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Ah, Florida at last. Wonder if there's anything special at Disney World or Cape Canaveral. Isn't that always how it goes with Fort Knox heists? The gold is too heavy to carry away. At least Goldfinger had a good idea about what to do with it. Oh well.
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Feb 10, 2021 01:02
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So how exactly do the various gangs and factions work in-game? Are some just always against the player with the kind of gang describing what you're fighting, and some will always be on your side, or can you actually piss off the various factions?
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Feb 10, 2021 21:31
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The factions are entirely determined by their label, and always have the same attitude toward the player's gang - e.g. Reborners never attack, most everyone else will with varying aggression. The 'story progression' will trigger one change (that we haven't seen yet) but there isn't any real dynamism to it. I sometimes imagine that there may be other changes to events/attitudes based on story progression too (like even at this point where the Gator Goons are) but as with many things in this game, it could just be seeing patterns in randomness. All road gangs are hostile, and differentiated mainly by vehicle choice, and I think combat style (it could just be that the former influences the AI to seem to have a style). Despite my flavor text, they don't really change how/when/how frequently they attack, they're just restricted by region. They will scale with gang size, so that can make them seem to change over time as well.
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Feb 11, 2021 06:44
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Oh okay, my curiosity was more peaked by the National Guard units, and if they become friendly after you start working for the government (assuming they don't start out friendly).
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Feb 11, 2021 13:49
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Randalor posted:Oh okay, my curiosity was more peaked by the National Guard units, and if they become friendly after you start working for the government (assuming they don't start out friendly). It is quite possible that the National Guard could become friendly. But how much communication and trust do they have with the government in this world? If they don’t turn friendly there’s at least some good reason.
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Feb 11, 2021 14:43
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Yeah, I forgot to mention that joining the government doesn't modify their behavior towards you, again in the story it's just been flavor text. Like achtungnight suggested, it would appear that everyone is essentially on their own, with no functioning central government. To quote the manual, which gives blurbs on the types of gangs: quote:a. LAWFUL NATIONAL GUARDSMEN The distinction in gameplay is that Renegades will attack you without warning, just like any other gang. Lawful ones never attack you, but if you loot in their cities, there's a chance they'll catch you and you have to leave (or fight them). The Renegade kind can also be a road gang, but they are not connected with the cities owned by any group. The only gangs that are implied to be 'national' are the Mob and the Invaders, but that really means nothing as there is no reputation stat.
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Feb 11, 2021 17:40
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Cherry 2000 (1987) "Remember gentlemen, life's an adventure."  The film opens with a man coming home from work to his loving wife. Their house appears to be quite futuristic, although she seems to be filling the role of a stereotypical housewife from an earlier era. After dinner, they start making out on the floor. When the dishwasher malfunctions and soap suds hit the woman, she jerks violently and freezes up. It turns out that she's actually an android. The man, Sam Treadwell, visits a repair shop and the repairman tells him his 'Cherry 2000' has had a complete meltdown and there's no way to get parts for those models anymore. He is, however, able to retrieve her memory chip (a disc about the size of a coin) and can easily place it in any new body that Sam desires. Sam doesn't seem to be enthusiastic about what's in the shop, and says he'll have to think about it. Sam's co-workers encourage him to come to a bar and meet some real women for a change. At the bar, we see that dating has turned into a very complex affair, with all consent negotiated by lawyers in advance. There's also a typical pre-screening of previous sexual encounters, recorded holographically. Sam goes home and instead prefers to listen to his own Cherry's recordings using her memory disc. The repairman tells Sam that he knows of a 'tracker' who can find him a replacement Cherry body in 'Zone 7'; he tells Sam to meet the tracker out in the town of Glory Hole. He heads out to a seedy motel there and looks around for the tracker, "E. Johnson". He initially balks at the fact she's a woman. He doesn't want to sign up when she tells him that the robots are kept in the 'worst part of the zone' and that he'd need to come along with her. He heads to a local bar instead to hire "Six-Fingered Jake", the man who trained E., but when the trackers there end up nearly killing him, he comes back to her. They take off in Johnson's souped-up Mustang, and have to force their way past some barricades to get into the wilderness. According to E., they're set up by people who just 'want a little action, they're bored'. She tells him that when they get to the robot 'graveyard' in the remains of 'Vegas City', they likely will only have a short time before the alarms go off. They take a break near a large canyon, and while scouting Johnson spies the vicious gang leader Lester, who controls Zone 7. They take an alternate route to avoid him but find that they still have to cross a washed-out ravine guarded by some of Lester's men. One of them uses a large scrapyard magnet to pick up the car and move it into position to be shot by rocket launchers, but Johnson seems unperturbed and says this is the 'best way' to get across the river. Somehow all the gang's rockets miss very badly, while Johnson's return fire is very accurate. Treadwell mortally wounds the crane operator, who is able to still move the car over the river in an attempt to drop it in. Johnson ties a rope to the magnet so they don't end up being dropped, and are instead lowered into a giant pipe. Johnson again assures him this is her plan, although when they try to descend via a rope down the pipe, Treadwell slips and they both go sliding all the way down. At the bottom, they meet a man on a barge who is happy to see Johnson, and treats them to rattlesnake broiled in one of his many surplus toaster ovens. Yes, he's "Six-Fingered Jake" and no, none of this makes any sense. Jake asks E. what she's doing out there. She mentions the job, and Sam describes how special his Cherry is, which causes Johnson to snipe at him over the fact that Cherry is just a robot. The next night, they attempt to go down another 'tube' but the guards spot them. Johnson and Jake get into a firefight, and Sam is struck a blow to the head from behind and knocked out. Sam wakes up in bright daylight. He's wearing an unfamiliar pink shirt, and encounters an old girlfriend of his, Elaine, who says she's changed her name to Ginger. He's a bit confused, although when she mentions 'Lester' he starts to understand where he is. Lester returns with a man named Skeet, and that night they have a barbecue. At the barbecue, Lester shoots Skeet in the head after forcing him to admit that he's a Tracker (because Lester hates Trackers), and then the group dances the Hokey Pokey.  Sam takes over the driving since Johnson is tired, but he crashes the car. When they get out, the sexual tension breaks and they start kissing. While making out on the car, Cherry's recording that is in Johnson's pocket is triggered. Sam is hurt when he realizes she'd concealed the truth. He says that Cherry never lied to him, to which Johnson replies acidly that she's not a machine. Some of Lester's men attack, and they fight them off, after which they decide to go to the Robot Graveyard and complete the job, with Sam insisting that is indeed what he wants. They stop at "Snappy Tom's", a junkyard/gas station, to fix up the car, and Jake meets them there. Johnson finds a small airplane and works on it instead as it'll be faster. Tom and his girlfriend Randa get a radio call from Lester looking for Sam, and Randa gives up that he's with them. Tom and Randa shoot Jake before he can get away, while Johnson and Sam get on the plane and fly off. When Lester shows up, he's upset that Snappy failed him. Randa tells Lester where the two are headed, but he gets annoyed by her and shoots her in the head. Johnson and Sam land in the ruins of Vegas and make their way down into the abandoned casino that houses the robot shells. They start searching through the racks of robot bodies as Lester shows up outside and starts searching. Sam finally finds a Cherry 2000 and puts the memory chip inside her. She is activated right about the time Lester sees them and starts firing. This leads to Cherry, still in 'housewife' mode and clueless about the gunfight, following them out under gunfire. Sam shoots Lester and he falls down a skylight, but claws his way out as the three get into the plane. Once they start moving, they find that they're too heavy to take off. Johnson says she has finished her job, and jumps out, allowing the plane to take off. An elated Sam turns around and shouts, "We made it!" only to encounter a blank smile from Cherry. He sees Johnson on the ground struggling to hold off the gunfire from Lester and his gang, while Cherry simply taps him on the shoulder and repeats, "I love you." Sam, realizing he can't leave E. behind, lands the plane and tells Cherry to go get him a Pepsi. She gets out of the plane, and he shouts at Johnson to get on board. When they take off again, Lester hooks the plane with a rope, but this only gets him dragged along where he slams into a giant showgirl statue and dies. Ginger and Cherry sit down together, while Sam and Johnson fly off into the sunset.  That plot description probably makes the film sound quite disjointed and a bit crazy, and it is that, but it manages to hold together with interesting characters that keep the plot moving along, at least in broad strokes. The world is stylized and often over-exaggerated, but well-detailed enough to be intriguing. The big logical gaps don't really help, since it doesn't seem to always be intentionally disorienting. It still has some decently entertaining parts. Even though their actions or motivations can be a bit unclear, the characters are distinctive and in terms of dialogue, well-written. Each of the minor characters has color and the acting is uniformly good. In what is probably a deliberate tweak of the Road Warrior formula, Lester and his gang look like suburbanites, and dress in bright colors. They speak in terms of maintaining 'positivity' that make Lester's genuinely psychopathic behavior all the more shocking. Johnson is a bit scattershot. It's not clear how much false bravado she's supposed to have, given how contrived the plot progression is, and Sam Treadwell is bland enough that it's hard to imagine what she sees in him. She's played by Melanie Griffith, who really does an impressive job making the character work. You can feel just how lonely she is as a sort of societal outcast, and maybe she just finds Sam attractive from the start. It really doesn't help to have the plot kind of forcing them into each other to make a point about 'real' relationships, but it's not like the film is really trying to say anything particularly deep anyway. I do like just how the details of the world make it nearly plausible. There are neat exchanges that flesh out the structure of the society. For instance, Sam shows E. a photo of Cherry, and she notes that Cherry's eyes are 'red dots' in the photo, thinking it's because she's a robot. Sam responds it's just the flash, and if he took a picture of her they'd look the same. The moment when Sam wakes up at Lester's compound is one when the disjointed logic works particularly well, since it feels dream-like, but also matches the aesthetic of Lester's gang once you learn about them.  On the other hand, the movie isn't quite well-paced. It takes until late in the movie to really be clear within each scene what each character is trying to do, and while that does mean it ends on a strong note, by then it's hard to know if things are really going to stay consistent or not. The parts where the plot just trips along to the next beat stick out a lot more when it seems they could have been re-shaped into something more cohesive if they'd only bothered to connect the dots in a sensible way. There is of course the fairly obvious problem with the whole premise. The film has a man who simply refuses to deal with the emotional investment and vulnerability required for a real relationship, and literally objectifies women as pleasure robots. We never even see a suggestion that male husband androids exist, and the film has very little to say about this particular treatment of women. (It is interesting that Blade Runner 2049, a film with a few strange parallels to Cherry 2000 and made roughly in the year this one is set in, doesn't go much beyond it in this regard). It's additionally a problem that Treadwell barely has to do anything to form a relationship with Johnson other than notice that she's human. Ultimately, the message just boils down to 'robot love is fake love' but never really tackles the other issues that it could have gone after. The movie does have problems but it's certainly not the worst we've seen in the genre. I think it deserves some credit for doing things differently, and it definitely does not feel derivative. It takes a while to really get going, and it's light entertainment, nothing too serious. Even if it doesn't feel like they fully fleshed out the sequence of events, it's not hard to see where it is headed. It has its fun moments if you can manage to overlook the flaws. Connections to Roadwar 2000  It's worth noting that vehicular combat could actually have happened in Cherry 2000, since Lester's gang at one point rides out in ATVs to get to Vegas, but the cars never get into it. The combat is rather static on the whole. Even with as many explosions and fires as this movie has, the gunfight at the end is the only halfway-decent battle scene. The connections to Roadwar seem to fit more in with how the world got to its current state. This is not a world that has seen any large calamity (though Treadwell does mention having been in 'the war'), yet it is also clearly one in decline. Some cities seem to be functioning, and technology has advanced, but there are also clear indications of serious problems. There is a news report that mentions unemployment is 'down to 40%', and it seems as if the broken economy may be tied up with resource shortages, since recycling is considered a necessary (though bizarrely unpleasant) duty. Outside of the cities, it's a wildland, except it seems as if the only real threats are gangs like Lester's, and maybe the harsh desert environment that necessitates the experience of the Trackers. Outside of the city, we can see that the scrap business is probably thriving, meaning that manufacturing capacity just isn't what it was. It is a world that feels a bit like where Roadwar could be headed, if some more of the cities started to fall apart. Already the road gangs can attack people in lone cars or in groups, and ruling over large open spaces would make sense after a while, especially if they were seen as valuable for retrieving scrap. It'd actually be a neat expansion if you could have territory both in or outside of cities that gave you resources in the game, but again, it's more about the road gang fights than any other aspect. Kangra fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Feb 14, 2021 |
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Feb 14, 2021 08:11
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With games these days like XCOM you're usually basically unstoppable as soon as you near the end but its still fun to see (maybe not experience) that a game could end just because you didn't randomly find any food for a while, which seems quite possible.
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Mar 10, 2021 03:50
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It is interesting to see the extent to which 'save early, save often' was integrated into the design of the game in this era, since it wasn't that far ahead of the time when save/restore even became possible. It's something that is especially true of this game, and you get used to it. We haven't actually had a full gang wipe since early on, but it could honestly happen pretty quickly (for fun a while back I did see what happened if you go abstract against the Muthertruckers -- we survived one, got destroyed on the second). The other thing going on here is that since it isn't a true RPG, there really isn't the means (or apparent need) to increase the player's power as much once they get established. The good side of that is that you won't be 'underleveled' in the later stages, but then you might have to either reload a save or build the gang back up if you do poorly. New update should be coming in a few days. I have actually been knocking out a little bit of it each day, it's just been slow. On top of that a few unexpected in-game events required me to write a bit more to cover them. That made it even longer but I've decided to just split it up into multiple updates now.
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Mar 10, 2021 23:56
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Florida Man Defends His Homeland The time had finally come to return home for Florida Man. He drove the gang over to his old house, a little ways outside of Tampa, in the town of Mango. Scouts were sent out to find out if anyone had taken control. Meanwhile, he showed the rest of the gang around his house. It wasn't in great shape, but none of them wanted to ask how much it had looked like that before he'd left. Reports came back that it was mostly quiet in the town and people kept to themselves, there was one group that would occasionally disturb the peace. It was a mostly ex-military outfit, from the sound of it, run by a man Captain Nono who was maybe an actual Navy captain. The gang didn't always bother people, but when he wanted something, Nono would demand it and be ruthlessly intolerant to any sort of disagreement. He also was known to be quite aggressive if he caught wind of anyone else trying to gain power in his territory. Florida Man figured that Captain Nono must have been the guy they'd seen in the road battle.  To fix up the cars after the fight, Florida Man took the gang over to a repair yard he knew. He glanced around at the place and said to the others, "Still looks kinda like it did. I wonder if old Sweeney--" and he stopped short as a white-haired man in a Florida Gators cap stepped out of the garage. "Hey! It's you!" shouted Florida Man with delight. "Well, I'll be jiggered," said the man. "Hell, I figured you for dead." Florida Man ran up to him and slapped his back. Then he shouted, "So good to see you, man! Hey, check it out, I got myself a whole road crew now. We're back in town and we're gonna clean it up right." "Well, you'll probably have to deal with the Snowbirds," said Sweeney. "Uh...people are still coming down from up north?" asked Florida Man. Sweeney gave a grimace and continued, "Maybe they did. A lot of them probably. They ain't local, that's for sure. But what I'm talking about is a gang. Fully armed, almost military even. They came in at the start of the year, and they haven't left yet." He hefted a wrench in his hand. "Nobody's been able to stop them from doing whatever the hell they want. That Captain, too, he's a mean one." He took a look around at the Gator Goons and nodded approvingly at Florida Man. "Well, looks you folks might have half a chance, now."  A few more of his old friends were impressed that he'd managed to form up a gang, and signed on to help oust the Captain and his Snowbirds.  As the gang commenced their search for the Snowbirds, they heard a shrill whistle in one of the surrounding houses, and then guns from all sides were fired on them. The sudden attack left dozens of the Gator Goons dead.  Sgt. Adams suggested they regroup in a safer region, possibly in a nearby city. Florida Man was reluctant to leave his hometown so soon, but gave his assent. Almost as soon as they'd left Tampa, though, they encountered another road gang. These had been assembled from former tour buses. Instead of tourists wielding cameras, they were filled with angry gangsters armed with rifles. It looked to be a difficult fight just to get out of the city.  The Gator Goons were ready for battle, though. They moved down the highway to engage the group of buses.  Somehow it seemed that the opposition wasn't really used to highway combat in their large vehicles. One of them was unable to even move past the wrecked cars right in front of it, before even coming under fire. It crashed into the back of it and stalled.  Florida Man spun the Gator Mobile back in front of one of the buses, baiting them to try and turn toward him. This seemingly distracted the bus right behind the one that had hit the car, and it smashed into the halted bus, crumpling it into a mass of metal.  "You're making this too easy!" shouted Florida Man as he swung past the bus and fired his gun back behind him.  The remaining enemy vehicles were now well-separated from each other, and were becoming surrounded.  It wasn't too difficult for them to take out the lead bus on the median strip.  That left the lone, damaged tour bus that had showed up late. It was being hit from three sides.  The fight was over, with the undergunned tour bus easily knocked out by the experienced fighters of the Gator Goons.  The gang was quite pleased to discover that the four wrecked buses had quite the stash of food supplies on board. Their food worries were over for the time being.  Without any more incidents of trouble they headed over to eastern Florida to assess the situation with the local gangs there. The first stop was north of Miami, which they found had been one of the landing sites on the south.  There was a group of people who'd been driven from their homes by the Invader forces. They wouldn't make good fighters, but Florida Man couldn't turn down fellow Floridians in their time of need.  To his chagrin, he discovered that all of the Miami area was under the thumb of the Invaders. He promised that when he'd cleaned up Tampa, he would have to come back here and secure this side of the state as well.  The recruitment trip hadn't been a big success so far, but they were able to get the vehicles all fixed up in Jupiter.  The Gator Goons then continued back up the eastern Florida coast until they got as far as Orlando. Many among them couldn't resist heading into the amusement parks there, since they knew they'd probably be able to get through the gates with little difficulty. Florida Man though it'd be a good place for them to let off some steam.  Unfortunately everything turned tragic after a few hours inside. Someone found that a few of the generators were still working, and got a handful of the rides up and running. But without the proper repairs, or anyone properly monitoring them to see the alarm indications, the place had turned into a death trap. Three dozen people died when one of the roller coaster tracks cracked and the car on it went crashing to the ground. Several more were killed elsewhere trying to swim in one of the artificial 'rivers' of another attraction when they got caught on unseen machinery and drowned.  The dejected gang sent out the usual scouts into Orlando the next morning to see who was in charge in the city. But before the scouts could even report back, the Invader force attacked!  The victory turned out to be the one bright spot in what had been an otherwise awful week. Cecile said, "Well at least now we can relax for a bit," but Florida Man said he still wanted to get back to Tampa sooner rather than later.  The fight with the Invaders had reduced their numbers a bit. A quick search of the town yielded a number of former gangs who'd never gained the power to deal with the well-equipped army forces. Sgt. Adams handed them some better guns and got to work on their training.  When they got back to Tampa, they went on the hunt for Captain Nono's gang, but all they ran into were already-looted gun shops. It seemed he was ensuring that no one could oppose him. Elpida told Florida Man the gang seemed to be in okay shape, but it might help if they could find some local mercenaries who knew more about the gang, and she'd see what could be done about it.  That afternoon, tragedy struck. "Come quick! Come quick!" were the shouts as they spotted Elpida stumbling back into camp. Her head was bloodied and there was a blood soaking through her clothes from another wound in her leg. Florida Man and Jack helped to lift her up into Harold's bus. "They... found me," she whispered. She pulled out the pistol that she'd always kept in her pocket but rarely used. "I got... one, and they ran off," she continued. Then, her voice fading, she said, "Get the scientists back to Tacoma. End this fight..." and she passed out. When Dr. Kassabian arrived, he only confirmed what they already knew. She'd lost too much blood to survive. Florida Man told them to bury her in his own backyard. He said that once it was all over and he was able to come back home, he'd have something out there to remind him of how hard a fight it had been.  In one of Florida Man's old neighborhood markets, the usual patrols found a surprisingly large supply of food. It improved the somber mood slightly. Florida Man had a renewed feeling that he was in familiar territory and should know how to fight back. The rest of the day was quiet, with no more attacks. Perhaps Captain Nono was sending them a message to get out of town.  The next day, the attacks resumed and they were fired on by hidden gunmen. Some Gator Goons fired back, but shortly after the exchange, Sgt. Adams called out that the enemy had stopped shooting. When they went to investigate the houses where they had been hit from, no one could be found inside.  More attacks continued the entire day. There were suspicions that some among them had been betraying their movements to the Snowbirds. Florida Man made the decision to leave town once again before they took any more casualties. But he swore he'd be back.  Back in Orlando, the gang rebuilt its strength again, from the remnants of the smaller gangs that had sprung up when the Invaders had arrived. It took longer than expected since no one was able to recall all the details of the agreements that had been usually negotiated by Elpida. Sgt. Adams approached Florida Man that day in a private meeting. "I've got some concerns, sir," he began. "It's almost December. It might be good weather here, but snow will be falling in the mountains before long. It'll be even tougher if we don't head back soon." Florida Man said he wasn't ready to give up on his hometown yet. But he did feel willing to put it to the leadership of the gang as to what would be best. Cecile said, "We don't need to fight here. At least not right now. The mission for the GUB is important, and if we help them we'll be closer to ending this whole thing. " Dr. Kassabian remarked, "If we keep it up down here much longer, we might as well stay the winter. And I don't know if Washington, Trotier, and Mills will be happy with that." "I think it's only fair for us to help you make your home safe," said Jack. "We can't let Elpida down. We shouldn't have to run." Sgt. Adams responded, "Well, if we are going to stay, we really need to find a way to win this fight." Florida Man said, "Yeah, I agree there. We're gonna go back to Tampa and beat them. We just have to find a way to battle them in a fair fight instead of all this running around. Let me think, I'll come up with a plan."  They came back to Tampa, only to find the same deserted shops and streets every time they sought out a confrontation with their rivals.  Once again, the Snowbirds always got the jump on them. The Gator Goons lost most of the their new members when they were attacked from behind in a patrol through the north end of downtown.  With the violence in the city mounting, there were actually some who wanted to stand up to the Snowbirds, and they voluntarily joined with the Gator Goons. Florida Man felt fortunate to see a few faces in the group that were familiar to him.  One young woman who'd just signed up told him she knew of one of the Snowbird hideouts. Sgt. Adams was wary of a trap, but the group followed her to the spot and kept a close lookout all the while. She took them to a doctor's office. Inside, the furniture had been placed to barricade most of the windows, there were spent ammo casings on the floor, and a fair amount of dried blood staining the examination rooms. It didn't look like it had been in use any time recently, though. "Well, it could have been where they were. Can't really say, can we?" muttered Cecile. Army Ranger Simms started nosing around at the back of one of the closets. At first Florida Man thought he'd sniffed some unusual medicine, but it turned out that that there was a small hole in the back panel. He poked his finger through and pulled back the full piece of wood. Behind it were stacked a pile of automatic rifles, and a sack full of grenades and ammo. The label on the bag read 'MACDILL AFB'. "MacDill," noted Adams. "Dammit! These pieces of trash stole from us!" "Or maybe they were part of it," commented Jack. "They've been using a lot of advanced tactics. Some of them must have army training." "Air Force," corrected Adams. "I mean, maybe we don't know," he added, correcting himself. Florida Man said, "Take the guns out of here and dump them, just to be sure. Tomorrow we can check out the base."  The next morning they went down to the south end of Tampa proper, where MacDill Air Force Base was. Before they could even get to the gates, they starting coming under gunfire. "Well, it looks we found them!" shouted Cecile as she raced to get behind a road barricade for cover. It was clear that the base might have been too well-defended for the Gator Goons to get inside. Florida Man called the gang to fall back; the Snowbirds did not pursue them and neither side took heavy losses. The gang had finally found the enemy base, but actually taking would be no easy matter.  Rumors of the Gator Goons actually going after the Snowbird stronghold proved to be a powerful aid to bring more locals to their side who resented the gang of outsiders ruling their town.  By this time the battle for Tampa had been raging for weeks, and between the recruitment and searching for enemy gangs, the gang had actually managed to start stocking its own supply cache at Florida Man's house in Mango with extra food, as even Harold's bus was full.  There didn't seem to be any way to approach the enemy base. The ground near the guard house was too easily defended, and the rest of it. The military's fencing surrounding the rest of it made entry at any other point a difficult matter. Florida Man tried to bait the Snowbirds out into another confrontation, but this only led to further secret strikes on the gang, despite their best efforts to stay cautious.  With the violence in the streets growing ever more frequent, many of the citizens of Tampa were starting to flee the city. That also meant that some of the braver and well-armed inhabitants in the outlying towns gathered to Florida Man's banner.  After several days, the Gator Goons had swelled to over two hundred members. Florida Man contemplated how best to stage an attack. He met together with Sgt. Adams, Jack, and Cecile to figure it out. They came up with a two-part plan: First, they'd send some of their forces in sailboats, coming from the marina toward the eastern shore of the Snowbird base. They would put just two per boat, so that the number of ships would seem to much bigger and draw off much of the enemy force. Meanwhile the bulk of the gang would come in with a more direct attack. Initially Florida Man argued for an advance on land from the far side of the base, near the flat airstrip. Adams said they'd never make it in the open ground, and a concentrated push at the guardhouse would actually be the most likely way to succeed, especially with the distraction from the 'amphibious' forces.  Things started looking bad right from the start. None of the boats could easily get to the shore as the wind picked up right as they set out and slowed their approach. The on-shore enemy forces spotted them when they were still far off, and they were easy pickings. It had been hoped that even with the actual small number of people, spread Not a single crew managed to get to the beach, with some of them just abandoning the attempt in the face of heavy fire. Nevertheless, the signal was given to go at the gates, as their estimates of the Snowbird's size meant that they could not have that many individuals to give so much fire toward the bay and to the front of the base. Florida Man yelled out the charge and the Gator Goons surged toward the guardhouse. It actually didn't take long before they'd taken it, with hardly any casualties. With the front gates, cleared, the advance to the main base began. That's when it all went wrong. The group moved toward the buildings under sporadic rifle fire, and they could hear shouting that they hoped was confusion in the fight on the beach. Instead, though, their thoughts turned to terror as they saw first a large tow rope, and then, slowly wheeling into view on its end, an armored car, its four large wheels slowly rolling as the turret on top rotated a bit left and right. Leering at them from the back of the vehicle was Captain Nono himself. His mouth opened up and he let out a big laugh and then shouted down to the crew, "Let it rip, boys!" From the turret the machine guns roared, and heavy .50-caliber rounds began smacking the ground all around the Gator Goons. "They've got an M706!" cried Sgt. Adams. "We have to fall back to the guardhouse," he said breathlessly to Florida Man. Florida Man took a second to react, because he'd just realized where he knew the Captain from. It had been from an incident a while back he had hoped to put behind him. He wasn't too proud of the fact that he'd probably smashed into this Captain's big boat while being a bit too tipsy, but he was just mad at all the rich jerks who owned those big yachts anyway. Adams was already seeking cover. Cecile grabbed Florida Man's arm and pulled him to the ground, and they started running back. The rest of the Gator Goons were already routing in disarray. Even the guardhouse could not be held, as when more of the forces reached there, Snowbirds coming from the beach starting engaging them on their left flank. The gang had to retreat entirely from the base. In the end, over a hundred people were lost in the fight.  The battle at the base had ended terribly, but there were still a lot of people in the city who were wanting to do something about the Snowbirds. Just the fact that the gang had been engaged in their own home base by somebody was proof of bravery. It was enough to get people's hopes up.  Things were quiet for the next two days. It seemed as if the Snowbirds might have been forced to hole up at the Air Force base. Florida Man still had no good plan for attacking the base, especially with the knowledge that they had some military-grade hardware still inside.  The peace was not to last. Indeed, the strikes on the Gator Goons only seemed to get worse. Adams protested that they no longer had any time to train new recruits, and they should probably head back to Orlando to plan their attack in a safe location. Florida Man said he did not want to retreat yet again. He added that leaving town again would only delay their trip back to the GUB. This week's film: Prayer of the Rollerboys Kangra fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Mar 14, 2021 |
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Mar 13, 2021 18:25
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Tension rising, feels great. Have you run out of movies?
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Mar 13, 2021 20:17
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achtungnight posted:Tension rising, feels great. Nope, I just forgot to put it in the update. Thanks for the reminder. Even staying on my estimated schedule, there are probably a few movies on my list I'll be leaving off. And even if I run out of those there are plenty of barrel bottoms to be scraped in the genre.
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Mar 14, 2021 00:53
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Well poo poo speaking of just randomly losing a bunch of stuff at once that seemed like an incredibly mean series of unavoidable ambushes.
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Mar 19, 2021 21:40
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Prayer of the Rollerboys (1990) "The future's comin' anyhow. It's got you in its sights."  The film opens with shots of a man rollerblading around a skate park. Interspersed with this we see a young man on a television screen giving a speech in front of an American flag. He's talking about how this generation's parents caused "The Great Crash" due to their own greed. Another, younger kid is shown trying to sell some salvaged trash he pulled from a bin. The man on the screen goes on, stating that "alien races" have taken over the country while "we were locked in homeless camps". The rollerblader comes and pulls the younger kid away from the screen as the man makes his view clear: the "White Army" needs to take back the country, and all those listening should consider the Rollerboys their new family. We find that the rollerblader, Griffin, is a pizza delivery truck driver, although he has to carry an assault rifle on his route. The younger kid, his brother Milton, rides along with him. Griffin comes to a house on fire with a man inside yelling for help, and smashes the van into the house to free him. The person inside runs off as the police arrive; Griff is initially suspected of being a drug dealer since it turns out the house was a 'mist house'. Later, Griff and Milty (as they call each other) encounter the Rollerboys skating in formation in a parking garage. The gang's leader, Gary Lee, recognizes Griff, since they used to be neighbors as kids. He tells Griffin that he owes him one, since he saved a Rollerboy named Bullwinkle from the fire. Milton is impressed by the gang, but Griffin tells him to avoid them. Griff is now stuck with a huge debt to the pizza shop owner for the damage to the van. Milton, however, shows up with a brand-new van donated by Gary Lee. Griff is upset, but the owner won't give it back. Griffin is now being thought of as one of the Rollerboys, with some locals thinking that he has access to the drug mist. Milton is increasingly being drawn into the group. Even when Griffin tells him the gang is a bunch of racists, Milton doesn't seem to believe it. Later, two plainclothes policemen see Griffin rollerblading (though he's not wearing the trademark Rollerboy white coat) and they arrest him. The police officer who had seen him before at the fire, named Jaworski, interrogates him at the station. Griffin denies any connections to Gary Lee, simply saying that they simply used to know each other. Jaworksi gets worked up, and says that Milton is going to be sucked into the gang and eventually start using mist. He wants Griffin to infiltrate the gang, but for now, Griffin says he's staying out of the whole thing. Then Griffin discovers one night that Milton has in fact started dealing mist on the street. The situation gets dangerous when the B-13's, a rival gang, do a drive-by on some of the Rollerboys, and then chase down Griffin. Bullwinkle shows up at the last second and saves his life. Milton encourages Griffin to leave with the gang, and seems sad when he won't join them. Griffin returns to Jaworski and agrees to get into the gang, as long as they can keep Milton safe if anything happens to himself. Jaworski wants him to join up and start reporting to him, and he also wants him to find out what the gang's frequent chant "Day of the Rope" means. Griffin completes a trial of initiation into the gang by rollerblading through a high-security port and stealing a badge (which leaves two other hopefuls dead). He then attends a rally that night as a 'dragon' of the gang. He also starts participating in more gang activities, from shaking down his old workplace to passing out free food and comic books to young kids. He also encounters a young woman named Casey (who had earlier tried to get some mist from him), and she reveals that she's actually an undercover cop herself. She gives him his new orders, to get access to the 'mist house' where they manufacture the drug. Gary Lee tells him that Casey's brother had been a Rollerboy, and his last wish was to be buried with his coat on. It turns out that Gary Lee is as much of a businessman as he is a white supremacist. He shows off an old naval yard that he bought from the ailing US military, and he'll be looking to purchase a power plant soon. He then takes Griffin directly to the mist operation - a sealed trailer inside the naval yard. He plans to put Griffin in charge of the operation, and gives him a healthy advance in pay.  Griffin purchases an RV, but Speedbagger, a black man whose junkyard they'd been living in, has lost all respect for him and Griffin feels he has to move away. He then finds Milton inside the RV, wasted on mist. Griffin leaves to meet up with Casey, telling her he thinks he's done enough by locating the operation. However, since the trailer is rigged with large tank of acid to dissolve any evidence if raided, she says that he needs to be put on 'kitchen duty' to prevent that. The gang attacks the B-13's, and when Bullwinkle discovers that Griffin has let some of them escape rather than shoot them, the tension between them grows worse. Milton gets caught failing a drug test (Gary Lee has a strict rule about not using mist), and instead of Griffin helping him out, Gary Lee slaps him and then hugs him. Griffin tries to make some sort of peace with Speedbagger, but can't reveal his real intentions, and leaves dejected. Gary Lee meets with Griffin, saying he's heard rumors that his heart might not be in it. Later that day, the gang beats up on a man whose head is covered, and Griff joins in. Then it is revealed that the man is Speedbagger (Bullwinkle brought him in). Speedbagger ends up in the hospital. Milton is now eager to get away but thinks there's no escape from the Rollerboys. Griffin goes to Casey and ends up spending the night with her. Bullwinkle shows up in the morning and starts to taunt him about Speedbagger. Unfortunately he then spots Casey's police badge lying in the open, and prepares to shoot them. Then the two plainclothes policemen (who are monitoring Casey) come in, and one of them shoots Bullwinkle in the head. Griffin says he wants to get out because it's too dangerous for him now. Gary Lee comes to Griffin's RV tells him that he has to take over Bullwinkle's kitchen shift the next day. Griffin agrees, then he calls up Casey to let them know to run the raid (although the two policemen answer instead of her). The next day, he gets locked inside the drug trailer with Bango, who seems to be the one mostly in charge of the drug operation. Bango reveals to him what 'the rope' is -- an additive to the drug that sterilizes the users. When the raid happens, he has to battle with Bango until the cops show up. But the first two through the door are the plainclothes cops, who plan to kill Griffin and take all the drug money for themselves. Casey comes in behind them and shoots them first. As the police leave, Gary Lee shows up with Milton as his hostage. He wants to trade him for the drugs, but Jaworski snaps, "No deals!" Milton then turns on Gary Lee and a firefight breaks out. Gary Lee races out and Griffin has to chase him down. He ends up with Gary Lee at his mercy, and pulls a gun on him. Milton encourages him to finish off Gary Lee, but Griffin shows mercy (though he pistol whips him, since he sees that Gary Lee is reaching for a concealed knife). Griffin and Milton (along with Casey and Speedbagger) take the RV and head toward Portland, Oregon. In prison, Gary Lee informs his accountant(?) that he wants to increase their investment in the Pacific Northwest, "because that's where he's headed". The film ends with Milton wondering if Gary Lee will be able to find them, and Speedbagger promising that they'll be fine.  The film only barely meets the standard of being a 'post-apocalyptic' film, especially since it gradually becomes nothing more than a gang-panic movie of the type that was common in the early 1990s. There is the set-up of an economically devastated USA, and the inclusion of Rollerblading as a futuristic mode of travel (to the extent that it's practically a sub-genre). There is of course the distressingly accurate concept of a gang of white supremacists gaining such a high degree of power; at the time it was something on the rise but not as openly tolerated as it is in the movie. It's more of an 'extrapolation to a dark future' than it is a proper science fiction story. It is also trying to be more relevant to its own time, with the obvious parallels to crack cocaine and gangs seemingly growing more powerful than law enforcement's ability to deal with them. It's not quite interesting enough in its portrayal of the future, and it's not well-made enough to pull off the dramatic themes that it seems to be swinging for. There are a number of details that seem they should have been fixed with another pass at the script, or in the editing room. Mist, for instance, is initially shown to be taken through creepy fluorescent tubes into some sort of mask, but later on it's just tablets. You also have the vague 'day of the rope' plan which is presumably intended to target non-whites, but the drug-dealing side never shows that because it instead focuses on the shock of 13-year-olds dealing (and using) drugs. The futuristic world-building is at first a neat bit of flavor, such as when Milton has to deal with a paper map because the 'American-made' navigation system in the van is broken. Later these bits become absurd, such as Germany 'buying' Poland, or Harvard University being relocated brick-by-brick to Japan. Mostly they disappear entirely when the movie focuses on action in the last act. I will say that it does a decent job of not really calling attention to these details much. When we first see Casey, she's wearing a German Navy cap, suggestive of her association with the Rollerboys without being too obvious.  As much as it does to depict the characters believably and show how they fit into the world it has crafted, it doesn't deliver on what it seems to be going for. It is doing more than a sanitized after-school-special level of violence and danger, but it can't quite get the tone right. The film never navigates the dramatic impact of all these disturbing events very well. Jaworski's histrionics about gang life fall flat because he's mostly there to motivate the plot. We don't really see what he actually has to deal with day to day, and while it's suggested that the police force is weak, it's hard to tell if it's meant to be an aspect of the future society or a commentary on the police departments of its own time being poorly-equipped to handle large-scale gang violence. Milton's drug abuse is never all that believable either, as it seems primarily included as a spur to Griffin's story. On the whole, the film is pretty competently made, most especially in the performances. Corey Haim as Griffin does a very good job as someone not inclined to violence but able to push himself to it (it's believable that he seems unwilling to kill but will fight or hurt someone if he feels it necessary). He has good chemistry with Chris Collet as Gary Lee; there's a feeling of real friendship that is nevertheless tinged with a certain amount of mistrust and resentment. There is a distinctive visual style to the film, although I'm not sure I like it -- most of the outdoor scenes have very obvious optical filtering. It seems to be there to indicate a 'future' with environmental degradation, even though the scenery never quite looks like anything other than the dingy parts of late 20th-century Los Angeles. My reaction to it may just be that I'm more used to seeing such tinting handled by computers as in modern films, and so it sticks out a bit more here. Even if the film manages to feel like it got something right with its prediction of an economic collapse spurring an increase of white supremacy in America, it's still stuck with a 1990 attitude toward it. In particular, the main focus is almost never on the effect this could have on society as a whole, but primarily on how it affects these young white men. Speedbagger is the only positive non-white cast member, and even he is barely there except to show how Griffin feels about betraying him. The white supremacy isn't highlighted much outside of the rally scene, though I suppose we can't expect it to accurately have predicted just what it looks like when these views start to become disturbingly absorbed into mainstream American politics. But even with its commentary on gang culture, it doesn't seem to know where it is heading or if it made its point. Much like its own ambiguous ending, the film doesn't quite feel tense; it just feels confused. Connections to Roadwar 2000  As I've said, the film isn't much of a post-apocalyptic one, but the dark future it portrays actually seems a bit in line with the version of events that resulted in the Roadwar 2000 world. We don't get anything of what the 'Great Crash' was (presumably it's meant to hint at the 1987 Black Monday crash), but it appears that some countries are still rather prosperous. In Roadwar we can presume the pandemic has spread but the societal collapse means little news of the outside world is known. The city of Prayer of the Rollerboys seems to still be at least partially functional, or maybe it's in a recovery state. There is one point when Gary Lee says he plans to "Buy back America" to a Japanese businessman (who responds "Who'd want it?"), and given the talk of 'previous generation', we can imagine that the movie is likely set at least a decade or two past the aforementioned crash. Probably once things have settled down in the post-pandemic society of Roadwar, such semi-functioning cities that are slowly being taken over by gangs might well be a common sight in that world as well. There isn't much of a connection to the game in terms of the gangs, either. You do have a few gang battles, but the film (to its credit) does a decent job of hardly ever making the violence look pleasant. Most of the time you just end up seeing the victims being hit, even in the case of Rollerboys being gunned down by cops, it's not glorifying their death any more than it is making the action out to be exciting. That can be taken a bit too far, though, as when the attack on the B-13's is shown almost completely in slow-motion. Interestingly enough, it does seem to make the rollerblading look pretty cool, but that is mostly used for racing or just skating around the city. The foot combat in the game is too abstract to really allow for anything interesting in terms of mobility, and the vehicle combat is well beyond the level of speed or detail to include pedestrians; it is something that I occasionally wish could be mixed, but I can tolerate that including more and slower units would probably bog down the interface to an unacceptable level.
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Mar 22, 2021 18:48
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Pity that they never really applied rollerblading to combat, I’ve played quite a few games where rollerbladers are a serious threat. Not as serious as white supremacy though. Racism is one of the stupidest ideas in history, and allowing it to gain any kind of foothold on this world is not good. Looking forward to the next update. Can we access the space shuttle at Cape Canaveral and attack the Invaders’ mothership?
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Mar 22, 2021 20:19
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Florida Man Has to Fight to be Free Tampa was becoming a war zone. Many people had fled the downtown core. Some of the citizens were no longer interested in joining either side. When the gang tried to recruit them, one of them said, "We're just waiting to watch the whole place burn."  Of course, there were many others remaining in the city. Some found themselves trapped, with no means to leave. The best they could do was hope for the fighting to stop. In amongst them were some ragged individuals who looked like they'd been through hell. They were clearly starving, and desperate to survive, they agreed to join up with the gang.  A gaunt man with thinning black hair on his head and an untrimmed mustache threw in the comment, "Sure we'll do anything for some food. But can't you guys work out your problems?" When he heard the voice, Florida Man said, "Hey, you sound familiar..." He walked over and squinted at the scruffy man and then cried, "Wait, Blas? Is it really you?" Florida Man stuck out his hand and ran it along the rough skin of the other man's shoulder. His smile broadened and he gave him a hug, which caused the other man to smile awkwardly. "Come with us, man!" said Florida Man, and with a twisted smile, the man nodded his head. Blas, or Mr. Alvarez as he came to be known to the others, proved to be a capable recruiter, since he knew the area well. He was also able to bring in some troops who were more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. Even if he didn't strike the others as the most skilled negotiator, and wasn't about to fill Elpida's shoes, he had a relaxed attitude about him that put people at ease. He made them hopeful about the Gator Goons' mission to overthrow the Snowbirds. The numbers in the gang began to grow steadily.  The Snowbirds still seemed to know just where to hit them. Many grew suspicious of the newer arrivals to the gang, and Blas came under suspicion as well since he was doing most of the recruiting. Though with the casualty rate they were seeing, turnover in the gang was so high it was hard for anyone to tell who could really be trusted.  But it was Blas's observations that revealed one of the normal patrol routes that the Snowbirds had been using around the city. For once, the Gator Goons got the jump on them. It was a small victory, but a victory none the less.  As the month of December rolled on, Sgt. Adams and some of the rank and file members began to grow impatient. Trotier and Washington complained that they'd expected to be taken to the lab by now, not stuck at the end of the country farthest from it. They didn't see much point in staying in Tampa when the Gator Goons had the means to travel. Adams complained that the journey was only going to get tougher the deeper into winter they delayed their start. He suggested that at the very least, they get out of the conflict zone in Tampa and make a final decision as to where to go next. Florida Man finally agreed that proper planning would be easier to do back in Orlando. He figured new members recruited there would be less likely to have loyalty to the Snowbirds. As much as it pained him to leave Tampa once more, the Gator Goons drove back to their temporary headquarters in one of the city's many abandoned hotels. They held their meeting on the couches and armchairs of the hotel's ground floor lobby. After two hours, no agreement could be found. Florida Man was hoping that the group would stick with him to free Tampa, but he knew they couldn't just stay there if the gang started to tear itself apart with dissension. Yet no one was quite willing to start a mutiny. Even Adams remained respectful, as much as a argued in favor of leaving. Florida Man felt they were waiting on him to make the decision. He decided to take a walk up to the upper floors to clear his head. While meandering down the hallways, he heard an unusual sound from one of the distant rooms. The faint sound of music could be heard, as of someone strumming a guitar for a bit and singing snippets of some unknown song. The room was crammed not just with keyboards, guitars, and drums all around, but mixing consoles and amplifiers as well. A man with shaggy, sandy hair was seated on a barstool in the middle of it all. He appeared to have crafted some sort of studio. "Oh, hey there," said the man. He lay the guitar in his hands down on the floor next to him. Florida Man looked him over and had a glint of recognition. "Hey, aren't you-?" "Yeah, sure," the man replied, his sad eyes taking on a bright twinkle. "Well, uh, it's sure great to meet you, Mr., uh-" "Tom is fine." "What are you doing stuck up in here, Tom?" wondered Florida Man. "Well, this was the only place nearby that had power. And I figured I could play up here without bothering too many people. Kind of a nice view out the balcony, too. Sure would be nice to have a few others around. I wouldn't mind having some of my old band with me now. A keyboard player'd be especially nice," he mused, looking around the studio. "I always imagined you'd somehow still be around whenever the world collapsed," mused Florida Man. "I suppose. There wasn't anywhere else I was going to go. Just got lucky this time," responded Tom with a grim expression. "It'd be nice if we could still be out on the road performing songs. I don't know what else I'm quite as good at as that, and it's hard to know if this world can handle that now." He lit a cigarette and then cocked an eye at Florida Man. "So what are you guys up to? Looking to have some fun at the old park? Better be careful if you head in there. I heard some folks had a rough go of it in there." Florida Man responded, "Yeah, uh, I know." Tom chuckled. "Was that you? Oh, wow, man, I'm sorry. Guess you learned your lesson." He took a pull on the cigarette. Florida Man said, "Anyway, we're planning... stuff. See, we got a problem over in Tampa. There's this gang there, the Snowbirds they call them, and they're ruining the town. That's my home, you know." "Sounds rough, man. But what are you planning? Gonna run them out? Someone else'll probably come in after them to ruin it no matter what. That's just how it's been going." Florida Man dropped his voice a bit. "Well, see, me and my crew, we got a plan. We kind of have—" he lowered to a whisper "— the government on our side." "Yeah?" asked Tom. "Well, we might have a shot to end this thing for good. Or at least make it better." "I don't know. Not sure if whatever government is left is really gonna help you. But if you feel like the right thing to do is go take your town back, you do it." He paused for a moment and took a good look at Florida Man. "Don't just do it for whoever you happen to think is in charge." Florida Man took a step to the side. "Yeah. Definitely." He suddenly stood up straight as he noticed Tom's cigarette had burned down to almost nothing. "So we'll just be down below. We won't bother you. Gotta plan out our next steps." "Well, you do what you gotta do. I'm gonna be up here playing, maybe hit the drums for a bit. Good luck with the planning, I guess." When he returned to the group, he had a new-found determination. Everyone in the room stopped talking when he came in, and their eyes turned to him. They could sense his confidence and knew that what he said would decide the matter. All he said was, "I won't back down." The Gator Goons headed back to Tampa one last time.  Most of the stores had been looted, some even multiple times, but they continued to check them thoroughly. Removing the guns from the local shops in Tampa was more about making sure no one else had access to them than obtaining more for their own side. Cecile had a laugh when she discovered that one of the stores had a big stack of inflatable pool toys, including some bright green plastic alligators. She excitedly cried, "Hey, let's take some of these!" and filled up a bag. Florida Man examined one of the toys. "Inflatable Gators? Like for a swimming pool? Sure, I guess we could use a few mascots." A moment later, he turned back toward Cecile. "Hold on, I just got an idea. Yeah, we're taking the Gators."  Once they got back to Florida Man's house, he gathered the gang leadership together to inform them of his new plan. He made sure the doors were locked so nobody outside of the group could tell. "What I have in mind, what's been kicking around in my head ever since Cecile found this batch of toy gators—" Cecile interrupted, "Can we call them inflata-gators?" He smiled slightly and then continued. "We take the inflata-gators, and we use Beer Can Island." "Beer Can Island?" asked Adams. "It's out in the middle of the bay," said Blas. "But it's still pretty far from MacDill. You'd need a boat," he said to Florida Man. "Well, that's where the gators come in," said Florida Man. "With an inflatable gator, it'd be possible to swim the whole way." Jack said, "We'd be sitting gators out there on the way to MacDill though. We'd have to keep our guns out of the water, and they'd see us coming from too far off. I don't see how we can make any sort of attack, especially with that big-rear end military vehicle they've got." Adams interjected, "Well they probably only have one of those and it didn't look like it's mobile. We can handle the M706 with an attack from multiple sides. We'd need more numbers for that. Failing that we would need some light anti-tank weapons; one of those would take it out right quick." Florida Man said, "Or, what we just need is a way to distract them." He turned to Jack. "See, we aren't going to be attacking from the gators. What they're for is to get just one or two people on shore, inside the base. They wouldn't be armed except for knives and wire cutters. The idea is to go in and sneak over to the fence by the airfield. You cut a hole in it. And actually I was thinking you would be good for that, Jack." Jack responded, "Okay, that sounds risky, but I might be up for it. I just want to know how a hole in the fence helps us?" "Well, the next morning, we start with a fake attack back at the front gate. As soon as they roll over their armored car, we crash in from the side, through the broken fence. That's something they wouldn't expect, seeing as how they don't know there's a hole in it yet. Sgt. Adams, I'd have to be at the head of the fake attack so the Snowbirds will buy it. I would hope you can lead in the charge through the fence." Adams said, "We'd have a lot of ground to cover. I think I can do it, but you'd have to give me the best squads. And make sure that you all don't actually try to push from the front gate. You will get wiped out for sure." "You can take your pick of the forces. The front-gate group will stay close to the cars, so we should be safe." Jack questioned, "This Beer Can Island, if it's far off from the base like Blas says, would we really need to take the gators there? How about if we let a ship just kind of float in on the tide? They might be alerted, but they might see those bright green gators out there just as easily." Adams said, "Okay, I like it. What I think I like best here is that we can maintain a high level of secrecy on Jack's mission. Nobody outside of us and the ones going will need to know about it. If we go down and let a few boats loose, and then drop some of the, uh, inflata-gators in the water later, all any spies will know is that we're up to something. They'll figure a new strike by sea or something. By the time we're in attack position, it'll be too late for them to warn the enemy." Then he looked around the room and commented, "We just have to keep a lid on it. We do it right, maybe we'll be on the road to Tacoma by Christmas." "Then it'll have to be us who go down to the marina and send off Jack," said Cecile. "I want to be there for that. And send out more inflata-gators later," she beamed.  In the late afternoon, as the sun was heading downward toward the Gulf of Mexico, a few stray boats slipped listlessly in on the tide and toward the south end of Tampa. One of them got beached on a tiny dot of sand in the middle of the bay. Inside that one hid Jack and two trusted companions. One of the other boats floated close by MacDill and the Gator Goons could hear the Snowbirds taking potshots at it. The one on the island ended up ignored. A few hours past midnight, the men inside the boat crept out on to the island. A feeble half-moon was shining through the thin cloud layer overhead. The men inflated their gators and started the mile-long swim to shore. At the same time, another fifty inflated gators were released farther out in the harbor from a smaller boat captained by Cecile. She tossed them gently in the water with a whispered, "Get to shore, my pretty little inflata-gators!" As dawn was breaking, Florida Man led the rest of the gang to the south end of Tampa, out to the main entrance of the Snowbird base at MacDill. The vehicles were parked a little ways out of the gate, to mask that one third of their force had already embarked toward the west end of the base. "I hope they made it," Cecile whispered to Florida Man as she climbed down from the truck. "If not, this is going to be a much harder fight than we thought." It did not take long before the Snowbirds sounded the alarm when the Gator Goons approached. Florida Man led the charge, and opened fire even before they were at any sort of range they might be expected to really hit the enemy. He could still see Captain Nono marching out from the rear of the base. He gave hard look at Florida Man, then glanced around suspiciously. While waving to one crew to come near, he started giving orders to a man next to him. He pointed briefly to his right, and the man took off with two other soldiers... toward the beach, on the east side of the base. This did not go unnoticed by Cecile. "They're worried about the inflata-gators!" she almost yelled. The other crew that Captain Nono called over ran off toward a large building, and a short while later the dreaded M706 rolled out into view. Florida Man noticed that they'd even positioned it to cover a little farther back than he'd hoped, but it was angled more as if expecting to deal with threats from the beach than from the airfield side. "C'mon Jack, now, I hope you got them in!" he cried out as he ran for cover near the entry guardhouse. He continued to fire his rifle in the direction of the Captain, but paused a bit longer between shots as he prayed to hear the noise of an attack from the enemy's flank. Nothing could be heard so far. The .50-calibre guns once again roared over the battlefield, and more of the Gator Goons ran for cover where they could. Suddenly they heard shots coming from one of the near buildings, a bit to their right but much closer than expected. It wasn't close enough Captain Nono directed fire straight down the roadway; he wasn't hitting anyone, but it reinforced the notion that the pathway to retreat was cut off. He let out a roar and laughed as he fired another burst. "What'll it be, now?" he shouted. "Your little gator stunt didn't do anything to impress me! Toys are no match for real weapons!" A rapid burst of gunfire into the building behind him interrupted his taunting. More shouting followed, and some of the Snowbirds could be seen fleeing into the lane behind the M706 before being cut down by shots from the side again. Captain Nono whipped his head around and shouted at his crew to start wheeling him back, but he already had a look of panic on his face. "It's them!" cried out Cecile. Florida Man rushed around the side of the guardhouse as the commotion increased. He ordered Cecile to focus fire on the nearby building; with Nono still trying to reposition, they could probably be handled without difficulty. All the while, they could hear the approaching blasts of fire from the west side of the base growing more frequent and louder. The battle lasted only about five more minutes. Captain Nono had been shot through the stomach and was leaning heavily on the side of the M706 when Florida Man approached. He saw Florida Man, and then saw Blas standing next to him, and gave a look of disgust. "Ugh. Figures..." he muttered, his consciousness fading. He staggered, bent over and seemed about to fall. But he stood back up with a pistol in his hand, and waved it tremulously in Florida Man's direction. A shot rang out. Captain Nono's head slapped against the vehicle. Florida Man turned in the direction of the gunshot. It was Jack. "Where'd you get a gun, man? I thought you came over without one," said Florida Man, grinning gratefully. "We procured it on the base," responded Jack. "We saw Adams come through right on time and started our own firefight from the rear. Really confused the hell out of those Snowbirds!" Sgt. Adams himself had now come over with his own squad. He was grimed with sweat but smiling. "We'll do a sweep of the base, but I think they're going to give up now." Florida Man asked "Hey, what took you so long? I thought we were going to get hung out to dry at the gate." Adams said, "We didn't go firing off as soon as we could once we got inside the fence. You have to wait for the right moment. I could see your position and went to the right place to trap that Commando." He gave Florida Man a slap on the back and continued, "You did a good job making the distraction, sir. It takes guts to hold down your position in the face of that kind of firepower."  With the ruthless control that the Snowbirds had held over the city lifted, more residents were willing to come out and help. One woman in particular said that she'd heard about the Goons stunt with the toy gators on the beach, and suggested that using real gators in combat might have been more effective. Florida Man said he kind of liked the idea, and might have to consider it the next time. Mr. Alvarez brought many on board to create a new Gator Goon-led city government. Florida Man came over to talk to him after the city council was established. "By the way, Blas, what was that about in the fight? You know, the Snowbird guy said something to you when he died. Like he knew you." Blas looked down, then off into the distance. "That guy, Captain Nono? He once came to me, early on. When the Snowbirds were first gaining power. I told him no, back then. He must have remembered my face." He paused a bit, and somewhat hesitantly, added, "I was thinking for a while, back when it was so tough, that maybe I should have joined up with him." He grasped Florida Man's shoulder and smiled warmly. "But I think it's so much better that we met up. Let's go out and have some adventures, all right?"  They stopped briefly in Orlando. Florida Man said he wanted "to go see someone," but when he checked the hotel, Tom was not to be found.  Jacksonville was luckily not under the control of the Invaders or any other gang. A few local groups were vying for power there. Florida Man expected that when they got wind of his exploits in Tampa, they'd be sure to give the Gator Goons the respect they deserved.  Indeed, news had gotten around. Some of the local gang members decided to join up. Florida Man said he wasn't interested in trying to do more in the town. Sgt. Adams said he was relieved that he wasn't going to try to take over "the whole drat state single-handedly". Harold commented that he was going to be glad to finally get out of Florida.  Jacksonville was left behind in a hurry. Florida Man took the Gator Mobile and led the gang off northward into Georgia as fast as they could, desperately hoping to make it back to the GUB before the winter weather made it even harder to get over the mountains. This week's film: The Warriors
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May 22, 2021 17:01
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Great to see this thread resume, the quality writing continue, and a favorite celebrity make a cameo. Also good to know a review of my favorite film from my birth year is on the way.
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May 22, 2021 17:21
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Good to see this resume!
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May 22, 2021 20:43
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Quite the bloody campaign looking at the people counter. That thing went up and down with almost every screenshot.
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May 27, 2021 03:32
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I'm still making progress with this, there just seem to be more things popping up in my life that are slowing it down. Next film post will be up soon. I may hold off on a few game updates to get a bit more backlog. We're getting closer to the endgame (although there's no definite way of knowing how long it will be yet), and I'd rather be able to release them closer to each other instead of having a long delay. Glad to know people are still enjoying this, though!Kibayasu posted:Quite the bloody campaign looking at the people counter. That thing went up and down with almost every screenshot. This was somewhat fortuitous in that it was my randomly chosen locale for a hometown. Some fights can just be absurdly tough. In this case it was actually that we almost never got the daily gang battles you often get, which is the only way to reduce the numbers in whoever controls the city. Normally you'd just give up and try somewhere else, since there are no specific cities you have to get or hold (all of the bonuses are one-time only). Of course this time was the one we didn't want to walk away from, and it made for a good story. I'm also pretty sure that some of these encounters are also scaled as percentage of current gang strength, to give a sense of increased difficulty.
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Jun 8, 2021 20:40
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The Warriors (1979) "Warriors, come out to pla-a-ay..."  Synopsis (original cut, see below for note on the director's cut) The film opens with nine members of a New York street gang, The Warriors, on their way to a city-wide conclave of gangs set up by a man named Cyrus, the president of the largest gang in the city. They have to travel to the Bronx, far away from their own territory in Coney Island, and cannot bring weapons. They come wearing their own 'colors', maroon leather vests with the name 'Warriors' emblazoned on the back. As they ride the subway to the meeting, we also see a few other gangs in their own distinctive outfits making their way to the Bronx. At the meeting, Cyrus declares that if they were to all band together instead of fighting each other, they could run the city. Unfortunately just as the crowd is cheering in support of his plan, he is shot by one of the gangs that secretly brought in a gun. Chaos erupts and the police (who were monitoring the crowd) start to move in. The man who fired the gun points the finger at the Warriors, claiming that they were responsible for shooting Cyrus. The leader of the Warriors' delegation, Cleon, denies it, but is grabbed by many in the crowd and apparently beaten to death. The rest of the Warriors flee to a nearby cemetery to regroup. With Cleon gone, Swan assumes command of the eight remaining Warriors (over the initial objection of another man, Ajax) and they head to find the subway home. We then see that the Gramercy Riffs, Cyrus's gang, are demanding that the Warriors be caught — alive or 'wasted'. The message goes out via a local DJ who plays "Nowhere to Run" dedicated to the Warriors. A large number of gangs start to gear up to come for them, as it's clear the truce is over. This also includes the Rogues (the ones who actually shot Cyrus), who are hoping to kill the Warriors rather than let them be taken alive.  As the Warriors get close to the train station, Swan pauses for a moment. They then spot the passing bus of the Turnbull A.C.'s, a skinhead gang. With the train approaching, they have to make a break for it. They get on board just in front of the Turnbull A.C.'s and start their journey home. They aren't able to get far before a fire blocks the train tracks, and they're forced to go on foot. A short while later, they spot some gang members that they identify as the Orphans, who are considered so far down they weren't even invited to the meeting. The Warriors negotiate with them and are about to pass peacefully, when a woman comes out of her building and berates the Orphan leader for letting them go without a fight. The Orphans leave and the Warriors start to head for the next subway station, with the woman, Mercy, taunting them. As the Warriors head for the station, Mercy cautiously follows them. They turn the tables on her and imply they might rape her, but then the Orphans return ready to fight. Swan improvises a Molotov cocktail to create a distraction and they make a break for the train. Mercy also ends up on the train with them. At the next stop, they notice the train seems to be held on the platform without moving. The spot a policeman outside the train and realize they have to get out. The group gets split up; three of them get on another train and ride off, one gets into a fight with a cop and ends up thrown in front of a moving train, and the other four (including Swan) make it safely outside the station. Swan's group immediately encounters another gang, the Baseball Furies, who have brightly painted faces, wear baseball uniforms and wield wooden bats. Two of the Warriors get separated, including Ajax, who defeats one of the Furies, and then eventually the Warriors beat down the rest. On the way out of the park they pass a lone woman sitting on a park bench. Despite the insistence of the others not to waste time, Ajax says he wants to go after her. When Ajax attempts to assault her, she turns the tables on him and handcuffs him to the bench. She signals to police officers and Ajax is arrested. Two of the others head back to check on him but take off when they witness the arrest. Swan continues ahead. The other three that had made it on the train get to the next subway station, and expect they'll have to wait a while for the others. They spot a group of women and follow them back to their place, and they seem to think it's a good chance for them to get some action. The women mention that they've actually heard of 'the Warriors'; when asked where their 'men' are, they say they're away up at the Bronx meeting. Swan heads into the next station alone, where he encounters Mercy. They are about to get on a train when a police officer sees them and gives chase. They run into the tunnel to get away. There's a brief argument between them as Swan disapproves of her (presumed) promiscuity, and she defends her decision to get what she wants while she can. They kiss, but Swan breaks it off.  Back with the other three, the group of women say that they're the 'Lizzies' and for a while, the Warriors get to relax. But then one of the Lizzies locks the door, and says she knows exactly what the Warriors did to Cyrus. They all brandish weapons, including guns. The Warriors improbably escape with only one of them getting mildly injured. They are now aware that all the gangs in the city are after them for the death of Cyrus. As Swan and Mercy head out of the tunnel into the next station, they spot a few roller-skating men in overalls tailing them. Just as they start to get worried, the rest of the Warrior group returns. They all head into the bathroom to hide and the enemy gang (the Punks) follows them in. The Warriors are hiding in the stalls, and a full-on fight breaks out with even Mercy joining in. With the punks defeated, the Warriors are finally together and on the train heading to Coney Island. They're exhausted and nearly falling asleep as they contemplate Cyrus's dream of a unified gang controlling the city. As they get back to their home territory, the sun is coming up over the city. As they head into the safety of Coney Island, the Rogues show up driving slowly behind them. The Warriors get away from the vehicle and arm themselves. The Rogues' leader, Luther, taunts them to come out. They decide to confront him out on the beach. The Rogues approach and Swan asks Luther why he killed Cyrus, and he replies he "likes doing things like that". Swan challenges him to single combat. He draws his gun and as he's firing, Swan throws a knife into his hand, causing the shot to go wild. The Riffs have now shown up, but a witness to the crime revealed the true culprit to them already. The Warriors are allowed to go free as Luther and the Rogues are swallowed up by a crowd of Riffs. Over the radio, the DJ apologizes and plays Joe Walsh's "In the City" as the closing credits roll.  This film is well known for being an adaptation (by way of a book that provided the modern-day gangland setting) of an ancient adventure story, the Anabasis by Xenophon. The Anabasis relates the ordeal of a group of Greek soldiers trying to make their way home from Persia after their leader is killed. There are several nods to the source in the character names and a few lines, but even without knowing the connection, the film works perfectly well*. The time-tested plot allows The Warriors to have a solid if simple story. What makes the movie work is how well it builds the world in which this story operates. It's very much a cult film -- the kind that might not have broad appeal, but has something some fans really love. While filmed and set in real-life locations around New York City, the film isn't particularly tied to reality. While there is a fair amount of detail to the characters, they can be difficult to distinguish on first viewing, as they aren't the focus of the story and can easily be missed. It's a film that does reward multiple watches well, as all the parts are consistent even if difficult to take in initially. It is constructed with a particular style that if it works for you, you can have an enjoyable thrill ride through a dangerous city in a world that's crazy enough to make a certain sort of sense. Something it really handles excellently is a near-perfect sense of progression. The geography of the Warriors' route makes sense as they move through enemy territory and in and out of each subway station; there's always a sense of how far they've come and how far they need to go. This is done not just by faithfully adhering to proper New York City geography, but in the lighting and scene construction, as well as the performance of the actors. With each new gang they encounter, they gain a bit more in power - they start out unarmed and fleeing, then fight the Baseball Furies with just their fists, but later have enough weapons (obtained from their defeated opponents) that they can counterattack the Punks. As the night wears on, they are also growing more fatigued, and the danger never lets up. Even when they have nearly made it to safety, they are faced with one final test, at a moment when you know they are least likely to have the stamina for a big battle. All of the editing and pacing of the movie works in this direction as well.  For as much as the plot is timeless, some elements of the film are stuck in the era it was made. This is particularly noticeable with the treatment of women. For one, violence to women is seen as a completely acceptable part of life for these young men -- the objections to Ajax's intended dalliance with the woman in the park appear to be more along the lines of not wasting time than on the basis of any moral objection to what he might do to her. That scene is even heightened when for a brief moment it's not clear if even after she's caught him that she'll be able to properly restrain him. The character of Mercy certainly seems to be largely attracted to the Warriors, and Swan in particular, on the basis of wanting a sexual encounter with someone who might be perceived as more 'powerful' than the Orphans in her own neighborhood, or at least just different. The one all-female gang, The Lizzies, resort to what would be considered a more feminine technique of seduction and deception instead of direct combat to try to defeat them (and when they do bring out weapons, they are sadly ludicrously incompetent at using them). All of this is done with enough of a realistic bent that it does feel more like it's trying to depict things as they are instead of making statements about them. While the violence is casual it is rarely brutal; each fight is there to advance the plot or show off a character, not necessarily to depict or comment on the violence itself. Race relations are present but again hardly important — some gangs are all one race or another, but most (including the Warriors) are a mix reflecting the diversity of New York itself. Also of note is that the Lizzies are clearly coded as a lesbian gang, yet the film does not take any clear moral stance against them either, which stands out as progressive for its time. To be sure, they are being deceptive about their sexuality, but that would seem to be because they are antagonists, no worse or better than any of the other gangs standing in the way of the heroic Warriors. Even after Swan has denigrated Mercy for her sexual choices, he later upholds her dignity in a confrontation with a group of middle-class prom dates, in a wordless scene of exquisite visual storytelling. The film manages to provide those occasional nuggets that flesh out the characters without losing focus on the primary story it is telling. It's that balance that gives an insight into these lives that seem to really exist that make it a classic. The adventure plot moves energetically, with a constant tension. There may not be a lot of thematic depth to it, especially since the universe it's in is so detached from our own, but it is all well-crafted and engaging. It is always aware of what the characters are doing and how they might react to the events around them, so that even when this gang is being attacked by men in Yankees' pinstripes and bizarre face paint who never speak, you don't question the stakes. For those who are able to get into the space of the world, it makes for an unforgettable experience. *The director's cut has a 'comic book' framing device (derived partly from the novel) that more clearly makes the connection to Xenophon. It is also widely disliked by fans of the original since it breaks a bit of the naturalistic feel. I don't think it's a terrible version, but most of the additions are unnecessary and I'd agree with the assessment that the original is better. The director's cut is unfortunately the only HD version currently available. Connections to Roadwar 2000  This is another 'near future' setting that is largely indistinguishable from some of the more run-down parts of the present. New York City did not seem to be all that far from being ruled by street gangs in the 1970s, and in fact there had actually been a conclave of multiple gangs not unlike the one portrayed (although it was spurred by the death of a prominent figure and was aiming more for peace and unity than consolidating power). Here, there is no widespread downfall of society, and the police are actually maintaining control fairly well, with the city mostly existing just fine, aside from the fact that it's not at all safe to be out alone at night. It is not really a post-apocalyptic genre film, just a grim future one. On the other hand, it is also one in which the street gangs are all split into factions that don't just have their own uniform, but distinctive choice of fighting style or weapons. This aspect clearly has a major impact on the game. The themed gangs of Roadwar feel like they could easily fit in with the world of The Warriors (Furies seem likely to be a tribute to the Baseball Furies if only in name), especially as each of them has their own general territory on the North American map that meshes with the gang name. While the Roadwar plot is a bit more complex than just trying to get to home turf, there is the similar feeling of a lone gang having to deal with a wide variety of antagonists who mostly out to get them. It's worth noting that The Warriors itself was made into a highly-regarded video game (another one I haven't played), which really seems a natural fit for it. As mentioned, there's a progression to the plot that I think fits perfectly into a game. Having the various opponents be so clearly distinguishable would make for an easy way to mark increasing difficulty as well. It's no surprise that Roadwar was drawing on those elements when creating its own big world of gangs, and I feel the movie has been influential almost more on games than on any movies that followed after it. Kangra fucked around with this message at 19:51 on May 5, 2022 |
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Jun 8, 2021 21:35
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What's the story? The actor just found some bottles, put them on his fingers, did his thing, and it became the iconic scene?
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Jun 13, 2021 19:15
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From what I’ve heard, yes. That line was completely improvised.
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Jun 13, 2021 20:56
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Florida Man Gets Lit on Christmas The gang made good time to Atlanta. It was mid-December, but the weather had stayed clear in Georgia. Stocks of food and fuel were high, so they didn't need to take any breaks along the way to gather more supplies.  The several scientists and the top gang leadership met to decide on the best route back to the GUB. Dr. Mills suggested sticking to a southerly route for as long as possible, to avoid any potential slowdowns due to snow in the Midwest. Dr. Washington agreed, although he warned they would need to be prepared for roving mutant bands if they passed close to Houston. Florida Man figured staying south was the better option. He hadn't liked spending a cold winter in New York all that much.  The group thus made time as best they could, speeding through Alabama with hardly a stop along the way.  On December 24th, hardly a week after leaving Tampa, they arrived in New Orleans. Blas showed up with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and called to Florida Man, "Someone came up to me and handed me this and told me it was 'Mardi Gras'. Now I wasn't so sure on that, but it is Christmas now, right? I think the crew deserves a moment to actually celebrate all the hard work! "Look, I know you've had some [URL=https://globalnews.ca/news/6372801/florida-man-suck-toes-christmas-eve/]bad experiences with Christmas[URL], but don't you think we deserve to celebrate? I mean, you especially deserve a party. You took back Tampa, pal! You've got all these people to follow you! Whether it's Christmas or Mardi Gras or whatever, have some fun!" Florida Man couldn't help but agree with that idea. The holiday party was on.  As Sgt. Adams entered the hotel lobby that the Gator Goons were using for the night, the party was in full swing. The reception desk had been turned into a makeshift bar, with tinsel slung around it to make it even more festive. Partiers were running all around the room, shouting and laughing. The hotel furniture had been overturned to clear space for a dance floor in the middle, although he couldn't tell if any music was actually playing over the din of drunken conversations. In the middle of it was Florida Man, lit up in the strangest fashion possible. He was covered with multicolored Christmas tree lights that twinkled and flashed randomly. They were wrapped around his arms, made a few haphazard loops around his body, and then looped into a tighter crown that stuck to his head, with the rest draped on his neck like a scarf made of wires. "Hey, Adams!" shouted Florida Man. "Come on, join the party!" "What the hell, man!" he shouted. Adams was livid. "What in God's name is going on?" He walked swiftly over and stared down the drunken man before him. "Check it out!" replied Florida Man, rustling the dangling lights in a way that made them seem to blink even more. "Harold hooked this up for me!" He pointed to a car battery to which the holiday lights had been wired up. He picked up the battery and twirled around in front of Sgt. Adams. "You're right here, keeping this -- party going?" sputtered Adams. "When we've still got two thousand miles to go to get our people safe? When we're already behind schedule? How can we get to Tacoma if you're wasting time like this? Drunk off your rear end!" Florida Man threw his hands up as if there was nothing he could do. "Come on... it's Christmas! Or Mardi Gras, whenever they have it here. This is New Orleans! We just needed a chance to relax. Tomorrow, yeah, we'll be all ready to go." "Whatever," responded the sergeant. "You're just lucky we don't really have to clean this place up in the morning. Go on, have your fun." He stormed out of the room without waiting for any reply. Blas came tumbling over to Florida Man, and muttered, "Hey, sorry if this is ruining your plan or something." Florida Man replied hazily, "Naw, it's okay." Blas looked unsteadily at the man. "I mean, I am sorry. I'm sorry," he repeated. As Florida Man met his gaze he continued, "I got a confession to make." Florida Man chuckled and said, "Oh, what'd you do now?" "No, it's serious. I can't hold it any more. Back in Tampa, you know..." he trailed off and took a step back. "I mean, with the Captain and all, his gang..." Florida Man commented, "You helped us out, you know. You knew his patrols, and we got him good!" The Christmas lights continued to blink colorfully around his neck as he smiled a broad smile. Blas went on, "Yeah, but about that... he was, well, also, I told him some stuff too. He was paying me, you know, and, well, some of the times we got attacked..." "Oh, uh..." was all Florida Man could manage. He struggled briefly to fully comprehend what had happened, but in his current state, wasn't quite able to pull it off. He clapped his hand on the man's shoulder. "Look, Blas, in the end, you know, you sided with us. That's what counts, right? It's what you did in the end. We wouldn't have taken Tampa without you." Then he shouted to the room, "We wouldn't have taken Tampa without any of you!" A slightly confused cheer went up from some of the partiers. Florida Man waved his arms and the lights twinkled to the crowd. A few more "Whooo-hoos" went up amongst them. Florida Man turned back around. "So, you know, don't worry about it," he finished. "I guess. Had to get it off my chest. Sorry again about the party," commented Blas and wandered out of the hotel.  The next day, Blas was nowhere to be found. Florida Man spent half the day passed out while Cecile and Jack ventured out to search for those who'd gone missing. It proved to be a nigh-impossible task, as even those who were found protested strongly that they should be allowed to have their own Christmas however they liked, without having to be deal with the gang if they wanted to be alone.  Recruitment of new members to replace those who'd gone missing proved to be tough with the untrusting locals, and Alvarez's departure only made it worse. Wandering mutant attacks reduced the gang's numbers even further. They seemed to be under a curse in the city.  The day after Christmas, they were able bring back some of those who had gone off to celebrate before, but many were still missing.  Precious time had been lost as well. As they prepared to depart the city the next morning, Adams approached Florida Man while he was checking over the Gatormobile's engine. "Sir, I have a few things to say if you've got some time." "Sure, man, go ahead," the gang's leader replied. He dropped the hood and walked around the car to check the tires and trim. "You came through with the battle in Tampa. We beat them, it was a good plan, maybe a little risky, but it worked, and I respect that. I do." He paused again and cleared his throat. "What I can't get with is that your whole campaign there held us back. For far too long. And then, when we might have needed " "Hey, I think the men needed a break," responded Florida Man. "We all did, really. And it was Christmas!" "But the time for celebration should come when complete our mission. Christmas I get, a little moment to relax, but we have to push on. And if you can't see it, well, I have to say I can't, well I can't deal with that, sir. We're going to be heading up through the Rockies again, I expect. When we got to Colorado, I'll be heading back in. Maybe they can find a replacement. Or maybe someone at the GUB can be assigned." Florida Man stared blankly at his car and said, "Yeah, okay. I get it, Sergeant." Adams continued, "I mean, the outfit's in pretty good shape, now. We've probably got food and fuel to make it, but the weather is only going to make things harder now. You'll probably be able to to get over the Rockies. It won't be easy. Either way, I won't be going with you." "I can count on you until we get there, right?" "Absolutely, sir," replied Adams. "That's practically half the trip right there, and I will be with you." As he walked away, Florida Man said brightly, "Hey, Adams, if you change your mind be sure to let me know, right?" Adams stopped mid-step and turned his head to look back. He smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "Sure thing, I will." Then he flipped his face forward and walked briskly toward the trucks.  The exuberant pace that they'd maintained out of Florida and through to Louisiana had slackened. They arrived in Beaumont, Texas, on December 28. A scouting team discovered that the Invaders had come there as well, and Florida Man wondered if it had happened before or after they nuked Houston.  Beaumont was a town that seemed to be largely depopulated, most obviously because residents had fled in the wake of the destruction of Houston. While supplies were somewhat easy to find amongst the abandoned buildings, actual people were few and far between. Florida Man had been hoping to gather a few more members to keep the gang's numbers up for any road battles they might face on the long road to Tacoma. After searching for a while, they discovered an encampment out along a bayou to the city's southwest. They were welcomed by the leader of the group, a man in a Texas-sized white hat and fancy brown leather boots. "Hi, folks, I'm George Walker, most people here call me 'Jorge'. Where do you all come from?" Florida Man introduced himself and explained that they were trying to help the country make it through this tough time. Mr. Walker said he wouldn't mind trying to help the country out himself. He told them most of those camped there were refugees from Houston. He himself had come from Austin, and had gathered the survivors as he passed through the city once he heard about the bombs. After they'd made it to Beaumont, though, he hadn't been sure of how to continue onward. He figured they'd be happy to join up with the Gator Goons, and he was willing to convince others to join the cause.  On Dr. Washington and Walker's advice, they split off the highway and on to the backroads to make it through Texas. Walker said the terrain should be flat and easy to pass through, even at this time of year. "Shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get those scientists safe," he pledged.  It actually proved to be a winning idea; they made it to Waco with no mutant attacks. In the city they were able to replenish food stocks and check that the vehicles were all still in good condition. As the vehicles were being checked on, Jack brought up a question to the leadership. "So I've been wondering," he began. "On the roads now, we haven't had much trouble. It's like the gangs aren't out there. Or do you think they know who we are and stay away now?" Adams suggested, "The onset of colder weather likely kept a lot of them staying near their home base instead of roaming the highways." With a pointed look at Florida Man he added, "Most of them have likely been stocking up to be secure for a few weeks in this weather." Walker added, "Yeah, that sounds about right. I seen some of them local gangs -- you know, like the Hot Rod Lincolns -- putting their cars up in garages. They aren't putting them out on the roads right now. But they aren't the only game in town. There's bad guys out there still. Maybe a few desperate nomads still on the prowl, so you'd best not let up. Keep an eye out for them on every road."  The long slow drive out of the Dallas area into northern Texas was uneventful. It did seem as though the road gangs were less willing to come out in force during the chilly weather. As the road climbed gently into higher elevations, the wind grew colder. It's practically impossible for me to catch using my current capture method, but every time we move, there is a message that flashes at the bottom indicating that we're being slowed by winter weather.  Before long, they came into Lubbock. It had been raining lightly for most of that day, and it was already threatening to turn to snow. A few of the locals jumped at the chance to leave the dreary and desolate town, which had been faring ever worse under the thumb of the Invaders.  That night, however, an aggressive group of mutants struck at them. The gang fought well, and many of the new recruits fought them off bravely. "Seems unusual, them coming so far from Houston," commented Florida Man after the attack. Dr. Mills answered, "It's been a while since that strike. They could well be migrating, now. We would expect them to start wandering, given their tendency to violence. They are searching for larger targets."  On the road out north of Lubbock, Cecile came to Florida Man and reminded him that it was New Year's Eve. She asked, "You up for any celebrating? They got a little bonfire going outside" "I was going to maybe do something bigger, but after what happened at Christmas, maybe we have to keep it low-key. Adams isn't too happy that we lost a day there in New Orleans," responded a subdued Florida Man. "You really think he's going to leave us?" "I don't know. I imagine so, though. He probably wants to get back to the real military folk. We're just playing at army to him, I bet." "Hey, don't sell yourself short. You did good work in Florida, you yourself said he told you so. And don't forget, the government chose you," she added with a smile. "Anyway, we ought to at least commemorate the end of the year. We've got a lot to look back on, and a lot to look forward to, right?" "Alright, I won't miss out on at least a little celebration. Come on, Army Ranger Simms." The dog barked and followed them out into the brisk night air.  As they passed through Amarillo, the business leaders were once again cold. Even before the gang had stopped in the town, a cadre of men met with them to demand a payment of their resources. It seemed more like the town management was trying to rob from them rather than stop any looting from happening at this point.  They didn't see much reason to stick around after being threatened. They didn't want to pay the 'tax', and even if they might have won the fight, there wasn't much benefit to be gained by it. Florida Man took the Gator Goons out of town as soon as possible.  When the road reached the Rocky Mountain foothills, Walker advised them to avoid heading into Albuquerque, and instead take a shortcut up the road to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Florida Man was all too happy to avoid any possible alien encounters, so he took the side route. It didn't end up saving that much time, but it was a bit shorter distance for them, and there was a lower risk of attack on the less-travelled roads.  Not long after crossing the Colorado border, Dr. Washington came to Florida Man one morning with a worried look on his face. "We've got trouble. The radiation levels are going up." "Radiation levels? What do you mean?" wondered Florida Man. Dr. Washington said, "I've got a Geiger counter that still works. I take a reading every day, just to check on fallout. Cause we don't know when some new mutant strain might show up. We have to be prepared for another attack from the lost ones. But ever since we came up that road it's been getting higher, and it's a lot higher today. " Cecile asked, "So, is that like what happened down near Lubbock? Maybe the mutants are moving up into the hills too, spreading out their territory once they took out the easy pickings." "This is different," the doctor intoned. "I'm talking about environmental radiation levels. They're going up. It's too high now for it to occur naturally, and something like this wouldn't come about just from residual presence of the infected. It's a sign of something I wouldn't expect, unless..." "Unless what?" asked Jack, who'd been hanging at the edge of the conversation. "Well, I'd say it's like we're headed toward something bigger. Another source of radiation, I mean. Maybe another bomb site." "We came south through here before, though, and didn't notice anything on the way," responded Jack. "I'm sure Adams would have heard if they'd dropped a bomb somewhere around here. I bet that bunker has all sorts of detection equipment." "Keep on tracking it, Doc," said Florida Man. "Let us know if it gets worse. And we'll put out extra guards for the mutants, I suppose."  As they headed northward, the readings only came in stronger. There had been a few more mutant assaults as well, although nothing that they couldn't handle easily. It was becoming clear that something was unusual, and they were headed toward the source of it. When they reached Fountain, a few miles south of Colorado Springs, Dr. Washington informed them that they shouldn't take the whole group any closer, or they'd be at risk for radiation sickness. Florida Man gathered a small scout team, taking Sgt. Adams along since he knew the region best. Cecile couldn't be dissuaded from volunteering to come along as well. Colorado Springs itself had been laid waste. Most of the buildings in the city had been blasted into rubble. A light snow was continually coming down as they approached, and it softened the sense of the bomb's devastation. The roads were silent and devoid of any signs of life; even wild animals had not yet moved into the remains. The white shroud of snow that covered the town made the whole place seem long dead. "Oh...god," whispered Cecile as they came into view of the local airport. While the shells of the buildings stayed standing, the tangled wreckage of the airplanes were littered across all the runways. The blast had thrown them all out and ripped the pieces off such that no intact airframes were discernible, just fragments and shreds of metal all heaped together. Florida Man went over to Adams, who was staring in disbelief at a fallen street sign off to the left. With a strained voice he asked the sergeant, "So, uh, we should head to your base now? They should be safe in there... right?" Adams's response showed little emotion. "Yes. They'll be all right, I imagine. That bunker's so deep it could take a 20-Megaton blast landing on top of it and still be fine." He paused, looking down the street again. "If they had the doors closed up. Which they should've; there hasn't been a need to open it in a while." He studied Florida Man's face for a second, and his expression darkened. "But they'll be locked up tight in there, now. Especially when they know mutants are coming. They can live sealed up at least another four months, maybe five or six if they have to. I don't know if they will open up for anyone for a while." "But they have to let you in, right? You're one of them, I mean, that's your original unit, right?" "Sure, but if this war has escalated, all bets are off. They're going to be locked down tight. We got a job to do down there, you know. How do we know this hasn't started happening elsewhere? Chicago, Houston, now here... you know these aren't just isolated attacks. The enemy's got more of these bombs, and who knows what their plan is. Maybe they thought they could actually knock out NORAD. Hah!" He cracked the briefest of smiles, and then turned serious again. "Down in the mountain, they need to monitor all that, figure out what's really happening. But they won't be letting anyone caught outside back in. Not now. With this mutant virus, it's too much of a risk, I bet." "If I could get in touch with them somehow, maybe I would. If only to deliver what information we can. See, after the plague hit, we didn't lose a lot. Our satellites are still up there. We've got a few other bases still staffed. But now we're losing a lot of connections. The network is fading as the power grid keeps falling down. There are pockets of the Internet still up, and that helps, but it's less reliable than we'd hoped. A lot of information is still being gathered, but there's no way to pass it on. We end up having to rely on ... well, people like you." This last comment was made not so much with disgust as with an air of exhaustion. "So, we move on, then," said Florida Man, almost as a question. "Yes, indeed. I don't think we ought to try and break through all this right now. Whole place is probably cooking and we're probably getting an unsafe exposure just being near it. We have to move. Let's head to Denver. And hope to God they haven't dropped one on the GUB site yet."  In Denver, many refugees fearing another nuclear strike were willing to join the gang, if only for the prospect of getting away from the radiation and further threats of the mutated disease.  Indeed, the mutant attacks began to come that very night.  There was no time to pause. Denver had not been destroyed, but it was in no way a refuge for them. The Gator Goons couldn't afford to stop for winter with a mutant virus chasing behind them. It became imperative to push through the Rockies come what may. Heavy snows blocked their progress in and around the tunnels and passes west of Denver. It took over two days to make just 100 miles.  Every night came the constant threat of roving mutant bands, who were either immune to the cold or so insensate that they did not feel it destroying their bodies.  The route was a bit easier to travel as they passed into Utah, but nearly 40 people had perished in the course of the struggle through the mountains and the nightly battles with the mutants.  In Utah, Harold led them to an out-of-the way bus station that hadn't been ravaged by any local gangs. There they found some safety and a repair facility to keep the vehicles running for the next leg of their trip. Food caches, however, were getting harder to come by.  The Gator Goons spent a couple of days in Salt Lake City scrounging for more supplies. Some were in favor of waiting out the winter there, as the snow was only piling up higher, and there were still hundreds of miles of mountainous territory between them and the GUB.  Thinking of Sgt. Adams' concerns about the GUB, Florida Man made the call that they should push on as soon as they could. He didn't want to just be sitting around fending off mutants and wondering if there would even be a safe lab to get the scientists back to come Spring.  Fortunately, the roads out of Utah and into Idaho were much clearer. The weather was intensely cold, but little new snow fell over the next several days.  Boise didn't seem to be offering much in the way of food to loot, yet Florida Man was feeling optimistic. He gave the order to keep pressing onward; he was sure that it would only take a few days to get through the lower-elevation passes of the western Rockies.  But he was unaware of just how treacherous the mountain roads could be in wintertime. Icy patches caused skids off the road for the bigger vehicles, and extreme caution was needed when descending some of the steeper grades. It took another several days to make it down into the plateau of eastern Oregon, and by then the gang was nearly out of food. They took a detour off the highway to see if any farms could be found with winter stocks.  But they had no such luck. The only thing of interest they discovered was a cache of fuel and usable tires at an abandoned gas station. Frustrated and starving, someone dumped all the gas onto the tires and lit a match. The flames grew bright and before long the whole building was set ablaze. The luckless Gator Goon crew that remained loyal stood around, grateful for the slight bit of warmth it gave off as they tried not to breathe the acrid smoke that formed a black tower up into the sky.  There was no food anywhere for the group, and there was still one more mountain range to get through. Many were losing hope, with small groups breaking off to find some small farmhouse to take over. A handful of people were dying from the severe cold and malnutrition every day. There was no choice but to desperately drive up the winding roads again and hope that something better awaited them in Portland. This week's film: Wheels of Fire
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Jan 1, 2022 08:21
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Happy New Year everyone! I didn't want this to die so close to the end, and I think there'll be about five more updates to go, depending a bit on what happens with the remaining search. No promises, but I think after finally getting this out I may be able to do the rest at a better pace.
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Jan 1, 2022 08:24
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Happy new year! Good to see another update!
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Jan 1, 2022 18:26
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yayyyyy
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Jan 1, 2022 19:42
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Glad to see this continue! Another update, another cliffhanger. And once again that people counter tells a story on its own.
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Jan 4, 2022 03:55
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 Glad this had an update for the new year!
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Jan 4, 2022 06:11
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Wheels of Fire (1985) "The strong survive; the weak fall by the wayside."  The movie opens with 'Trace', our (anti-)hero of the dark future. He drives an all-black car and wears a black leather outfit, but he has an American accent instead of an Australian one, and his car is a modified Ford Mustang. He meets up with his sister Arlie and her boyfriend Bo. Trace doesn't seem to like Bo. Bo then loses Arlie's car in a fighting match when a ringer is substituted and beats him. Then Trace jumps in for Bo. He wins the keys back, seemingly, although a riot breaks out and they have to make a run for it back to their cars. We then get right away into a car chase with a bit of gunfire exchanged (it resembles the relatively subdued combat of the original Mad Max more than the sequel). Trace leads most of the pursuers off in one direction to let Arlie and Bo escape. They all get away safely and meet up down the road. There's hardly a break in the action before Trace spots a gang led by 'Scourge' heading their way. Over Trace's objections, Arlie and Bo split off to go another direction; they agree to meet up in a day. This doesn't seem to faze Scourge, who just splits up his own forces to get both of them.  Trace seemingly gets cornered by the gang, but he turns the tables by blasting them with a roof-mounted flamethrower, and escapes to safety. Arlie and Bo don't think they were followed, so they stop the car and decide to have sex (not shown on-screen). Unfortunately, they are caught. Although we did not see the sex scene earlier, we still get the first scene of a topless woman in peril as Scourge's lieutenant prepares to rape Arlie; however, Scourge shows up and fires off his pistol to stop it. Bo, meanwhile, wanting only to save himself, begs to join Scourge's gang. Scourge allows this as long as he passes 'initiation'. Scourge then takes off with Arlie and most of the gang, leaving a few left to handle Bo. The 'initiation' begins with Bo nearly being raped himself, before they decide against it and just drag him around behind a car. Trace arrives and kills off Bo's torturers with gunfire. Bo begs to be killed and even though he doesn't look that beat-up, Trace obliges him with hardly a second thought. Trace encounters a woman named Stinger who is single-handedly fighting off a highway gang, and he comes to her aid. She's not particularly grateful for the help, and they start out fairly hostile to each other. However, since Stinger's car was destroyed and she is apparently looking for Scourge as well, they form an uneasy alliance and she rides along with him. We then see a young woman and her grandfather in a truck, being pursued by more of Scourge's men. Their old vehicle isn't suited for speed or fighting, so they pull over before the gang arrives. 'Grandpa' does his best to hold them off, buying time as the woman runs away. The gang captures and then brutally slashes Grandpa with a sword in the middle of the desert. That night, Stinger refuses to sleep in Trace's car. She wanders off instead, back toward the highway. There she discovers the wreckage of Grandpa's car (with his body returned to it). Before she can return to the camp she is shockingly grabbed by a chalk-white hand that thrusts up from below and drags her into the sand. Below ground, she is taken to a holding pen where she encounters the young woman from the truck; her name is Spike. Spike is apparently psychic, which helpfully allows her to know that these are 'sandmen', and moreover that they capture unwary travelers and eat them. In the morning, Trace follows Stinger's tracks when he finds her gone, and grows a bit suspicious near the sand. When he gets pulled down, he is ready for it and manages to overpower the sandmen, and goes on to free Stinger and Spike. They all take off together. Farther up the road, they find the remains of an 'Ownership' convoy that Scourge ambushed. There is one survivor among them, a diminutive man who speaks no English. Thanks to Spike's telepathy, they're able to discover that his name is Mutt, and he's a True Believer who was escorting the Ownership convoy to the Believers' outpost. He asks to be taken back to the outpost. They do go there, and meet the leader of the True Believers, a cheerful man named Whiz. Whiz is very proud of the rocketship that is under construction at the camp. The True Believers want to leave things behind and head to 'Paradise', which Whiz says is a new planet discovered 'just before the war' that is only 20 million miles away from Earth. Spike senses genuine 'good vibes' from them and is happy to be among them. At the outpost, Trace talks to the Ownership ambassador, a man he knows (it's implied that Trace used to work for the Ownership). The ambassador says the Ownership is trying to help 'developing nations', but Trace derides the idea that they're actually trying to help, and questions whether the True Believers should even be considered a 'nation' at all. Trace then gets into an argument with Stinger over whether the Ownership is really helpful or not. He says that they eventually exploit those they initially claim to help, which is why he stopped working for them. He also accuses Spike of being 'used' by them as well, since she's a mercenary who contracted with them to kill Scourge. The argument ends with the two rolling around and suddenly kissing, followed by a love scene (again not shown outside of a few shots of them embracing, superimposed on the evening sky). I haven't wanted to mention it, but every few minutes, we get a scene with Arlie. She is tormented in various ways (often with her chest bare); Scourge eventually hands her over to the gang. Even if little violence is actually shown, it's still rather unpleasant since it seems to be there just to keep the audience excited.  Trace leaves Spike and Stinger at the True Believer camp and drives off. Almost as soon as he departs, Scourge shows up and attacks the camp. He murders Whiz and destroys the rocket, and the outpost is left in ruins. Trace spots the smoke from a ways away and returns. Spike takes the knife from one of the fallen men and is seemingly ready to fight back. Stinger says they need to make an all-out attack on Scourge's fortress. Then Trace spots Arlie's necklace on a dead gang member. He has Spike use her powers with the necklace and she's able to reveal that Arlie's being held at Scourge's fortress. Trace immediately drives off on his own instead of agreeing to help with the attack. At Scourge's fortress, Trace is devastated to see that Arlie is so desperate for food she's willing to offer her body to the men. He takes her with him, but is forced to start fighting for his life when some gang members spot him. He isn't able to fight them all off, and ends up being taken prisoner. Trace is taken before Scourge, who states that he doesn't really have any plan for dealing with the Ownership attack. He just has to fight them, he says, because they want to destroy his 'lifestyle'. He doesn't seem too invested in killing Trace either, since he allows his henchmen to take Trace away while he goes to prepare his defenses. As Trace is hauled off, he spots Arlie, who managed to escape in the commotion. When he sees she's about to be recaptured, he breaks away from his captors, grabs a gun, and saves her by shooting all the gang members around him. Trace surmises that Scourge has placed explosives as a trap for the Ownership army when they get there. He decides that they should try and foil his plans. It doesn't go all that well since they're just two against the whole gang. Arlie is mortally wounded, but with her dying breath she manages to blow the explosives, just before the Ownership arrives. The Ownership army is able to attack with full force, and Scourge's gang is defeated. Scourge and some of his men race off in cars. Trace pursues them in his own car. He drives off below them and forces one car to crash, then runs his own car off the road from above, crushing Scourge. No, it's not clear how he went from below them to above. Spike informs Stinger that they've won, but she was mortally wounded in the battle and does not live for long. Later, the survivors seem to be rebuilding at the outpost (not necessarily the rocket ship, though). Trace tells Mutt to take good care of Spike as he drives off into the wasteland.  From the start, it's apparent that this is little more than one of a number of Mad Max clones. It's banking on the audience being familiar with the genre so that it doesn't have to do much work to establish its world. On the one hand, that feels cheap and lazy, but on the other hand, it does allow for a somewhat efficient approach to an action movie, by skipping exposition that these characters probably wouldn't be that interested in sharing. Then again, Mad Max itself didn't spend too much time on dialogue and still constructed its world excellently. The derivative nature of the film actually doesn't hurt it as much as the other low-budget aspects of the film-making. The editing is rather sloppy, the camera is frequently moving needlessly, and the acting, while mostly competent, is largely uninspired. The action scenes ought to be the main draw but come across as perfunctory, since they rarely serve any narrative purpose; one imagines the script just reaching a point where it says "then they fight/give chase/run around screaming". Especially during the action scenes, there's only minimal care put in to the consistency of how each scene connects to those around it. Since much of the dialogue is recorded later, a lot of interactions have less of an impact than they could have if the actors felt more present. And then, of course, there's the sexual exploitation. I've mostly shied away from the post-apocalyptic films that fall into the exploitation category, and I've also tried not to include low-budget imitations of Mad Max. I eventually decided that I could at least show off one example that fits those definitions. This film was produced and directed by Cirio Santiago, a director from the Philippines who made many many films over a long career. He actually made at least four more post-apocalyptic action movies, some with Roger Corman co-producing, and probably any of them would have fit the bill here. The thing I did find odd is just how unnecessary and wedged-in most of the partial nudity and sexual torture scenes in this film are. As I alluded to, they get interspersed with the rest of the plot, but since they're set away from the main action, they often feel like interruptions. To be cynical, they are probably parceled out in such a way to provide just enough satisfaction to the members of the audience who came expecting to see those scenes. The one decent thing about them is that even if they're unpleasant they are never particularly graphic, especially with respect to the implied violence. Technical problems aside, the film would actually be okay if it discarded its derivative and trashy elements. I'd say the underlying plot is even a passable post-apocalyptic story. Hardly anything about it would need changing if most or all of the scenes portraying Arlie's degradation were cut. The plot moves at a decent enough pace that we know the stakes and don't need to show how terrible the gang is every few minutes. Trace is actually portrayed sufficiently well that he could easily handle looking a bit less like Max Rockatansky, too. He'd still be a rugged antihero, but his motivation is consistent and his minimal character growth is believable without needing to borrow anything from an iconic character.  There are a few bright spots in the middle of it all that kept me watching. The veiled political comparison of the Ownership to the USA is somewhat interesting, especially considering that 'Scourge' is portrayed by a Filipino actor. The film seems genuinely ambivalent about the Ownership -- recognizing their power to maintain stability while also being uncertain about the tradeoff that might represent -- in a way that mirrors the Philippines' own complex attitude toward the influence of the United States. In fact, there's moral complexity in most of the characters, since they are compromised in slightly interesting ways. Aside from his attitude towards women, Scourge manages to be a villain you don't really admire but don't find despicable. He just seems to know no other way to live, and somewhat realistically, barely even cares what happens to Trace and Arlie. Stinger -- who admittedly has very little characterization -- genuinely seems to only care about getting into the action, regardless of any moral value to the fight. Arlie and Bo are two people we are ostensibly supposed to root for, and yet they are almost sadistically gleeful when they push a helpless enemy car off a cliff. Trace is shown on-screen personally killing more people than likely anyone else, and he really seems to enjoy it at times. While some of this could be chalked up to a sloppiness in the production that's more focused on the action, there is enough attention paid to the moments that flesh out the characters that I feel some of their complexity is intentional. I also think that Spike is a stand-out character. She actually has the strongest character arc (though that's still not much of one) and is the least morally compromised, or at the very least she seems to understand the consequences of her choices. Near the end she even gets a fight scene showing that she is quite adept physically as well as mentally. She's also not inexplicably falling for the male hero like Stinger is, and unlike some of the women she's not really sexualized. Although I think that might be because she's supposed to read as much younger, even though the actor is roughly the same age as the rest of the cast. This film has a few things that almost push it past the point of being a mere imitator, but it still falls well short of being good. What it really lacks is the energy and vibrance of Mad Max, or even that of any other action movies it wants to be like. The presence of the exploitation scenes likely make it not worth watching, even if they are easily ignored. It does do a few things in its own way, and one gets the sense that with more effort put into the production, it could have been an entertaining and even respectable post-apocalyptic film. Connections to Roadwar  Given that most of it is borrowing from Mad Max, there isn't much new that this film illustrates. The one parallel that can be drawn (and one of the film's better features) is that the Ownership isn't some group of interchangeable authoritarians, but seems to consist of actual humans, many of whom aren't that different from the rest of those in the wasteland. The ability in Roadwar for the player's gang to take control of local cities, which in a way serves the needs of what governmental power remains, is something that could inspire some reflection on the nature of authority. The 'empire' that develops in the game is bringing some peace to the cities and eventually a new hope for coming out of the collapse, but accomplishing that goal is done by seizing power from someone else. As often as not there is bloodshed involved, and with rather similar characters on both sides; it may only be their eventual goals that differ. Kangra fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 17, 2022 17:16
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And yes, there are more updates coming. I have two game updates mostly complete, and I'm coming close to finishing the game. For a while I was trying to force a particular ending but decided to just play it as it happens and write what the result is.
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Jun 17, 2022 17:18
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A good strategy for games and real life.
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Jun 17, 2022 17:39
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Florida Man Meets His Maker Of the 135 people that had started out from Salt Lake City, over 100 had been lost in attacks, abandoned the gang, or died of starvation, sickness, or cold in the crossing. As they neared Portland and the promise of secure food sources, they stopped for a moment along the Columbia River. A small raft was constructed and a few bodies of the fallen were lain on top of it. The rest of the gang pushed it out into the river, and several members fired off their guns in salute. Florida Man watched with tears in his eyes as the raft slowly floated away. "Well, I guess we made it," muttered Adams with a sigh. "Not sure if it really was worth it, you know," Florida Man said glumly. "Don't be so hard on yourself," added Cecile. "You're doing a good job with this group. And you're saving your country." "Speaking of which, I think it's time you got us into the GUB," broke in Dr. Trotier. "It was a high price to pay, making this crossing in winter." He stared off at the boat, now a dot on the broad river. "Surprising just how hard it really is now that things have... changed." "But we'll be making it better," chimed in Dr. Mills next to him. "Well, you'll sure be happier to get in that lab than staying out on the road with me," commented Florida Man as he headed into the Gator Mobile.  Near Portland they discovered a farm cooperative that was willing to trade with them, and they got as much food as they could. For the first time in weeks, everyone went to bed with full stomachs.  The next day, they crossed over the Columbia River on the road back up to the GUB. A fair number of people from Oregon were even willing to come along with the gang, so they now had just about enough to fill out the vehicles if a fight became necessary.  Just outside of Tacoma, the gang hit another stroke of luck when they found an abandoned high school with a large supply of dried and canned food stored up in the cafeteria. There was a bus repair facility on the campus as well.  The GUB, thankfully, was intact. The people there had so far only heard rumors of the bombing of Colorado Springs and were sorry to hear the news. The research of Trotier, Mills, and Washington was quickly loaded into the databases at the laboratory and all the doctors got to work right away on it. With more than just one researcher, they expected rapid progress. The GUB director said he was very grateful for Florida Man's perseverance in making it to the site even in winter.  Florida Man considered the successful exploits of the Gator Goons, and looked at where they hadn't ventured yet. California seemed the next logical choice, as anywhere else would likely be unreachable before the spring thaw.  Even getting through the state of Washington in late January proved difficult, as a snowstorm came in that delayed their movement southward. [This was a lucky catch of the 'bad weather' message, which pops up on every move in the winter when you're far enough north. ]  Upon return to Portland, they ensured that the city leaders would set aside a reserve of food and other supplies for them, just in case the gang was in trouble again.  A little south of the Portland and Salem area, they discovered that the Invaders were attempting to make a grab for control of central Oregon. While the Gator Goons' numbers had swelled back to a more respectable size, Florida Man decided to pass on engaging with this enemy at the time. He could only hope that the gang's stronghold in Salem would hold out, and instead headed straight on to California.  Getting over the snowy mountains in southern Oregon proved to be trickier than expected in winter, which resulted in a longer, roundabout route southward. By the time they had reached the Sacramento Valley in California, the vehicles were almost out of fuel, and there didn't seem to be many places to stock up.  To make things worse, a wave of mutants struck them that night, claiming more than a dozen victims. After the attack, Jack asked Florida Man, "What do you make of these mutants showing up here? Another city got bombed nearby?" "I don't know, man," the gang's leader replied. "We just have to keep fighting them off." "Kind of wish we still had Dr. Washington's Geiger counter with us. Wouldn't be surprised if they had nuked San Francisco as well."  California's state capital turned out to be under the thumb of the Invaders. Florida Man was nervous just hanging out in the city. But with no fuel left, the gang was forced to stick around for a day searching every last corner for enough gas to get them going.  Eventually they located some barrels of it on an abandoned farm outside of the city. It was just enough to get the vehicles out and away from Sacramento. They headed westward, and after crossing over into the Napa Valley, decided to make a stop to look for more fuel. "We're in Napa?" asked Dr. Kassabian when they stopped. "This is Wine Country! I was out here about eight years back. They got a lot of good wine. Hopefully there's some still around." "So, doc? If they got a lot of it, think we could use it for fuel or something? I know alcohol burns real good," said Florida Man. "Of course, I know that's not the only thing we'll be doing with the wine. Hell, I bet we could sell it off to people if we had enough of it." Adams spoke up. "Now, I'm not in favor of letting the troops have some time here, but we need really need to find some gas. And if it's not here, we need to move on." Jack added, "Yeah, I don't think it's worth it to try and run the cars on wine or something. We should just enjoy it!" Harold interjected, "Where we really ought to go is L.A. That place is practically paved over. Cars everywhere, and there must still be a lot of gas that's still good. Or at the very least someone will have brought some in from the oilfields."  The search for 'fuel' was a bit of a bust. On the other hand, it was a more pleasant spot to be stuck. The weather had definitely been improving; clouds often gathered and it rained sometimes, but temperatures were warm. This gave them a moment to relax and enjoy the wine. Unfortunately, a lot of the new recruits saw no point in sticking with the gang once they discovered how nice the region was.  Eventually they did discover a little more fuel; enough to get them to San Francisco, at least, and maybe beyond.  They crossed into the city from the north by passing through a misty fog. Luckily for them the Golden Gate Bridge was still standing, although they noted that the paint was peeling and it was unclear for how long the bridge would remain usable if neglected. The city itself showed more activity than they'd seen in a while. Rival gangs held sway in various quarters of the town, and clashed when trespassing on each other's territory, which seemed to happen frequently.  The Gator Goons were at their temporary base in a block of ruined old houses near the beach when a disheveled woman arrived asking to speak urgently with Florida Man. She passed on that she had met Myron Smidlapp a while ago, when he was traveling east and she was going west. Then she added that she hoped he had fared better than her, since coming out to San Francisco had turned out to be a 'great mistake'. Florida Man offered to let her ride along, but she said she was sick of traveling across the country, and maybe she'd be heading up north along the coast somewhere.  Instead of any useful supplies such as fuel or even food, the most plentifully available thing in the city was more guns. It almost seemed as if feeding the constant violence was a better business for some than trying to stop it, or helping the few scared residents rebuild. Florida Man was worried that if they stayed for too long, they'd become targets themselves, or possibly lose members who wanted to get in on the local action. He had had enough of fighting over cities. He ordered the gang to head out.  They made their way southward from San Francisco on a highway that was fairly clogged with wrecked cars. It was slow going, but they encountered no threatening gangs on the way. A few dozen miles south of the city Harold pulled alongside the Gatormobile and honked his horn. He pointed off the highway and called out, "Hey look, it's SSI!" "Who the heck is that?" asked Florida Man. "Some government office, like the GUB?" "No," replied the old bus driver, "but I think you should check it out." Florida Man signalled the gang to take the exit and they circled around toward the building. Jack pulled up near the Gator Mobile and shouted, "Rengstorff Avenue? What's here, buddy? You hear of a spot for fuel?" "Naw, just that Harold said there was something here to check out," responded Florida Man. The cars stopped out front of a office building with a plain wooden roof and brick columns near the entrance. The sign near the door read 'Strategic Simulations, Inc.' Florida Man got out of the Gatormobile and Jack and Cecile hopped out to go with him. Army Ranger Simms started barking loudly, and Florida Man patted him to calm him down. Then he looked over at Harold, who gave him a half-hearted wave to go in the building. "I guess we'll just check this out," he said as he stepped to the front door and pressed the intercom button. The receptionist indicated that only Florida Man was allowed inside, for 'security reasons'. "We can't let everyone see this," she commented. Florida Man told Army Ranger Simms to stay with Jack and hesitantly went inside.  Florida Man followed the curious figure up the stairs and was led to the man's computer.  When Mr. Johnson first presented the computer screen to him, Florida Man was confused. "What the heck is this you're showing me? You've been tracking us or something? Looks like you've got all the details of the gang on that machine!" Mr. Johnson chuckled. "Well, let's just say that you are, in a way, both here," he said, gesturing to the room around them, "and in here, in the world of the electron and the switch." He tapped the computer monitor lightly. "Not sure what you mean, man," responded a still-perplexed Florida Man. "Well, look, I saw the food trouble you were having up in Oregon—" "I knew it! You are tracking us! Are you with the GUB or what?" "Don't worry about it much," drawled Mr. Johnson. "All you need to know is that we can help you out. Fix things up a bit. Even give you some new skilled leaders." "Help us out? You've got trained people here?"  "Something like that. Now for one, you could use a better doctor." "I don't know, Kassabian has been alright." "Trust me, you need it. Anyway, you'll like the new one way better. Should keep your guys alive longer."  "Well, how about a new politician? Getting a better recruiter ought to help?" "Yeah, I guess so. Walker's all right, but he's sure not as good as Elpida was." "Well, I can't, I mean I'm not going to bring her back, but we can hook you up with someone just as good, maybe better." He typed for a bit into the computer, then waited a moment. "And a drill sergeant... hmm, you want someone new to train your men?" "Well, I think Sgt. Adams is doing a fine job with all the men and women we got," responded Florida Man nervously. "Plus I don't really want to just kick him out now, he can't go back to Colorado." "Well, you wouldn't have to worry about that so much. Anyway, how's about we soup up your vehicles?"  "We can improve top speed..." said Johnson, typing a bit more, and then moved down a few lines at a time to enter more numbers.  "...give them more acceleration..." he continued, his fingers speeding over the keys.  "...and even more armor." "Uh, that's cool, but how long is it gonna take? We just got a scoop on someone we're looking for in, uh, you know, somewhere, but we want to get there pretty dang quick. We could use some extra fuel, though. Whatever you got in your garage." "Well, it's just about done, reloading now. Oh! you wanted fuel, well, too late about that, sorry." "Just about done? What do you—"  "—mean?" Florida Man suddenly found himself standing in front the SSI building again. Cecile stared at him. "Well, aren't you going to go inside?" He jerked his head toward her and muttered, "What?" "Come on, go check it out! We're waiting." Florida Man protested, "I just went inside! They had this computer there, said they were going to do a bunch of stuff for us, and then something happened and I was back out here." She gave him a somewhat concerned look. "No, you haven't set foot in there. We were all wondering why you stopped. It was kind of weird." Jack interjected, "She's right, you didn't go in there." Florida Man responded, "But I met this guy, Mr. Johnson? He said they could do stuff for us, like, he said we'd get a new doctor, and Walker would be gone, but I told him Adams had to stay..." "Walker? George Walker? He is gone... don't you remember? He left, and Mr. Griffin showed up." "Wait... where's the doc? Did another one just 'show up' too?" "Dr. Tranh? She has been with us since... I guess since yesterday? I feel like she must have been with us longer. I know Dr. Kassabian went back to the Mayo, but I don't recall when that was, really. Or maybe he just stayed in Napa at the hospital there? Was that when she showed up?" Jack responded warily, "Yeah, could be... I'm not sure myself." Army Ranger Simms sat on the ground and cocked his head to the side. He gave out a high, confused howl. By this time, Florida Man had made his way back to the Gator Mobile. Immediately he sensed something was different and ordered one of the soldiers inside to pop the hood. When he opened it up and saw an even bigger engine had somehow been put in he let out a shocked, "Ha!" "I knew it! They were aliens, I tell you! They must've been to do all this!" "To do all what?" "You know, soup up the cars. Don't it look nice, now." He stroked the upgraded engine lovingly and then dropped the hood. Then he looked around at the rest of the Gator Goons' vehicles. "I bet they fixed up all of them!" He called over at the bus. "Harold, Harold, just how did you know these guys? What did you have them do?" Harold had been absent-mindedly swiping flies off the windshield of his bus. He simply responded, "I don't think they've done anything. It all looks okay to me." "Oh, come on, you see it, right? Even your bus looks like it'll run better now." "Maybe there were some aliens, and they probed you and wiped your memories or something. You sure you didn't just save a few extra bottles of that wine in Napa?" Florida Man sighed and said, "Well, it all looks nice anyway. Let's just get out of here." He gave a suspicious look at the SSI building and climbed into the Gatormobile.  The gang made a stop a little farther south, in San Jose. They found the town to be relatively safe and secure, thanks to a local militia that had control of the city center. The militia made regular patrols of the surrounding streets and kept an orderly, if somewhat sterile, peace. Florida Man learned that their political recruiter was named Lionel Griffin, an Oakland native who had been a lawyer before everything 'went crazy', as he put it. He started talking around and managed to bring in a fair number of new members before they left town.  Continuing south from the S. F. Bay Area, the highway led them toward the coast. In Monterey, they stopped at the old army base overlooking the seaside community. Initially the guards were suspicious, until Sgt. Adams had a chat with them. He was able to convince them that the Gator Goons were legitimately serving the cause of finding a cure. They even got a few recruits for the gang from among the soldiers stationed there. More importantly, they were told that someone had been waiting for an outfit like theirs. After a few minutes, a stocky white man in his forties strolled out of one of the buildings. He was wearing a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt and short pants. He introduced himself as Donny Dade. "I've been doing some research here. The virus hit here pretty hard at first, but it didn't stick around as long. And there have been hardly any of that new strain I heard of. Honestly, there hasn't been that much to do. Got some surfing in now and then even," he smiled faintly. "We aim to take you back to the GUB," announced Florida Man. "But we might explore a bit more of the state first. Can we get down to Southern California from here?" "It'd sure be nice to see the coastline," added Cecile. Dade responded, "Well, I heard Highway 1 is blocked. Probably a landslide or something. I wouldn't try it." "Any other roads that head to L.A.?" questioned Cecile. "What do you wanna go there for anyway?" asked Dade. "You got someone else to pick up? Dr. Washington down there?" "Actually, no, we already got him. But what we really need is fuel. It's been pretty hard to come by." Dade grimaced and responded, "Well, that's something you might well find there. If anyone's figured out how to still get gas pumping in this situation, it'll be L.A. They got enough cars to fill up the whole desert down there. "You got enough to make it all the way? You're probably better off avoiding the coast if not. Head down the Valley, that's where the main highway goes. I wouldn't trust 101 to have any along the way either, and like I said, Highway 1 is closed."  Leaving the coast behind, they headed inland over the roads that were still open, and ended up in Stockton. The city had a certain amount of calm, but that seemed to be only because it was a stronghold for the Mafia.  They managed to stay clear of the mobsters in the city, and at a local high school, found a large cache of food as well as a place to fix up their vehicles. Lionel was out every day pulling in more recruits, and the gang's numbers were way up. Fuel, however, was still nearly impossible to come by. Florida Man said they needed to keep heading south.  As they headed down the Central Valley, they discovered the small town of Modesto, another populated oasis that seemed mostly crime-free. A number of admirers came to check out the Gatormobile, and Florida Man proudly cruised around the town all day.  Further south, they came to the larger city of Fresno. Luckily, there were still a few places willing to sell them some gasoline. It was only just enough to get them out of the city. Nevertheless, Florida Man was eager to move on, as the scouts had reported that the Invaders controlled this town as well. Even with a higher number of gang members, most of them were untested and he was concerned about how well they might perform in a real fight.  The gang stayed on the road from Fresno until they reached the next sizable town, Visalia. Despite rumors that it, too, was under the sway of the Invader army, the town seemed relatively quiet, and the gang stopped for the day to search for more fuel. "We've got to cross over some more mountains to get to Los Angeles. I don't think we'll make it at this rate unless we can get more gas." At that point, Harold stepped in with a thoughtful look on his face. "You know what, if I remember, I think I've seen oil wells down along this stretch of freeway somewhere. That's gonna be where they produce it around here. Maybe we can get it at the source."  Unfortunately a small group of Invaders attacked that night, leaving four dead. The Gator Goons left town early, before more reinforcements could catch them. They headed out in the direction Harold suggested might lead to an oilfield. By mid-afternoon, they spotted some abandoned oil pumps on a broad, dusty plain. It was an encouraging sign, and the gang sped up to see if they could find any that might still be working. As they did, they saw a small cloud of dust rising up and moving quickly across the fields in their direction. It could only be a rival gang, or perhaps guardians of the wells.  Florida Man signalled the gang to hold up and have their guns at the ready. The opposing vehicles approached in a tight formation, and then skidded sideways into a stop in perfect synchronization, almost as if wanting to line up their cars for show. They had a 1969 Mustang convertible and a 1970 Dodge Dart with a supercharger, with two Harleys with sidecars next to them. Both cars and cycles were painted a deep black, with elaborate designs in a skeletal white depicting grinning skulls with a swirling vaporous trail around them. The cars also were decked out all over with perfectly polished chrome, including prominent shiny metal skulls as hood ornaments and on the helmets of the bikers. The motorcycles began to slowly circle around the cars in a figure-eight pattern. The riders were all dressed in black leather, and on the back of each jacket could be seen yet another death's head, with the world 'Skulls' in flowing script above it.  Someone in the mustang fired off their rifle in the air, and the battle began as both sides accelerated toward each other. The enemy cars stayed in a tight formation, with each motorcycle acting as a 'wingman' to the custom car near it. Florida Man trusted in the Gatormobile to outperform them and gunned the engine so he was at the lead of the Goons' side.  All four enemy vehicles converged on him as the rest of the Goons started to pull closer from behind to provide fire support.  They skillfully dodged barrages of fire from the Mack truck and Jack's van. Gunshots from the Gatormobile managed to hit one of them, though. "Looks like these folks aren't just about polishing their cars, they can actually drive," shouted Florida Man. "You're giving them a good show too, man!" shouted back Griffin from the top of the Freightliner truck, where he'd taken up a position to view the battle.  One of the motorcycles took a fatal hit to the driver and skidded straight into Jack's van. The Mustang then tried to cut him off from the other side. Instead, he slammed on the brakes and pulled off a surprise sharp turn to avoid them.  While Florida Man tangled with the Mustang, the Hyundai got up alongside the other motorcycle and blasted it.  The Dart smacked the Ford's rear bumper. Jack slammed the gas pedal and the wheels kicked up dirt as he pulled away.  The Skulls circled away from the trucks with speed and precision, leading to a battle that was mostly them against Jack and Florida Man.  The Hyundai ended up nearly colliding head-on with the convertible. As they swerved past each other, a Gator Goon leapt down from the top of the car and into the open rear seat. Two more followed after, and a melee ensued for control of the vehicle.  It was a bloody battle, with only one lone Goon victorious in the end. She slowed the convertible to a stop, and then smashed off the chrome skull on its hood.  Before long, the final car was hemmed in by the other vehicles, and its owners surrendered. Florida Man considered keeping it as a prize, given how nice it was, but he knew it would be too fragile in a real fight. It had barely survived the encounter with them.  With the fight over, the Gator Goons were in for a sad surprise. It seemed there wasn't actually any gas in the field to fight over.  They searched for another day across the dead oilfield with no luck. It was not surprising when another detachment of Skulls arrived. They were now facing two classic Camaros and a 1970s Buick Gran Sport, all covered in polished chrome and death-themed black paint jobs.  This group seemed more aggressive; possibly because they'd heard of what happened to their gang brothers and sisters the previous day.  The Gator Goons polished them off easily, though, and yet another pile of chrome skulls was taken as trophies. Using 'quick combat' with a gang like this that has all small vehicles is an easy win at this point. We have enough extra mass (structure bonus) that none of our cars are in danger, although there will be a bit more damage than if this had been a full tactical fight.  While they'd found a moderate amount of fuel in their two fights with the Skulls, Florida Man was sure there had to be some around, even if the local gang wasn't defending the tanks themselves.  At long last, they found a working oil well, and drained as much fuel as they could. The Gator Goons were ready to roll out again.  Donnie Dade approached the gang leadership as they prepared to head out the next morning. "So, why are you still planning to head to L.A.? I figure you got enough gas to make it up to the GUB, right?" Florida Man answered, "Well, it's not certain that we'll be driving up there so soon." "Why not? Don't we need to get back on the job?" asked the scientist. Jack intervened, "It is still January. Coming down through Oregon was a trial. We can head back up through that mess, but then we'd have to head back down again. And we'd still have to go clear across the country to also find this Dr. Smidlapp." Griffin asked, "So just where is Smidlapp at, anyway?" Cecile replied, "We don't know. Maybe in the Southeast." Adams said, "Where we just were for like, two months. We didn't run into him, so he might not even be there." Florida Man responded, "That's not totally true. We never went up to Carolina. A lot of places he could be hiding out." Griffin then said, "Well, it sounds to me like you ought to be heading somewhere in that direction. 'Cause you gotta find this guy and bring him in, right? And you know what?" He pointed up to the east, where a dark line of hills rose up into a haze of snow-capped mountains. "You can't get there from here. Those mountains are way too high. We got to head to L.A. first anyway if we're gonna get to Carolina. Unless you want to head back north." Cecilia responded, "The man's got a point." Florida Man gave the order for the cars to start up, and the gang went southward down the highway. This week's film: A Boy and His Dog
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Jun 25, 2022 00:27
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I like the Easter Eggs at Napa and SSI. I wonder if we’ll see the other 2 mad max films reviewed before the LP ends. I know Fury Road came out long after the game, so maybe not that one unless you like it as much as I do.
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Jun 25, 2022 00:39
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Just wanted to chime in, and say that though there might be long between updates, they're always worth waiting for! You've got a great narrative going, especially for a game from the ol' Bare-Bones Times.
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Jun 25, 2022 11:18
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Huh, all this time I figured getting back to the base was the end. Happy to be wrong.
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Jun 27, 2022 06:31
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How many scientists do you need in the end? Or do you have to take over all of north america?
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Jun 27, 2022 10:20
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A Boy and His Dog (1987) "All you can think about is going back up there and about your dog!"  The scene is set with disturbing succinctness by a title card telling us, "World War 4 lasted five days". It is now 2024, seemingly some years after that war. The world is for the most part a blasted wasteland, with a few people trying their best to survive in the crumbling remains of civilization. Our titular boy, 'Vic', is a teenager who travels around with 'Blood', his dog. Blood and Vic can communicate psychically, and it seems Blood's detection abilities range a bit beyond what might be expected for a normal dog as well. Vic uses Blood not just to warn of danger, but to seek out women that he can then take advantage of. Women are very scarce in his world, and though the opening scene almost looks like Vic about to rescue someone, it is made clear that Vic has no actual concern beyond using them for pleasure. Blood is somewhat educated and a sort of father figure to Vic. While he isn't that concerned with teaching Vic any morality, he does make him learn a bit of history about the world (this, of course, functions as exposition for the audience). Blood has also heard of a place known as 'over the hill', a promised land where farming is still possible; he wants Vic to take him there some day. In the meantime, Vic stays concerned with finding food and a woman, and Blood is there to help him with that. The pair stake out a gang trying to dig up something in the wasteland. When the leader of the gang descends into the hole, Vic makes a bold move and steels a bag of canned food off the truck. There is a brief scene of three mysterious men (shown only from the knees down) who are possibly observing Vic for some sort of suitability, and they decide to 'put out the cheese'. With their ill-gotten supply of food, Vic and Blood decide to splurge and go see a 'movie'. The movie theater is ramshackle outdoor screen and mostly shows amateur pornography from before the world fell apart. Blood tells Vic that there's actually a girl present at the theater. They trail her afterwards to a mostly-buried building (it turns out to be a high school). Vic is afraid to go in as he says it's where the 'screamers' are, but Blood tells him that it is clear at the moment. Vic gets inside, and spies the girl changing her clothes in a locker room. He rushes in to capture her at gunpoint. He's slightly taken aback when he realizes she is cleaner and prettier than the women he usually finds roaming the wilderness. She tells him her name is 'Quilla June Holmes', and that she came from Oklahoma 'before the war'. Before he can proceed any further, Blood arrives in the room and tells of a 'roverpak', in other words a gang, that's about to arrive. To deal with the larger gang, Blood creates a distraction by making them think that there are 'screamers' in the area. Many of them flee, and Vic fights the rest off with a little help from Quilla June. Blood ends up injured in a fight with another dog. The three end up having to stay in the building because actual 'screamers' show up. These are apparently some sort of glowing green mutants, described with some details but never shown on-screen. Vic and Quilla June end up having sex in the building, though it doesn't seem as if Vic has forced himself on her. She seems naive about the world and wants Vic to go with her back to the 'downunder', which he has no inclination towards doing. He does want to them to stay together, as he seems a bit more emotionally attached than he expected. Blood and Vic have an argument, as Blood doesn't want Vic to waste any more time obsessing over sex. When Vic returns to speak with Quilla June after the argument, she knocks him unconscious and runs off. Although Blood has a broken leg, Vic is more interested in chasing after Quilla June. It seems she left some sort of passcard behind with her that would probably allow access to the downunder. Blood tells him it's an obvious trap and he's an idiot to go inside, but he knows Vic will have his way. They have an emotional goodbye as Blood promises to try and wait for him.  Vic is captured almost immediately when he arrives in the downunder. He wakes up to being scrubbed clean in a bathtub and it turns out he's in 'Topeka', a fully-functioning underground town that is modeled on the USA circa 1910. The town is run by a three-person 'Committee' who congratulate Quilla June on completing her mission. She wants to be put on the Committee as promised, but they tell her to wait until there's an opening, and instead plan for her to be a 'recipient' and married off to a man of their choosing. The city leader informs Vic that they're having trouble with their birth rate, and need to use men from the surface to impregnate their women. They tell him they need him, as he's a 'special kind of man'. Vic is of course overjoyed at the opportunity, until it turns out to be all handled by an artificial insemination contraption (and that he'll be killed when they have gathered enough from him, in about 48 hours). Quilla June shows up for the mock wedding that the 'recipients' of Vic's sperm participate in. Upset at being snubbed, she rescues Vic. She wants him to help her eliminate the Committee and take over the town. They fight their way to the storage area where his guns are. Vic simply wants to leave, and Quilla June gets angry that he isn't going to help her fight the Committee, since she thinks the downunder would be fine place to be if they could run things. The Committee reacts somewhat calmly to the breakout; they simply call for a special meeting at which they sentence those in rebellion to 'the Farm, immediately'. Then they call for an android 'Michael' who handles the killing for them. The android starts to murder some of the others who were supporting Quilla June's rebellion. When this happens, Quilla June becomes desperate to escape. Vic doesn't start fighting back until the android actually comes for him, though he is eventually able to take down the android. The two escape to the surface. When they get there, Vic finds that Blood is barely alive. He is still injured, and now starving to death. He tells Vic that he won't be able to go on. Quilla June tells Vic they're too late to save him, and that if she loves him, she'll go with him too. In the next scene, only Vic and Blood are present. Blood, having just eaten, thanks Vic for what he's done. When they leave the campsite, Blood remarks that Quilla June had "marvelous judgment, if not particularly good taste". The two laugh uproariously at the pun.  This is a movie that seems like it should be better than it is. The source story is short but evocative; it's a tale of a world in breakdown, both moral and physical, and the ways in which humans might react to this situation. Both the story and the movie do a good job of suggesting the ways in which this society is constructed without over-explaining. The movie, though, never really establishes its themes well, and often does a poor job at advancing the narrative, leading to a somewhat aimless affair that feels like pointless effort. One of the biggest failings of the movie is that while it's good to be subtle and make implications to fill in the backstory of the world, that does not work as well with respect to telling the actual story. There are times when it's not really clear why something has happened that advances the plot, giving it a sort of piecemeal sequence where few things causally relate to each other. Each of them just kind of happens. If the sense of the characters or the individual scenes were stronger, that might be okay, and sometimes they are pretty decent. Most of the early interactions with Vic and Blood are good. Quilla June's plans for her revolution are good as well, and represents a good improvement to her character from the short story. That is countervailed by a number of scenes that don't add anything either to the narrative or to characterization. There's some confusion over how Quilla June feels about Vic, and there's at least an implication that she only seeks to use him and all her emotions are a front. One poorly done scene that sticks out to me is when Vic goes to Topeka for the first time. Over two minutes of screen time is just him climbing down ladders and through steam tunnels. The only thing this conveys is that the downunder takes a while to get to, and that they have a working power plant, which does not need anything like that amount of time devoted to it.  Other scenes just don't quite have enough context to make sense. There are moments where, if you've read the book, you understand the reference, but even that doesn't add much knowledge to what's happening in the story. For example, Quilla June shows up for the 'wedding' ceremony without her parents and is questioned about it. In the story, this is because she has killed them (she's actually looking to escape with Vic due to her treatment by her parents), but in the film's context, it's a wasted moment, since her next action is to start to fight back in order to help Vic; there was little need to start the scene that way. Occasionally there are tiny bits that are great. There's a moment in Topeka where Vic encounters a young dog that resembles Blood, and he's a bit horrified to discover that it is on a leash. Little mention or reaction by those around him occurs at that moment, yet it all makes perfect sense. But there's a later callback to this scene is rather strange, and it's another example of the film stumbling where it should have just skipped past the moment. The dog gets scheduled for execution by the Committee since he supposedly 'spoke' with Vic in the park. It's probably meant to be a funny scene (the Committee members interrogating a dead-silent dog), but since it was also implied that Blood and Vic are specially bonded in a way that only lets them communicate with each other, it makes no sense in the film's context. As hard as I've been on the film, I don't think it is terrible, just flawed. It does actually look really good, and a number of visual presentations without dialogue work well, such as the group digging in the hole, or the initial disorienting shots of Topeka. This is actually one of the few films that could lay claim to being an influence on the Mad Max films (George Miller reportedly told Harlan Ellison that he had ripped it off for Mad Max 2), and indeed this one film could be considered as establishing the post-apocalyptic genre of the period I've been covering. Also, Don Johnson's work as Vic is absolutely outstanding. He completely sells the idea that he's actually talking with a dog that's considerably smarter than he is; you never feel like it's just an actor working with a trained animal. Indeed, most of the characterization and the acting performances are rather good. It's a shame they aren't put to use in a better story. The film never quite comes across as having any well-developed themes. There is a vague political allegory at work here, but it's a very hazy one. The youth movement of the late 1960s seemed to just peter out as the older generation silently ignored them. An attempt by women to push for more of a voice in government also fizzled out as the ERA failed, and maybe that could be blamed on a lack of support from men or the fading energy of the counterculture that might have pushed harder for it to succeed. You can kind of see how that comes out in the film, but it never really ends up working since the film doesn't tell its own story well, nor does this feel like either a satire or an interesting commentary about the real-world situation it parallels. For the time spent on this theme, it's not advancing the story. The theme doesn't work well in context, either. The society of the downunder is already rather bizarre compared to the hard-scrabble world that Vic comes from, so his reaction to it doesn't seem to correspond with anything. Outside of suggesting that some segment of society might well revert to ultra-conservative nationalism in the wake of complete destruction of their country, there isn't a whole lot to be drawn from it.  As a final comment, and since it fits in with my feeling that the film doesn't manage to convey its themes or story well, the final line was an infamous alteration from the text of the story. Harlan Ellison famously hated it, most especially since he saw that some viewers really loved the line, and he himself would get flak for it and have to explain that he did not write it. Indeed, while there is the same implied killing of Quilla June to save Blood's life in the story, his original last line is Vic recalling that she had asked him if he knew what love is, and he thinks, "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog." It's fully consistent with his character and reflects on why he made the choice he did, even if the reader is still meant to be shocked by his actions. In the film, it's a punchline, only there to make a shocking joke. It barely fits with Blood's character (he is cynical, crass and given to wisecracks, but rarely so callous) and doesn't leave the audience with any hint of how to react to the film. For being possibly the first film about a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and one that set the tone of a devastated world (visually if not always in other ways), it deserves some consideration. It really is influential in ways that aren't obvious now. I do not think it has undeserved success or that it should not have been borrowed from. The elements that were borrowed are pretty good and deserve imitation (though notably, few films take anything from Topeka). Even if I don't think it holds together all that well, there's no denying that this has been a very influential work. Its importance to the whole genre is why I included it on the list. Connections to Roadwar 2000  There isn't too much here that directly fits into the game. This world is slightly more degraded than most of the PA worlds under discussion, as no vehicles are functioning. The underground city echoes the GUB in that it's been safe from whatever happened to the above-ground world, but in no way is trying to help out the citizens that remain on the surface. Probably the most recognizable element is the ever-present threat of 'mutants' that attack at night and are apparently dangerous to be in contact with (though it's implied in the movie that they are radioactive). Of course, while this game isn't the one that was heavily influenced by the movie, another well-known series was, of course: Fallout. While Fallout's retro-futurism aesthetic is wildly different than the tone here, a fair amount of the world's set-up seem to line up — a world slowly recovering after nuclear war, some number of survivors who develop their own bizarre culture in the safe underground, dangerous mutants, and of course, a dog that can help out at times (in the film, Vic even calls Blood "dogmeat" at one moment). These aren't mere coincidences, and it's a testament to the better aspects of the movie — it easily sketches the outline of a world so profoundly changed from our own, yet somehow recognizable in parts.
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Jul 2, 2022 06:18
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As for Mad Max, there is a plan, but I won't say much more yet.ilmucche posted:How many scientists do you need in the end? Or do you have to take over all of north america? You don't have to conquer to win, just rescue all the scientists (there are inscrutable horse posted:Just wanted to chime in, and say that though there might be long between updates, they're always worth waiting for! You've got a great narrative going, especially for a game from the ol' Bare-Bones Times. It's always good to know that people are still enjoying it; thanks. Kangra fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jul 14, 2022 |
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Jul 2, 2022 06:25
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Florida man is the hero america needs in dark times and that's why we love him.
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Jul 2, 2022 06:39
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