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  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Oooh, we're doing rankings? For me it would be...

    Nosedive
    San Junipero
    Hated in the Nation
    Men Against Fire
    Shut Up and Dance
    Playtest

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Finished the series last night. My episode ranking:

    San Junipero
    Shut Up and Dance
    Nosedive
    Hated in the Nation
    Men Against Fire
    Playtest

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Ginger Yellow wrote: Everything doesn't have to be about something, but I think Black Mirror does.
    I get your point. I think they were trying to make that about fear and maybe about the possibilities of virtual reality, but it wasn't original enough to do much with the former and the latter is so far into the future/impossible, that who cares?

    In Neuromancer, William Gibson posited that people would have to jack-in their whole consciousness into cyberspace, and there have been so many stories - especially in film and TV - about technologies that will let us do that. But it turns out that the internet can be completely absorbing and suck us into a different world with just a bunch of text. That's one of the reasons why "Nosedive" was so compelling. We don't need for the technology to be really all that sophisticated to completely suck us into its world and alter our reality.*

    Somebody described twitter as the most addictive video game ever made, and there's something too that. Or, even before Pokemon Go, people were getting killed in cross walks or while driving because they were absorbed in their phone. In crowds or whenever my social anxiety kicks in, I often pull out my phone and look at twitter just to "escape."

    The change to the world we live in now came in gradual stages so I don't think we usually fathom just how different things really are and how that has to be changing how are brains work on a fairly basic level.*

    * Molecular? Structural? I'm not a neurologist.

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Is it really that easy to hack into somebody's camera?
    It's not easy , but it's not implausible. If you ignore security updates, for example, or you're still on Windows XP.

    Edit: Or inadvertently install a trojan.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ginger Yellow
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Everything doesn't have to be about something, but I think Black Mirror does.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Ginger Yellow wrote: Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Playtest, especially once he broke. Oh, you're really doing this, Black Mirror? OK. I guess I'll switch off my brain until you're done incepting us.It potentially could have had something interesting to say but it kind of waltzed right past it in favour of cliched twists.
    Yeah, the nested-dreams/Inception stuff didn't have the impact that maybe the writers were hoping for. Not so much that it was cliche - sci-fi returns to the same ideas over and over and that's ok - but that it just didn't matter. It didn't tell us anything about any of the characters. And I felt like the whole business about him and his mom was never "paid off" nor did we learn anything about the mysterious Japanese creator guy. Perhaps it would have worked better as a short series.*

    The one about the "roaches" was sound. It could have been preachy but it wasn't. [spoiler]I don't know if that technology could ever exist, but militarism relies on dehumanizing the enemy. The eugenics angle was chilling too.[/spoiler]

    I didn't quite get the end of "Shut Up and Dance." [spoiler] Were we supposed to be finding out that he wasn't just a kid jacking it to regular porn, but a budding pedophile and therefore not the sympathetic figure we imagined during the rest of the story?[/spoiler] Is it really that easy to hack into somebody's camera?

    "San Junipero" was so brilliantly written. It was so unclear what was really going on at first - I was thinking, no where in the 80s as as 80sish as that place - but then it didn't matter because of the central relationship is appealing, and then it all makes sense. It pulls the viewer along at just the right pace.

    As I believe we discussed on here once, it's not entirely clear that it would be possible to ever create a completely simulated world in a computer. It might be no more difficult (i.e. impossible) to just create a whole new universe. But then, San Junipero wasn't a whole universe and if it was relying on the living users to fill in some of the details, maybe that would be possible someday. Reminded me of the too-short sequel to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica. In that, the religious zealots create a computer simulated "heaven" and build a religion for the cylons around it. That weird gothy/sex and violence club where people go "just to feel something" was similar to the thing in Caprica where lots of people - mostly kids - jack their brains into a simulated noir city where the most popular entertainment is murder. If you die in that world, you just get kicked out and have to start over later, so everyone uses it to get out their aggression and darkest wishes.

    *Not that everything has to be about something. Like there was that movie with Ethan Hawke about time-travelling and somebody who was their own mother and father.... It wasn't really about anything, but I loved that. And a lot of the great Twilight Zone's were just clever or intense, but not really about anything.

    One of the things I'd like to do if I could ever just hole up and read for months on end is get a lot of old sci-fi anthologies and pulp magazines. Sci-fi really does well in one-off short-stories.

    Leave a comment:


  • matt j
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Only through 4 of the new ones, but San Junipero is the highlight so far for me. A lot I liked about the production on the other 3 (and performances, Howard was excellent), but two of the four are maybe the weakest of the series overall.

    Still, overall the standard is really high, so that's not too bad really.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ginger Yellow
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Playtest, especially once he broke. Oh, you're really doing this, Black Mirror? OK. I guess I'll switch off my brain until you're done incepting us.It potentially could have had something interesting to say but it kind of waltzed right past it in favour of cliched twists.

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Hot Pepsi wrote: Playtest wasn't really about anything, other than just how, if we ever create that kind of jacked-in virtual reality, it will be very confusing and dangerous.
    I found it retreading themes I'd seen already, in films like eXistenZ.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Brooker thinks The Waldo Moment didn't go far enough, given our current situation.

    Playtest wasn't really about anything, other than just how, if we ever create that kind of jacked-in virtual reality, it will be very confusing and dangerous. And maybe something about how fear works. That's Wyatt Russell, by the way. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's son.

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    But he's never previously written anything in the series as uplifting as San Junipero. Which was also very complex and moving story.

    The quality is so high in Black Mirror. There's only a single episode (The Waldo Moment) I considered weak.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ginger Yellow
    replied
    Black Mirror

    I'm enjoying this new series. This series has moved away somewhat from the bleak endings of the previous two; occasionally you'll finish an episode feeling positive.
    I mean, maybe compared to White Christmas, but two episodes in both endings are pretty bleak. I mean, I guess Nosedive's is cathartic, but it's not exactly happy.

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    I'm enjoying this new series. This series has moved away somewhat from the bleak endings of the previous two; occasionally you'll finish an episode feeling positive. And there's been an attempt to make it more US friendly, which I've no trouble with.

    Shut Up and Dance was very much in the vein of previous seasons. It was made worse by the fact it's completely plausible with current technology. Nosedive was really quite unsettling, the more you think about it. I liked San Junipero too.

    Of the ones I've watched (the first four), the only one I had misgivings about was Playtest. I still haven't fathomed out the ending; maybe I'll watch it again.

    But I'm glad shows of this quality are still getting made.

    Leave a comment:


  • Hot Pepsi
    replied
    Black Mirror

    It's outstanding. Especially the first one about everyone rating everyone all the time. It's downright chilling and, as one reviewer said, about five minutes away.

    They're getting a lot of famous people to be in the episodes. Or, fairly famous people. Like Bryce Dallas Howard and Kelly Macdonald.

    I really think it might be my favorite show of all time - other than the Simpsons. Because usually I say that my favorite show ever is The Twilight Zone, but Black Mirror is TTZ in color, an hour long, with much better production values.

    Leave a comment:


  • Wouter D
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Apparently, two more seasons of six episodes each have been commissioned, to be released on Netflix. Season 3 can be seen this Friday! Can barely contain myself in anticipation.

    Leave a comment:


  • Stumpy Pepys
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Late to the party as usual, but this is very well-made TV.

    White Christmas, White Bear and Be Right Back were the standout episodes for me.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bored Of Education
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Had Black Mirror:White Christmas on disk all year and never watched it so decided to watch it tonight as a seasonal antidote to a terrible romcom we had just watched.

    Have to repeat what everyone has said here really apart from the fact that I didn't see the "daughter" end coming and didn't realise until after that the guys had been reminiscing in the grandfather's kitchen. I did get the "confession" ending beforehand however.

    Leave a comment:


  • matt j
    replied
    Black Mirror

    matt j wrote: I hope to be watching these soon.

    I don't know why I am telling you that though.
    First two watched last night. Not sure I have anything to say about the first one, but I can see that it probably sets the tone about what to expect from the rest.

    Second one was very good (really, due to the strong performance from Daniel Kaluuya), and answered the question I've had for a while about whatever happened to Rupert Everett.

    Leave a comment:


  • danielmak
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Ginger Yellow wrote: I'd suggest watching White Bear. It's probably the most powerful one, so it's a bit of a litmus test for the rest.

    Though lots of other people swear by The Entire History of You, which I think is one of the weaker ones.
    The Entire History of You was the first one I saw, although I missed the beginning. White Bear airs on Monday, so I'll set the DVR to record.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ginger Yellow
    replied
    Black Mirror

    I'd suggest watching White Bear. It's probably the most powerful one, so it's a bit of a litmus test for the rest.

    Though lots of other people swear by The Entire History of You, which I think is one of the weaker ones.

    Leave a comment:


  • danielmak
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Green Calx wrote: I've seen the pig-fucking one. Put me right off my dinner.
    This is the one my student told me about before describing some others. I wasn't too interested in this one, but coming out of what seems like 11 months of winter, I needed some sunshine TV.

    SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

    I have to say that the one about the woman whose husband dies has stuck with me a bit, although part of that is because it was very sad in an existential way. The dummy husband (I don't really have a better term here other than pulling from Blade Runner with Replicant) stuck in the attic in the end but having no feelings was very odd. I know he has no feelings but still that existence is a bit depressing. I'll probably watch one or two more and make a choice about committing to this or sticking with NYPD Blue reruns amidst a backlog of football games on the DVR.

    Leave a comment:


  • Borracho
    replied
    Black Mirror

    I've seen the pig-fucking one. Put me right off my dinner.

    Leave a comment:


  • Crusoe
    replied
    Black Mirror

    danielmak wrote: The writing seems interesting and the stories look good, but it all seems a bit more depressing than I want right now.
    That's very Charlie Brooker. I love his stuff but sometimes the comedy misanthrope angle gets a bit much.

    Leave a comment:


  • danielmak
    replied
    Black Mirror

    I am way late on this. One of my students has been watching on Netflix, which I don't have. But this show is airing on DirecTV's Audience Channel. I have only caught the 2nd half of an episode where people have memory chips implanted behind their ears and can review everything they've seen. And I'm halfway through the episode that follows where a woman uses social media site information to interact with her dead husband. The writing seems interesting and the stories look good, but it all seems a bit more depressing than I want right now.

    Leave a comment:


  • Ginger Yellow
    replied
    Black Mirror

    Basically, I wasn't sure about it until halfway through, but from then on it all came together really well.
    What I said about it elsewhere:: Show
    So, it was very White Bear-ish, wasn't it? Mostly in a good way, but at times it felt a bit like it was going over old ground. The redemption, I guess, is that it ended up being extremely topical coming out within a week of the torture report. The casual brutality of the interrogator(s) at the end had a bit of extra bite that it wouldn't have had a week earlier. I was a bit put off by the casualness with which the characters accepted the "well it's not really real" twisted logic, both because it seems so obvious to me that a functionally equivalent mind is just as real for these purposes as the "original", but also because it didn't make sense in universe for the cookies not to be considered real - otherwise the confessions would have no evidential value. My other complaint about the episode is that it felt quite disjointed in the first half - the shifts from Jon Hamm's story to the description of his job and then to Spall's story were jarring and at first it was hard to see what the thread was supposed to be, both narratively and thematically. But it all fell into place fairly quickly once Spall's story got going - perhaps a bit too neatly.

    Leave a comment:

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