Dalbert Pringle
Set "20 minutes into the future" - Max Headroom is a short-run, 1987, TV series that posed the possibility (as far-fetched as it sounded) of actually translating people into computer data.Yes. Today - 30 years later - That potentiality does convert into old news. But, back then - It really sparked the interest of many-a-viewer who religiously tuned into this program like total fiends.With its episodes rarely ever being shot in natural light - Max Headroom's vision of the future was, indeed, a decidedly cold and callous one where cynicism and corruption prevailed on every street corner.Injecting elements of both punk and new wave into its 1-hour episodes - This surprisingly short-lived series certainly had its fair share of good points, as well as its not-so-good points, too.
Gravity06
Before "Revolution" ... Before "Dark Angel" ... Before "Falling Skies" and "The Walking Dead" ... There was Max."Max Headroom" was the first cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic TV show EVER (way back in 1987).Max was decades ahead of its time. The show predicted such things as identity theft, the Internet, the webcam, and the fusion of media and government. (One episode even mourned the closure of movie theaters. Today, thanks to Netflix and video-on-demand, that has now come to pass.) In a word, Max was prophetic. The hip, trendy post-apocalyptic shows that you're seeing today owe a great debt to Max Headroom.
slave138
This was, and still is, my favorite show to ever grace the flickering screen of my television. The visionary depiction of a TV-driven culture on overdrive piqued the imagination and served as a prophetic parody/warning to the industry that ironically gave it life in the US.It was a near (20 minutes into the) future where TV wasn't only entertainment but required by law -- just having an off switch was a major crime -- and ratings were EVERYTHING. Hackers, brain-recorded AI, pirate TV broadcasters, TV religion, mercs selling tomorrow's top story, body banks and bodyleggers, blip-verts, cred-sticks, the mix of grit and the glimmer of neon... this WAS cyberpunk at it's purest (with the noted exception being the lack of cyberware). There has never been (and probably never will be) a show that did as much justice to the genre.With all the drivel available on video today, I can't help but wonder when (if ever) someone will finally come to their senses and release this gem...
GalaxyGa
Everyone seems to remember Max Headroom, the character and Coke pitchman, but a lot of people forget about the series Max was in. The other thing a lot of people forget is that Max in the TV screen was _not_ cgi; Max was pre-cgi, and Matt Frewer did incredibly good acting as Max. Besides that, Matt also was the lead in the series and did a lot of work as Edison Carter as well as Max.The series didn't last nearly long enough for me; the original title, "Twenty Minutes Into the Future" is very accurate-- technologically, stylistically, and in terms of content and post-production, "Max Headroom" was ahead of its time. It was a mid-season replacement and never found its audience; the database lists the tv-movie, the series (14 or 15 eps), and the original talk show which started the whole thing. I'm still amazed at the wisdom (or lack thereof) of television execs who can cancel a series halfway through a season. Then again, "Max Headroom" was about television, making some eerily accurate predictions (CNN, tabloid talk shows), and television execs are nothing if not chickens.Still, it would be too, too cool to see Max pop up to comment about the millennium...
