![]() ![]() "It's something that would bother his conscience. "He just cannot do something like that," comments Gibson. Max first agrees, but finally refrains from killing Blaster after he makes a startling discovery. Entity wants Max to kill her rival, a two-man team called Master Blaster (Master is a little person who sits on giant-sized Blaster's shoulders) who runs Underworld. He is then hired as a mercenary by Bartertown's Queen, Auntie Entity, played with gusto by rock star Tina Turner. Fortunately, Max, who has nothing but his skills, eventually succeeds in getting himself admitted. According to Production Designer Graham "Grace" Walker, the central core of the plant is an old truck on rails, covered with a huge boiler and pipes going every which way.Įntrance to Bartertown is gained only by bartering rare goods against the town's supplies and services. Bartertown sits on top of "Underworld," a giant pig farm cum methane plant, which provides power to the city. Max manages to survive until he comes to a sign that points towards "Hope," which in turn leads him to the city of Bartertown. Jedediah succeeds in taking off with all of Max's worldly goods, leaving the hero to perish in the desert. Although the two characters bear no relation to each other, Jedediah is played by Bruce Spence, who was the much-loved Gyro Pilot in Road Warrior. While traveling in the desert in his camel-drawn vehicle, Max is overtaken by a small methane-powered plane flown by the freewheeling bandit Jedediah and his son. He led basically a nomadic existence, coming across people and trading a few things." Max himself is older, and more world-weary. What is left of society has reverted to an even more primitive level. As Mel Gibson later comments, "All the juice is now gone. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome starts fifteen years after Mad Max II: The Road Warrior. Terry Hayes, co-producer and screenwriter, shares his excitement when telling the so-far secret story of the film. The sympathy of cast and crew is now acquired, but at what price! ![]() The visiting STARLOG reporter fortunately manages to enliven everyone's morning by taking an unrehearsed pratfall in a large and deep on-set mud pit. Still, the first day back in the "civilization" of Bartertown starts slowly. We had ten people collapse with exhaustion, and twelve cars collapsed too." After such an experience, the 90 degrees-plus heat in Bartertown seems almost like paradise to everyone! But out in 146 degrees, you can't do that because you'd last three minutes and you'd be dead. Normally, in a cool temperature, you pad yourself with wet suits and all sorts of things until you're so well protected that you won't get hurt. It's got an effect on the way you pad yourself. The cars were out, working shot after shot, and so were the drivers! It inevitably puts a load that normally wouldn't exist. "The first day we worked there," comments Page, "we had eighteen open vehicles, and the people wore black leather and vinyl uniforms, with most of their skin bare. People lucky enough to stay in the shade of the tents still had to suffer a temperature of 117 degrees. Some days, the temperature was measured at as much as 146 degrees Fahrenheit. The Coober Pedy location was used for most of the car stunts, which were carried out in broad daylight. Any desert that won't even support flies (Australian flies can lay claim to being the world's most pernicious, enduring and aggressive!) is pretty bad!" Of it, Grant Page, stunt coordinator on the film, says, "It is one of the most notoriously desolate places on Earth. According to the Australians, it is the opal capital of the world. Coober Pedy is a mining town located at the edge of the Great Stony Desert. The cast and crew of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome has just returned from five harrowing weeks on location in Coober Pedy. ![]() The first day on the Bartertown set is only slightly short of being as crazy as the future it portrays. Yet, sitting in the middle of this desolate quarry, surrounded by over three hundred extras, all dressed in post-apocalyptic clothes, not to mention the numerous goats, chickens, pigs and camels wandering about, it is easy to project oneself into the future, and imagine what life in Max's world might be like. Bartertown sits in the center of the Homebush State Brickworks, the oldest brick factory in Sydney, Australia. This is the world of Max, once known as the Road Warrior.Ĭut back to reality. A future where one lone man becomes the agent of change. A bleak future where a nuclear war has forever changed our civilization. Somewhere in the wastelands on the edge of hope. (First publication, STARLOG #95, June, 1985 reprinted in SCIENCE FICTION FILMMAKING IN THE 1980s, McFarland, 1995.)ĭateline: Bartertown. ![]()
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