As an interviewer Max was an incurable wise-ass, and wasn’t shy about goading his interviewees unmercifully, but as everyone involved was clearly taking the whole thing as a joke there wasn’t any real consequence. Things degenerated considerably, alas, once Max migrated to Cinemax: THE TALKING MAX HEADROOM SHOW was quite choppy, with music videos abruptly cutting in and out of interviews. THE MAX HEADROOM SHOW features Max in his element, offering rambling, pun-laced introductions to music videos from bands like Ultravox, Pale Fountains and the Kinks. The MAX HEADROOM programs offer a much stronger representation of the character’s appeal. It includes quintessentially eighties homilies like “Your style is the most important statement you can ever make about yourself” and “The first decision to make before you go anywhere to eat is not “What can I afford?” but “What mood am I in?”” It’s not unamusing, but Max Headroom’s charm is primarily visual in nature, and doesn’t really come off on the printed page. The latter, written by David Hansen and Paul Owen, purports to be an advice book by Max H. There was also a trade paperback entitled MAX HEADROOM’S GUIDE TO LIFE, released in the UK in 1985 and in the US the following year.
#MAX HEADROOM HACKER MOVIE#
That movie in turn inspired the American made MAX HEADROOM series, just as Max branched out in the form of a chat show, THE ORIGINAL MAX TALKING HEADROOM SHOW, which managed six episodes on Cinemax in 1987. THE MAX HEADROOM SHOW was created by the music video specialists Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, who also turned out an hour long TV movie comprised of footage intended for the program. Said to be a major inspiration on the comedy of Jim Carrey, this personage began as a VJ on the UK’s channel four. Max Headroom is an alleged computer hologram, but in actuality was actor Matt Frewer, ad-libbing a stream-of-consciousness mouthful of stuttering quips over an animated background. If ever a show shouldn’t have worked it was this one, yet somehow MAX HEADROOM emerged as one of the great American TV programs of the decade, and one of the purest distillations of cyberpunk’s overriding themes and attitudes. The latter is in many respects the most fascinating of the lot, a prime time television program that pivoted on a popular media personage.
#MAX HEADROOM HACKER SERIES#
Cyberpunk’s antecedents include William Gibson’s 1984 novel NEUROMANCER, the flicks BLADE RUNNER and THE TERMINATOR, and the 1987-88 TV series MAX HEADROOM. With cyberpunk making an unexpected comeback in 2020, a look back at the genre’s 1980s origins seems in order.