Wing Commander Movie Night: Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future

It's all downhill from here! Now that the Wing Commander movie club has checked off Heaven's Gate, pretty much everything else in the queue seems short in comparison. Now, back to the future! This week we will be watching an obscure one: Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1985). You likely know the Max Headroom character from one of his endless pop culture appearances (perhaps a Coca-Cola commercial!) but you might not be aware that he first appeared in a British television film. And this week, we're going to see what it was all about! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

The Wing Commander connection is pretty interesting this time! Max Headroom is one of several properties mentioned in a July 1997 design document for Privateer 3 (not yet subtitled Retribution)! Privateer 3 didn't make it out, but Origin produced a great amount of material during its development and that has continued to entertain fans and inform later parts of the Wing Commander canon. You can read the complete document here.

Fiction Environment: Unlike the spit polished image of Wing Commander, Privateer 3 is aiming for the dirty, grim underbelly of the Wing universe. The characters should be dark and seedy, but not polarized to the extent that you can tell the good guys from the bad guys. Everyone is holding on to their little corner of the universe after the end of the war and trying to get by the best way they can. Expect to find some corrupt Confed agents, expect to find some lowly good Samaritans.

The closest thing to compare to this anti-utopian universe is the physical and social environment of Blade Runner, Max Headroom, or The Little Mermaid. The ethnic diversity should also be different than the WASP image that Wing holds. There are still minorities in the future, though not the same ones that exist in our present time period. Minorities may be cyborgs, androids, breeder babies, etc.

There's also an easily missed cast connection: both the British pilot film and the ensuing American television series star Amanda Pays as Theora Jones, Max Headroom's network controller. Ms. Pays also appeared in Privateer 2: The Darkening as Assassin #3, a Kindred assassin sent to kill Lev Arris in the game's introduction (along with her partner, Assassin #4 played by Su Lin Loi).

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future is available on the Internet Archive. There is also a very high quality copy on YouTube. It is not available to purchase on the standard streaming services. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

How can I help pick future movie club movies?

The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.