Max Headroom doing a promotion for Cinemax

Max Headroom is the name of a fictional artificial intelligence, known for his surreal wit and a stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled delivery. The character was created by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton and performed by Matt Frewer. Max Headroom doing a promotion for the Cinemax This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Max Headroom doing a promotion for the Cinemax This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Hondas intelligent humanoid robot AI redirects here. ... A cow standing on a pole. ... Look up Wit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion of one sound recording, the sample, and reusing it as an instrument or element of a new recording. ... Matt Frewer (b. ...

Character

The Max Headroom character originated in 1985 as an announcer for a music video programme on the British television channel, Channel 4, called The Max Talking Headroom Show. The intent was to portray a futuristic computer-generated character. Max Headroom appeared as a stylized head on TV against harsh primary color rotating-line backgrounds, and he became well known for his jerky techno-stuttering speech, wisecracks, and puns ("Like they say when you're buying suppositories, 'With friends like that, who needs enemas?'"). A music video (also promo) is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Look up Wit in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that dajare be merged into this article or section. ... This 2qt (about 2 liters) enema bag, or fountain syringe, equipped with a rectal nozzle, is to be filled with water or a solution, then suspended near the patient using the hook. ...

Notwithstanding the publicity for the character, the real image of Max was not computer-generated. 3-D rendering and computing technology in the mid-1980s was not sufficiently advanced for a full-motion, voice-synched human head to be practical for a television series. Max's image was actually that of actor Matt Frewer in latex and foam rubber prosthetic makeup with a fibreglass suit, superimposed over a moving geometric background. (Even the background was not actual computer graphics at first; it was hand-drawn cell animation like the "computer generated" animations in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy TV series. Later in the U.S. version they were actually generated by an Amiga computer.) But when these things were combined with clever editing, the appearance of a computer generated human head was convincing to many. Matt Frewer (b. ... There is a disputed proposal to merge this article with glass-reinforced plastic. ... Traditional animation, sometimes also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation. ... Opening titles from the TV series, designed by Doug Burd The televised adaptation of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, broadcast in January and February of 1981 on BBC Two, became the fifth version. ... The original Amiga (1985) The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced game console. ...

Max became a minor celebrity outside the television series. He was the spokespersonality for Coca-Cola, using his trademark staccato to deliver the slogan "Catch the wave! Coke!". In that capacity he generated more interest from viewers than any previous spokesperson for the company. In the UK Max starred in television commercials for Radio Rentals (actually a TV rental company). He also hosted an interview show on the Cinemax cable TV channel, and performed vocals (as well as appeared in the video) for the pop single "Paranoimia" by The Art of Noise. A spokesperson (person could be replaced with the gender of the person), or spokesmodel is a person who speaks on behalf of others, but is understood not to be necessarily part of the others (e. ... The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A music video (also promo) is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... For Popular music (music that is popular, rather than of a specific genre or style), see Popular music. ... A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short record, usually featuring one or two tracks as A-side, often accompanied by several B-sides, usually remixes or other songs. ... Art of Noise concertposter (1986) The Art of Noise was an electronic group formed in 1983 by producer Trevor Horn, music journalist Paul Morley, and session musicians/studio hands Anne Dudley, J.J. Jeczalik, and Gary Langan. ...

Image File history File links Art_Of_Noise_With_Max_Headroom_-_Paranoimia_(12in_mix)_excerpt. ...

TV show

To create a background story for their announcer, Channel 4 created a one-hour TV movie describing the story of the creation of the computer-generated person. Titled 20 Minutes into the Future, the movie was a dystopic look at a run-down near-future dominated by television and large corporations. It introduced television reporter Edison Carter and his efforts to expose corruption and greed. In the pilot episode, Carter is hunted down by his own employer, Network 23. In the process, he is injured and a scientist working for the channel digitizes his mind into a computer program in an effort to create a replacement who could disguise the fact that Carter had been eliminated. The resulting program takes on a life of its own as the eccentric and unpredictable Max Headroom who can move through computer and television networks at will. A dystopia (alternatively, cacotopia[1], kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. ... Edison Carter was one of the main characters in the science fiction television series Max Headroom. ... Network 23 was the television network the protagonist, Edison Carter, worked for in the science fiction TV show Max Headroom. ...

In 1987 the story was turned into a full fledged television series. The original one-hour movie was partially recast and re-filmed as a pilot for a new series on the U.S. based television network ABC. 2002 identity of the ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ...

It was the first cyberpunk series to run in the United States on one of the main broadcast networks in prime time. Like other science fiction, the series introduced the general public to new ideas in the form of cyberpunk themes and social issues. The series portrayed the Blanks, a counter-culture group of people who lived without any official numbers or documentation for the sake of privacy. Various episodes delved into issues like literacy and the lack thereof in a TV-dominated culture (Blank Reg: "It's a book. It's a non-volatile storage medium. It's very rare. You should 'ave one.") Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-01-11, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Prime time is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening. ... Non-volatile memory, or non-volatile storage, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. ...

Although it was not a comedy series, low-key (and sometimes dark) humor was a noteworthy part of the entire effect. Some was more overt, such as Max's wisecracking lines, while others were less obvious. One example is the use of traffic signs for character names. The character Max Headroom got his name because, in the original story, Edison Carter crashed into a traffic gate labelled "MAX HEADROOM 2.3m" and was knocked unconscious, and when his brain was digitized, that was the last image present in his consciousness; and thus, his alter-ego's first words. Also the president of Network 23's largest corporate sponsor from Asia, the Zik-Zak corporation, is named Ped Xing. It could be a Chinese name, but it is also the common American traffic sign abbreviation for "pedestrian crossing". In similar fashion to the twisted, yet bizzarely familiar future world of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, the juxtapositions of intentional technological anachronisms were a recurring feature in the series. As Theora types in computer commands for real-time control of satellites, the camera zooms in to show her typing on the keys of a manual typewriter.

In the end, the series all-too-accurately predicted its own demise. With story lines about TV ratings monitored on a second-by-second basis, and the absolute power of the corporate dollar to control what information does and doesn't get expressed to the people through the media of television, the series was evidently a little too far ahead of its time. After 14 episodes, ABC cancelled it. There was some talk about the character returning in a movie entitled Max Headroom for President but nothing came of it.

As a fad, Max faded from the public eye in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, U.S. cable TV channels Bravo and the Sci-Fi Channel re-ran the series. Reruns also briefly appeared on TechTV in 2001. Science fiction fans eagerly await the show's release on DVD. On September 2, 2005, the original British version of the movie was released into the Japanese DVD rental market[1]. Bravo is a cable television network owned by NBC Universal. ... Sci Fi is an American cable television channel, launched in 1992 and currently owned by corporate conglomerate NBC Universal, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. ... TechTV is also the name of a closed-circuit television network based in Ruston, Louisiana TechTV (May 11, 1998 – May 28, 2004) was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco, California featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. ...

Episode listing

Season 1

1. "Blipverts" (airdate: March 31, 1987)
2. "Rakers" (April 7, 1987)
3. "Body Banks" (April 14, 1987)
4. "Security Systems" (April 21, 1987)
5. "War" (April 28, 1987)
6. "The Blanks" (May 5, 1987)

Season 2

1. "Academy" (September 18, 1987)
2. "Deities" (September 25. 1987)
3. "Grossberg's Return" (October 2, 1987)
4. "Dream Thieves" (October 9, 1987)
5. "Whacketts" (alt. "The Addiction Game") (October 16, 1987)
6. "NeuroStim" (April 28, 1988)
7. "Lessons" (May 5, 1988)
8. "Baby Growbags" (originally unaired in US)

• "Blipverts" was the reworked version of the original "20 Minutes Into the Future" film. The only actor other than Matt Frewer to appear in both versions of the story was Amanda Pays (as Theora Jones, Edison Carter's "controller"). W. Morgan Sheppard would reprise his role as Blank Reg later on in the series (but not in this episode), making him the only other actor to have thus crossed over. All other roles were recast, and several characters (most notably Bryce Lynch) were made far less sinister. Also, in the original film the character of Max Headroom existed as a physical hardware unit, which in the end was "stolen" by Blank Reg and his underachieving pirate network, "Big-Time TV", and went to work for them; but in "Blipverts" and for the rest of the series it was established that Max existed only as software, an independently-acting computer program which (who?) escapes into the Network 23 mainframe and in the end elects to stay there.

• Each episode opened with a "20 Minutes Into the Future" onscreen legend, presumably by way of indicating when all of this takes place, making it a familiar tagline from this series.

• "Baby Growbags" was screened in the UK over Channel 4, but skipped over by ABC in America. It was finally shown in the US over cable channel Bravo in 1997.

• At least one unproduced script, "Theora's Tale," has surfaced, as have the titles for two other stories ("The Trial" and "Xmas"). At this update, not much is known of "The Trial" apart from the title; George R. R. Martin wrote "Xmas" which was in preproduction at the time of cancellation; "Theora's Tale" would have featured a "Video Freedom Alliance" kidnapping Theora, as well as a shooting war in Antarctica between rival advertisers Zik Zak and Zlin.

• William Gibson, a fan of the show, was going to write a script until learning the show was canceled.

Amanda Pays (born on 6 June 1959 in London, England) is an English actress. ... A tagline is a variant of an advertising slogan typically used in movie marketing, commercials, and websites. ... Look up bravo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... George R. R. Martin at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow George R. R. Martin, circa 1986 George Raymond Richard Martin (sometimes called GRRM by fans; born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, and also a screenwriter and producer. ... William Ford Gibson (March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American-born Canadian science fiction author. ...

Predictions

In 1997, life imitated art as predicted by Max Headroom. In the original story, reporter Edison Carter exposed the TV network's efforts to create "Blipverts," a new high-intensity subliminal television commercial which had the unfortunate side-effect of overloading the nervous system of certain viewers to such a degree that they exploded. In a bizarre parallel in 1997, Japan's Pocket Monsters (Pokémon) television series included a sequence of flashing images which unintentionally triggered seizures in hundreds of viewers susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy — fortunately with no fatalities. (Incidentally, the episode in question was never aired in America, despite being relatively important to the plot of the show.) Blipverts were a new high-intensity television commercial which had the consequence of overloading the nervous systems of certain viewers in the film 20 Minutes into the Future and the science fiction television show Max Headroom. ... A subliminal message is a signal or message designed to pass below the normal limits of perception. ... Pokémon , IPA //, although frequently, and even intentionally mispronounced //), is a media franchise[1] created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996 (it celebrated its tenth anniversary on February 27, 2006, and controlled by video game giant Nintendo. ... This article is about the medical term, epileptic seizure, as distinct from psychogenic non-epileptic seizure. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

In 2004 there were reports that some advertising companies were planning to experiment with commercial messages lasting only 2 or 3 seconds in length. In November 2004, the CBS Network issued a report that fast-forwarding through commercials (essentially creating the "blipvert" effect) actually increases recall of an advertiser's message. CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ...

The series is also credited with accurately predicting the rise of the so-called 500-channel universe, reality television and webcams. Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people over professional actors. ... A web camera (or webcam) is a real time camera whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application. ...

A box office slump in the United States starting in 2004 due to the availability of "on demand media" was predicted in the episode "Dream Thieves", in which it is revealed that there are no more movie theaters.[2]

Influences

Network 23 was inspired by the 23 enigma with the specific real and theoretical televisual reference derived from Genesis P-Orridge's use of the number 23 as the number of the Illuminati in his groups Psychic TV & Thee Temple Ov Psychic Youth. The 23 Enigma is a belief that the number 23 is of particular or unusual significance, especially in relation to disasters. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 23 (twenty-three) is the natural number following 22 and preceding 24. ... The Illuminati is the name of many groups, modern and historical, real and fictitious, verified and alleged. ... Psychic TV (sometimes spelt Psychick TV) or PTV, is primarily an electronic music group that occasionally forays into psychedelic, punk, and experimental music. ...

The series' promotional material unmistakably resembles Peter Saville's legendary designs for Factory Records' Manchester club, The Haçienda, opened by Antony Wilson (of Granada TV) with members of New Order in 1981 and recently recreated for the film 24-Hour Party People. New Order are an English rock group formed in 1980 by the surviving members of Joy Division following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. ...

Trivia

• In his comic strip Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau parodied President Ronald Reagan as a Max Headroom-like character called "Ron Headrest".

• Max Headroom-style depictions of Michael Jackson, President Reagan and Ayatollah Khomeini are presented in the 'Café 80's' scene from Back to the Future Part II.

• One of the most bizarre incidents involving the Max Headroom character was on November 22, 1987, when two Chicago, Illinois television stations had their broadcast signals hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask. The first attack took place for 25 seconds during the sportscast on the 9 O'Clock news on WGN-TV Channel 9 and two hours later around 11 o'clock on PBS affiliate WTTW-TV Channel 11 for about 90 seconds during a broadcast of the science fiction series Doctor Who episode Horror of Fang Rock - which also included the masked Max Headroom getting smacked on his bare rear-end by a fly swatter. A copy of the WTTW-TV Channel 11 incident is available under "External links" below. According to television and newspaper reports following the incident it was revealed that it was a college student from the Chicago area who had hacked the two television stations; an incident reminiscent of a similar occurrence in the comedy film Used Cars.

• From 2000 to 2003, the German company T-Online, subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom had a computer generated advertisement character named Robert T-Online which suspiciously looks like Max Headroom. Surprisingly their current CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke looks a lot like that character.

• In the animated children's series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, The Chief is depicted as a fully sentient, wild-haired, joke-cracking digital head, very similar in appearance and function to Max Headroom.

• A parody character called FAX HEADFULL was used in short segments on the PBS educational math show for children Square One.

• In a Season 4 episode of the sci-fi series Farscape, main character John Crichton appears as a Max Headroom parody, who controls an elevator in a strange video game.

• WYCA (102.3 FM) out of Chicago has occasionally used clips from Max Headroom in the bumpers for their "The 80s At 8" segment.

• An adult video parody named Max Bedroom was made in 1987.[3]

• In the Cinemax talk show version, there was a running joke where Max would ask his guest what they thought about golf. Boy George responded with the classic line, "I've got better things to do with my balls."

Doonesbury was featured on the cover of the Feb. ... Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan, Hon GCB, (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... For other people with the same name, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation) Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana) is an American musician and entertainer whose successful music career and controversial personal life have been at the forefront of pop culture for the last quarter-century. ... Order: 40th President Term of Office: January 20, 1981–January 20, 1989 Preceded by: Jimmy Carter Succeeded by: George H.W. Bush Date of birth: February 6, 1911 Place of birth: Tampico, Illinois Date of death: June 5, 2004 Place of death: Los Angeles, California First Lady: Nancy Reagan Political... Imam Musavi Khomeini founded the Islamic Republic of Iran Imam Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini ( ) (Persian: آیت الله روح الله موسوي خمینی Arabic: آية الله روح الله الموسوي الخميني) (May 17, 1900?[1] – June 3, 1989) was a Shia Muslim cleric and marja, and the political and spiritual leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi... Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 film and is the second part of a trilogy, coming after Back to the Future and followed by Back to the Future Part III. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. ... Back to the Future 2 is a 1989 film and is the second part of the Back to the Future trilogy. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... PBS re-directs here; for alternate uses see PBS (disambiguation) PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ... WTTW (Channel 11) is the Chicago, Illinois, member station of the Public Broadcasting Service. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... Horror of Fang Rock is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 3 to September 24, 1977. ... Max Headroom doing a promotion for Cinemax Max Headroom is the name of a fictional artificial intelligence, known for his surreal wit and a stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled delivery. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Used Cars is a 1980 comedy film. ... Headquarter in Darmstadt T-Online, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Telekom, is the biggest internet service provider in Germany. ... DTAG corporate headquarters, Bonn Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) (TYO: 9496 ) (LSE: DEU) (abbreviated DTAG) is the biggest telecommunications company both in Germany and the EU. Deutsche Telekom was formed in 1996 as the former state-owned monopoly Deutsche Bundespost was privatized. ... Carmen Sandiego, as she appeared in {Carmen Sandiego|redirect) Carmen Isabela Sandiego is the eponymous fictional character featured in a long-running series of educational games and television shows in the United States and Canada. ... The Chief is a fictional character in the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? franchise of computer games and TV shows. ... For other uses, see Square One (disambiguation). ... Farscape (1999 – 2004) is a science fiction television series, featuring a present-day astronaut who accidentally travels through a wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy. ... John Robert Crichton, Jr. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Boy George George Alan ODowd, better known as Boy George, (born June 14, 1961, in London, United Kingdom) is a British singer-songwriter and disc jockey who gained fame with his group Culture Club during the 1980s. ...

Predecessors

In the novel "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein, the sentient computer Mike generates an on-screen, pseudonymic "talking head" named "Adam Selene", who in many ways prefigures Max Headroom's mischievous persona. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress cover The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a lunar penal colonys revolt against rule from Earth. ... Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ...

U.S. series cast

• Edison Carter/Max Headroom: Matt Frewer
• Theora Jones: Amanda Pays
• Murray : Jeffrey Tambor
• Bryce Lynch: Chris Young
• Blank Reg: W. Morgan Sheppard
• Ben Cheviot: George Coe
• Lauren: Sharon Barr
• Breugel: Jere Burns
• Angie Barry: Rosalind Chao
• Mahler: Rick Ducommun
• Gene Ashwell: Hank Garrett
• Mr. Bartlett: Andreas Katsulas
• Ned Grossberg: Charles Rocket
• Dominique: Concetta Tomei
• Edwards: Lee Wilkof

Craig Simpson: [Himself] Edison Carter was one of the main characters in the science fiction television series Max Headroom. ... Matt Frewer (b. ... Theora Jones is a fictional character on the television show Max Headroom. ... Amanda Pays (born on 6 June 1959 in London, England) is an English actress. ... Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth Sr. ... Bryce Lynch is a key character in the Max Headroom television series. ... There are several different people named Chris Young in professional sports: Chris Young, safety for the Denver Broncos Chris Young, starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres Chris Young, centerfield prospect for the Arizona Diamondbacks Chris Young is also a musician who wrote How Are Things for You? along with... George Coe is an actor who has appeared in many films and television shows. ... Biography He was born on October 15, 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He has 3 children. ... Rosalind Chao or Chao Jyalin (趙家玲 Pinyin: Zhào Jīalín) is a Chinese American actress born in Anaheim, California. ... Andreas Katsulas Andrew C. Andreas Katsulas (May 18, 1946 – February 13, 2006) was an American actor best known for his roles as Ambassador GKar in the science fiction television series Babylon 5, as the one-armed villain Sykes in the film The Fugitive (1993), and as the Romulan Commander... Ned Grossberg is the name of a recurring villain on the Max Headroom TV series. ... Charles Rocket, born Charles Claverie (August 24, 1949 – October 7, 2005), was an American film and television actor born in Bangor, Maine, USA. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design in the late 1960s and was part of the Rhode Island underground scene in the 1970s. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

External links

• Max Headroom at the Internet Movie Database
• Max Headroom Information and Fan Club
• Max Headroom at ODP
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Action TV
• Public Domain video of WTTW-TV Channel 11 video transmission being hacked available at TVParty.com