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Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future
Edison Carter, a reporter, is determined to investigate the hazards produced by the new Blipverts and a plot to produce computer-generated personalities on television
- GenresFiction
63 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 1986
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May 2, 2019No, I don't have this book, just using it as a launch pad for some observations ...
Max Headroom was, arguably, the first forced meme before the existence of the internet. The wisecracking, glitchy proto-computer-generated talking head was saturation bombed on the public from 1985 to 1988 in a way that would guarantee subsequent apathy, mockery and derision -- meant to be a symbol of rebellion and edginess while at the same time made a mascot for the ultimate in normie shilldom, as an ad man for Coca-Cola. His guilt-by-association tie to a failed product, New Coke, probably didn't help his legacy. The mixed messages, I think, resulted in a cognitive dissonance, and relegated him to the status of trivia question. The slicked-back, metallic-suited Aryan sharp edges of his look channeled the current style, the Grace Joneses and the Devos of the day, cementing him firmly in his time. Even so, as a pre-CGI conception of CGI, he was actually not too bad.
Max, unknown to me, was not the creation of the actor, Matt Frewer, but of a team of writers and creatives who had been asked to devise a computer-aged talking head segue MC, or VJ, for a British music video show. Frewer was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time; one of the few American actors on the pavement in London then, and the creators picked him instantly for his square-jawed look.
To introduce Max to the public, the creative team made a fantastic pilot film in 1985 titled, Max Headroom, 20 Minutes Into the Future. It is everything that was good about Brit cyberpunk of the time. This pilot film and the subsequent American TV show that ran for a mere 12 (14 were made) episodes from 1987 to early 1988 effectively synthesized several artistic currents. The show was basically about a dystopian future where the divide between the privileged elites and street-dwelling have-nots, the punker types, was vividly clear. it was a grimy world of gleaming skyscrapers and dark board rooms with the world veiled in the smoke rising from the street fires of the poor. TV watching was mandatory, and the adverts, known as blipverts, were designed by scientists to tickle the viewers' very nerve endings and brain synapses into submission. It was against the law to turn off the TVs and TVs were everywhere, even in the streets. Max was a computer-generated version of a muckraking go-getter reporter, Edison Carter, whose forte was exposing the corruption of the very people he worked for (Max, while inside the computer/network TV electronic innards would assist his alter-ego human in solving the mysteries). To say this was prescient is an understatement, given the homogeneity of mainstream media control today, where any attempts to get at real truths were/are quashed, while presenting a charade of real journalism. Any time Edison got to TOO close, the suits would pull the plug. They had themselves a dilemma: Carter's news reports were empowering and exciting for the have-nots, which meant big viewership and ratings and sales, yet that very threat of exposing the power structure couldn't be tolerated. The capitalist system eating itself was the main theme of the show, as was the idea of "managing" the message and the public narrative to keep it interesting, but not TOO interesting.
The series, in my opinion, was fabulous, maybe even the best TV show of the 1980s. Of course, it threw in a nerdy computer whiz kid in a bid for younger viewers, much like all the movies of the day (eg., Wargames with Matthew Broderick) where Brat Pack types were heroes. The show's look is what keeps it fresh today and the creators admitted that both Blade Runner and Mad Max II, the Road Warrior were clear inspirations. Thematically, the creators were heavily inspired by the 1976 classic Network. Watching the episodes again I see several connections/comparisons that have gone largely unremarked. Some of the interiors remind me of the 1982 French cyberpunk thriller, Diva, and the style and look also owe nods to the 1984 British film version of Orwell's 1984, and possibly the Apple advert inspired by it, and particularly Terry Gilliam's cinematic masterpiece, Brazil (1985). William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer has also been cited as an inspiration, and indeed the show is still regarded as the only true cyberpunk TV show in history so far. Obviously Max's existence as a computer hack, as culture jammer inside the system, bears fruit for all interested in pop cultural referencing to hacking culture.
The show was ahead of its time, and of its time, something that HBO watchers today would GET, unlike the audiences of the time. The show did so badly in the ratings, sitting at number 67, the utter bottom of the list, that cancellation was a foregone conclusion. Whether the suits at ABC were uncomfortable with the show's obvious critique of their own sensibilities and aims is debatable, but the choice to put the show on opposite two of the ratings giants of the decade, Dallas and Miami Vice seemed a little too convenient. Because it was something nobody else liked at the time, I of course adored it. It seems that my tastes have always been that way. I had zero interest in things like Dallas and Miami Vice. As time goes on Max Headroom, the show, still largely holds up while those other things have become the trivia questions.
Most of the people on the show went on to fine careers, particularly Frewer, the luscious and classy Amanda Pays (one for the annals of '80s babedom), and the much-feted Jeffrey Tambor. The network head was played by the late George Coe, a very familiar character actor in film and TV, and it's only now that I'm realizing he was the creator of one of the funniest short movies ever made De Duva (1968), a wicked, spot-on Oscar-nominated parody of Ingmar Bergman Euro art films that I first saw way back in the 1970s.
In short, I like Max, loved this show, and think it deserves a hearty reconsideration.
eg/kr '19
-----
P.S. - There's a recent documentary posted on Youtube titled, The Story of Max Headroom - Live on Network 23, a series of talking head reminiscences about the creation of the character and the show by those who did it. My favorite story is how they came up with the name of Max Headroom from British garage overhead clearance signs that read "max headroom", or "maximum headroom" and then later had to change them to something else because the phrase now reminded people of the character/show.
Max Headroom was, arguably, the first forced meme before the existence of the internet. The wisecracking, glitchy proto-computer-generated talking head was saturation bombed on the public from 1985 to 1988 in a way that would guarantee subsequent apathy, mockery and derision -- meant to be a symbol of rebellion and edginess while at the same time made a mascot for the ultimate in normie shilldom, as an ad man for Coca-Cola. His guilt-by-association tie to a failed product, New Coke, probably didn't help his legacy. The mixed messages, I think, resulted in a cognitive dissonance, and relegated him to the status of trivia question. The slicked-back, metallic-suited Aryan sharp edges of his look channeled the current style, the Grace Joneses and the Devos of the day, cementing him firmly in his time. Even so, as a pre-CGI conception of CGI, he was actually not too bad.
Max, unknown to me, was not the creation of the actor, Matt Frewer, but of a team of writers and creatives who had been asked to devise a computer-aged talking head segue MC, or VJ, for a British music video show. Frewer was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time; one of the few American actors on the pavement in London then, and the creators picked him instantly for his square-jawed look.
To introduce Max to the public, the creative team made a fantastic pilot film in 1985 titled, Max Headroom, 20 Minutes Into the Future. It is everything that was good about Brit cyberpunk of the time. This pilot film and the subsequent American TV show that ran for a mere 12 (14 were made) episodes from 1987 to early 1988 effectively synthesized several artistic currents. The show was basically about a dystopian future where the divide between the privileged elites and street-dwelling have-nots, the punker types, was vividly clear. it was a grimy world of gleaming skyscrapers and dark board rooms with the world veiled in the smoke rising from the street fires of the poor. TV watching was mandatory, and the adverts, known as blipverts, were designed by scientists to tickle the viewers' very nerve endings and brain synapses into submission. It was against the law to turn off the TVs and TVs were everywhere, even in the streets. Max was a computer-generated version of a muckraking go-getter reporter, Edison Carter, whose forte was exposing the corruption of the very people he worked for (Max, while inside the computer/network TV electronic innards would assist his alter-ego human in solving the mysteries). To say this was prescient is an understatement, given the homogeneity of mainstream media control today, where any attempts to get at real truths were/are quashed, while presenting a charade of real journalism. Any time Edison got to TOO close, the suits would pull the plug. They had themselves a dilemma: Carter's news reports were empowering and exciting for the have-nots, which meant big viewership and ratings and sales, yet that very threat of exposing the power structure couldn't be tolerated. The capitalist system eating itself was the main theme of the show, as was the idea of "managing" the message and the public narrative to keep it interesting, but not TOO interesting.
The series, in my opinion, was fabulous, maybe even the best TV show of the 1980s. Of course, it threw in a nerdy computer whiz kid in a bid for younger viewers, much like all the movies of the day (eg., Wargames with Matthew Broderick) where Brat Pack types were heroes. The show's look is what keeps it fresh today and the creators admitted that both Blade Runner and Mad Max II, the Road Warrior were clear inspirations. Thematically, the creators were heavily inspired by the 1976 classic Network. Watching the episodes again I see several connections/comparisons that have gone largely unremarked. Some of the interiors remind me of the 1982 French cyberpunk thriller, Diva, and the style and look also owe nods to the 1984 British film version of Orwell's 1984, and possibly the Apple advert inspired by it, and particularly Terry Gilliam's cinematic masterpiece, Brazil (1985). William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer has also been cited as an inspiration, and indeed the show is still regarded as the only true cyberpunk TV show in history so far. Obviously Max's existence as a computer hack, as culture jammer inside the system, bears fruit for all interested in pop cultural referencing to hacking culture.
The show was ahead of its time, and of its time, something that HBO watchers today would GET, unlike the audiences of the time. The show did so badly in the ratings, sitting at number 67, the utter bottom of the list, that cancellation was a foregone conclusion. Whether the suits at ABC were uncomfortable with the show's obvious critique of their own sensibilities and aims is debatable, but the choice to put the show on opposite two of the ratings giants of the decade, Dallas and Miami Vice seemed a little too convenient. Because it was something nobody else liked at the time, I of course adored it. It seems that my tastes have always been that way. I had zero interest in things like Dallas and Miami Vice. As time goes on Max Headroom, the show, still largely holds up while those other things have become the trivia questions.
Most of the people on the show went on to fine careers, particularly Frewer, the luscious and classy Amanda Pays (one for the annals of '80s babedom), and the much-feted Jeffrey Tambor. The network head was played by the late George Coe, a very familiar character actor in film and TV, and it's only now that I'm realizing he was the creator of one of the funniest short movies ever made De Duva (1968), a wicked, spot-on Oscar-nominated parody of Ingmar Bergman Euro art films that I first saw way back in the 1970s.
In short, I like Max, loved this show, and think it deserves a hearty reconsideration.
eg/kr '19
-----
P.S. - There's a recent documentary posted on Youtube titled, The Story of Max Headroom - Live on Network 23, a series of talking head reminiscences about the creation of the character and the show by those who did it. My favorite story is how they came up with the name of Max Headroom from British garage overhead clearance signs that read "max headroom", or "maximum headroom" and then later had to change them to something else because the phrase now reminded people of the character/show.
September 8, 2017
Basically a graphic novel version of the original Max Headroom show made for British TV, but with photos from the show instead of comic style illustrations. The original plot and characters are great, but the prose in this version is occasionally florid and overwritten.
May 15, 2024
This is the novelization of the British pilot for the "Max Headroom" series. It was reshot for the American market, so the many, many stills won't look familiar to anyone (like me!) who has only seen that. For its time, this book really was "20 minutes into the future", predicting a world in which people are addicted to hundreds of cable networks who are in constant competition with one another, and who will do anything to get ahead - including kill. Great fun, though, of course, you only get the true flavor of Max by watching him.
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