Max Headroom first appeared on the scene in 1985. Half-actor, half-animated, “the first computer-generated television host” quickly achieved cult status.
George Orwell writes his bleak version of the future in 1948. In the novel “1984” humanity lives in a total surveillance state. There is no more privacy. There is fear, poverty and war. Certain words are considered a threat and are therefore removed from everyday speech. Ironically, in the Orwell year, Max Headroom takes the stage. However, the partly computer-animated announcer of music clips is the colorful opposite of Orwell’s grey-black world of the future. He is developing into a digital cult figure in an otherwise analogue time.
The internet is not born yet. Through the cyber character Max Headroom, however, the world gets a first glimpse of a digital future that is not too far away. It is the product of British computer designers Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. At the time, the British TV broadcaster Channel 4 was looking for a new anchorman for a music clip show. The choice falls on Max Headroom.
Max Headroom, a figure of bits and bytes?
The computer guy with neatly slicked-back blonde hair, steel-blue eyes and teeth dentists would love is fast becoming a hit on Channel 4. Max Headroom isn’t actually a computer-generated digital character, it’s the Canadian actor Matt Frewer. For a long time, the developers of the computer-animated moderator have kept the true existence of their fictional character a secret. In any case, viewers have long believed that Max Headroom came to life from bits and bytes.
To make Matt Frewer look like Max Headroom, he needs a porridge and rubber face mask, blue contact lenses and a latex wig. The transformation into the digital art figure takes over four hours each time.
In fact, only the alienated image and the animated background, in front of which Max Headroom hits the audience with his snappy jokes, come from the computer. All visualizations and effects have been programmed on a Commodore Amiga.
Also read: C64 – the first successful home computer in breadbox format
An English phenomenon in particular
The man with the blond hair quickly wins the favor of the audience because of his cheeky nature. The inventors therefore do everything they can to further increase the popularity of the character from the future. In 1985 the TV movie “Max Headroom – 20 Minutes into the Future” was shown in the USA. In Germany, the concoction only appeared years later under the title “Max Headroom – Der Film”.
The cult surrounding the “first computer-generated television presenter” is primarily concentrated in the English-speaking world. In Germany, interest is limited because pure music clip programs like the ones in Great Britain are unknown in this country. The German audience prefers to watch real moderators in the chart show “Formula One”. In this TV show, viewers meet Max Headroom in 1986. The digital anchorman stars in the video by the art-pop group The Art of Noise. At that time she had a small international hit with the song “Paranoimia”.
Max Headroom: Advertising character and series star
Max Headroom’s fame in the English world continues to grow. The blonde fictional character even advertises Coca-Cola. The short commercials will be directed by none other than Ridley Scott. He has already shot an iconic advertising clip for Apple. Horror fans adore the director for the oppressive shocker “Alien”.
In 1987 a whole series about Max Headroom was created in the USA. In it, the world finally learns how the character got its name. Reporter Edison Carter loses his life in an accident. The last words he reads before his death are “max. headroom”. These stand on the barrier that costs him his life. Translated, the words mean: “maximum headroom”.
With the help of a computer specialist, Edison Carter’s thoughts end up in the mind of a computer-generated character. It is called like the last thoughts of the deceased: Max Headroom. From then on, the reporter’s computer copy fights against corruption, crime and oppression.
The first season of the series is successful, at least in English-speaking countries. However, the following second season cannot build on this and is canceled prematurely. Actor Elijah Wood is said to want to reactivate the Max Headroom format as a series.
One last sign of life
The figure last caused a stir in 1987. The so-called “Max Headroom Hijacking Incident” is making waves on US television. A hacker group manages to tune into the current TV program. A bizarre character with a Max Headroom mask appears on the screen and disturbs the TV viewers. To this day there is no trace of the hackers.
And in Germany, too, Max Headroom experienced a revival at the end of the 1990s. Robert T-Online looks like its digital brother. In the spot, the German advertising figure praises T-Online’s DSL connections.
After that, however, the cult figure will finally go into digital retirement. Because in the meantime, reality has not only caught up with the cyber future of a Max Headroom, it has long overtaken it. With artificial intelligence and deepfake videos, a new future is already upon us.