Maybe not, but he does use this device often (Or maybe not that often considering how much he's written).

[CBot2000 15]

I shed blood for this podcast. I was listening to it while I was making breakfast and I laughed and stabbed myself in the hand. Only four stitches tough, possibly some nerve damage.

 

Since my left hand stabbed my right, should I assume my left hand is actually a machine?

[Auden 1809]

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.

 

When quoting other people's works it's customary to use quotation marks to show that the words enclosed within the quotation marks belong to another writer, and to give credit to that writer by providing a source. Otherwise, it's passing off another person's writing as one's own, AKA plagiarism. On a message board we don't have to do full on MLA/APA/Chicago/etc. citations, a link will do.

 

Why on earth would our slutty hitchhiker know this?

Nope.

 

One of the things that drew me to this board is that unlike so many many boards out there it's relatively free of sexism, classism, racism etc. Would be nice to keep it this way.

[pscudese 701]

 

When quoting other people's works it's customary to use quotation marks to show that the words enclosed within the quotation marks belong to another writer, and to give credit to that writer by providing a source. Otherwise, it's passing off another person's writing as one's own, AKA plagiarism. On a message board we don't have to do full on MLA/APA/Chicago/etc. citations, a link will do.

 

 

Nope.

 

One of the things that drew me to this board is that unlike so many many boards out there it's relatively free of sexism, classism, racism etc. Would be nice to keep it this way.

 

 

You bet I ripped the two sentences from wikipedia. And?

Am I turning in a term paper? I was unaware we had to provide footnotes explaining who an obscure historical figure was on a podcast forum.

Do you think I need to notify wikipedia? Will I be charged with possible slander? Fuck... I'm packing my bags now and looking for the quickest flight to a country that has no extradition.

 

And regarding the "slutty" comment... We are talking about a fictional character who can be considered a bit loose in the morals department. She sleeps with the mechanic in less then 10hrs. Also, this is a discussion thread of a comedy podcast where the three hosts consistently say horrendous things about men, women and children. Let alone multiple comments around the attacks of Sept 11. You have to take it with a grain of salt.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

And regarding the "slutty" comment... it's on a message board for a comedy podcast where the participants consistently same horrendous things about men, women and children. Let along multiple comments on Sept 11. Take it with a grain of salt. We are talking about a fictional character who can be considered a bit loose in the morals department. She sleeps with the mechanic in less then 10hrs.

The difference being that we know none of the things that Jason or anyone else say are meant to harm others. They are presented as jokes and are not meant to be taken seriously. But your usage of the word added with your suggestion that the time it takes her to sleep with a man seems to somehow devalue her knowledge on a subject is pretty shitty, sir. It doesn't seem like you are joking if you genuinely think that whether or not she has sex with a man in anyway has anything to do with why she knows something over someone else.

[OoofMaGOOF 348]

 

HO-LY SHIT YOU GUYS. Did the comet take over Pee-Wee's bike?!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Maybe Estevez is the slut.

[Blast Hardcheese 636]

So, this is a dream-come-true episode for me. Thanks, Paul, June, Jason, and Andy!

 

Corrections and omissions:

 

* My favorite part of this film happens when we see everyone in the Dixie Boy waking up in the morning. Out of no where, the two double doors from the kitchen swing open violently and standing there is a wild-eyed trucker who yells, "What the fuck is going on around here?!?" I have a feeling the "actor" came up with this hi-lar-ious bit, and King just ran with it.

 

* So, the kid is being chased on his BMX bike by a lawnmower. Do push mowers have engines that power it's wheels, or even have steering mechanisms? I know riding lawnmowers have both, but the kind of mowers you push?

 

* Stephen King is famous for butting heads with Stanley Kubrick, who directed what can arguably be called the greatest adaptation of King's work: The Shining. And, that film is masterfully scary. So here we have Stephen King, given the resources to do Stephen King's writings justice, and what do we get? Maximum Overdrive. I wonder if King looks back on his clashes with Kubrick and feels humbled or ashamed.

 

* King promises in the trailer that he is going to "...scare the hell out of you." This film, however, is not even remotely scary. Like at all. It's perplexing and sometimes gross to be sure, but not freighting. There is no real suspense, scares, chills, or anything resembling immediate dread in it. We get the premise - machines coming to life and killing people – but, the film seems to ignore any potential moment of vicarious thrill or suspense. To give you an example, when the newlyweds approach the small gas station and see a bloody man on the ground, the groom walks up to the gas station's window to peer inside. I thought for sure something was going to jump out at him and give us a good scare. Nope. What do we get instead? A truck starts its engine off camera then slowly ambles out to threaten the couple. Then there is the finale, where Emilio Estevez simply shoots the Goblin truck with a rocket launcher. Not a time's-running-out, last-second-dash-to-the-boat, fight-to-the-death. No, it's all point, shoot, boom! Done. This is a horror film without urgency or stakes. This film is lazy. Not scary. Lazy.

 

* That machine gun golf cart jeep thing: that's the moment right there were you can tell the script had a few cocaine-fueled re-writes in order for it to attempt to make any sense.

 

* The truck with the toilet paper: are those rolls loose and not crated in boxes?

 

* The waitress staring longingly at the photo in the frame when everyone’s coming to grips with the trucks circling the truck stop. Why?

 

* Did anyone else notice all of the Jack Chick comic pamphlets on the dashboard of the Bible salesman's car? Seems accurate enough for a Bible salesman. But... Bible salesman? Is that a thing? Not to be offensive, but isn't this like being a phone book salesman? I mean, aren't Bible's free, essentially?

 

* That scene in the bathroom, where Emilio is asking the pig-snout guy (who's taking a loud, sloppy shit) about the guns. Come on!!! Is fecal-based "humor" big in the south?

 

* For a seemingly intelligent guy, Stephen King likes a lot of sophmoric, low-brow shit.

[pscudese 701]

The difference being that we know none of the things that Jason or anyone else say are meant to harm others. They are presented as jokes and are not meant to be taken seriously. But your usage of the word added with your suggestion that the time it takes her to sleep with a man seems to somehow devalue her knowledge on a subject is pretty shitty, sir. It doesn't seem like you are joking if you genuinely think that whether or not she has sex with a man in anyway has anything to do with why she knows something over someone else.

 

No problem. I by no means meant to offend you or women in general. I'll be sure to watch my comments in the future. I just assumed (my fault) that based on our love for a podcast where there is typically non-PC/raunchy things said... it was understood it was said in a very broad/obnoxious manner. That's all. Let's leave it be and understand it was not done with serious intention and I am sorry. Seriously.

[Lando 2019]

I find King's hostility to religious characters to be odd given how often he often invokes a deity himself. If you watch The Stand it is honestly a Kirk Cameron role away from being Left Behind. It has a magical bible quoting old African American woman, the denim clad devil and an appearance from the hand of god himself.

[AshlieghSphyre 6]

Also saw a copy cat film about killer trucks but can't remember the name and can't find it on google.

 

Anyone have any idea what the copycat film is called?

 

Trucks: http://www.imdb.com/...ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

 

Both Maximum Overdrive and Trucks are based on Stephen King's short story "Trucks." The second one isn't a copy cat, it's more of a remake or reinterpretation.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

 

No problem. I by no means meant to offend you or women in general. I'll be sure to watch my comments in the future. I just assumed (my fault) that based on our love for a podcast where there is typically non-PC/raunchy things said... it was understood it was said in a very broad/obnoxious manner. That's all. Let's leave it be and understand it was not done with serious intention and I am sorry. Seriously.

I really appreciate your apology! If you pay extra attention to these boards we do call them out for crossing the line when the do it (in most recent memory we called out Adam Pally for his really not okay Asian accent during the TMNT2 episode plus some members are uncomfortable with Jason's Sept. 11th comments).

 

You can be raunchy and not "PC" and still not cross the line. It's just what the intent is behind it and how it's delivered.

[AshlieghSphyre 6]

I find King's hostility to religious characters to be odd given how often he often invokes a deity himself. If you watch The Stand it is honestly a Kirk Cameron role away from being Left Behind. It has a magical bible quoting old African American woman, the denim clad devil and an appearance from the hand of god himself.

 

This is actually what I came here to comment on. Everyone's reaction to the Bible salesman being such a scumbag was a little surprising to me since so much of King's work involves a super religious Christian character and most of the time those characters are not exactly good guys and usually rather crazy.

[DieFledermaus 12]

small fact about comets, their tail is formed from heat and radiation from the sun, and therefor always faces away from the sun. so the only way the premise of this movie works is if the comet passes in front of the earth's orbit and earth movies into the tail. also at night, when the earth doesn't face the sun, all effects of the tail should have dissipated and no glowing green light should be visible in the sky. this also backs up the theory that the aliens were the ones controlling the trucks and not the comet itself.

[Lando 2019]

In their discussion of King reworking ideas for later material they left one out: the farting scene was retooled again for a Dreamcatcher ass monster.