Episode 29: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Theme: Mad Max May
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis stumble into Week 3 of Mad Max May with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome — the movie that boldly asks:
“What if Mad Max… but with camels, whimsical children, and several pounds of pig poop?”

Join your two favorite honorary wasteland critics as they unravel:

• How Thunderdome feels less like a terrifying gladiator arena and more like an episode of American Gladiators sponsored by Harbor Freight.

• Why Mel Gibson’s Max suddenly talks too much, punches teenagers, and spends half the movie looking like he wandered onto the wrong studio lot.

• How Tina Turner’s Auntie Entity is somehow the cleanest, most moisturized person in the entire apocalypse — and also the only one with working electricity, a salon, and a hair-care budget.

• Why Master Blaster is basically “Krang if the apocalypse happened at a county fair,” and how a whistle ends up being the deadliest weapon in the wasteland.

• The Planet Erf kids — part Peter Pan, part Goonies, fully allergic to school — who treat Max like Captain Walker because he owns a jacket and looks annoyed.

• How the big chase sequence turns into a Looney Tunes routine featuring frying pans, pratfalls, and an Ironbar who dies approximately four times.

• And how George Miller — the genius behind Road Warrior — somehow got roped into making a PG-13 post-apocalyptic Hook prequel.

From camel-pulled carriages to the pig-powered energy grid, from bargain-bin Danny Elfman music to the single most anticlimactic final showdown in franchise history, Oz and Curtis attempt to understand this deeply, deeply confusing entry in the Max canon.

Final Verdict:

Oz — 3 asymmetrical shoulder pads
Curtis — 600 confused camels
Both — Glad Fury Road is next. Really, really glad.