Mad Max Through The Years

Here's the debut trailer of Mad Max Fury Road set for 2015 with trailers plus trivia (c/o IMDB) from previous Mad Max films.


Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron's left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm.

First 'Mad Max' movie since Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), a gap of thirty years.

First 'Mad Max' movie not to star Mel Gibson as Max.

This film is considered an Ozploitation movie, an Australian genre and/or Australian exploitation movie.

 

Mad Max (1979) 

Budget
$650,000 (estimated)
Gross
$8,750,000 (USA)
$100,000,000 (Worldwide) ( December 1982)

 George Miller's view on an Australian dystopia featuring Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky. It became Australia's top-grossing  film, it held the Guinness record for most profitable film, credited for further opening up the US and international market to Australian New Wave films.

While in residency at a Sydney hospital, Miller met amateur filmmaker Byron Kennedy at a summer film school in 1971. The duo produced a short film, Violence in the Cinema, Part 1, which was screened at a number of film festivals and won several awards. Eight years later, the duo produced Mad Max, working with first-time screenwriter James McCausland (who appears in the film as the bearded man in an apron in front of the diner).

George Miller raised the money for Mad Max (1979) by working as an emergency room doctor.

Mel Gibson didn't go to the audition for this film to read for a part, he actually went along with a friend who was auditioning. But because he had been in a bar fight the night before and his head looked like "a black and blue pumpkin" (his words), he was told he could come back and audition in three week's time because "we need freaks!". He did return in three weeks' time, wasn't recognized (because his injuries had healed well), and was asked to read for a part.

The "get-out-of-jail-free card" that Goose gives the triker was an on-set joke. Because of the limited budget, the biker gang was an actual biker gang (the Vigilantes), and they had to ride to the set each day in-costume; often with their prop weapons displayed. Since the production company expected them to be pulled over by the local police, each was given a letter explaining the film's peculiar requirements, and asking for law-enforcement's understanding & cooperation.

The car that Max drives (a black "Pursuit Special"; the phrase "last of the V8 interceptors" was not used until Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)) is a production car, the Ford "XB Falcon Coupe", sold in Australia from December 1973 until August 1976. The car in the film had a standard 351 cubic inch (5.75 litre) V8 motor.

Shot in 12 weeks, on a meager $350,000 budget, in and around Melbourne.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Budget
$2,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend
$2,527,864 (USA) (23 May 1982)

Mel Gibson only had 16 lines of dialogue in the entire film, and two of them were: "I only came for the gasoline."

According to trivia book "Movie Mavericks" by Jon Sandys, one of the more spectacular stunts in the film was actually a serious accident. One of the motorcycle-riding raiders hits a car, flies off the bike, smashes his legs against the car, and cartwheels through the air towards the camera. This was a real, genuine accident: the stuntman was supposed to just fly over the car WITHOUT hitting it. But the near-fatal incident looked so dramatic that it was kept in the movie. The stuntman broke his leg badly, but survived. (If you look at the stuntman's body frame-by-frame through his cartwheels, you can see that one of his legs is bending at a slightly unnatural angle around the knee...ouch.)

Humungus was originaly supposed to be Max's partner Jim Goose. They decided against this, but left a few hints, such as horrible burns behind Humungus' goalie mask, his raider's use of police vehicles, and his own use of a similar weapon to the MFP's standard sidearm.

The tanker roll stunt at the end of the chase was deemed so dangerous that the stunt driver was not allowed to eat any food 12 hours before they shot in the likely event that he could be rushed into surgery.

Reasons for Max's strange & mismatched outfit: Right arm of jacket missing - arm was run over by a bike in Mad Max (1979) and medics would have cut the sleeve off rather than pull it over a damaged limb. Squeaky leg brace - kneecap shot through in the previous movie. Harness with spanners and stuff dangling off it - for running repairs on the V8. First two fingers of each driving glove missing - easier insertion/ retrieval of shotgun shells from his sawed-off shotgun.

Mel Gibson's favorite Mad Max film.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Budget:
$12,305,523 (estimated)
Gross:
$36,200,000 (USA)

George Miller lost interest in the project after his friend and producer Byron Kennedy was killed in a helicopter crash while location scouting. That may explain why Miller only handled the action scenes while George Ogilvie handled the rest. The film is dedicated to Byron Kennedy.

Max's eyes are different; the pupil in his left eye is permanently dilated. This is a nod to Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981): When his car is forced off the road by Wez and Max crashes, he suffers a severe injury to, among other body parts, his left eye. The disparity is easier to see in close-ups, and VERY easy to see in HD versions of the film. In the regular version, it's most prominent when Max first looks down on the Thunderdome.

Originally, the film was supposed to be about a group of children living without parents in the wild. They were trying to decide what adult character would find them, when someone thought of Max. After that suggestion, it became a "Mad Max" film.

The sandstorm at the end of the film was real, and a camera plane actually did fly into it for some shots. The storm in its entirety hit the crew in the desert, forcing them to ride it out in their cars and wherever they could find cover.

The film references a novel by Russell Hoban called "Riddley Walker" about a hero traveling in post-apocalyptic England.

The possible outcomes on the Wheel are: - Death - Hard Labour - Acquittal - Gulag - Aunty's Choice - Spin Again - Forfeit Goods - Underworld - Amputation - Life Imprisonment

Aunty Entity's (Tina Turner) steel mail dress weighed more than 55 kilograms (121 pounds).

Max's name is only spoken once in the movie. Just after he meets Master Blaster in underworld. Master says "Me Master" and introduces himself, then Max says "Me Max" and does the same.

In interviews about Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) (a.k.a. "The Road Warrior"), George Miller said that while Max's world was after the collapse of the social/political/economic system we know, it was not post-World War III. However, "Beyond Thunderdome" explicitly contradicts this.

All of the pigs in the film foreshadow George Miller's involvement with Babe (1995) and directing its sequel ten years later.

Tina Turner Music Video - "We Don't Need Another Hero"

Liam Fountain auditioned for Mad Max, but didn't get the part. However, he played the role in 2011 short film "Mad Max: Renegade", which took place between "Mad Max" and "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior".

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Directed by
George Miller
Starring:
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Budget:
$100,000,000 (estimated)

  A  Kennedy Miller Productions and Village Roadshow Pictures distributed by Warner Bros.

First Look Batman Versus Superman Dawn of Jusice at Comic-Con

Zack Snyder brings in Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot to Comic-Con then shows a sneak peek of Batman and Superman eyeballing. The actors just waved and exited attendees went crazy for the teaser!

First look at Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman

Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader

Henry Cavill returns as the Man of Steel

Niantic's Ingress

Ingress is a near-real time augmented reality
massively multiplayer online pervasive game created by Niantic Labs, a startup within Google, originally for Android devices, and since the 14th July 2014 for Apple's iOS. The game has a complex science fiction back story with a continuous open narrative.



The Niantic Project

The Beginning

The Niantic Project was initiated in 2012 by Dr. Calvin Ezekiel and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), a branch of the US Government that supposedly had been closed. Dr. Calvin had been studying the effects of something known as Exotic Matter (XM) and related topics for years. He worked on Project Whydah and other projects all linked to the concept of XM. The powers in charge of the NIA, agree to Dr. Calvin's Project, The Niantic Project, as a means to study the Threats and Opportunities of something called a Shaper Mind Virus that may be caused/associated with XM. Calvin's team is to assess what XM is and to create potential XM constructs. A research team is assembled. Many of the Niantic Project members are called sensitives as they react to XM. It is revealed that Dr. Calvin may also be looking into something called 13Magnus.

Niantic Project Wiki

World Intel

ingressfieldguide.com

decodeingress.me

www.reddit.com/r/Ingress

Ingress@G+

Storyboard

Help/Support

 Ingress.com

Sneak Peek at Universal Orlando Resort’s new Diagon Alley attraction

Diagon Alley

The Diagon Alley expansion has been completed at Universal Studios Florida and features a restaurant and several "signature shops". Reports indicate that these will include The Leaky Cauldron, Ollivanders Wand Shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Borgin and Burkes, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, and Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Wiki
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area spanning two theme parks in the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida, USA.

The first phase was officially announced for Islands of Adventure on May 31, 2007, and after a two-and-a-half-year construction period, the area officially opened to the public on June 18, 2010. The area's flagship attraction is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which exists within a re-creation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It takes riders on a journey through Harry Potter's wizarding world. Other attractions include Dragon Challenge, a pair of inverted roller coasters, and Flight of the Hippogriff, a family roller coaster. The area also features a re-creation of Hogsmeade containing many gift shops and restaurants from the series of Harry Potter books including Dervish and Banges, Honeydukes, Ollivanders, Zonko's Joke Shop (though it houses Honeydukes), the Three Broomsticks, and the Hog's Head.

www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/


New Harry Potter Stories from J.K. Rowling
www.pottermore.com

Epic Science Fiction for Television Miniseries

Science fiction for a miniseries in television?  Who among HBO, Showtime, Amazon Prime, Apple TV   and other streaming networks will make the great scifi epics in the near future? An epic Scifi with great storytelling and captures the imagination, in a miniseries format.

Which one will become the Game of Thrones for Science Fiction?  Have a look at some familiar favorites and well known authors. Any of them can make great SciFi with the right script, producer, director.

God Emperor of Dune is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert published in 1981, the fourth in the Dune series.

3,500 years have passed since Paul Atreides had become the messiah of the Fremen and the Emperor of the known universe at the end of the novel Dune. His son, Leto Atreides II, sees the path that his father Muad'Dib had also seen, a future that secures the continuation of human life throughout the universe. That future, however, requires an aberrant act of selflessness: becoming a hybrid of man and sandworm. At the end of Children of Dune, Leto II accepts this mantle of godhood from the Fremen and transforms himself into a monster of the desert, a sandworm, that will dominate the ecology of the planet Arrakis (known as Dune) for millennia.

Way Station is a 1963 science fiction novel by Clifford D. Simak, originally published as Here Gather the Stars in two parts in Galaxy Magazine in June and August 1963. Way Station won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Enoch Wallace, an American Civil War veteran, is chosen by an alien called Ulysses to administer a way station for interplanetary travel. Wallace is the only human being who knows of the existence of these aliens, until almost a hundred years later, when the US government becomes aware of and suspicious about his failure to age or die.

CITY
Composite built around seven shorts published in Astounding 1944 – 1951, tales that have become the legends of sentient dogs to whom ‘Man’ is a myth. Tales that centre on generations of the Webster family, showing the failure of the cities, the eventual fate of mankind and of life on Earth itself. The one constant is Jenkins, the robot who serves successive generations of the Websters and beyond. This fascinating and imaginative book won the International Fantasy Award.

The novel describes a legend consisting of eight tales the pastoral and pacifist Dogs recite as they pass down an oral legend of a creature known as Man. Each tale is preceded by doggish notes and learned discussion.
An editor's preface notes that after each telling of the legend the pups ask many questions:

"What is Man?" they'll ask.

Or perhaps: "What is a city?"

Or: "What is a war?

There is no positive answer to any of these questions."

The Dosadi Experiment (1977)  by Frank Herbert. It is the second full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his novelette The Tactful Saboteur and continued in Whipping Star.

Generations ago, a secret, unauthorized experiment by the Gowachins was carried out with the help of a contract with the Calebans. They isolated the planet Dosadi behind an impenetrable barrier called "The God Wall". On the planet were placed humans and Gowachin, with an odd mix of modern and old technology. The planet itself is massively poisonous except for a narrow valley, containing the city "Chu", into which nearly 89 million humans and Gowachin are crowded under terrible conditions. It is ruled by a dictator, many other forms of government having been tried previously, but without the ability to remove such things as the DemoPol, a computer system used to manipulate populaces without their consent or knowledge. The culture of ordinary day-to-day power in Dosadi is very violent. Among other tools, addictive psychotropes are used for handling power among hierarchies in organisations.

Triune Man
Is Buddy Satvan the creator of the cartoon superhero Diamond Sutro? Or is Sutro the creator of Buddy Satvan, the mightiest crusader in the universe? Are these two men, or six? Are they real, or figments of someone’s imagination? A challenging journey to the other side of reality that adds up to a triple-play powerhouse of time, telepathy, and extrasensory shock!

Altered Carbon  is a hardboiled cyberpunk science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. Set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings, it features protagonist Takeshi Kovacs. Kovacs is a former United Nations Envoy and a native of Harlan's World, a planet settled by a Japanese keiretsu with Eastern European labour.

The first season is based on Richard Morgan's 2002 novel Altered Carbon. While most of the major plot points in the book are retained, the adaptation featured several major changes for characters and organizations. In the novel, the Envoys are elite soldiers of the United Nations Protectorate based on Earth, quite the opposite of the freedom-fighting rebels of the show, originating from Harlan's World, where Kovacs was born.

In the book, Kovacs was imprisoned for his freelance work after leaving the Envoys, while in the show, Kovacs is a captured rebel. The character of Reileen Kawahara in the novel was merely Kovacs' ruthless underworld boss and had no blood relation with him, in contrast to their sibling relationship in the show. The Envoy who trained Kovacs in the book was Virginia Vidaura. The show's Vidaura is only a minor character. Instead, his trainer is given the name and backstory of Quellcrist Falconer, who in book three is the historical messiah-like figure. Falconer's rebellion occurred not during Kovacs' training, as in the show, but long before Kovacs was born in the books.

The Hendrix is an AI character in the novel; it runs the hotel and takes the form of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's estate declined to license his image for the television series because of its violence. Instead, showrunner Kalogridis chose the likeness of Edgar Allan Poe and a Victorian era hotel for the replacement Poe character and said it would juxtapose well with the futuristic Bay City.

Netflix ordered the series in January 2016, fifteen years after Laeta Kalogridis optioned the novel with the intent of making a feature film. According to Kalogridis, the complex nature of the novel and its R-rated material meant that it was a tough sell for studios before Netflix ordered the series. The show was one of a number of dramas ordered in short order by Netflix, which had committed to spending $5 billion on original content.

Kalogridis wrote the script and served as executive producer and showrunner. Steve Blackman served as co-showrunner. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross of Skydance Television also served as producers, as well as Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt of Kalogridis' Mythology Entertainment. Miguel Sapochnik directed the pilot episode. Morgan served as a consultant during the show's production.

The series was reportedly the most expensive Netflix production to date. The production costs were not disclosed but Kinnaman said it had "bigger budget than the first three seasons of Game of Thrones". Wiki

The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The first of these was published in 1986 and the most recent in 2012. Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations, including winning four Hugo awards.

Bujold’s approach varies, sometimes crossing genres. All the novels include humor and comedy, sometimes very black and juxtaposed with tragic deaths or losses. She mixes military adventure, political thriller, romance, and the whodunit in various proportions.

The point of view characters include women (Cordelia in Shards of Honor, Barrayar; Ekaterin in Komarr and A Civil Campaign), a homosexual (Ethan of Athos), and a pair of brothers, one of whom is disabled and the other a clone (Miles and Mark Vorkosigan), together with some less well educated characters (e.g., the bodyguard Roic and the runaway lad Jin).

Reading Order

Bibliography

The Vorkosigan Companion

The Stainless Steel Rat
James Bolivar DiGriz, alias "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat", is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of comic science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison.

The Stainless Steel Rat is James Bolivar diGriz, who goes by many aliases, including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat". He is a futuristic con man, thief, and all-round rascal. He is charming and quick-witted. He is also a master of disguise and martial arts, an accomplished bank robber, a criminal mastermind, an expert on breaking and entering, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. Master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment; and besides which, he only steals from institutions which have insurance coverage.

Rendezvous with Rama is a hard science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1972. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves a 50-kilometre (31 mi) cylindrical alien starship that enters Earth's solar system. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries. This novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release, and is regarded as one of the cornerstones in Clarke's bibliography.

The Foundation series is a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov. Seven volumes are in the Foundation series proper, which in its in-universe chronological order are Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, and Foundation and Earth.

The premise of the series is that the mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept of mathematical sociology (analogous to mathematical physics). Using the laws of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone on a small scale. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (equal to the population of the galaxy, which has a population of quadrillions of humans, inhabiting millions of star systems). The larger the number, the more predictable is the future.

On June 27, 2017, it was reported that Skydance Television was developing a television series adaptation of Isaac Asimov's science fiction book series Foundation with David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman serving as the production's writers. At the time of the report, the production company was in the midst of closing a deal with Asimov's estate for the rights to the book series. On April 10, 2018, it was announced that Apple, through their Worldwide Video Unit, had bought the series and put it into development with the potential for straight-to-series order. It was further announced that Goyer and Friedman were also expected to serve as executive producers and showrunners. Other executive producers announced included David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross.

On August 23, 2018, it was announced that Apple had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. It was also announced that Asimov's daughter, Robyn Asimov, would serve as an executive producer. On April 18, 2019, Josh Friedman left as co-writer and co-showrunner. On July 28, 2019, it was revealed that Troy Studios in Limerick, Ireland, would host production of the show. Troy Studios previously hosted productions of the Syfy series NightFlyers. According to Screen Ireland the series would create more than 500 production jobs at the studio. Wiki

A Deepness in_the Sky is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. Published in 1999, The plot begins with the discovery of an intelligent alien species on a planet orbiting an anomalous star, dubbed On/Off because for 215 of every 250 years it is dormant, releasing almost no energy. During this period, the planet freezes and its fauna go into hibernation. The planet's inhabitants, called "Spiders" by the humans for their resemblance to arachnids, have reached a stage of technological development very similar to that of Earth's humans in the early 20th century, although humans believe that they may once have been capable of space travel. ebook

Orbitsville 
When the young son of Elizabeth Lindstrom, the autocratic president of Starflight, falls to his death, Vance Garamond, a flickerwing commander, is the obvious target for Elizabeth's grief and anger. Which, since Elizabeth is not a forgiving employer, leaves Garamond little choice but to flee. And fleeing Elizabeth¿s wrath means leaving the Solar System far behind, for ever, and hiding somewhere in deep space. Pursued remorselessly by Earth's space fleet, the somewhere that Garamond finds is an unimaginably vast, alien-built, spherical structure which could just change the destiny of the human race...

Ringworld is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels and four prequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space. Ringworld won the Nebula Award in 1970, as well as both the Hugo Award and Locus Award in 1971.

The Mote in God's Eye is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1974. The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's CoDominium universe, and charts the first contact between humanity and an alien species. The title of the novel is a wordplay on Luke 6:41–42 and Matthew 7:3–5, which names a star as seen from a newly settled planet.

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.

Many previous unsuccessful attempts to produce a film or TV series based on the novel were made over the decades since its publication. Stanley Kubrick approached novelist Arthur C. Clarke with thought to adapting the novel in the 1960s. Unfortunately, the rights were elsewhere at the time and the pair went on to do 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) instead. Abraham Polonsky and Howard Koch bought unmade screenplays while Philip DeGuere scripted it as TV miniseries in the late 1970s. In the early 2000s, plans were made for a film to be directed by Kimberly Peirce. IMDB

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Shorts

Spread of Simian Flu: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 1)
Amidst a widespread viral outbreak known as the 'Simian Flu,' a mother is quarantined after testing positive for the virus, leaving her husband and daughter to fend for themselves.

Struggling to Survive: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 5)
Five years after the Simian Flu all but wiped out humanity, an orphaned teenage girl survives by bartering things she has stolen from dead people's homes.

Story of the Gun: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 10)
The journey of a shotgun through the hands of several ill-fated owners as the 'Simian Flu' ravages the world around them.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes presents this moving short film directed by Isaiah Seret in a series inspired by the ten years between The Rise and The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

MOTHERBOARD traveled to remote Liberia to discover 'Monkey Island,' an area inhabited solely by former lab tested chimpanzees who survived disease and two civil wars.

Our crew traveled to remote Liberia to discover "Monkey Island," an area inhabited solely by former lab-tested chimpanzees who survived disease and two civil wars. As part of the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, also known as Vilab II, the lab produced important breakthroughs in developing treatments for a variety of ailments, including hepatitis.

The lab, which was funded by the New York Blood Center, shut down in the mid-2000s following growing pressure from activists looking to end the use of chimpanzees for research. Now the lab's apes live on a series of islands that were originally set aside for their retirement. In this documentary, made possible by the new Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, our team treks deep into Liberia to visit the island and investigate the legacy of the researchers who called it home.