References in Pop Culture
Max Headroom has inspired many imitations and spoofs. In the '80s, Garry Trudeau created the character Ron Headrest for his political comic strip Doonesbury. The character combined the concepts of Max Headroom and then US President Ronald Reagan. Back to the Future Part II also featured a Max Headroom inspired Reagan, as well as computer generated versions of Michael Jackson and the Ayatollah Khomeini as waiters at the fictitious Cafe '80s. There is an homage to Max Headroom in the 1997 film Batman & Robin when Barbara encounters her uncle Alfred Pennyworth in the batcave. He has programmed his brain algorithms into the batcomputer and created a virtual simulation. He appears and speaks (stutteringly) like Max Headroom.
Nickelodeon's ME:TV made a "You're watching ME:TV" clip with Ryan Knowles impersonating Max Headroom on the webwall. In the clip, Ryan's hair was combed back like Max's, and he stutters occasionally and the background panned vertically with purple and blue neon stripes. In episode 7, "John Quixote", of Farscape's season 4, John Crichton enters virtual reality where he encounters a Max Headroom-like version of himself.
There is also a song by Punk Rock Band Sum 41 called "Second Chance for Max Headroom".
In the Ernest Cline novel Ready Player One, protagonist Wade Watts uses the name Bryce Lynch as his alias.
Read more about this topic: Max Headroom (TV series)
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