Charlie Brooker Black Mirror

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Bob The Skutter, Jul 18, 2011.

  1. Serial thread killer

    Serial thread killer Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    I enjoyed uss callister, arkangel and black museum.
    Did anyone else notice the lolly pop in the black museum?
     
  2. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    Yes. And several other items too. But I bet I missed even more.
     
  3. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I noticed the scanner from Callister, the tablet from Arkangel, plus there was an electronic Bee from season 3, and a mask from season 2.
     
  4. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    Those were pretty much all the ones I noticed. And I assumed the bathtub was from Crocodile, but not positive.

    Oh, and I'd bet money on Charlie Brooker being one of those yellow faces at the entrance. There was one that really looked a lot like him.
     
  5. gblews

    gblews Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I started this series last year or the year before, and even though I loved season 1, I set the show aside. Well, just started it again from where I left off, season 2, White Bear (good lord!). Just finished season 3 and am on the second episode of season 4. BTW, San Junipero in season 3, is just an incredible and beautiful story. I thought the Trek parody out "Orvilled" The Orville in terms of light and dark humor in a sci fi space opera.

    Brooker, who I'de never heard of prior to BM, is one talented MF.
     
  6. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    Apparently there are a few Easter eggs in there for the obsessed, such as one calling you a freak for pausing to read it. http://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-d...-mirror-netflix-easter-eggs-season-4-insults/

    I've got as far as Hang The DJ, enjoying the series thus far, but USS Callister was a great start.

    Deadset and A Touch of Cloth are also good Brooker show but for very different reasons.
     
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  7. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Really liked Dead Set, never saw Touch of Cloth though.
     
  8. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    A Touch Of Cloth was on Sky, think the box set is on now TV, it's a parody of police drama. Lot of fun.
     
  9. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yeah, I saw it advertised, but never got round to it.

    Loved all his wipes though.
     
  10. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    How TV Ruined Your Life was also good. You Have Been Watching was pretty good as panel shows go, not sure why Channel 4 dropped it. Same for 10 O'Clock Live.
     
  11. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    I binged a buttload of Wipes when I finally got turned on to Brooker. Good stuff.
     
  12. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Oh yeah, forgot about How TV Ruined Your Life. Loved that one too.
     
  13. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    USS Callister was the best of the batch. I also really enjoyed Hang the DJ and Black Museum. The other two were meh.
     
  14. kirk55555

    kirk55555 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    So, since everyone has been talking about this show I decided to give it a try. The first episode was really messed up, but it was entertaining. It didn't really seem to fit with how Black Mirror was described to me ("Technology is evil" seems to be the message of the show, but technology barely factored into this story), but it was interesting enough to try another episode. My brother, who likes the show, recommended "White Christmas". I started watching it, but after the first story I have a question

    That's it? The exact ending i expected (guy getting dating tips ends up dying because he hooked up with a crazy woman) but with the dating couch getting "blocked" by his wife as the "look how scary technology is " twist? I mean, this was just lame. The dating couch was a creep, he was basically helping assholes take advantage of women and he got a guy killed, so I was expecting something bad to happen to him. But, all that happened is that his wife did something so goofy I just laughed ("Blocking" someone in real life? Really?) and then left him (which made sense).

    The entire episode leading up to this was easily 20 minutes too long, we didn't need to see all the stuff of the couch helping the guy navigate the party. That should have taken 5 minutes. So an overly long story with a really predictable ending is one third of what many people online seem to call one of the best episodes?

    I'll keep watching the episode later, but I'm not impressed. I honestly thought that, if I had a problem with the show, its that I don't have any tolerance for luddites and Black Mirror seems to be all about how technology is evil. But I didn't think being an episode overly predictable and tedious would be a problem.
     
  15. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It's not so much about technology being evil, more how technology can be used in evil ways (in this case youtube and social media). When it first started I think Charlie Brooker described it as "where humanity could end up in 10 minutes time if we're not careful".
     
  16. kirk55555

    kirk55555 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I finished White Christmas.

    It was ok. The middle story was my faovrite. Having basically a sentient copy of yourself spend (from their perspective) eternity as your smart home system was freaky. That's mthe kind of thing I was expecting from Black Mirror.

    I did call the ending based off the middle story, though. I figured that the other guy was a cookie and the tech/dating guru guy was trying to get info from him. The suspect cookie guy's story wasn't all that great. He is an abusive ass with anger problems, his GF cheats on him and gets pregnant with her coworker, wants to get rid of the baby, they fight, and things end up leading to her "blocking" him, having the kid, she dies and he kills her Dad, not realizing that the baby was never his.

    My biggest problem with the overall story is its a bit too over the top. the dating guru needed to be punished, but making him permanently blocked by everyone is actually a worse punishment then prison, and will lead to his death because he can't work, much less get food, shelter, etc, if literally no one can interact with him. He's a giant pervy asshole, he needed a big punishment. But this kind of seems like a roundabout death sentence and it just makes me question the laws in this weird world, to a distracting degree.

    Overall it was an ok episode. the middle story was the kind of thing I'd like to see more of. I don't see how this is called one of the best episodes of the show, but I'll watch a few more episodes before making a final opinion on the show.
     
  17. Awesome Possum

    Awesome Possum Moddin' Admiral

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    I'd say it's more about how technology can bring out the worst in human nature. The problem isn't the technology itself, the show itself even shows this with San Junipero, the problem is people can sometimes be terrible and we're getting better at being terrible.
     
  18. MadeIndescribable

    MadeIndescribable Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Hmmm, point taken about San Junipero, which definitely was an anomaly compared to other episodes (although still one of my favourites). Overall though I wouldn't say it's about how we're better at getting terrible, more like how technology can amplify the ways we are already terrible...
     
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  19. gblews

    gblews Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I just watched Hang the DJ from season 4. I didn't understand what happened after they climbed the wall ,and the ending. Can someone enlighten me?

    BTW, anyone else think Georgina Campbell, who played Amy in the episode, looks like a younger Rosario Dawson?
     
  20. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    The idea is that those people were using a dating app that offers a 99.8% chance of a match, and so simulates the outcomes of this pairing in various ways. In 998 versions of that simulation that couple choose to escape with each other rather than be placed with another person, so therefore it points their phones and tells them their 99.8% perfect match is in the room.[/spoiler ]