EPISODE 119 - Maximum Overdrive: LIVE!

[NathanielParker 43]

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

I think it's harder to watch now because her voice is so much exactly 8 year old Lisa Simpson.

But back in the day, they were just supposed to be a couple of dumb,goofy kids that got married and one of them had a weird voice.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I think it's harder to watch now because her voice is so much exactly 8 year old Lisa Simpson.

But back in the day, they were just supposed to be a couple of dumb,goofy kids that got married and one of them had a weird voice.

Yeah, it's worth pointing out that this was a year before the first Simpsons shorts aired on The Tracey Ullman Show.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

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?

 

 

eh ... it was in the credits ... stay away from cocaine kids

 

 

 

which, as we discussed in the HDTGM all-stars thread, this marks the second appearance of the Goblin in a HDTGM ep, along with ...

 

2 appearances: Pat Hingle with Batman & Robin, now Maximum Overdrive.

 

 

 

also

 

Laura Harrington : Max Overdrive and The Devils Advocate

Yeardly Smith: Max Overdrive and Toys

 

and

 

The Green Goblin: Max Overdrive and Spiderman 3

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

Theres something bothering me about the whole Morse code thing.

 

Why did they pick Morse code?

 

We already saw that the aliens/comet dust could communicate in English (they called King an asshole and they actually spoke through the drive-thru speaker), so why didnt they just use a voice through a radio or something. Why send such an important message using a code very few people know?

[KevinPhillips 2]

Automatic sprinklers are controlled by electricity. Water pressure moves the moving parts, but electricity turns the water off and on.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Its not the sprinkler that was being controlled, but the sprinkler system.

 

Also, I feel like the team was really focused on how the machines worked, like, did they see/hear/think etc. You have to remember though that this was before everyone automatically assumed a living machine being is an AI. This was back in the Poltergeist days. Historically, a living machine/object was thought to be a ghosts or spirit or witchcraft. In this case it happens to be (maybe, kinda?) aliens (or maybe Comet Tail spirit). If you replaced aliens with ghosts, it would make a lot more sense as to what it is being controlled and why it is behaving the way it is.

[mattman92ish 823]

You wanna rock and roll with me pus-bag?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Okay so we've settled the sprinkler debate but what about the battery powered things vs electric things? The gang kept saying that everything was based on electricity but vehicles (at least not the ones in the movie) do not operate on electricity and neither does the walkman. Those are all battery/gas powered. So this all just makes the what gets controlled thing that much more confusing to me.

 

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...

[NathanielParker 43]

Batteries run on electricity themselves.

 

And some things get affected while others don't is because they very briefly mentioned the comet's tail was affecting things differently.

 

I think it was the great Neville Chamberlain that once said, "Guys! You're not going to find a flaw with this movie!"

[NathanielParker 43]

I was reading some of the oral history stuff on slashfilm and saw where Dino De Laurentis did this and also Flash Gordon.

 

Maximum Overdrive with AC/DC

Flash Gordon with Queen

 

Flash Gordon needs to be the next movie on here!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I was reading some of the oral history stuff on slashfilm and saw where Dino De Laurentis did this and also Flash Gordon.

 

Maximum Overdrive with AC/DC

Flash Gordon with Queen

 

Flash Gordon needs to be the next movie on here!

HE'LL SAVE EVERY ONE OF US!

[jarrycanada 2483]

Why does this happen?

 

Should of taken a boat.

 

NOT THE BOAT!!!!

[Guyinthebag 18]

When Emilio and Curtis went to save the salesman, why did they make such a big deal about bringing that sleeping bag with them? Further to that, why did they act like it weighed a hundred pounds? I guess you could say it was because it had gotten wet but they probably could have prevented that by not throwing the thing directly into the sewer water.

 

I'm really surprised there wasn't more talk about Curtis and what seemed to be a real piss fetish. Sure we have the line where we he asks Yeardley if he can watch her pee, but later when he is crawling in the sewer he seems fascinated, dare I say elated, about how much piss he is crawling through.

 

Back to Yeardley, I love how when Curtis first goes to investigate the dead body we see her outside of the car gripping onto the wedding cake topper. I know when I got married I couldn't pry the cake topper out of my wife's hands for days.

[Lando 2019]

I think that the machine gun mounted army car makes a lot less sense than even the sprinklers. I am about as knowledgeable in military vehicles as June is in sharks, but I would imagine that they would mount the gun on that pole by a simple swivel with something like ball bearings. There would be nothing mechanical or electrical connecting the gun to the car. Invisible aliens would really be the only thing that would explain away everything.

[RouseWorld 4]

Isn't this movie like making a film about World War II where the main characters get captured in the first few minutes, spend most of the film in a POW camp, escape to Switzerland, and then someone says, 'D-Day, atomic bomb, the good guys win.'?

 

I think there is potentially a fun film here if you just make the main characters people who aren't dummies trapped at a truck stop. Let's see the people who figure out what's going on, find the UFO, get politicians to work with the Russians, etc. That seems like a much more interesting film.

 

Either that, or like the hosts said, do this as a play with all of the machines and violence off-stage. So it's sort of a Waiting for Godot thing where the characters talk about what is the definition of a machine and who made who. :-)

 

(Five Stars!)

[Cameron H. 23786]

I have some questions regarding the scene where the man who is blinded by gasoline decides he has to go save his son. Everyone tells him that he's crazy since his vision is shit.* He insists on going anyway. As he casually saunters away, he drops his keys and is run over by a truck. I think the obvious question is: "Did the gasoline make him deaf too?" I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to hear a gigantic semi careening headlong toward you. However, I think the craziest part of this scene is he gets hit by a truck while trying to pick up his keys!!! He's effectively blind! Was he planning on driving to pick up his kid? If so, the trucks needn't have bothered killing him as he would have most assuredly taken care of that himself.

 

 

 

 

*I also thought it was hilarious that Bubba threatened to fire this man for going to save his son. Let me think about this, save my son's life or save my shitty gas station attendant job. Hold on a second--I may need a minute to mull this one over...

[Atypical 74]

I've seen this movie like 10,000 times.

 

So happy you did this movie, it's so hilarious.

 

Soda can to the balls!

 

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?

[Guyinthebag 18]

I think that the machine gun mounted army car makes a lot less sense than even the sprinklers. I am about as knowledgeable in military vehicles as June is in sharks, but I would imagine that they would mount the gun on that pole by a simple swivel with something like ball bearings. There would be nothing mechanical or electrical connecting the gun to the car. Invisible aliens would really be the only thing that would explain away everything.

I'm with you on military knowledge. I do, however, want to believe that our military was a bit more sophisticated than a single gun turret on 4 wheels, but what do I know.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I've seen this movie like 10,000 times.

 

So happy you did this movie, it's so hilarious.

 

Soda can to the balls!

 

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/title/tt0120380/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[Cameron H. 23786]

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

 

When Emilio and Curtis went to save the salesman, why did they make such a big deal about bringing that sleeping bag with them? Further to that, why did they act like it weighed a hundred pounds? I guess you could say it was because it had gotten wet but they 't probably could have prevented that by not throwing the thing directly into the sewer water.

 

 

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 think there is potentially a fun film here if you just make the main characters people who aren't dummies trapped at a truck stop. Let's see the people who figure out what's going on, find the UFO, get politicians to work with the Russians, etc. That seems like a much more interesting film.

 

 

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?

[Atypical 74]

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

 

 

Haha such an obvious name for the movie, i don't know why i couldn't find it. Can i claim i was in a Stephen King cocaine coma?

[ChunkStyle 1160]

I think there is potentially a fun film here if you just make the main characters people who aren't dummies trapped at a truck stop. Let's see the people who figure out what's going on, find the UFO, get politicians to work with the Russians, etc. That seems like a much more interesting film.

 

Edit: Whoops I lost the quoting of the above text.

 

Yes the ending text of this movie could have been changed to read: "You, the idiot viewer, just got duped into spending an hour and a half following these dummies. The actual heroes of the movie never appeared on screen and were 9,000 miles away also dealing with killer machines while simultaneously defeating the alien threat."

[pscudese 701]

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.

 

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.

 

 

1. All the characters in this film are presented to us as blue collar workers. Truckers... maintenance men... traveling salesman... hitchhikers... There's no way they have a deep understanding of who the players were in WW2.

 

2. I assumed what made the bike flip was a lawn sprinkler head popping up from the ground.

[Guyinthebag 18]

 

2. I assumed what made the bike flip was a lawn sprinkler head popping up from the ground.

 

Brilliant! Makes perfect sense to me.

[Guyinthebag 18]

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.

 

 

 

Fair enough, seems pretty careless of them to just toss the thing into the sewer water if that was their intention. Granted the salesman was a pretty big asshole, so I concede. The logic is flawless.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

1. All the characters in this film are presented to us as blue collar workers. Truckers... maintenance men... traveling salesman... hitchhikers... There's no way they have a deep understanding of who the players were in WW2.

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 (that was 20ish years ago, but you get the idea).

 

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