They covered all their bases and wanted their “computer creation” to have a proper backstory for their TV show. They brought in actor Matt Frewer as he had a lot of improv ability, wit and was able to imply that sense of self-importance and general douchebaggery. The concept was put together and the idea was to base Max partly on Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. They were also sick of the sterile, one dimensional, insincere and arrogant douchebags they were seeing on every channel. He would be created by a few people including George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton. In the ‘80s you had a big explosion of insincere and egotistical TV personalities and this created an idea that would develop into Max Headroom and his personality. They’re all trying to be the next Ryan Seacrest and they’re all pretty insufferable. We live in an age now with pretty mindless and morornic entertainment channel “personalities” that are all really a dime a dozen if you ask me.
His parents were not a Commodore 64 and a Speak N Spell. Wait, I’m not talking about him being conceived I’m meaning the development of the actual concept. So if you have wondered who Max Headroom is, you’re about to find out. So he was part cartoon, part video game but had a lot of story and development that went behind him. There was also the very bizarre “Max Headroom incident” which I’ll get to later.
#Voice of max headroom movie#
You might think of him as just a one-off use for things like this but there’s quite a lot of backstory, a movie and TV shows that developed the character. Max Headroom made a real splash in the ‘80s trying to capitalize on the advancements in technology and become a true TV personality. But the story of Max Headroom is an interesting one as it’s part performance art, part ingenuity and maybe a bit of absurdity. You might only have awareness of Max Headroom from Back to the Future II when he’s on the TV in the Cafe ‘80s or you might remember him from the New Coke commercials. He would be used in TV shows and commercials. He was considered the first computer-generated TV host but the effect was created by makeup and prosthetics.
Max Headroom was a fictional artificial intelligence character who was played by Matt Frewer. Surely, they knew their prank would make the local papers, but it's doubtful they realized that we'd still be watching their video decades later.The 80s was a period of many technological advances and a TV character would be created that would embrace the modern technology. "I just made a great masterpiece for all the great world newspaper nerds," their Max Headroom said, making another WGN reference (WGN stands for World's Greatest Newspaper). Whoever they were, they made a lasting impression. Although the longer broadcast was on WTTW, it appears that WGN was the real target since the perpetrators made WGN-related references, including the mention of Swirsky and humming the theme of the cartoon Clutch Cargo. Or maybe they were disgruntled WGN employees. Perhaps the perpetrators were broadcasting students from a near by college. But last year, the FCC's lead investigator of the incident, Michael Marcus, told Vice Motherboard surplus amateur radio gear would have done the trick, though it would have at least required significant knowledge of broadcasting technology. At the time, WGN officials speculated that the pranksters would have needed powerful, expensive equipment to override its broadcast. The prevailing theory is that the hijackers beamed their own signal from a tall building, or perhaps a van, directly at WGN and WTTW's antenna, overpowering the signal sent by the companies' own transmitters. "Exactly how these pirates were able to pull off the overriding of WGN-TV and WTTW-TV's signals is not yet known for certain," Chicago Radio and Media reported in 2012. But also like today's hacks, the prank required sophisticated technical skills. Like most of today's acts of cyber-vandalism, the content of Max Headroom interruption was juvenile.
It's been nearly 27 years, but the incident remains a mystery. >'Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I.' "Yeah, I think I'm better than Chuck Swirsky!" the infiltrator announced in a high pitched, distorted voice, referring to the Chicago area sports announcer. This time, the pranksters were able to broadcast their entire video, complete with audio. But two hours later, PBS affiliate station WTTW's broadcast of Doctor Who was similarly interrupted. "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I," the station's sports anchor Dan Roan said when the signal was restored. After about 30 seconds, WGN's technicians were able to override the pirate signal.
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