J.K. Reardon HBO and Max Interruption (2024)

Note from the author: this creepypasta is not a Doctor Who inspired parody of the ARR Resignation Incident, it just is coincidentally similar in some places. The true inspiration came from The Doctor Who episode called The Legend of Ruby Sunday and the Max headroom incident, the similarities are only due to me wanting to tie this creepypasta to this story about the efforts of several Doctor Who fans to create a film that would be picked up by the BBC. I'll even admit I wanted to do a lost episode creepypasta related to Doctor Who on this wiki but I'm not doing it out of respect for the actual lost episodes. In all honesty I may regret making this because I could get a warning for the really offensive messages included. – Guminator1A, aka Guminator the Weirdo on Youtube.
(Reason: the messages from Reardon overuses obscenities)
On June 17, 2024, HBO unusually began airing the fourteenth series of Doctor Who without prior announcement followed by episodes being streamed on Max. The first episode was The Devil's Chord, which aired on HBO followed by Rogue being streamed on Max.
However, at the time the streaming had begun, witnesses began to notice various bugs and screen issues with the episode. Viewers were mostly surprised that Max was actually streaming new Doctor Who episodes since The Power of the Doctor, although some correctly surmised that this was being done without the network's prior permission. But it wasn't until July 5th, when The Legend of Ruby Sunday debuted on Max, that the bizarre signal interruptions occurred.
When it aired, a few would even rewind and record certain bugs that occurred such as several montages of a Red haired woman with an unusual hairstyle vowing revenge on Sutekh in random parts of the episode and a certain scene involving the memory TARDIS becoming replaced with what looks like a jumpscare from one of the FNAF games (with a very loud animalistic static like sound plastered over). There were even a few cheesy edits involving the Doctor strangling Ruby Sunday whilst Sutekh watched in strange bliss. These were mostly assumed to be technical glitches as one of the occurrences resulted in an error message which some interpreted as Max attempting to intervene with the broadcast and regain control. The error read:
"Max is having difficulties streaming the video file because it is corrupted. Sorry!"
These bugs would only last three hours after the episode's first weekend on Max. They would suddenly stop after the third hour and quality would resume back to normal for the next 21 hours. July 11th was when more people noted stranger anomalies. This day saw the broadcast of a fabricated episode called "You lost, Doctor!" on both HBO and Max which was nothing more than The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death combined with certain scenes rearranged.
Overtime, viewers would make out very strange, almost frightening occurrences. These occurrences would be almost exclusive to the TV broadcast and would come by when viewers rewatched The Legend of Ruby Sunday and then this new episode, as if it were a specific pattern set up by someone before they had aired. The first instance of this happening was witnessed during the scene where Sutekh is prompted to reveal himself. On a specific frame showing Sutekh's face, the screen would freeze, and complete silence could be heard seconds later. After that time was over, the frame would immediately cut to what is best described as resembling the Tex Avery wolf, but with two sets of red eyes. Additionally, the wolf seemed to be clothed in a combination of the outfits worn by the 7th, 10th, and 13th doctors respectively. Text appeared below him saying "Give it up, Doc." The wolf had a face of pure fury and hyper realistic eyes and teeth. The wolf's two sets of eyes had their pupils constricted, replaced with small dots completely devoid of iris color. His mouth was unnaturally wide, and his teeth were tightly clenched. His mouth was dripping blood.
The episode then cut to a heavily abridged version of the 1949 Tex Avery cartoon Little Rural Riding Hood, but it had subtitles and edits in some parts that were meant to imply the city wolf was actually Sutekh. However, as "Red" was performing, the audio was dubbed over with "I Called Out Your Name (In a Dream)" from the 1996 Doctor Who Television film to give the impression that Red was doing the song. The second wolf was also strangely quiet, yet continued to whistle and leer throughout the performance. Minutes into the song, the episode glitched yet again.
The video then cuts to a serene drive filmed in the 2000s, which uncannily is similar to the footage in the K-Fee Auto commercial. But the jumpscare was something else entirely. Instead of a zombie, RWQFSFASXC from FNAF 2 crashes the scene along with the screen. A sound like glass breaking is heard, followed by the same monster scream from the previous week's intrusion. Afterwards, RWQFSFASXC vibrates slowly, and it cuts to a cracked black screen. It would stay like this before resuming back to the episode.
Fans of Doctor Who would turn to social media or online fan forums after seeing them, with most of them talking about contacting Max or the BBC somehow and explaining what exactly was happening with proof. Six more incidents would occur, and during the final airing of "You Lost, Doctor!", another incident would happen where Sutekh would glitch following the part where a possessed Susan Twist asks the Doctor if she was family to him and it would switch to the scene from Empire of Death where the time window was opened. After Sutekh explains that he's grown more powerful from latching onto the TARDIS, the episode cuts to what sounds like Sarah Jane Smith having a mental breakdown as Sutekh laughs. It then abruptly skips to Mrs Flood saying that the doctor's story would end "in absolute terror", where it glitches again.
It then cuts to the scene from Empire of Death where Mel becomes possessed by Sutekh, however instead of Mel, we see Red (the version seen in Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood). Red performs her seductive song-and-dance routine, the same rendition of "In a Dream" as last time (elements of this scene were directly recycled from Avery's 1945 cartoon Swing Shift Cinderella). However, it is edited so the Doctor appears to be struck by her dancing as he says "She died" rather than him reacting to Mel. On yet again a certain frame showing Red with her hands on her hips, the screen would also freeze, and it would stay on that image as complete silence could be heard for at least eleven seconds. After that time was over, the frame would immediately cut to a heavily edited version of a very similar frame. Red's eyes would have a black bar over them and her hands would be missing. A distorted rumbling noise could be heard as the edited image was shown. After three seconds it then cut to another image of Red, this time in a vastly different style. The outcome was disturbing.
Red's facial expression was swapped to a threateningly angry, out of character grin for her. Her pupils were constricted, replaced with small dots completely devoid of iris color. Her mouth was unnaturally wide, and her teeth were tightly clenched. Lastly, her arms were bleeding where her hands should be, and her eyes were pinkened and inflamed, with black bags forming around her lower eyelids. There was text below that read "I hate Sutekh". Another static like noise, akin to the nightmare jumpscare sound from FNAF 4, could be heard as the image was shown.
It would resume back to the episode just as the Doctor says "She died". Then it would abruptly cut to a shot of the time vortex with the same rumbling noise playing. Text would fade in which read "WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS!?!?!?!?!?" before cutting to black.
Then, the prior incident would occur one more time. Though this time, instead of switching back to the episode that was currently showing, the screen cut to a plain white background. In a slideshow-type format, text would appear on-screen, showcasing insulting and degrading messages that were specifically directed at critics of Russel T. Davies' second endeavor as showrunner of Doctor Who. It appears that the messages may have been longer if the scene including the text saying "why does it have to be this" in the time vortex is considered. Also more proof of this was that there appeared to be the end of a sentence immediately before the following messages. The transcript read as follows:
"... who believed this whole season makes no sense at all other than excusing lazy writing and indecency. I don't care in all honesty! On top of that the doctor has always been gay! You are all so goddamn negative all the time, day after day hour after hour you're always upset expecting better. I wish you would for once STOP HIRING SLUTS TO CRITICIZE THE SHOW and get decent human beings for once in your life.
What about the bi-generation, pussy? RTD's desperation to keep Tennant around supposedly if Ncuti fails may be an understatement but whatever it is, if you say it's RTD's attempt to keep his favorite boy toy or some retarded excuse for talking smack about it, I ain't listenin'.
Well suck it! Fuck the haters of RTD2! They make Dr. Who look like a piece of shit! Fuck it all! These dumbass critics are the reason my friend's show is DEAD. You're all the reason why they got Guy Accardi to boss us and why a lot of us relapsed! I'm done… I SWEAR TO GOD THIS SHOW WILL GET BETTER AS LONG AS YOU DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT IT, I HATE THE CRITICISM! Good day y'all!"
Once the last line of text appeared on screen, a loud, yet poor quality recording would play of what sounded like a real mental breakdown, distinct from the previous in that it actually shows raw anguish and that Sutekh isn't apparently responsible for it. Recounts of the incident told that the sounds consisted of a middle-aged man shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs, with occasional grunts and sobbing. This would last for around twenty seconds as it occasionally cut to black and back before it would glitch and show what basically was Peter Capaldi's head on a stylized nude woman's body giving two middle fingers. The image would have text which says "no offence to Mr. Jackal" above this Capaldi "bust", but the word "Mr." and the letter "C" are scribbled out. In addition, the lettering is pretty difficult to read as it practically blends in with the background. There was also very small text which read, "I DON'T RESPECT YOUR OPINIONS ON DR WHO" next to Capaldi's head. The image would only stay on for a split second before cutting to color bars and then returning 3 to 5 seconds later and so forth. Following this, another jumpscare would occur (reminiscent of the RWQFSFASXC jumpscare) followed by the transmission ending and the affected Doctor Who episodes being pulled.
It was quickly discovered that James Kimble Reardon, a disgruntled employee, had orchestrated these incidents to show his genuine anguish from having to work with his new boss called Guy Accardi and from the comments about Doctor Who which he perceived as negative and degrading. Accardi was hired in place of a previous producer and was already accused for his destructive behavior whilst working with Reardon who stated that he was responsible for delays and staff members changing their minds over what can or cannot be produced. Much like how Kricfalusi ran Spumco, Accardi believed that the product's quality holds more importance than meeting deadlines, and that he was forced to comply with constant deadlines from Reardon or else his projects would wind up in development hell, furthermore he perceived Reardon and other employees as slowing him down.
Reardon's goal with the hijacking was to vent his frustrations, and he oddly chose to accomplish this by doing something best described as a historical repeat of the Max Headroom incident, but modified to affect streaming as well as television. He did this by unofficially airing a Doctor Who episode on Max as an unintentional homage to the prior attack and because Disney+ is encrypted against network attacks in general. He had watched The Legend of Ruby Sunday and thought it was a good idea to broadcast this episode and modify the transmission to traumatize people since he believed the part where Sutekh revealed himself already was reminiscent of his mental state. Furthermore, It was stated that following Reardon's signal intrusions, accusations of sexual assault from Accardi's side came to light. Although Reardon tried to reason with the police that Accardi drove him to do his actions, he was placed under arrest on July 12 after being restrained in Bad Wolf's U.S. office. Reports said that he was driven mad and stormed the Bad Wolf office to personally mail a complaint to Russel T Davies for failing him, something that was against his messages in the transmission and was later confirmed by himself as a result of his insanity rather than a change of opinion. Luckily the message was destroyed in shipment.
He was then accused of manipulating computer equipment, given a lifelong probationary term, and fined an astounding 10 trillion dollars for the deliberate disruption incurred by the signal intrusions, the purpose of the large fine being to destroy his bank account. He now resides in a mental hospital, seeking recovery. The intrusion had such a high shock factor that those who exposed the hijack were thought to be insane. So much so, that only his co-worker Matt Gosling was considered sane enough to properly explain it and provide proper evidence of what had unfolded.
It was later found out that the hijackings were related to internal studio struggles as Reardon had previously worked on a Doctor Who fan project named Project Rodthocow. Had these issues not intervened, Rodthocow would have gained popularity in the Doctor Who community as it included an effort with the BBC to co-produce the first theatrical Doctor Who film since the Dalek films and the second modern feature length story since the 1996 TV film. Furthermore, like the 1996 film, it would have been considered canonical to the series to some degree and would've had a spin off called The Time Lord of Ozach.
Following personal attacks from Project Alhorn, a rival fan project, the original executive producer had put Rodthocow in turnaround and opted to negotiate with Warner Brothers in 2022 about its future. Reports later confirmed that Rodthocow was absorbed into another project produced jointly by Warner Bros with the codename Crowdhoot. About a fourth of the studio didn't move to the new project, including Reardon. Ironically, Warner Bros. didn't even know about the hijackings, despite owning both HBO and Max. In fact, it was believed so due to Matt Gosling's efforts to manage the matter independently and prevent evidence of the attacks from entirely reaching corporate.
He had a personal gripe with the content of the hijackings (notably because it was essentially an "amplified" version of the content by Accardi and the content from Alhorn, according to him) and he wanted to prevent the incidents from damaging the reputation of the Warner studio.
Update:
There was also another "glitch" that was discovered to have gone unaired, implying that some of the glitches were rather fake and put into the broadcast material than being actual signal disruptions. Though it is unknown which of the intrusions were fake and which were real. One of the fake glitches were reminiscent of both the so-called "In a Dream" glitches, but Red glitches like in the abridged short and then it cut to the time vortex footage with the text.
Category:Doctor Who
Category:Television
Category:Hijackings