Twenty Years Into the Past

Finally, it reached the shelves of a local video store for purchase. But it certainnly took long enough.

With a show like this, you would think it’d take twenty minutes into the future.

But Max Headroom found a place in the digital archives where he belongs on August 10: in prosperity on a set of discs. It suits him.

However, the impact of the series couldn’t be easily forgotten. The computer generated character with the tall forehead and the snappy DJ voice falling into a stutter makes the audiences scratch their head and say, “Who is this guy?”

His appearance in the Max Headroom series is brief on the American channels. All too brief. With only thirteen shows to follow based on a British pilot, the series was relegated to the unfortunate casualty of the short lived.

But it was well ahead of its time. Even in today’s standards, it’s still ahead of its time. There’s the brilliant teaser luring the viewer into the show as being twenty minutes into the future. You see? The show will never be outdated. Because the setting is ambiguous.

Not only that, the show’s bold stories made some daring predictions serving as frightening revelations in today’s world. The series often told of rival networks doing anything to get their ratings. Sounds like what’s happening today. Especially with the egomaniac giant like Fox News willing to do anything, say anything to get their audience. Even at the risk of clouding the truth.

The first episode “Blipverts” is a brilliant piece on the idea that commercials may have deadly effect on those who watch. Though the episode does exaggerate, it does pinpoint on the whole idea of a network information through subliminal messages. The Coca-Cola company experimented with commercials in 2006 with their Sprite product with the "sub-lymon-al" advertising theme followed by the word “Obey.” As if making the viewer cater to his needs. Who knows? Maybe some people get up to go the grocery store to pick up the next stock of Sprite? It’s one way of trying to influence a viewer into buying something.

Commercialism is something you can’t get away from.

There is also an episode where there is a dangerous sport with people on skateboards. We’re already seeing Japanese TV shows where contestants must go through grueling, and often painful, tests to win the prize.

Is Max Headroom relevant to today’s issues?

Very.

So it’s better late than never for the series to finally be released as a full set. For some, who missed the reruns on Bravo and Tech TV, it hasn't been first seen since its initial broadcast.

Plenty of nice extras fill the entire fifth disc of the set where you can see interviews of several members of the cast. More interestingly, you can see a round of discussions from the original writers/creators Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton and George Stone.

One of the things that stands out is how the show ended according to one of the writers. It is almost as if life imitates fiction imitates life. And series of Max Headroom was stopped in the middle of filming as it was an order coming down from an high office. Apparently, the ABC network didn’t realize the series was making fun of high strung networks and throwing them in a bad light as gung ho commercial giants.

The word was: “Stop the series now. Everyone don’t go near the props. We’re done here. Go home.” Everyone lost their jobs that one day because this series was bold enough to make statements that no one else would make. No farewell party. No goodbye song. Nothing. Just a hasty shoo-away, that’s it.

In a way, almost a fitting end to the Max Headroom series.

The TV show revolves around an investigative journalist Edison Carter well played by Matt Frewer who also jumps into the part of his alter ego Max. There is also Amanda Pays who plays a computer controller helping Edison go through a maze of dangers while he is out on the field. Max Headroom treated Amanda Pays far better as an actress than did the Flash series which came a few years later. Jeffrey Tambor is well suited in the part of the sympathetic editor in chief who occasionally buckles under the authority.

However, like an overwhelming influence, there is the Network Channel 23 which looks over your shoulder like a big brother. It’s a brilliant analogy here. It is a shadow which casts a sheet of doubt over the society reduced to countless minions. They are no longer people. They are just numbers to the network for their ratings. Sounds familiar?

The series itself also suffered failing ratings. It was seen more as a mid-season replacement. And it never really gathered an audience except for a cult following. Had the series come out these days, with a more keen audience, the series might have done better. Stone plays with the idea of bringing Max back to TV with ideas already floating around in his head should they ever decide to revive the characters. Most likely, it won’t happen. But it’s fun to imagine.

In some ways, Max Headroom was more of a fad.

But if you want to treat yourself to an oddity from the eighties which was very different than most shows in the Untied States at the time, try this one. It wouldn’t hurt. And you might see a healthy amount of creativity put into a series that never really got off the ground. Instead, it went underground. More like a myth or a legend that sleeps between whispers. Max. Max. Max. Max Headroom. There won’t be anything quite like it again.