Is Mad Max: The Road Warrior a post-apocalyptic movie or a Western in disguise? Luke and guests Peter and Andres dig into the 1981 sequel that spawned an entire genre of leather-clad wasteland cinema.

In this episode:

• The case for Road Warrior being the greatest quality jump from movie one to movie two in film history
• Why Max only has 12 lines of dialogue (and two of them are "I just came for the gasoline")
• The genius budget trick behind the Gyro Captain character
• How the costume design tells you everything about who's good and who's bad
• Lord Humongous's incredible line delivery
• Why the final chase scene should have had audiences losing their minds in the 80s

Plus: Dog the Dog's rescue story, George Miller's unceremonious villain deaths, and Luke's promise to recap Shooter from memory if the channel hits 200 subscribers.

Ratings: Luke 8.5 | Peter 9 | Andres 10

Next week: Beyond Thunderdome

We’re starting 2026 by going back to the beginning with Mad Max.

Before the wasteland. Before the mythology. Before Max became a symbol.This is a small, angry road movie about a world still pretending to function.

We talk about the collapse of law before the collapse of society, the violence that feels more procedural than heroic, and a protagonist who understands exactly what the road will turn him into — and can’t avoid it anyway.

This is where the franchise starts, and it doesn’t look like what people remember.

Franchise Addicts — one franchise, one film at a time.

We’re closing out the year by looking back at everything we covered on Franchise Addicts — the franchises, the debates, the surprises, and the episodes that stuck with us.

In this end-of-year episode, we revisit the movies and series we spent the most time with, pick our favorite episodes from the catalog, revisit a few moments we still think about, and allow ourselves one rating mulligan — because opinions evolve.

This isn’t a rankings episode.
It’s a reflection on why these franchises matter, how our perspectives changed, and what it’s like to live with these movies over time.

Franchises discussed include:
Indiana Jones, Alien, The Godfather, Die Hard, Evil Dead, Batman, Terminator, the Before trilogy, 28 Days Later, and more.

Thanks to everyone who listened, commented, argued with us, or quietly followed along this year.

What franchise should we never stop talking about?

🎧 Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

We’re ending the year by stepping back from individual movies and looking at the bigger picture.

In this end-of-year episode of Franchise Addicts, we reflect on the franchises we covered, the episodes that meant the most to us, the conversations that surprised us, and how our opinions evolved over time. Each of us picks our favorite episodes from the catalog, revisits moments that still linger, and exercises one carefully chosen rating mulligan.

This isn’t about lists or hot takes — it’s about memory, context, and why certain movies stay with us long after the credits roll.

Franchises discussed include Indiana Jones, Alien, The Godfather, Die Hard, Evil Dead, Batman, Terminator, the Before trilogy, and more.

Thanks for being part of the conversation this year.

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