B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping Max Headroom into the ol’ VCR.

From the same mind that brought you a piece on Liquid Television comes a piece about everyone’s favorite faux-CGI host, Max Headroom. 

It’s me. I’m the mind. 

Now, friends, Max Headroom is more than something clipped in Greylock to establish the timeline; he was truly ahead of his time. 

To accurately dive into the world of Max Headroom, I’m going to divide this piece up into three sections: The “Man,” The Myths, and The Prank. 

Tbh, there was a lot more to unpack than I initially thought when I started my research. 

Max Headroom was a bit before my time, so I only grew up hearing about him/seeing clips here and there. 

However, it’s been really fun and interesting to dive into the world of Max Headroom because there’s a lot more to it than I thought. 

Alrighty, that’s enough for introductions. 

Without further ado, let’s get to it. 

Video source: andymerv

The “Man” 

Created by Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, and George Stone, Max Headroom was originally meant to be a satirical take on 1980s talk show hosts. but Matt Frewer, the actor who played Max Headroom, wanted him to have a certain naivety, with Max basing his personality and actions after everything he’d seen on television while keeping the razor-sharp and biting wit about him. 

Max Headroom’s first appearance was, fittingly enough, during his origin film, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. According to the film, Max Headroom is a sentient AI program based on fictional reporter, Edison Carter (also portrayed by Matt Frewer). 

From there, The Max Headroom Show was born. Initially, Max Headroom served as a veejay, however, he would eventually conduct interviews in front of live audiences as the show progressed. The show ran for three years on Channel 4, including a freakin’ Christmas special written by George R.R. Martin. Yes, you read that correctly. 

After The Max Headroom Show came to an end in the U.K., an additional six episodes were produced for US audiences by Cinemax and rebranded as The Original Max Headroom Show.*

*In my research, I saw this called both The Original Max Headroom Show and The Original Max Talking Headroom Show.

Video source: giallo200

A year later (after what I hope was a prosperous acquisition for his creators), ABC premiered Max Headroom, a series based on Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future, that ran from 1987 to 1988 wherein Max Headroom helped Edison Carter try to take down corrupt figures that commented and satirized on current political events. 

Over the years, Max Headroom has served as the spokesperson for New Coke (woof) and appeared in numerous shows, movies, and commercials; he was basically everywhere. 

While appearances of Max Headroom have faded, he’s still well-known within the world of pop culture. 

So well-known, in fact, that back in 2022, AMC announced that Max Headroom would, once again, make his way onto all of our television screens in a rebooted series.

And, as of writing this piece, I can’t find any information about the project not moving forward, so fingers crossed that Max Headroom will return to glitch another day. 

Video source: Keltik Danger

The Myth

The biggest myth surrounding Max Headroom is that he’s computer-generated, when, in fact, the only thing computer-generated is Max’s background. Matt Frewer simply wore contacts (and Ray Bans when the contacts hurt), makeup, and prosthetics to appear as though he was a CGI character. However, the pilot of The Max Headroom Show won a BAFTA award for graphics in 1986, despite nothing being rendered outside of the background. 

The Prank 

Max Headroom was influential in a variety of ways, including how he inadvertently inspired one of the most famous unsolved media mysteries of all time: The Max Headroom Incident. 

On November 22, 1987, over the course of an evening and across two different stations, someone in a Max Headroom mask managed to hijack the broadcast signal twice. The first time was only for a matter of seconds, but the second was almost a minute and a half long. Additionally, the second interruption ended with Max Headroom getting, um, spanked on his bare ass. 

To this day, no one has any idea who the hijackers were/are, but there’s been speculation that it was anyone from a disgruntled employee to art students. 

Video source: The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV)