History Main / MockHeadroom

* Fitting it's 80's asethetic, ''VideoGame/Wasteland3'' has the God-President Reagan AI which is a direct copy of Max Headroom. [[ShownTheirWork And is glitching out for the same reasons Max did in the pilot]]: lack of memory storage and processing power.

* On November 22, 1987, televisions around UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} watching WGN-TV 9's 9 PM newscast (and those watching the [[Creator/WGNAmerica WGN superstation feed]] across the country) were hijacked, and what they saw was a man dressed as Max Headroom moving around with weird static noises playing in the background. It ended after less than 20 seconds after WGN engineers changed their microwave signal to lock out the pirate. Later that night, Max hijacked WTTW-11, the Creator/{{PBS}} affiliate (which was airing ''Series/DoctorWho''), only this time he spoke. He had a voice filter on, and some notable things he did included throwing a Pepsi can and getting spanked with a flyswatter. To this day, neither the perpetrator nor his female companion have been identified or caught.

* On November 22, 1987, televisions around UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} were hijacked, and what they saw was a man dressed as Max Headroom moving around with weird static noises playing in the background. Later that night, Max hijacked again, only this time he spoke. He had a voice filter on, and some notable things he did includes throwing a Pepsi can and getting spanked with a flyswatter. To this day, neither the perpetrator nor his female companion have been identified or caught.

* On November 22, 1987, televisions around UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} were hijacked, and what they saw was a man dressed as Max Headroom moving around with weird static noises playing in the background. Later that night, Max hijacked again, only this time he spoke. He had a voice filter on, and some notable things he did includes throwing a Pepsi can and getting spanked with a riding crop. To this day, neither the perpetrator nor his female companion have been identified or caught.

* The video for Music/FrontLineAssembly and [[Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence Jimmy Urine's]] cover of [[Music/{{Falco}} Rock Me Amadeus]] features the latter delivering half-rapped, half-sneered verses on an old Sony CRT TV Max Headroom-style under Miami Vice lighting, wearing red-rimmed shades and a skinny pink tie. There are laser lights, models in old-school threads, and vintage video effects, plus a rotating bust of Mozart. It is aggressively '80s until the end where the effects turn into {{Vaporwave}}, the screen begins distorting, and [[GainaxEnding skulls start appearing everywhere]].

* The video for Music/FrontLineAssembly and [[Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence Jimmy Urine's]] cover of [[Music/{{Falco}} Rock Me Amadeus]] features the latter delivering half-rapped, half-sneered verses on an old Sony CRT TV Max Headroom-style under Miami Vice lighting, wearing red-rimmed shades and a skinny pink tie. There are laser lights, models in old-school threads, and vintage video effects, plus a rotating bust of Mozart. Towards the end the effects turn into {{Vaporwave}}, the whole thing starts glitching out, and [[GainaxEnding skulls start appearing everywhere]].

* The video for Music/FrontLineAssembly and [[Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence Jimmy Urine's]] cover of [[Music/Falco Rock Me Amadeus]] features the latter delivering half-rapped, half-sneered verses on an old Sony CRT TV Max Headroom-style under Miami Vice lighting, wearing red-rimmed shades and a skinny pink tie. There are laser lights, models in old-school threads, and vintage video effects, plus a rotating bust of Mozart. Towards the end the effects turn into {{Vaporwave}}, the whole thing starts glitching out, and [[GainaxEnding skulls start appearing everywhere]].

* ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'': A RunningGag portrays Ronald Reagan as a Max Headroom parody named Ron Headrest.

* ''Film/{{Pixels}}'': One of the messages from the aliens, who understand humanity only though 80s culture, is in the form of a CGI Max Headroom.

[[/folder]]

-->'''Hanzi:''' His career is!

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': While in the 1980s, [[spoiler: LMD Coulson]] has his body destroyed, and his consiousness is uploaded in a television. The background of the screen is a near copy of Max Headroom's, Coulson wears a suit, and he speaks glitchily. Coulson directly compares his situation to Max Headroom.

* Fitting it's 80's asethetic [[VideoGame/Wasteland3 Wasteland 3]] has the God-President Reagan AI which is a direct copy of Max Headroom. [[ShownTheirWork And is glitching out for the same reasons Max did in the pilot.]] Lack of memory storage and processing power.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': While in the 1980s, spoiler LMD Coulson has his body destroyed, and his consiousness is uploaded in a television. The background of the screen is a near copy of Max Headroom's, Coulson wears a suit, and he speaks glitchily. Coulson directly compares his situation to Max Headroom.

A staple of 80s culture, ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' has oft been referenced and parodied in many works. Max Headroom is a snarky, faux-CGI television host with a glitchy speech pattern. While not as culturally significant today, he still exists in public consciousness and continues to be referenced.

[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top left: "Rap God" by Music/{{Eminem}}, ''Series/AgentsOfShield'', ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', and the Max Headroom signal hijacking]]

* On November 22, 1987, televisions around UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} were hijacked, and what they saw was a man dressed as Max Headroom moving around with weird static noises playing in the background. Later that night, Max hijacked again, only this time he spoke. He had a voice filter on, and some notable things he did were throw a bottle of soda and get his butt spanked. To this day, the perpetrator has not been identified or caught.

* Music/{{Eminem}}: In the music video for "Rap God", Eminem dresses as Max Headroom in front of a moving lines background and is shown inside televisions.

* ''Film/TheGame'': A camera is planted in Nicholas's mansion via a wooden clown (don't ask), and interferes with the newscast on his television, taking over the form of RealLife journalist Daniel Schorr. He toys with Nicholas with an odd, filtered voice and glitching effects before informing him that his Game has begun.

* Has a glitchy way of speaking, stammering random words.

[[folder:Other]]

* Appears in a work related to the TheEighties.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': While in the 1980s, spoiler LMD Coulson has his body destroyed, and his consiousness is uploaded in a television. The background of the screen is a near copy of Max Headroom's Coulson wears a suit, and he speaks glitchily. Coulson directly compares his situation to Max Headroom.

* [[EldritchAbomination The Black Signal]] of ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''. Among other things, he's essentially a ghost haunting the electronic systems of Tokyo, regularly taking over TV screens, PA systems, phones, and even the game's Lore entries; he will regularly glitch and repeat random words, including in text-only appearances; furthermore, it's made clear that he was once human: [[spoiler: he was John Copley, the terrorist behind the Filth-bomb on the Tokyo subways, having been transformed into an intangible monster as a result of being at the very epicenter of the blast.]] Though he doesn't manifest an avatar at any point in the game, the preview comic for Issue 10 makes the Max Headroom parallel all the clearer by having his human face appear in multiple TV screens across Tokyo.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'': After Sy Borgman [[spoiler: sacrifices himself to defeat Doctor Psycho]], it is revealed that he has a copy of his brain saved. He is portrayed inside of a television screen with Max Headrooms glitchy manner of speaking.