Geekklesia

Michael Cassutt is a writer and producer of a number of television series, including THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1985), THE OUTER LIMITS (1990), and EERIE, INDIANA (1991) and most recently, Z NATION (2014). But he can also take credit for his work on MAX HEADROOM (1987), and during this 30th anniversary celebration, I am thrilled that he agreed to an interview on what is now regarded as “the first cyberpunk television series.”  The interview was conducted during the 25th anniversary, and reposted here. GK: Thanks for subjecting yourself to this interview- this is very exciting for me, as I was in college, majoring in Radio/Television/Film when MAX HEADROOM debuted, so you can imagine how it resonated with me. And that affection has only grown over the years. So, to begin, how did you become involved in the MAX HEADROOM TV series? MC: I got hired on MAX because of Phil DeGuere, who was my boss on TWILIGHT ZONE. A vastly experienced network showrunner, Phil had been teamed with Peter...

As a follow up to the previous post on Truth and Justice in the  Max Headroom  world, I wanted to reflect on the consequences for crimes and misdeeds as portrayed in the series.  One of the tropes in cyberpunk (of which Max Headroom is an example [1] ), is the subversion of justice in favor of the wealthy.  I’ve already explored briefly the fact that justice is outside of the means of the have-nots dwelling in the Fringes and beyond [2] . But on the other side of the equation, it appears that the Haves in the world of Max Headroom don’t have a problem securing sufficient cash to avoid much of the consequences of their actions.  In the pilot episode, “Blipverts,” Ned Grossberg is the chairman of the number one television network, Network 23.  Edison Carter is the largest ratings producer though his investigative journalism program [3] . Edison stumbles upon a conspiracy to roll out a revolutionary advertising system that has the unfortunate sid...

 There was once a disparaging comment about believing in something simply because “I saw it on TV.”   Max Headroom  takes that tension and makes it a central theme.  Many episodes deal with what people see and how easily they can be duped and the cavalier attitude that people in power have toward the truth. In a media and corporate-driven society, ratings are cash and cash is power.  If one has enough cash, one has enough power to shape truth to whatever form is most expedient to increase ratings and thereby increase revenue. In this world, network executives realize that they are playing fast and loose with the truth, but that knowledge is of no concern. One board member of Network 23 accuses Network 66 of theft by “falsifying ratings,” to which Network 23 Chairman Ben Cheviot responds “Nonsense, its merely ethically dubious, perfectly normal practice.”  [1] The same episode focuses tightly on the role of media and its manipulation of the t...

There are three episodes of the  Max Headroom  series which deal either directly or indirectly with religion and matters of faith. The first season episode ‘finale,’ “Blanks,” [1]  dealt with individuals who have elected to remove themselves from the computer databases of the world.  There is no official record of their existence and they are referred to as the “Blanks” of the episode title.  The plot of the story is one where the political chief executive officer, [2]  Simon Peller, has decided to wage a campaign against the Blanks. Because they have no records, they don’t officially exist, and therefore have no rights.  In a later episode where another Blank is arrested, [3]  we see that Blanks are matched up by a computer with unsolved crimes regardless of whether or not they actually committed them.  It’s almost as if racial profiling has gone berserk.  In “Blanks,” Simon Peller arrests and imprisons the Blanks because he finds the...

  Oh, my.  I'm actually giddy with anticipation.  I just received word that a character that I'd considered nigh-legendary in the sub-sub-genre of speculative fiction, that of the Weird Western, has been rebooted.  I speak, of course, of none other than Six-Gun Gorilla . Regular readers of the stuff I throw up on this virtual wall will recall that I have a short list of characters that I would love to see rebooted .  As of now, what I have written about are radio characters, like Chandu the Magician, Rocky Jordan and the lead characters from the Ghost Corps.  I never expected that Six-Gun Gorilla would get a reboot in the form of a comic, because, while I loved the idea, I thought he was such a niche figure that almost no one else would be interested in him.  In my mind, he would remain a lone pioneering figure, back when the idea of the Weird Western had not been fully articulated as it is now. The plot is simple. An old west miner has a pe...