https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/max-headroom-reboot-amc-matt-frewer-halt-catch-fire
AMC Networks is developing a reboot of the staple of 1980s pop culture with the help of Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell and producer Elijah Wood, whose company SpectreVision is attached to the project.
Matt Frewer, who originated the Max Headroom character in 1985, is also set to return to reprise his role, so get ready for eerily perfect hair and frequent glitching.
One of the most memorable pop culture oddities of the 1980s, Max Headroom originated with a British TV movie titled Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. Billed as the first entirely computer-generated TV host, the supposedly artificial intelligence character immediately struck a chord with audiences thanks to his distinctive look, speaking style, and futuristic concept. He went on to pop up all over television in the ensuing years, appearing in commercials, hosting music videos programs, and even getting two seasons of his own ABC TV series in 1987. Despite being off the air for years, he remains a frequently referenced aspect of 1980s nostalgia, and gained infamy when his likeness was used as part of a legendary (and legendarily creepy) pirate broadcast in 1987.
At the moment, we don't know what form this new incarnation of Max Headroom will take, whether it'll be a deliberate throwback to the 1980s, something updated for the 2020s, or even a legacy sequel-style concept that examines what the Max of the 1980s would make of the modern world. However it takes shape, though, this'll be an interesting project to watch.
I remember Max Headroom - but I don't know how many of our community will...
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Monday August 01 2022, @02:57PM (1 child)
This user remembers Max Headroom.
Also remember actual Halt and Catch Fire - but only the Commodore Pet iteration (original - IBM? - was before my time). Also only second hand / hearsay as the year I was old enough to access school computer lab and try it, they replaced the Pets with BBC Micros - spent a good five years in school (and more later in further education) researching / searching for actual HCF instruction on BBCs, sadly without success. Had to be content with being employed building stuff that was designed to blow up instead (for a while - quit due to boredom, rather than any actual ethics...).
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday August 01 2022, @06:26PM
I loved that Max Headroom! So did my kids, who were pretty small then.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RedGreen on Monday August 01 2022, @03:28PM (1 child)
"I remember Max Headroom - but I don't know how many of our community will..."
Watched every episode when it was on. The spot on depiction on most of society ills is still relevant today. Even more so I would say with the deceptive way that media is being used to fuck over the people, for their human rights and much more to keep the parasite corporation with their business class in power. The manipulations that are done to keep the no mind people who can be easily lead to go against their on best interest has never been more true, though it was not the first to make this point, many others like Orwell had done it almost a century before..
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 4, Insightful) by RamiK on Monday August 01 2022, @06:11PM
But with all pretense gone and last remaining scared cows put to the slaughter, what's left to parody that doesn't lie within partisan lines already?
The criticism might be relevant, but the jokes are just not funny anymore.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2022, @03:40PM
I think of Max's interviewees every time I drive past the junk strewn travel trailers on Kato Road and 880
in the shadow of Muskland, with car carriers parked next to it filled with Tesla Wealthmobiles.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Thexalon on Monday August 01 2022, @03:40PM
With the news networks dominated by professional propagandists with heavy makeup so they look like no normal person ever would and who barely even pretend to be reporting facts, it's going to be hard for Max to stand out.
Heck, we even have adverts being disguised as all sorts of things, exactly the thing Max Headroom was trying to stop.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Monday August 01 2022, @04:08PM (2 children)
Nah, we need more signal hijackings [wikipedia.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2022, @04:36PM (1 child)
Pretty much impossible now with analog STLs gone.
Not that anyone cares about broadcast TV any more.
s/TV/Phones/ bonus points for GPS tracking
s/Japanse/Chinese/
and you got today
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday August 01 2022, @05:24PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion#Television_signal_intrusions [wikipedia.org]
Anonymous: How hackers are trying to undermine Putin [bbc.com]
Broaden the definition of "signal hijacking", and it can still be done. TV stations can be hacked, YouTube and Pluto TV can be hacked, etc. You could reach millions of people with the initial "broadcast" and more with reuploads. It's just going to be a lot harder to pull off in most cases.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by liar on Monday August 01 2022, @05:16PM (1 child)
About two weeks ago, my wife and I were watching Tubi and I muttered 'where's blipverts when you need them?' to which she replied 'blip whats?'. So I said 'from Max Headroom', which she didn't know. So I fired up the first episode for her from my archive drive (where I have them all). What a strange coincidental world we live in...
I wonder how long it will be before having an off button will be a crime.
Noli nothis permittere te terere.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Tuesday August 02 2022, @01:32AM
The problem with Max Headroom back then.... it was "too cerebral" for most people. :P
You joke, but we are getting close. Advertisers don't want to miss a minute of tracking you. I've had to ask, with complete seriousness, if one can even turn down the volume or change channels when an ad is playing now.
The technology in the Max Headroom universe was very prophetic. The TVs were what we would call "smart TVs" these days - just with CRTs that looked dated even for the 1980s. In the TV show, characters could send e-mail, send video messages, video conference, pick up a small TV and use it as a broadcast video camera, they all had what they called "2-way samplers" that watched their users to get realtime rating metrics and more, TVs could run local software programs (that could be erased with a degausser :P ), networked together so the likes of Max could bounce around on them, attach a keyboard and a TV became a computer terminal. Vote with your remote!
Any rate, I seriously doubt any "modern" adaptation could ever satirize TV and communications like the original did. Modern TV programming is very mindful of those who might be advertising. Don't want to upset anyone by having a land line telephone save the day, got to stuff a smart phone in the viewers face!
On top of that, the few sci-fi-ish shows that have been on TV the last number of years seem to just pull uninspired random shit out of their asses with not even a thought about continuity or building characters or a universe that viewers might explore. Five minutes of action and the rest is characters bitching about their personal relationships.
I have zero faith that any reboot would be anything other than Max selling cell phones.
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