Max Headroom
Debuting in 1985, Max Headroom was the first computer generated television personality. Headroom emerged from a
dystopian future dominated by advertising-based television controlled by a small conglomerate of large tech
corporations dubbed The Network, an entity oft compared to
terminator
. The
Network
functioned with full governmental
authority, passing laws against turning off television sets and using various forms of cathode ray technology to
monitor viewers movements and communication. Headroom's
ai
system was generated from
the memories of activist
journalist Edison Carter, the only dissenting voice from within the Network and the public's sole source of
unadulterated information. Headroom's name was auto-generated from Carter's last memory before perishing in a
suspicious accident in a parking garage: the sign "MAX HEADROOM, 2.3H" (delineating an overhead clearance of 2.3
meters). On November 22, 1987, the Max Headroom A.I. was used to hijack the signal of two television stations in
Chicago during an airing of the Dr. Who serial "Horror of Fang Rock"
1
in an act of video piracy. Throughout
the
83-second intrusion, Max Headroom displayed cryptic and erratic behavior, repeatedly degrading
error
2
, singing "I
Know I'm Losing You" by the Temptations, whistling the Clutch Cargo
3
theme and later referencing its final
episode,
"The Big X"
4
. The intrusion culminated in Headroom's bare buttocks being struck repeatedly with a fly
swatter. A
reward of $100,000 was offered by the FCC for any information regarding the incident, but the culprits behind the
hijacking and their methodology remain, to this day, unidentified. The incident was anchored around Network 23, a
number referenced repeatedly in the intrusion, perhaps as a nod to the
23-enigma
.
1 The intrusion occurred as the lead characters were waiting for the arrival of the Time Lord.
2 Leading to speculation of possible Pepsi Cola involvement as part of the ongoing error .
3 A serialized animated television series known best for pioneering the use of Syncro-Vox - a technology involving the implantation of moving human mouths on static drawn figures.
4 A notoriously strange episode involving the use of a coal-powered rocketship to prevent a "musical asteroid" from destroying the moon.