This is The Chronicles of Trevor, the only blog that will never die instantly from an electric shock, as far as I can tell (XD).
Max Headroom was a popular computer-generated character in the 1980s, first appearing on a British TV movie called Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future, which aired on the UK's Channel 4. He later became a Video Jockey, interviewer, and commentator for a variety show on said channel. Later on, in the US, ABC seen the popularity of Max, and thought, "we should have him on our network". But in 1985 he became the spokesman for "New Coke" (an altercation to the original Coca-Cola formula, which was sweeter than regular Coke. This version was renamed Coke II in 1990, and discontinued in 2002. New Coke was revived in 2019 for the 3rd season of Stranger Things).
But I digress. A trio of Chicago-area friends decided to do something BIG the night of November 22, 1987. They decided to hijack the signal of Chicago's Very Own, WGN-TV. This occured during the Sports report.
Unfortunately, this footage has no sound, only a garbled static buzzing sound. This is what their 1st attempt at the hijacking looked like.
...These same hijackers tried their luck on a different target, WTTW 11, the Windy City's PBS station.
This happened during an airing of an episode of the Doctor Who serial "Horror of Fang Rock". To help hide the voices of the culprits, they used a ring modulator, which is what the BBC sound designers used to make the famous Dalek voice. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE"
Here's the footage from the WTTW hijack. Please note that this video contains crude humor related to excrement, mild sexual content, and brief language. Watch at your own risk.
Here's my transcript of this incident:
Act 1:
That does it, he's a freakin' nerd! (giggles) I think I'm better than Chuck Swirsky! Frickin' liberal... Oh, ho, ho, Jesus. (laughs) Oh, yeah. (laugh again) Catch the wave! (moans) Your love is fading (humming music) I still see the X (humming continues) Auuuugh, My Piles! (grunting) Oh, I just made a giant masterpiece for all the Greatest World Newspaper nerds. (grunt) My brother is wearing the other one. But it's dirty! It looks like you got footprints on it!
Part 2:
Max: Oh no, they're coming to get me!
Woman in maid outfit: Bend over, b***h!
Max: (yells) Don't do it, NO!
1. Chuck Swirsky is a sportscaster who has worked at WGN. Ironically, the sportscaster doing the report was NOT Swirsky.
2. "Catch the wave" was the slogan for New Coke. "Max" was holding a Pepsi can.
3. A line from the Temptations song (I Know) I'm Losing You.
4. The music "Max" was humming was the theme music to a 1960s cartoon called Clutch Cargo. This cartoon, which pioneered the Syncro-Vox* system, ran in syndication at WGN until 4 years before the hijackings. "I still see the X" is a reference to a line spoken in the series finale.
5. The 'Greatest World Newspaper' "Max" was referring to, is the Chicago Tribune "The World's Greatest Newspaper". WGN was chosen as the TV station's calls to associate the newspaper with the station, at the time both owned by the Tribune Company.
6. The glove joke is a slight nod to Michael Jackson.
This hijacking's culprits have not been identified for over 35 years. Some believe that the guy playing Max is autistic. I think he could be, too. I believe that the other two involved were former WGN staffers who wanted to pull a prank on said station.
I'd say that this is one of those topics I'd want to see covered on America's Most Wanted.
*Syncro-Vox was a technique which a voice actor's lips were green-screened onto a character's face. This technique was used in all of Painty the Pirate's appearances in SpongeBob. Painty's lips were provided by series creator Stephen Hillenburg (1957-2018)
No comments:
Post a Comment