Image Not Available
1986-12-26
N/A
40 min
An extra long special where "computer-generated" host from the future Max Headroom sings humorous holiday songs and interviews guests, along with a couple odd skits. Produced as part of the HBO talk show spin-off of the British Channel Four/Chrysalis science fiction series.
How very aptly titled. This isn’t a film, it isn’t even a television programme about a film. It’s a Christmas light entertainment show based on the Channel Four series that ran in the UK in the mid 1980s. It features the stylised Matt Frewer in the title role as the irreverent computer-generated hybrid of Noel Edmonds and Dame Edna Everage delivering pithy one-liners in his uniquely self-effacing and staccato style. What’s really quite striking about this is the shocking quality of the production. I know time hasn’t been especially kind to the ZX81 style of computer graphics but the contributors - especially Robin Williams - look as if they just pre-recorded monologues and the editors dropped in questions and comments from the host ad hoc. He serenades us with a few jolly Christmas songs which have lyrics that have a slightly tongue-in-cheek sentiment to them, and there also features a choir of angelic-looking lads from Southwark Cathedral - but their obviously dubbed efforts are actually quite difficult to sit through. I will admit to never really engaging with the popular “Max” at the time, and nothing has changed.
