Novels

[Daz]

Sometime before the great flooding, I had the Mad Max novels.
Now, post water world, I'm replacing everything in ebook form for portability, and space savings.
Does anyone know if the novels are available in ebooks? (epub/pdf/etc?)

[Spitfire]

i dont see why not
though they're pretty tricky to come across these days anyway.
my dad had the first novel for years, so not sure where he got it from.
i got the mad max 2 novel from ebay
my sister found BT novel in a 2nd hand book shop...

[flightsuit]

I recently paid a lot for those novels on eBay. So not worth it! the MM1 book at least gave me some background info and provided insight into some of what was seen on screen, but it was so poorly written, it hurt to read it.

The MM2 book, meanwhile, was just atrocious. It was as if somebody literally took the screen play and changed everything from present-tense to past-tense and did nothing else at all! Horrible rubbish. The only possible redeeming value is that it contains an alternate ending from the movie. Still, a huge disappointment.

As for MM3, I had already owned and read it back in the 1980s. It was a decent enough novelization, and better than the first two books by many orders of magnitude, but that sure isn't saying much.

E-books? Somebody would have to care enough to scan them in. I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Daz]

I recently paid a lot for those novels on eBay. So not worth it! the MM1 book at least gave me some background info and provided insight into some of what was seen on screen, but it was so poorly written, it hurt to read it.

From what I remember, MM1 had some good opening scenes in it, especially about the truckers and armalite gangs.

[flightsuit]

"Good?"

No, the scenes were not "good."

Certainly, they provided interesting background information, especially if they were based on deleted scenes from the original screenplay or if they were from back-story which Kennedy and Miller had created and thought about, but the scenes were not well written enough to be good.

Also, it's just bizarre that, at the beginning of the Night Rider chase, Max is swimming naked in a lake by the side of the road. What the hell is that all about?

More bizarreness is that one of the other cops uses his radio to inform everybody that they've been chasing the Night Rider for eight hours. That did not strike me as being possible.

[Daz]

"Good?"

No, the scenes were not "good."

Well I think they were. You will not change my opinion. Don't even bother to try.

Certainly, they provided interesting background information, especially if they were based on deleted scenes from the original screenplay or if they were from back-story which Kennedy and Miller had created and thought about, but the scenes were not well written enough to be good.

Having spoken to the original actors and crew, some of them were indeed filmed. The one I remember discussing with Grant and Joanne was the scene with Gooses girlfriend and Max's wife in the Sandman being mooned by a bike gang. It was actually filmed with Grant wearing a cake in his date. Apparently a lot of the extra scenes were filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor to make it acceptable to the 1.5 hour market.

Also, it's just bizarre that, at the beginning of the Night Rider chase, Max is swimming naked in a lake by the side of the road. What the hell is that all about?

70's and beefcake.
They couldn't find a lake in the area they had for filming.

More bizarreness is that one of the other cops uses his radio to inform everybody that they've been chasing the Night Rider for eight hours. That did not strike me as being possible.

[/quote]

both cars and drivers were equally matched and the outback is a fuckin big place. Sydney to Broken Hill is 18hrs of hard and fast driving. Look how long pursuits take now days...the OJ Simpson chase started at 2pm and ended at 8pm.

[Ringneck]

Did it say it was a steady 8 hour chase? I mean if The Nightrider wiped out the car pursuing it he could have been hiding or cruising around back roads, or gassing up before the next MFP car caught up to it.

Not a true story obviously, but look at the scenario played out in "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry"----it was basically one police department in pursuit, and they seemed to be better off than the MFP in MM equipment and manpower wise, and they would make contact, then loose the target vehicle. Now The Nightrider didn't seem like the kind of guy who was trying to hide, but like it's been said it's alot of wide open spaces out there.

BradLaGrange

[flightsuit]

Daz, thanks for the info! It's so weird to think of 70s beefcake and Mad Max in the same context.

Ringneck, I don't remember the exact word choice, but I kind of got the impression they were saying they'd been chasing him for eight hours straight.


On other thing that struck me as quaint was the descriptions of the car's horsepower levels. I forget the exact figure, but the author talked about engines having something in the neighborhood of maybe 300 or 400 HP, as if this was some staggering number. Reading it with modern eyes, knowing how many soccer mom SUVs out there have similar HP ratings, it was kind of funny.

[Daz]

Daz, thanks for the info! It's so weird to think of 70s beefcake and Mad Max in the same context.

Ringneck, I don't remember the exact word choice, but I kind of got the impression they were saying they'd been chasing him for eight hours straight.

It was about that long according to my memory. The chase had gone on for so long and at top speed that it had basically destroyed March Hares engine. I think it was written that the Pursuit Special had more top end than Hare, and that Nightrider was toying with the Bronze, leading them into a trap set by the Armalite gang.

On other thing that struck me as quaint was the descriptions of the car's horsepower levels. I forget the exact figure, but the author talked about engines having something in the neighborhood of maybe 300 or 400 HP, as if this was some staggering number. Reading it with modern eyes, knowing how many soccer mom SUVs out there have similar HP ratings, it was kind of funny.

Around that time, the Australian government had outlawed the phase4 as being too powerful (they feared people would have cars that the police couldn't catch). Even now, there are still power to weight ratios required to have a car legally registered.

That being said, I don't drag off 1.5L turbos in the 5L Big Bopper anymore.

[flightsuit]

That was another interesting difference: Max already had a black Pursuit Special at the beginning of the story, didn't he?

But was it the same car as the one which his superiors offered him to keep him from quitting? I don't quite recall...