( Read more... )

As a follow up to the previous post on Truth and Justice in the Max Headroom world, I wanted to reflect on the consequences for crimes and misdeeds as portrayed in the series.  One of the tropes in cyberpunk (of which Max Headroom is an example [1]), is the subversion of justice in favor of the wealthy.  I’ve already explored briefly the fact that ( Read more... )

There was once a disparaging comment about believing in something simply because “I saw it on TV.”  Max Headroom takes that tension and makes it a central theme.  Many episodes deal with what people see and how easily they can be duped and the cavalier attitude that people in power have toward the truth.

In a media and corporate-driven society, ( Read more... )

There are three episodes of the Max Headroom series which deal either directly or indirectly with religion and matters of faith. The first season episode ‘finale,’ “Blanks,” [1] dealt with individuals who have elected to remove themselves from the computer databases of the world.  There is no official record of their existence and they are referred ( Read more... )

Chandu the Magician is another Old Time Radio (OTR) character I'd like to see rebooted.  I reviewed the series sometime ago, and it is still at the top of my favorites list. Frank Chandler is an American who goes off to study esoterica at the feet of a yogi in India for about ten years, where he assumes the alternate name of 'Chandu'. He returns to ( Read more... )

The Max Headroom television series almost invariably begins with the tagline “20 minutes into the future.” This is usually seen in a caption at the bottom of the screen superimposed over the establishing shot for the episode.  It is also, not coincidentally, the title of the UK telefilm that served (with a handful of adjustments) as the pilot for ( Read more... )

The visual similarity between Max Headroom and Blade Runner is not accidental.  Early on, in the development of the UK telefilm and later reshot for the American pilot and subsequent episodes, the decision was made to emulate the dark, gritty, cold, urban landscape of the Ridley Scott film which has become the standard image of what a cyberpunk ( Read more... )

Much has been made of the predictive nature of the Max Headroom series.  The show has been credited with predicting things like hacking, network ‘viruses’, on-line shopping, and many others. [1]  However, some critics have also pointed out that what science fiction does best is not predicting the future so much, but either extrapolating current ( Read more... )

At 10:00 p.m. ET on March 31, 1987, American viewers were exposed to something very different than what they had come to expect from network television.  Last place ABC premiered the Max Headroom television series, riding off of the hugely popular character imported from the United Kingdom.

By the time the first episode, ‘Blipverts,’ aired, the  ( Read more... )

The site Masters in IT has posted its list of the top fifty geeky movies of all time. While I would quibble with their selection, I have decided to print their list. I have bolded the ones that I have seen.

50. Akira
49. Stargate
48. Spaceballs
47. Gattaca
46. Office Space
45. Fight Club
44. Run Lola Run
43. Memento
42. 300
41. Lucas
40. Sin ( Read more... )