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Friday, August 28, 2009

DVD Denied



Can somebody explain to me how the truly smart funny erratic sf series Max Headroom from 1987 (the subtitle was "twenty minutes into the future," which, given that we haven't arrived there in twenty years, to the extent that we were not already there before the episodes aired, demonstrates that the show's critical self-consciousness fully extended to the futurological tropes it subversively cited along with everything else) has not found its way onto DVD? I mean, they made me wait for what seemed like ever for my beloved Night of the Comet on DVD, but it makes no sense at all that Max Headroom hasn't been given the deluxe treatment yet. I mean, our Showgirls DVD came with pasties and shot glasses, our original series BSG box is a life-sized shiny Cylon head, and our Planet of the Apes set is encased in Chimp Che Chic with hair you can actually comb, where's the love for M-m-m-m-max?

5 comments:

Jarrett said...

other DVD's I am waiting for:

The Complete season of Ally McBeal.
The Complete series of Daria.

The Reckless Moment...

Tell me about it....

Athena Andreadis said...

Max Headroom was truly pioneering and interesting to boot. I can't believe they didn't put it on DVD. Major cluelessness.

jimf said...

> the subtitle was "twenty minutes into the future," which. . .
> demonstrates that the show's critical self-consciousness
> fully extended to the futurological tropes it subversively
> cited. . .

D'you remember the body broker answering the phone when
Max's flesh-and-blood bits were being auctioned off after
his accident? "Nightingale's Body Shop. Florence speaking."
;->

There was a spate of cyberpunkish TV back in the early
90s. Remember the "Wild Palms" miniseries, with Angie
Dickinson? I couldn't figure out **what** the hell that
was about, except it had something to do with holograms
being used to take over the world.
http://www.tomorrowmuseum.com/tag/wild-palms/

Then there was "VR.5", with the tall blonde Lori Singer
from "Fame" (a cerebral Daryl Hannah) as "Sydney Bloom",
a phone company data-communications technician and
repairperson, who discovers she can link minds with
people over the phone (without even using a
28.8 kbit/second modem!) It wouldn't have been so
bad if they'd let you forget the silly premise, but no --
there had to be special effects to hit you over
the head with it whenever she picked up the phone.

Dale Carrico said...

Daria's not on DVD? Insanity! That's like Heathers not being on DVD. What kind of a world is this that we are living in? I ask you. As for "The Reckless Moment," I will admit very frankly that I purchased my multi-region DVD-player simply because there were too many Ophuls, Sirk, and Jarman films that were readily available on nearly every region BUT region one DVDs (cause Murca is teh awesome, yah!), among them, yes, indeed, "The Reckless Moment."

Dale Carrico said...

Lori Singer is great in Altman's "Short Cults," paired with Annie Ross's flabbergasting disaster area of a lounge singer Tess Trainer. I do believe her brother was V's unforgettably (for this high school closetcase) buffed dunderhead hero Marc Singer, aka the Beastmaster. Wild Palms rings some bells, too -- wasn't that a knockoff tapping into the brief zeigeist inaugurated by the murder of Laura Palmer amidst the misty woods? Talk about a show too good for America.