The Max Headroom Rewatch: Blipverts, Part Two

 

We return to the show with Edison laid out unconscious in Bryce’s lab, with Grossberg laying out to Bryce that they need to know what Edison found out about the Blipvert incident. Bryce decides to use his new brainscanning technology to copy Edison’s neural network into a computer (don’t worry! He already tested it on his parrot!)

And onto the computer screen appears the one, the only M-M-Max HEADROOM!

“Is something going on with my ratings?” Max asks. “I seem to have an audience of two.”

Bryce quickly figures out that Max isn’t just a static copy of Edison’s memories, the construct is actually learning and reacting to his environment. The bad news is, this means they don’t need Edison  anymore…

Grossberg contacts Breughel and Mahler, everyone’s handy cadaver picker-uppers, to haul Edison to the local body bank for disposal. They’ve already transporting the dead body of Edison’s old Controller, Gorman, but Breughel doesn’t mind. “It’s just a carryout. It’s on the way.”

(I don’t know why, but for an episode that’s built on black comedy to start with, Breughel’s utterly stoned delivery of that line is just the funniest/creepiest thing in the script.)

Breughel’s sang fiord is tested when he tries to get payment for dropping off Edison. Evidentially, even with him being a celebrity, he’s only worth an extra 20 points in credits.

Theora, searching frantically for Edison, finally gets a police report that Edison has been killed. Tracing him to the body bank, she talks to the night porter who’s quite agreeable to sell Theora Edison’s carcass. “You want him alive or dead, honey?” the porter asks.

“He’s alive?!”

Back at the Network 23 boardroom, Grossberg introduces Max to the board as “The first computer generated presenter.” The great news is, Max is charming, funny, and a ratings hit. The bad news, he’s still got Edison’s memories. Including the fact that Grossberg is responsible for the Blipvert program….

(after Max is introduced to the board of executives)

“Exec-exec… Oh, you’re the people who execute audiences!”

Edison wakes up in Theora’s apartment, which is very pink and for reason had a Studebaker parked in the corner. No one knows that she found him alive, so she agrees to guide him back into the building to try and get back the tape with the Blipvert info.

Edison gets in, and spots Max on Bryce’s monitor. After surprising Bryce and getting the low down on Max, Theora realizes they just have to get Max to recall the memory of Edison seeing the Blipvert death tape, and record it on Edison’s camera.

Meanwhile Grossberg is getting ready to hold a press conference to announce Edison’s untimely death to the public. While that’s going on, Murrary informs Ben Cheviot of Theora and Edison’s plan to reveal Blipverts to the world. Ben gives him an answer, and we see that he’s now sitting in the head of the board’s room, in Grossberg’s former position.

“What should I do, Mr. Cheviot?”

“Do what you have to, Murray.”

Grossberg begins his mealy mouthed eulogy praising Edison. Only to be interrupted as Edison barges in, camera giving a live feed to the world.

“This is Edison Carter, very much alive and direct, asking Chairman Grossberg about his knowledge of blipverts, and their dangerous and lethal effects.”

Cue Edison returning triumphantly to the news room to receive a round of applause and a hug from Theora. And Max appearing on screens through the wasteland surrounding the city…

NOTES

The plot mostly follows the original Twenty Minutes Into the Future tv-movie, but there are significant differences.

·         The death of blipvert victim uses the footage from the tv-movie, but cuts away just as his body explodes, while we see bits of him flying everywhere in the original version.

·         Edison escapes on his own from the body bank, and Theora finds him already in her apartment, where they end up making love. Thankfully this was cut from the Blipvert pilot ep, giving them a more professional relationship.

·         Bryce Lynch’s characterization is softened quite a bit. In Twenty Minutes he was an outright sociopathic villain, not giving a damn about the blipvert death. Here, he comes across as, well, a 15 year old kid, more naïve than uncaring about the consequences of his actions.

·         Blank Reg and his wife Dominique are nowhere to be found yet. In the original pilot they came into the possession of the case holding Max’s memory core and held onto it, implying they were the ones broadcasting The Max Headroom Show to the world.

Also in an interesting case of executive meddling, in the original broadcast of “Blipverts” Max has a little monolog as the credits start to roll, including the joke, “How can you tell when a network executive is lying? His lips move!” In subsequent broadcasts, the line was rerecorded to “How can you tell when OUR network executive is lying?” Evidentially someone at ABC wasn’t amused with the broad brush of the first line…