Hi all, Getting a bit off-topic, but I'm a big Max Headroom fan and heave a heap of trivia in my head about him, so just thought I'd put in my two bob's worth:

I actually loved that show, one of the first Sci-fi Post-Apoc series I really got into. Too bad you can't get anyone to play the episodes any more, although Understand you can still buy the UK TV show pilot-movie on VHS...

I'd say it was the first Sci-fi Post-Apoc show ever. It was "cyberpunk" before the word had even been invented! It is also a show with a long and complicated history... The UK's Channel 4 was creating a video clip show and wanted a "digital host" to introduce them and to tell jokes, so the idea of Max Headroom was born. The original idea was to have the story of how Max Headroom was created to be broadcast as 5 minute slices during the video clips, but that was eventually deemed too difficult so instead they commissioned a movie (well, it was only a 60 minute show actually) to introduce the character. It was a very dark bit of Sci-Fi and was definitely very British in it's feel, despite having Canadian Matt Frewer as the lead. The movie ends with "Big Time Television" (who specialised in broadcasting old rock videos) driving off with Max, and thus Max's role on the clip show was set. I'm not sure how many video clip shows Max hosted on Channel 4, but I suspect it wasn't that many. Incidentally, the "computer graphics" for the movie were done by Rod Lord, who also did the animations/computer graphics for The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. He won a Bafta for each of them. (www.rodlord.co.uk) Anyway, then Lorimar (I think) decided to make a TV series using the character. They commissioned 6 episodes originally. Matt Frewer and Amanda Payes reprised their roles but all other actors were replaced. The show also had a bit more comedy and the future was a little less "dark". The first episode was basically the original Channel 4 movie rewritten and it now ended with Max staying with Network 23. Some of the original animation was reused, but subsequently all graphics were done using Commodore Amigas. (Amiga fans out there therefore love this TV series.) Lorimar then commissioned another 8 episodes but only broadcast 6 of them before the show was cancelled. (No idea if the reason was entirely down to ratings or not. It was probably a fairly expensive show to make too.) The remaining 2 episodes were eventually broadcast by the Sci-Fi channel many years later. The original TV movie was released on video in the UK but has been deleted for 10 years. The first 6 episodes of the TV series have also been released on VHS, but have also been deleted for a long time. You can often find copies of eBay though. I'm not sure if any videos were ever released in North America. There are currently no plans that I know of to release DVDs of any episodes, so if you are a fan the best place to look is the net. The "Digital Archive Project" have made available eDonkey/eMule links to nice high-quality encodes of all episodes plus the Art Of Noise video clip. http://www.dapcentral.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=MasterList2&file=i ndex&show=13 Here endth the history lesson of life "20 minutes into the future". Michael

Very interesting history on the Max Headroom phenomenon.

Glad somebody got something out of it. <grin>

You didn't mention any dates, but the pilot is listed as being released in 1985. I wanted to point out that Bruce Bethke is credited with coining the term "cyberpunk" in [snip!]

Fair points. I guess what I really wanted to say was that Max Headroom was "cyberpunk" before it was trendy and/or popular (which for TV is achievement), and what is more it never had to refer to itself as being "cyberpunk" - it wasn't cashing in, it just was what it was. (If anything I would say it borrowed some of its "feel" from Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", but since that also game out in '85 I'd need to know the months of release and how long production took to make a fair call on that.) To bring this back on topic, would anyone like to comment on Yello's almost total lack of cyberpunk/futuristic references in their work? For a group that has always been on the cutting edge with technology they tend to keep their lyrics (well, those that make any sense!) fairly grounded in the present or even the past. Contrast that with groups like Kraftwerk or artists like Thomas Dolby who regularly go "Sci-Fi" in their lyrics. Michael

I know its an old topic (trying to get caught up again), but I gotta comment: I'm not as knowledgeable about Max as you are, but a fan still. :) It hurts me to see the way that Max has been treated by the media. No DVD release (that really hurts) and finding ANY episodes not just from the series, but also from the MaxHeadroom Show and Max's Christmas special (which I happen to have somewhere on poorly-recorded tape from their original Cinemax airing), and who else knows how many other shows were done that never made it to the states and/or ones I never knew about. ABC did try to keep the show going, but for whatever reasons it never caught on. I did notice one thing though: It's kind of ironic how the real-life goings-on with the juggling and moving around done by Cinemax/ABC/Sci-Fi/Bravo here in the states seemed to follow the theme of the first episode/movie and some of the episodes in the series. Hmmm... Maybe Max was hitting home a little too close for some media networks? Blipvert!: !#JZKDF:LQK$ %IQ)$#*RA)W$*% AOF:LGJ XDR(O%Q DSGOUJXD $%U)J ;-) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thug" <thug5@optusnet.com.au> Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 7:06 AM Subject: [Yello] OT: Max Headroom

Getting a bit off-topic, but I'm a big Max Headroom fan