[on Mad Max] In 1973, the Arab oil-producing nations convulsed most of the world by tightening the spigots on their wells and sharply reducing production.
Corporations, and nations including Japan, went into crisis mode and many started to think of ways to lessen their reliance on petroleum products.
As the after-shock waves began to subside and black gold started to flow again, most enterprises kicked petroleum replacement well down the agenda.
Yet there were further signs of the desperate measures individuals would take to ensure mobility. A couple of oil strikes that hit many pumps revealed the ferocity with which Australians would defend their right to fill a tank. Long queues formed at the stations with petrol - and anyone who tried to sneak ahead in the queue met raw violence.
A couple of years later, George Miller conceived the scenario for Mad Max. Max (a very young Mel Gibson) was the antihero out on roads that had become battlefields where the prize was fuel. Society had corroded as a result of the reduction of supply and the rule of law deteriorated into chaos.
Mad Max may have been a fantasy with apocalyptic overtones - keep an eye out on the road for people in leather jackets and souped-up cars chasing bike gangs - with the price being a few hundred litres of petrol.
George and I wrote the script based on the thesis that people would do almost anything to keep vehicles moving and the assumption that nations would not consider the huge costs of providing infrastructure for alternative energy until it was too late.
Sure, it contained a large element of geeks' own adventures; but at its core was a sizeable kernel of truth. That kernel has taken root, and it's called peak oil.
When an oil well is discovered, it is at peak production until it reaches about 50 per cent of its total output. After this, the remaining half becomes more difficult to extract - and much more expensive - as the ratio of water to oil expands. Ultimately the well is abandoned and the search for a new well begins.
Easier said than done.
