History WMG / Threads

* It's set in England, centuries after what appears to be a nuclear war. The plot elements are similar. People speaking in devolved English? Check. Mutated human beings? Check. Existing technology and materials scavenged for use? Check.

[[WMG: This movie is set in an alternate universe/timeline of ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' where Ruber [[TheBadGuyWins won]].]]

[[WMG: Society survived, just not in Europe]]
* This is incredibly unlikely, because if Japan and the United States were unaffected, they would be doing absolutely everything to help Europe get back on foot.

[[WMG: Society survived, just not in Europe]]

** Also, when Jimmy says he's going "to find Ruth, see if she's all right", he doesn't say he's going to her house. It's more likely, given that he's got no way of knowing that she's taken the day off from work because she isn't feeling well due to morning sickness and/or anxiety about the international situation, that he'd head for her place of work first. Regardless, he was almost certainly caught in the open when the bomb hit Sheffield and would therefore have been killed, or at least seriously injured, in the blast.

[[WMG: This movie is set in an alternate universe/timeline of ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' where Ruber [[TheBadGuyWins won]].]]

* It's set in England, centuries after what appears to be a nuclear war. The plot elements are similar. People speaking in devolved English? Check. Mutated human beings? Check. Existing technology and materials scavenged for use? Check.

[[WMG: Literature/RiddleyWalker is a DistantSequel to ''Threads''.]]
* The plot elements are similar. People speaking in devolved English? Check. Mutated human beings? Check. Existing technology and materials scavenged for use? Check.

[[WMG: Literature/RiddleyWalker is a distant sequel to ''Threads''.]]

[[WMG: Literature/RiddleyWalker]] is a distant sequel to ''Threads''.]]

* George Miller's backstory of the events of ''The Road Warrior'' specifically states that there has ''not'' been any nuclear strikes. Those came after, as ''Beyond Thunderdome'' shows.

In ''Mad Max'', Australia has managed to avoid being struck by nukes, but the loss of contact with the rest of the world has led to economic collapse and a breakdown of law and order. In ''The Road Warrior'', the lingering environmental effects of the nuclear exchange have finally finished Australia off as a nation.

[[WMG: ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' and ''{{Threads}}'' are part of the same timeline.]]
If ''{{Threads}}'' had been set in the 1950s, with a bit of FanWank, you could even postulate that it's kind of a SpiritualLicensee {{prequel}} to Orwell's ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' ! [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything An anarchic totalitarian police state ruling over a crippled, declining Britain after a hinted-at nuclear war, anyone ?]] [[FridgeBrilliance The novel's descriptions of London and the state of society in Oceania are eerily similar]] [[DistantFinale to the movie's scenes set years after the war.]]

[[WMG: ''{{Threads}}'' takes place in the same universe as ''MadMax'']]

In ''Mad Max'', Australia has managed to avoid being struck by nukes, but the loss of contact with the rest of the world has lead to economic collapse and a breakdown of law and order. In ''The Road Warrior'', the lingering environmental effects of the nuclear exchange have finally finished Australia off as a nation.

** This also aids the viewpoint that the Party is nowhere near as powerful as they try making themselves out to be. The reason why society in Orwell's Airstrip One is so tattered isn't because the Party has stopped the progression of history, it's because they inherited a ridiculously ruined society. They tell of an eternal war with two other superstates because that helps the proles believe that there's actually hope for the world, especially after we see the second generation of post-war babies being born totally deformed. In truth, not only are there no superstates, it's possible Airstrip One doesn't even cover all of Britain. Communications have been obliterated, so how can anyone actually tell? And the youth are easy to mold because public education has totally collapsed in the wake of the nuclear war.

* And third, there is a little scene early in the movie where Ruth tries to reassure Jimmy about their future telling him "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong It will be lovely]]. I just [[TemptingFate know]] it will!" [[YouJustHadToSayIt We all know how that went.]] Later, when she and her parents are hiding in the basement, they try to console her telling her it's possible Jimmy is alive. Ruth says (paraphrased) "Jimmy's dead! I ''know'' he is!" Since we've seen before the accuracy of her predicitions, this could be a little hint given by the writers or just a bad case of FanWank (either way, it's not like it would change anything given the way the film ended, anyway).

** Well, true. But I said ''if'' it was set in the 1950s. The run-down atmosphere of post-apocalyptic Britain is still very reminescent of Oceania in a few aspects. We see that while industry is severely neglected and outdated, it still survives (steam engines, a functioning radio or lightbulb here and there, etc.) and some more powerful individuals have apparently created a rudimentary post-war leadership (though not democratic by a long shot - more of a barely functioning survivalist dictatorship).

[[WMG: ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' and ''{{Threads}}'' are part of the same timeline.]]
If ''{{Threads}}'' had been set in the 1950s, with a bit of FanWank, you could even postulate that it's kind of a SpiritualLicensee {{prequel}} to Orwell's ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' ! [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything An anarchic totalitarian police state ruling over a crippled, declining Britain after a hinted-at nuclear war, anyone ?]] [[FridgeBrilliance The novel's descriptions of London and the state of society in Oceania are eerily similar]] [[DistantFinale to the movie's scenes set years after the war.]]

** Well, true. But I said ''if'' it was set in the 1950s. The run-down atmosphere of post-apocalyptic Britain is still very reminescent of Oceania in a few aspects. We see that some industry survives (steam engines, a functioning radio or lightbulb here and there, etc.) and some more powerful individuals have apparently created a rudimentary post-war leadership (though not democratic by a long shot - more of a barely functioning survivalist dictatorship).

In ''Mad Max'', Australia has managed to avoid being struck by nukes, but the loss of contact with the rest of the world is leading to economic and social collapse. In ''The Road Warrior'', the environmental effects of the nuclear exchange have finally finished Australia off as a nation.

* Let's add a fourth reason why Jimmy might have survived. He's at his workplace, Don Joinery, with his friend Bob when the first bomb goes off at the RAF base. Jimmy tries to drive to Ruth's house, but the truck won't start, so he sets off on foot. Given that only a few minutes elapses until the second bomb goes off over Sheffield, he couldn't have gotten very far. We know that Don Joinery was a survivable distance away from the epicenter of the second bomb because Bob remained behind and survived. Even if Jimmy were (inadvertently) running toward the second bomb's epicenter there just wasn't enough time for him to have gotten that close.

* Let's add a fourth reason why Jimmy might have survived. He's at his workplace, Don Joinery, with his friend Bob when the first bomb goes off at the RAF base. Jimmy drives to drive to Ruth's house, but the truck won't start, so he sets off on foot. Given that only a few minutes elapses until the second bomb goes off over Sheffield, he couldn't have gotten very far. We know that Don Joinery was a survivable distance away from the epicenter of the second bomb because Bob remained behind and survived. Even if Jimmy were (inadvertently) running toward the second bomb's epicenter there just wasn't enough time for him to have gotten that close.

* And third, there is a little scene early in the movie where Ruth tries to reassure Jimmy about their future telling him "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong It will be lovely]]. I just [[TemptingFate know]] it will!" [[YouJustHadToSayIt We all know how that went.]] Later, when she and her parents are hiding in the basement, they try to console her telling her it's possible Jimmy is alive. Ruth says (paraphrased) "Jimmy's dead! I ''know'' he is!" Since we've seen before the accuracy of her predicitions, this could be a little hint given by the writers or just a bad case of FanWank (either way, it's not like it would change anything given the way the film ended, anyway).

* Except the nuclear damage in ''1984'' was restricted to one or two cities (mirroring what happened in World War Two) and a massive infrastructure is still there, just worn down by years of inefficient dictatorship. This is the exact opposite of what happens in ''Threads''.