Black Mirror

[ian.64]

Black Mirror

The White Christmas special looks quite good.

It certainly was good. It tickled me as I've a liking for 'compendium' ghost/horror stories due to the chocolate box factor - there's got to be something in there that I'd like - and this one worked extremely well. Nicely acted by the main leads, Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall, it had few drawbacks and even a tinge of dread if you think more than you should about one or two of the ideas featured (specifically the gadget that can make your sentient digital simulacra endure so many years in a day, without the luxury of sleep). I can understand the familiarity of some ideas, but the overall presentation was fresh and entertaining enough to overcome those hurdles, and Brooker's done a very good job here.

As for the one drawback, it's getting to the 'twist' ending before the stories finish (Spall's 'baby' saga flagged itself before the payoff), but, that said, it really could have been beefed up with perhaps two more stories (my own personal preference here - when I'm into a 'compendium' film, I'm a little disappointed when the goodies run out. I like a good pack of about five yarns to keep me watching).

In summary: well worth your time, and a reminder - to me especially - to visit the previous series should it ever be shown again.

[Reed John]

Black Mirror

Hugh Fatbastard wrote: The White Christmas special looks quite good.

The format akin to that of Trilogy of Terror (featuring Karen Black)

I quite liked 'The Entire History of You' episode.

The technology, while seemingly incredible, really can't be seen to be all that far fetched at all.

I doubt I'd get one of those implants, mind.

Indeed, if it just records what the individual saw and heard - as opposed to what they thought about it - then we're not that far away from being able to build that. The technological barriers to the world shown on BM would be making it small and cheap enough for everyone to have one, plus having the wi-fi and cloud storage capacity to upload and hold onto all of that material. But there's no reason to think that is impossible.

Various sci-fi/cyberpunk/anime stuff suggests that soldiers, police and maybe journalists would want to be able to record everything they see and hear at least sometimes. And that makes sense, although a small wearable camera would do that. Indeed, some people are already using GoPros like that. The issue then is just making it small and light enough to be completely unobtrusive and then having a way to quickly and cheaply upload and store all of it. That's not really so hard either (I mean, for science and engineering people to sort out. Not me. I don't know anything about that stuff).

It was a remarkable episode because, as far as I can recall, that was the first thing on TV or film that ever explored the implications of people willingly recalling and sharing everything they saw. Most other treatments focus on the implications to privacy and democracy of total surveillance. That's touched on there too, but it was mostly about how it would impact personal relationships.

[matt j]

Black Mirror

I hope to be watching these soon.

I don't know why I am telling you that though.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

Black Mirror

The White Christmas special looks quite good.

The format akin to that of Trilogy of Terror (featuring Karen Black)

I quite liked 'The Entire History of You' episode.

The technology, while seemingly incredible, really can't be seen to be all that far fetched at all.

I doubt I'd get one of those implants, mind.

[Reed John]

Black Mirror

Tall Pauls cavity walls wrote: I've been taken aback by my American friends getting into this show...it seems to be developing something of a following over there.

See, we don't just give you swivel-eyed twonks like Piers Morgan, we do give you the odd good 'un.

Ah good stuff, I can watch the whole thing on 4od...that's my evening sorted.

Netflix, BBCA and PBS give us access to a lot of your shows.

I think the key to selling this in the US is to make the Twilight Zone comparison. 50 years on, that still has a strong cult following on the SyFy channel.

[Freestyling buck wilding Stijn Stijnen]

Black Mirror

I've been taken aback by my American friends getting into this show...it seems to be developing something of a following over there.

See, we don't just give you swivel-eyed twonks like Piers Morgan, we do give you the odd good 'un.

Ah good stuff, I can watch the whole thing on 4od...that's my evening sorted.

[Reed John]

Black Mirror

Just watched the first season on Netflix and its my new favorite show. It's like the Twilight Zone, but an hour, and British, and about contemporary societal anxieties rather than the anxieties of the early 60s (space race, nuclear war, etc). It's like they asked me what show I'd like to see made and made it.

Don't know when we'll see season 2 or this special you're talking about.

I take it that it's getting some buzz over there. It has a lot of recognizable actors. Like White Bear had the woman from the British version of Being Human (which is awesome. As was the North American version) and the one about the world where everyone rides bikes to make energy (which actually seems like kind of a good idea to some extent) had the actress from Downton Abbey that I fancy.

The pig-fucking one was really good and sad. Not for the PM, but for the pig.

I don't know how much of the actual page-to-page writing he does, but Charlie Brooker's influence is very evident. All of the stuff he talked about on Screenwipe about with the state of the media and how society is shaped by it is explored...

Except in the one about the world where everyone can download and replay every memory they have. That seemed to come from somewhere else. That's something I've occasionally pondered and having now seen that episode, my feelings about it are different. That was the best one I've seen, I think.

[Ginger Yellow]

Black Mirror

Anyone else watch the special? Can we start talking spoilers yet?

[Ginger Yellow]

Black Mirror

Yeah, this episode reminded me a lot, at the start anyway, of Dollhouse, and specifically Epitaph One. The premise of the first episode of this season is lifted wholesale from Caprica. Brooker takes it in a very different direction, though.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Black Mirror

White Bear seemed to crib a lot of its story elements from various other sources - including several video games - but managed to be about as unsettling as it gets. Grim.

[Ginger Yellow]

Black Mirror

White Bear was probably as dark as it gets, or at least as unremittingly dark. Some of them have more (dark) humour in them. They're definitely all worth watching, but some are better than others.

[Ibn Pickthall]

Has anyone been watching C4's Black Mirror ?
Written by Guardian write Charlie Brooker. I accidentally caught an episode tonight, "White Bear" which was pretty dark. This is the second series, with only 3 episodes in the first series - are they worth watching, and all equally as dark?