Max Headroom

Before "Revolution" ... Before "Dark Angel" ... Before "Falling Skies" and "The Walking Dead" ... There was Max.

"Max Headroom" was the first cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic TV show EVER (way back in 1987).

Max was decades ahead of its time. The show predicted such things as identity theft, the Internet, the webcam, and the fusion of media and government. (One episode even mourned the closure of movie theaters. Today, thanks to Netflix and video-on-demand, that has now come to pass.)

In a word, Max was prophetic. The hip, trendy post-apocalyptic shows that you're seeing today owe a great debt to Max Headroom.

It "dawned" on me finally where I had seen the actor named "Frank" (Matt Frewer) from "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) and all these memories of my childhood came back (born in '79). I remember I watched it faithfully and although I was way too young to actually understand the satyric nature of the show, I was mesmerized by the early use of CG on the idiot-box. I can still see that guys head and the way the computer used to "chunk" when he talked. Funny how now, almost two decades later, we're still dealing with chunking in streaming audio and video feeds. Somebody knew which way the world was headed. Just a great show and I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane

as a child my brother and i used to sneak down to our cellar and watch unattendedly TV. in a "kunststuecke" (a tv series where they show movies normally not shown) we just by accident saw the original max headroom uk1995. man. it took us not even a thought to quickly make a philosophy out of it and to take this as our new expectation standard for this genre.

but boy, we never saw it again (not a single video-store holds this) and we were quite nervous when the remake (tv series) was announced ... what a disappointment! with their cold blooded commerciality they made a perfectly clean familiy movie out of the bleak retro ambiance of the original 57 min trip. worst, these are the versions the video-stores are filing.

Which is, unfortunately, mostly what succeeds on TV these days. Shows such as Max Headroom are just too intelligent, and go over the head of Average Joe TV Viewer (or Average Joe TV Executive). With all the proliferation and specialization of TV channels these days, maybe some day we can have an "Intelligent TV Channel" where shows like these can flourish and those too dim to "get it" can just remove it from their channel rotation.

Max Headroom was brilliant. One of the most spot-on and funny pieces of satire ever produced. The fact that it was satirizing the very medium that produced it probably had something to do with its short life, as well. I mean, when you're satirizing stupidity, obviously stupidity is going to react, just by definition.

Any TV producers out there reading this -- there's an idea for you. Create an "Intelligent TV Channel", and give us shows like this, or Key West, Brimstone, Cupid, etc. You could even call it that, as a dig at the mindless drivel that pours off the screen most of the time.

Max Headroom was a film made especially for the UK's Channel 4 in 1984. The story is basically about an investigative journalist called Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) and his TV station Bosses. When Carter comes across a conspiracy inside his own TV station, he sets about to find the truth. In the meantime, bosses decide to remove him from the air, and replace him with a computer copy(Max). The problem is, he won't lie down and die.

It's a real 80's punk culture film. It's very dark, depressing, and for some reason a lot of it seems to take place at night or in the dark. Max lightens the mood with funny quips and puns.

Watch out for George Rossi, DC Lennox from The Bill, who plays Mahler.