

The "Max Headroom" series depicted a dystopia where TV sets were strewn about everywhere, even in the city's slums. The first episode aired on the ABC network in March 1987. With that, more or less, the Max Headroom TV series was introduced to the American audience. Max, however, begins to evolve on his own as a mostly uncontrolled character and independent agent wandering around inside his the television network’s computer world. Max, of course, lives in the computer.Īce reporter Edison Carter, meanwhile, fully recovers from his trauma and returns to video reporting. The new entity is officially dubbed “Max Headroom” after he stutters through that phrase in his first on-screen appearance.

In the process of Carter’s brain being scanned into the computer, a digital being is created - i.e., “Max” - who in appear- ance and manner resembles the real-world Edison Carter. The network is after something in Carter’s brain something he’s discovered. …And to make a long story short, Carter’s brain is somehow scanned into a computer, because his TV network doesn’t trust him. On a motorcycle, Carter was racing into a parking garage on the trail of some hot information when he smashed through, and was knocked out by, an automated entrance gate emblazoned with the warning phrase “maximum headroom.” That was the last phrase the erstwhile reporter recorded in his brain.Īce reporter, Edison Carter, inadvertently becomes the basis for the computer-generated 'Max'. Max Headroom the character was “born” when an actual news reporter named Edison Carter - ace investigative, mini-cam-toting reporter for Network 23 - had a near-death encounter in pursuit of a story.

Still, Max was a generally likeable creation once viewers got to know him. Max, as he was known, was forever randomly popping up in each of the televised episodes with pearls of wit and wisdom, delivered in his trademark computer-to-blame stutter, often aggravating friends and foes alike. Max Headroom was a show about an acci- dentally-created, computer-generated being named “Max Headroom” who lived inside a television network’s computer system. Still today, the show has something of a cult and on-line following and remains one of television history’s more engaging self-critiques. The British-derived show was quite popular in its limited 1987-1988 American run on ABC-TV, but was pulled off the air before its final two episodes aired. “Max Headroom” is the name of a 1980’s sci-fi television show that perhaps got a little too close to the truth with its humorous but stinging critique of the TV ratings game and TV advertising. "I'm an image whose time has come,” says Max Headroom. Despite the several attempts, he has never been traced nor identified.April 1987 Newsweek cover.

The man is shown staring into the camera with a menacing grin, and during the second interruption began addressing the camera speaking non-sense and surrealist monologue with his voice distorted: he talked about TV host Charles Swirsky saying he'd better than him and calling him "frickin' liberal" he said the famous Coca Cola's slogan "Catch the wave" but with a Pepsi's can in his hands before throwing to the ground and making "the bird" partially off-screen to be so close of the camera, with his middle right finger covered by a fake finger he said "Your love is fading", referring The Temptations' song "(I Know) I'm Losing You" he hummed TV cartoon Clutch Cargo (1959)'s theme to say in the middle of the humming "I still see the X" (usually confused as "I stole CBS") referring the title of Cargo's last episode Clutch Cargo: Big "X" (1959) he complained of "my piles" (usually confused as "my files") he claimed he did a masterpiece for the World Greatest Newspapers' nerds he put on a left-hand dirty glove explaining that his brother wore another one (a reference to famous Michael Jackson's right hand's glove he wore in the 80s), before being spanked by a girl partially off-screen with a fly-swatter. The man managed to hack into the station on two occasions during that night, firstly during a local news bulletin during 30 seconds and two hours later during 90 seconds during a repeat of Doctor Who (1963)'s episode Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock: Part One (1977).
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The full sequence started in the night of 27th November 1987, when the US television station WGN Channel 9 in Chicago, IL was infamously hijacked by a man wearing a Max Headroom mask.
