("History" and "Credits" are from the FAQ,
though I've edited selectively.)
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"Max Headroom" was the first cyberpunk TV series. It was characterised by intelligent scripts; a quirky sense of humour; some serious speculation about the power and ethics of television; a slightly satirical but intricately realised vision of the future with a gritty, "Brazil"-like, "retro-tech" style; frequent references to traditional cyberpunk concepts ("ice", "flatline", nanotechnology, and so on); and some very good computer-generated special effects (mostly done on Amiga 1000s, by the way, an obvious indicator of taste). Being an intelligent and sophisticated series, it was, of course, cancelled after one season.
The story began in 1984, when Channel Four in Britain wanted to produce a really unusual music-video show, and decided to use a (fake) computer-generated host. They invented the character of Max Headroom, and also commissioned a screenplay describing the fictional story of his origin. The original plan was to split this up into five-minute segments and scatter it among the music videos, but they soon realised that this would be impractical. Instead, it was produced as a feature-length made-for-TV movie, and was shown as a pilot for the music series, to general critical acclaim. Max Headroom, played by a heavily made-up Matt Frewer, went on to host the series (although both the British series and the later American one featured computer graphics on a large scale, Max himself was never an actual computer image).
In 1987, Lorimar in the US acquired the rights to the character, and produced one season (fourteen episodes of about 45 minutes each) of a series based on the British movie. The first episode was a somewhat shorter version of the original story, featuring some of the same actors; later episodes continued the story of Max Headroom, reporter Edison Carter, and Network 23.
Differences between the British and American versions of the pilot ... the British version was longer (about twice as long, in fact) and included a few characters who didn't show up until later episodes in the American version (notably Dominique and Blank Reg of Bigtime TV), but the plot was generally similar, just shown in more detail. The main differences were in the character of Bryce Lynch (in the British version he was a nasty little brat who ended up going down with Grosman (Grossberg), whereas in the American version he had an attack of conscience and ended up on Edison Carter's side), and in the fate of Max himself (in the British version he ended up with Bigtime TV, in the American version he returned to Network 23).
Incidentally, from the birthdate and age given for Bryce Lynch (in the novelisation by Steve Roberts), it can be deduced that "Max Headroom" (at least the British version) takes place in the year 2004.
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Three actors (Matt Frewer, Amanda Pays, and William Morgan Sheppard) played the same roles in both versions.
British version Written by Steve Roberts Directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel Cast Matt Frewer as Edison Carter and Max Headroom Nickolas Grace as Grosman Constantine Gregory as Ben Cheviot Hilton McRae as Breughel Amanda Pays as Theora Jones George Rossi as Mahler William Morgan Sheppard as Blank Reg Roger Sloman as Murray Paul Spurrier as Bryce Lynch Hilary Tindall as Dominique American version See episode listings for writing and direction credits Cast Jere Burns as Breughel George Coe as Ben Cheviot Rick Ducommon as Mahler Matt Frewer as Edison Carter and Max Headroom Amanda Pays as Theora Jones Charles Rocket as Ned Grossberg William Morgan Sheppard as Blank Reg Jeffrey Tambor as Murray Concetta Tomei as Dominique Chris Young as Bryce Lynch
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Well, that's the question, isn't it? There are several possibilities. I'll treat them in no particular order:
First, the original (U.S.) pilot has been released as a stand-alone movie, and I have seen it in video stores (Blockbuster) and entertainment stores (Suncoast) titled as simply "Max Headroom." (though if you're looking for it you should also check under "Blipverts" or "20 minutes into the future.")
Second, the show has been rebroadcast in America in a few different incarnations. First, it was shown weekly on Bravo for a while in a segment called "TV too good for TV" (not a bad tagline). Second, it was being broadcast by the (American) Sci-Fi network, weekly and/or daily. I received some information that Sci-Fi was going to begin broadcasting the show again soon (February??), so look there soon, or check their homepage (in links). Of course, I'm about 5000 miles from anyone who gets the channel, so I won't know if they show it or not, so drop me a line to substantiate any of this info.
Next, apparently the first six episodes of the series were released in Japan on LaserDisc. Although there are sometimes subtitles on the bottom or side of the screen, and there is overdubbed Japanese dialogue recorded on a different track of the disc (aparently no problem for American equipment), I'm told the quality is quite good, and worth the price. I have some more info (ident numbers, etc) around somewhere; I'll post it.) [Thanks:]
But the best way is naturally to talk to someone who either has tapes of the original broadcasts (like, me for example), or someone who taped the rebroadcasts on Bravo (again, like me, tho I will never forgive that I taped them in SLP..), and borrow them or get them to make copies for you. Now, the problems with getting tapes/copies from me are these: First, I won't loan the tapes to you unless I know you personally. Second, I only have one vcr. So if anyone wants copies of my episodes, just pop a vcr in the mail, and I will gladly dub for you every tape I own. :)
Seriously, your best bet is to find people in your area who can help. Try local Science Fiction groups, or you could even put an ad in a magazine or something. Or, post on the newsgroup (in links) and ask there. (I don't get the newsgroup on my server, so I don't know if there are helpful people there or not.)
By the way, if anyone around the world knows other places to find Max, let me know!
Hope all this helps, and good luck!
No, I can't. And if I could, I probably wouldn't. You wouldn't believe how many mails I have gotten asking me this. Amazingly enough, I've never even met the man. :)
However, I do have the address of his publicist around somewhere. They didn't seem too keen on fan mail, but if you earnestly claim to know Mr. Frewer and want me to forward a message, drop me a line. If it sounds like you're lying, I won't do it. (If this sounds harsh, consider that the above question ("I've misplaced Matt Frewer's address. Can you tell it to me?") is taken from an actual email I received. :) )