Max Headroom Episodes 12 and 13
The final two episodes of the series explore the value of reading and science.
Note: I had planned to write one or more original articles the past week. However, as they say, plans will go awry and that's what happened, because the power was out at my house for three straight evenings. That meant I was unable to sit down and write anything.
Fortunately, it looks like they got the problem fixed, so with any luck, I will be able to sit down and get to some original material.
But for now, here are the final two episode reviews for Max Headroom from my former author website.
As far as what I plan to write for the coming week, I still want to touch upon some NFL headlines, plus I want to discuss a particular movie I recently watched.
Episode Name: Lessons
Premise: The Blanks are targeted for pirating educational programming that viewers must pay for and Edison Carter is censored for any attempt to uncover what's taking place.
Themes explored: The first is censorship. A computer program is designed for Network 23 to censor any material deemed sensitive. The program's intent is to settle any debates network executives have about appropriate content for viewers. But the program does more harm than good as Carter seeks to reunite a girl with her mother and every attempt of his to report on a raid by the Metro cops is censored by the computer.
Censorship is still a subject of debate to this day, but it's interesting that the idea of a computer deciding what will be censored is becoming reality these days. Think about the algorithms designed for social media platforms and search engines that are supposedly created in the interest of protecting viewers from malicious material, but have the effect of censoring legitimate discussion.
The second theme explored is education. Network 23 offers PETV, or Pay Education Television, which is educational television only available to those who can afford to pay for it. That means the people who live on the fringes (who happen to be poor) are unable to access it. The Blanks pirate a signal to help educate children, but program executives are backed by Metro cops to ensure that pirated signals are cut off.
But it raises the biggest question about how access to education and knowledge can impact children -- those who learn to read and write gain a greater understanding of the world around them, while those who don't may never do so. And what happens when children from lower income families aren't able to access education and knowledge? It's not difficult to figure out that those children will find it harder to understand the world.
The issue is further raised when it's revealed that the Blanks are in possession of a printing press and are creating books. In this dystopian world, printing presses are forbidden for most people to possess. Losing access to the press means the Blanks lose a greater means of ensuring the children in the fringes learn to read and write, and thus gain more access to knowledge.
The education theme is a reminder about why public education, though it may have its own faults, is nevertheless important to a free society.
Max Headroom quotes:
"Have you any idea how successful censorship is on TV? Don't know the answer? Hmmm... successful, isn't it?"
“As a famous person once said, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. And as I, another more famous person, once said, if you don’t teach them to read, you can fool them whenever you like.”
“You know, writers have no freedom on TV. One rude suggestion and the censors are straight on their back... not on their back in a rude way.”
Personal observations: Another episode of the series that was timely in some ways and ahead of its time in others. Computer algorithms designed to determine what is and isn’t appropriate can do more harm than good if we aren’t careful how they are implemented. And to this day, it’s still important to ensure everyone learns to read, because it’s the most important step in acquiring knowledge and learning more about the world.
Thoughts several years later: Not much else to add. There's still a lot to be said about reading, particularly reading a book in which you have to turn pages. That does more to stimulate your brain than the algorithm, which not only can be manipulated by others, but often gives you material that's designed for a dopamine hit and no more than that.
Episode Name: Baby Gro Bags
Premise: Theora's friend Helen arranges to have her baby through OvuVat, a company that creates in vitro babies, but it goes missing. Meanwhile, Network 66 tries to lure Bryce away to head up a team of intelligent infants on their show Prodigies.
Themes explored: There is a sense of exploitation of children, even though Network 66's approach is to get permission from parents before featuring their infants on its show -- only it's revealed that OvuVat was taking the sperms and eggs of intelligent parents without their knowledge to clone babies, who are then featured on the show. But even though Network 66 is unaware of OvuVat's practice, there's still a question raised about whether or not a TV show should be focusing on infants in this manner, when these infants are unaware of what is happening.
But a bigger theme gets touched upon regarding OvuVat's process in the first place. Not only does in vitro fertilization being the process of developing the baby, but the entire process is handled from start to finish without the need to put a fertilized egg in a woman's womb. On top of that, parents can choose the sex of the baby and it's free of any defects, diseases or any other complications that could arise during a pregnancy.
For those who have issues with in vitro fertilization as a means of having a baby, imagine what issues you would have if the baby can be developed from start to finish outside a womb. And imagine the ethical issues that might be raised from determing a baby's sex upon conception and a process that ensures no defects. How far do we want to go when it comes to science and genetics, even if it means assuring people who want to have a baby that the baby will be perfect after nine months and the mother won't have to worry about carrying that fetus to term?
And the idea of developing the perfect child from start to finish becomes the opportunity for OvuVat to exploit those parents who wish to use this process, to develop babies who are used for another purpose. It's enough to make you wonder how good of an idea it is to explore childbirth methods other than the way they developed through nature.
Max Headroom quotes:
"I have a mission, too! My mission is to sink the Prodigies show!"
"You can't push your children too hard. It isn't exploitation to breed a champion."
"Here I am on Network 23 to give you my own show. Nothing big, nothing special. Just a humble little thing modestly entitled: Me, Max Headroom, the original prodigy."
"Here we come back for just one more meaningless scene to keep you watching through the commercials." (Here we have Max Headroom breaking the fourth wall.)
Personal observations: This episode never aired in its original run on ABC back in the 1980s, but did make its way into the rotation when it aired on cable television. It's worth tracking down, though, because it does raise ethical issues involved with how far we should go with science when it comes to the process of childbirth.
Thoughts several years later: Not only do we need to question how far we should go with science, we should question what people decide is science to begin with. We may not have figured out a way to grow the perfect baby but we sure are using medical technology to allow people to alter their bodies in so many ways, that we have to ask ourselves how much our quest to achieve perfection is worth. Perhaps we should just let nature take its course instead of trying to manipulate it.