Friday, July 15, 2022

Max Headroom

 We are going to step back in time to a time of big hair and shoulder pads.  The year 1985 to be exact.  A time of Live AID concerts, with Mikhail Gorbachev rising to power in the Soviet Union, Route 66 no longer a highway and Coca Cola introducing their, "New Coke."

Yea.  Lots of weird stuff.

To add to the "weirdness," an artificial intelligence character is created and named, Max Headroom.  Max is known for his wit, stuttering and his pitch changing voice.  He was dubbed the first "computer generated TV presenter."  He had his own movie (Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future) and would make appearances on TV shows like MTV, introducing music videos.  Oh, yea, he even starred in a music video and had his own TV show, The Max Headroom Show.  

Max was created by using the head of an actual person.  Changes in lighting created the character we know as Max Headroom.  

Looking back at this time, no one really batted an eye.  I mean, here is this creepy computer generated talking head on your TV screen (he doesn't have a body!) and everyone seems to think that this is OK and normal.  If this was done today, put a creepy computer generated head on television, the world would think that it was a terrorist attacking us through our TV screens!

I don't know how people thought this was normal or cool.  I have to admit, I was a little weirded out by Max.  Nothing like seeing this odd, talking head on my television with the snarky comments, the pasty white skin and the stuttering.  It's almost like something out of a horror film.

Do you remember Max Headroom?

What are your thoughts on this bodyless talking head?

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