Mad Max References

Vernon Wells, reprising his role as Wez, in "Wierd Science"
Thanks to John Hoyt
Film References
- In the movie Weird Science, look for a cameo
appearance by Vernon Wells, reprising his role as Wez.
- Christian Slater references Mad Max in the
film True
Romance, "Mad Max was a movie, Rio Bravo was a movie, The Good The
Bad and The Ugly was a movie".
TV References
- In the Cheers episode in which we first meet Eddie
LeBec, Frasier goes with Carla to a hockey game and ends up in jail after getting into a
fight. When Frasier returns to the bar after being detained by the Boston Police,
he relates the story to the regulars in the bar, "I've just spent the last 6 hours in a holding cell with the cast of the Road Warrior." To which Woody says excitedly, " Wow, Dr. Crane! Did you get Mel Gibson's autograph?"
- In the Seinfeld episode "The Dealership", George is
getting increasinly worked up over the attitude of the staff, and his lost Twix bar, and
finally exclaims "There's no laws in this place, anything goes - it's
Thunderdome!"
- On the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Eegah!", the main character of
the movie they're watching drives around the desert in a junky looking dune buggy with his girlfriend. Tom Servo comments "On their way to
Thunderdome."
- In the episode or Nickelodeon's Rugrats "The Sky is
Falling", there is an end-of-the world scene which parodies Mad Max 2. They are heading down a
road in the desert towards and abandoned city. Their vehicles are engineered out of
other things (cribs, etc...). One of the characters, Chuckie, it piloting a GyroCopter
and is dressed very similarly to the gyro captain (leather cap, shirt, tan
colors).

See the Rugrats sub-page for some more pictures.
- The Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul" has a
scene during Bart's dream where Jimbo Jones and his "soul" on piggyback say
"Master Blaster!".
- The Simpsons episode "Lemon of Troy" seems to be
making a reference to Road Warrior in the car compound scenes. The Springfielders watch
their impounded van through binoculars from their vantage point, while the children from
Shelbyville ride there bikes in circles around the compound.
- According to "The Dark One", the Simpsons episode
"Bart Vs Australia" contains a Mad Max 2 style biker (Wez) in the chase after Bart.
|
- The Simpsons episode "Beyond
Blunderdome" features Mel Gibson's voice, and of course
several Road Warrior references.
This episode is now available on DVD in Australia (Region 4,
PAL) in the compilation "The
Simpsons Film Festival", pictured to the left. It will
also obviously be available in the Simpons box sets that are
gradually being released, although it will probably be some time
before this season comes out.
|
|
|
- The Australian children's TV series
Thunderstone is heavily influenced visually by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,
see the Thunderstone sub-page for more info.
- One episode of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, "Toad Warriors", directly
parodies "The Road Warrior". In the episode, Mario and his friends try to help a group of rebels who are trying to deliver a truckload of tomato sauce
to another compound. On his way to the starting place, Toad snags a Starman and becomes the Toad Warrior. A massive car chase set to Steppenwolf's "Born
to be Wild" ensues and Toad defeats King Koopa in a chicken challenge.
- The Sliders episode "Desert Storm"
visits a world that has no water, and is a desert type world. Wade wells comments
that the people in this world are like Mad Max because of there cars, and the way they
act like savages because of the lack of water - water is rare instead of gasoline.
From http://www.scifi.com/sliders/seasons1-3.html
- "The Sliders encounter telepaths and battle pirates in order to save a girl with the power to detect water".
- Vernon Wells is currently playing the villain Ransik in the show "Power Rangers Time Force". The episode
"Movie Madness, Part 2" (which aired July 29th, 2001) featured a whole sequence modelled after the final car chase in the film, yet first and foremost, Well's costume was replaced with one very much resembling Wez' for most of the episode. Most of the 'bare flesh' was toned down, of course, but it was still pretty obvious.
Thanks to Julia 'Road Dawg' Titus for the description and pics!

Power Rangers Time Force
- A recent South Park episode (August 2001)
parodied Road Warrior. As a result of their sex education class, the boys are told they "spread diseases" by the girls,
but then come to the conclusion that it is the girls who have diseases. This leads the boys to go after
the girls. The boys are dressed in various makeshift outfits and armour, as well as arriving on bikes and
jeeps (kid versions), while the girls have set up a defence (like the
compound). Cartman tells Butters to tell the girls to leave, at which point Butters
puts on the hockey mask, and begins to do a variation of Humungous' speech in the same deep
voice:
BUTTERS: "Just walk away. Just walk away and I'll spare your lives."
STAN: "Wow! He's really good a that."
This episode will be out on DVD in the USA on June 4 2002, check the listing
at Amazon for further info.

- A show called Samurai Jack on the US network Cartoon Network has an
episode where the character (Samuari Jack) is fighting in The Dome of Doom, and the fight sequence resembles Max's fight in the Thunderdome. At
the end of the fight Samurai Jack cuts off his opponents helmet, only to reveal a helpless creature inside.
The "Ring Master" is dressed similar to the one in Thunderdome, and the crowd is also
chanting in a similar fashion to the movie.
Commercials
- There is a Mountain Dew commercial (2001) featuring the rapper Busta Rhymes. It is a parody of Road
Warrior. Busta is driving a Mountain Dew 18-wheeler being chased by others in trucks and dune buggies across a desert. They are dressed in
Road Warrior style costumes and at the end he enters a fort and delivers the
Mountain Dew.
Music
- If you have seen the video clip for Tupac's "California
Love", you will have already noticed the obvious similarity with the sets and
vehicles from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, including a structure looking very much like
Thunderdome itself.
- The clip for the song "Summer Hits" by Australian
band "Front End
Loader" uses a yellow MFP Pursuit replica. The car is actually owned by Steve
Nicols, see the real or replica page for
more info. Front End Loader's album which contains the song is titled "Last of the V8
Interceptors", and there's even an interview
where they confirm our suspicions about the origin of the album's name.

Album cover, from the Unofficial
Front End Loader Page
- The Australian band Prototype
has featured Mad Max references in some of their songs and video clips. The
film clip for their song "Transition" (from the Cybercode CD) feaures a Mad Max replica.
You can download a small
part of the clip here (3MB), or a lower quality version of the full
4.5 minute long clip here (11MB). You can find out more about Prototype at their
web site.

Mad Max replica from Prototype's video clip for Transition.
- Another Australian band, Scorched Earth Policy, features a song
named "Toecutter", with the lyrics being based quite heavily on
the first Mad Max film. You can view the Toecutter
lyrics here, and thanks to Justin Cook from SEP the track can be
downloaded from the fan audio
section.

Album cover for Scorched Earth Policy
- The band "Re:Zone" has a song titled "M.
Rockatansky (The Dark One)". (NB. I have not yet located a copy of this / heard it
myself).
- The band "EN BENEFICIO DE TODOS" has a song all
about Mad Max, "MAX, ESTAS HECHO UNA PENA". Try visiting their web page to view the lyrics. If you
don't speak Spanish, I recommend using http://babelfish.altavista.com to do a Spanish to English translation
for you. (NB. Once again, I have not yet located a copy of this / heard it myself).
- One of Biohazard's songs contains the line
"I am Humungus from Mad Max".
- In Basel, Switzerland, is a big Disco called Mad
Max. The First floor (70 – 90 Rock) is in
Mad Max Design, and the newer second floor (Techno, Trance…) is equipped in real
Alien Design.
- The Phil Collins video clip for "Billy,
don't lose my number" includes a Road Warrior style skit. You can
download an excerpt of
the film clip here. Apparently the setup for the clip is that Phil's
producer is throwing him various ideas for what his video clip should be. Thanks
to Chris Miller for sending me this!
 |
-
The video
clip for the UK release of Puretone's song Addicted To Bass features a
sequence copying the opening chase from Mad Max. A
partial clip and some stills from the music video can be found online at http://www.thewarchild.com.
Note that you will need Quicktime
installed to view this clip. The full clip can be viewed online at Dot
Music.
For some more information, see the scrapbook
page on the clip.
|
- There is a new Canadian band
called Humungus, who have a song called Wasteland, which features audio
clips and references to Road Warrior. The song can be heard
at mp3.com.
Computer Games
- The console game Outlander seems to contain several
references to Road Warrior, check the Outlander
game page for some further information and screen shots.
- In the mid 1980's, there was a game for the Commodore 64
called "The Last V8".

- The computer RPG "Fallout" contains several Mad
Max references. Michael Owen sent the following info:
"In the area known as JunkTown, there is a citizen who cannot
get into his house because a vicious dog is guarding the door. The frustrated man mentions
the dog was previously owned by a man with a black leather jacket. If your player
character walks past the dog wearing a black leather jacket (for armor),
"Dogmeat" will think you are his former master and stay with you for life. The
canine companion is one of the most valuable allies to have in the campaign. When I play
Fallout, Dogmeat saves my life again and again."
Apparently the game even has a town called Broken Hills...
- In the late 1988 a game called "Overlander" was
released for most of the home computer platforms (Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Spectrum,
Amstrad). Russel Patterson had the following to say about the game:
"The game was basically a behind the
car style racing game, set in a post apocolyptic desert. The player is an overlander who
has to make runs between underground pockets of civilisation in a suped up 70's hotrod
that looks very much like the V8 interceptor. In return for making runs, the player can
buy add ons for the car, like guns, nitros, a bigger fuel tank.
Stylistically and conceptionally the game was very close to MadMax 2. I haven't seen
'outlander' for the SNES or Genesis/megadrive so I don't know if it is related somehow. I
have a feeling outlander could have been inspired by this original game."Russel also sent me a link to a review for
the Spectrum version of the game, including a screen shot. The game is probably
possible to obtain through the magic of emulation, but I haven't investigated this myself
yet. (PS. Russel - your email address bounced).
- In the PC game Star Craft there is a map you
can play called "Road Warrior". The map looks exactly like what you would think it would look
like, with old broken streets and road sighs, and old broken-in-to stores and such.
- In the computer game "Escape From Monkey Island", the hero reads a sign that
reads "Wax Show". He then says "I wonder if it's 'Mad Wax: Beehive Warrior'."
- Street Fighter EX3 on the PS2 has a character named Ace,
who apparenty looks like Max Rockatansky - the whole outfit, the face, the hair, you name it.

Screen Shots From Street Fighter EX3
Ace vs Unknown, and Ace vs Ace
Law Enforcement
- Charles Guérin
points out that the paint scheme for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
helicopters also bears an MFP paint scheme similarity - check out the photo
he sent me here.
Restaurants
 |

The Outback Steakhouse features
"The Mad Max" on their menu. See for yourself...

Also see their web site, www.outback.com.
They also seem to have restaurants in Korea,
and possibly elsewhere.
Thanks to Sheryl
Berger for this contribution. |
For references thanks to
John
Hoyt, Sheryl Berger, Dr Looney, Chris Painter, Marc Clapp,
Adam Davis, Julia 'Road Dawg' Titus, Brian Kelly, Dan Nuttall
Simon Tanner, Chris Kelly, Jason (mfpmax) and Colin Groff-Decker.
Back to the Mad Max FAQ