Exterior, cobalt blue night. Desolate panorama over desert landscape. Camera dolly's up over edge of ridge to reveal long slope towards medium sized tented encampment, perhaps 8-10 dwellings, ringed by a dozen mish mash vehicles. All quiet. a couple of low burning campfires.
Lead Rider (offscreen): Now.
Three pairs of cyclists with clothes completely black from ground charcoal enter from bottom of frame and silently descend ridge - surprisingly fast - on ramshackle yet capable bicycles, machetes and bows strapped to backs; The perimeter war boy guards completely oblivious. The riders skirt the encampment on their bicycles, keeping to the shadows, their wheels making next to no noise on the desert sand. They locate the entrance. Dispatching a war boy on the far side of the encampment with a clear sight line to them with a long bow shot.
Cut to Lead Rider stealthily entering ornate tent. Mechanical breathing sounds in background. Close up of blood spattered knife in hand, camera refocuses to the bed the rider is approaching. Sleeping silently is a younger Immortan Joe than previously seen in Mad Max Fury Road, recognisable by wild hair yet a relatively light weight breathing mask compared to his later life support garment. The Lead Rider raises a knife over Joe's face, camera pans to his symbol, flaming skull ringed with steering wheel embroidered from wires on the tent wall. We hear pained gargling implying a lethal knife stab.
Furiosa (offscreen): No.
Camera pans back to the bed, silhouette from behind of a younger Furiosa, flowing hair, barely dressed, pulls a knife from the Lead Rider's neck. The body slumps to the ground, the charcoal black mask falls away to reveal a one eyed woman, perhaps mid 50's. Cut to Joe, now upright in bed, close up of his his eyes narrow in fear. His eyes refocus on Furiosa and he relaxes his gaze. Camera cuts to Furiosa, returning his stare with a confident, intense look.
Hard cut to opening title.
This to me is how the rumoured prequel to 2015's expectation shattering Mad Mad: Fury Road could open.
I am a huge fan of the Mad Max movies, and while for most people finding the incongruous reality of there being no bicycles in the Max films would barely be given a second thought (this is post apocalyptic bikephobic Australia we are talking about), for such a pro-bicycle person as myself, it's suitably maddening.
So why don't we see bicycles in Mad Max and most other post-apocalyptic films or culture (a brief squeaky appearance in World War Z aside - bicycle benefits certainly noticed by the author Max Brooks)? They are after all, much more reliable than any other vehicles where humanity reverted back (permanently or not) to pre-modern levels? My hunch is that they are just too effective, and break the perception that a world without motorised transport is a helpless, futile place. It's not as if bicycles aren't in abundance in the world, even in places as seemingly actively indifferent (or worse) to the bicycle as Australia and America. And, apart from rubber tyres or inner tubes being perishable, there's not much to degrade. Especially if you take into account the desert environments of Mad Max. If anything I reckon that in a post apocalyptic world, bicycle chains would carry more value than most other scavenged parts.
Pro's and cons - So it's self evident that bicycles are quiet, ubiquitous, easy to find parts for and maintain (compared to combustion engines) and allow easy travel of significant distances in the most efficient way humanly and inhumanly possible, particularly helpful in a world with scare food supplies. The obvious drawback being that in a lawless society, a bicycle rider is certainly going to come off much worse than an automobile driver in most situations (providing the automobile is fuelled of course). Even being on two wheels with an engine is a fragile place to be, as Fury Road ably demonstrates. So, in an outright hostile environment, you certainly wouldn't last long on a bike. So is that it? There's no place or use for pedal power after the end?
Stealth vs loud and visible - World War Z's author is on to something though, beyond outpacing the living dead, if you need to be quiet and move quickly, particularly under the cover of darkness, there's no real substitute for for a bicycle (save maybe a glider). For director George Miller, Max's world consciously apes our own knowledge of the behavior and tropes of despotism. The vehicles of Fury Road, being those of totalitarian leader (and self styled "redeemer" of mankind) Immortan Joe are all symbols of his power and control. Loud, flamboyant, vulgar, noisy, inherently violent, and crewed by slavish unthinking acolytes. These "guzzoline" powered machines scream not to mess with Joe and project naked power.
Truly feared - So what place for the bicycle? Well, stealth for one thing. A warband of Joe's jalopies and rigs would be spotted a mile off and keep conflict very much where it can be seen. Bicycles on the other hand would still have their role in this world, perhaps in a way that would be terrifying to Joe. His Citadel after all keeps him tens of metres above the desperate hordes below, away from potential threats, and any major rivals he could face would likely adopt the same approach of mass subjugation and displays of power. The bicycle however would be a weapon of stealth, confined to the night and other specific circumstances (much like the gliders used in the D-Day landings). Joe would likely fear assassination and it's probable that bicycles, with their unrivalled ability to allow swift silent approaches would be outlawed, and limited perhaps to a select number of his own trusted Imperators for stealthy purposes of their own. Perhaps even the ability to even ride a bike would be cause enough for Joe to execute a suspected assassin.
Cultural winners and losers - Of course, I am speculating wildly beyond the realms of fan fiction, but it's an explanation that holds up in the face of today's reality. Both America and Australia are car dominated societies, and although George Miller has specifically stated that earlier films in the Mad Max series were inspired by the oil crisis struck 1970's, specifically saying that:
“I’d lived in a very lovely and sedate city in Melbourne, and during OPEC and the extreme oil crisis—where the only people who could get any gas were emergency workers, firemen, hospital staff, and police—it took 10 days in this really peaceful city for the first shot to be fired, so I thought, ‘What if this happened over 10 years?’”
Time for change?
Furiosa, women's emancipation and the bicycle