I can definitely empathize with the antagonist of this episode, especially the revenge/power fantasy aspect. I was once like him. But I had to learn to adapt to how the world as it really was, and, in the end, became a better person for it. Where I would draw the line was the torture aspect. Even in a fantasy, I would never think to do such things. Not me. Good episode.
News Black Mirror Star Trek Spoof
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I'd never watched Black Mirror before. I think I'm a little wary of a show that paints a pessimistic view of the future; I tend to stay away from stuff that could potentially feed my depression. But "USS Callister" intrigued me for obvious reasons. I probably can't say anything about the episode that more intelligent people haven't already said better. I definitely caught the critique of toxic masculinity in fandom that other viewers have pointed out. At one point, I might have rankled at a "Trekkie" being made the villain, but for one thing, I don't think the show was necessarily about Star Trek per se; the game could have been about anything, really, but Star Trek provided a convenient and amusing template. Also, having been relatively recently made painfully aware of the backwards attitudes held by certain fans... not just Trekkies, but Whovians, etc., I can't help feeling like some sci-fi nerds just have it coming. When Daly gives his little speech about the lofty ideals of "Space Fleet," it might just have been intended, as the creators claim, as a humorously ironic scene, but his hypocrisy seemed very emblematic of the bigotry, misogyny, etc. of fans who seem to find nothing wrong with rejecting the values of the shows they claim to love. Anyway, I thought it was a great episode.
The whole time I was watching, I was racking my brain trying to figure out where the heck I knew Jimmi Simpson from. Turns out it was, of all things, the Coke commercial from The Invention of Lying.
The whole time I was watching, I was racking my brain trying to figure out where the heck I knew Jimmi Simpson from. Turns out it was, of all things, the Coke commercial from The Invention of Lying.
I watched the episode last night. Really funny. Very enjoyable. The acting was great. Actually the game parts of the episode "out Orvilles" The Orville in terms of humor in a sci fi space opera spoof. This episode and San Junipero (with the gorgeous Gugu Mabatha-Raw), in season 3 might be my favorites of the series so far.
Another... interesting(?) review
Black Mirror's meditation on Star Trek: reinforcing Trekker stereotypes?
ETA: I have to say that Space Fleet isn't a perfect substitute for Star Trek in the episode's universe. It's quite clear that there it's considered a little obscure tv show.
Black Mirror's meditation on Star Trek: reinforcing Trekker stereotypes?
ETA: I have to say that Space Fleet isn't a perfect substitute for Star Trek in the episode's universe. It's quite clear that there it's considered a little obscure tv show.
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It's probably one of the less scaring episode of Black Mirror. Go ahead!
Link to image of USS Callister:
https://goo.gl/images/78TW9Q
I found it scary. What you can do:
1) Watch the first five minutes or so. It starts with a faux-60s style mini episode. No horror there.
2) Watch it whole with somebody. When you have a laugh together, it’s not as gutting.
3) Rewatch San Junipero straight after to regain your faith in humanity
I really liked Shut Up And Dance, in many ways it's one of the most relevant to modern society.
Metalhead was ok, it wasn't bad it just didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode.
Metalhead was ok, it wasn't bad it just didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode.
San Juniperno was the best single hour of television I watched last year. Great stuff.
Is San Junipro an episode of Black Mirror? I haven't really kept up with it because it's so scary but this episode intrested me because it was about space and spaceships and basically Star Trek. I remember when I saw the trailer I thought this new series looks awesome then it turned out to be Black Mirror.
Yes, though I haven’t seen it yet.
I find it fun to see alternate takes on Star Trek (with a hint of The Orville in this case). A good approach might be to watch snippets of the episode on YouTube so see if you want to dive in full. And depending on your approach, you can choose to read up on the plot online beforehand.
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So, does this episode have anything going for it outside of "Its TNG's Hollow Pursuits but the Barclay analog is a disgusting, horrible person"? I've watched a few episodes of Blick Mirror now and I'm planning to watch more, but I'm iffy about this episode. I've had enough "nerds and sci fi fans are losers and terrible people" from various media to last me the rest of my life. Is the twist especially interesting, or is the whole episode exactly what I expect (guy is an asshole and gets what's coming to him, but the episode is mostly just about how shit nerds are as people and insulting Star Trek and its fans in particular)? I know there are a lot of assholes among sci fi fans, but I don't need to watch an hour long episode about that.
It’s not about attacking Star Trek fans and nerds. It does make a villain of a specific kind of person found in fandom circles. The hero of the story is a geek herself. So if you think it’s about attacking geeks, you’ve missed the point entirely.
Well, I've never seen it. I only know a bit because I tried to read reviews without specific spoilers. I know it has a guy making his own kind of ST fantasy, he (maybe?) uses the appearances his coworkers/people he knows to populate the fantasy. I also know this character is a terrible person. That said, its almost 80 minutes long and I HATE shows shitting on Star Trek and nerds in general. Since I don't want to spend 76 minutes watching an episode about an internet troll with a holodeck and I loathe every single Star Trek parody that isn't Galaxy Quest (and possibly Futurama if you count parts of it as ST parody) I'll probably give it a skip. I never though it would be entertaining to watch "What if Orville was somehow less funny and the main character was one of those nutjobs you'd instantly block on social media".
Black Mirror has been an...interesting show, from what I've seen. But it has no right to parody Star Trek, much less shit on probably the only group of people who bothers to watch a less good, tech focused version of the Twilight Zone like Black Mirror. I really am not surprised that Charlie Brooker hates nerds, since based on the entire premise of BM he's a huge technophobe and the tech industry has a lot of nerds (and horrible people, to be fair). If I want to get shit on for being a nerd...well, actually I don't. That's way too much of a common occurrence as it is. The show has been just clever enough for me to forgive its weird luddite mentality, but watching an episode designed to specifically call me a loser and terrible person for (ironically) being one of the small group of people who would bother to watch Black Mirror is too far.
Did you even read my post?
It seemed like every defense of nerd hating stuff. Basically "they're weird/losers, so they deserve it". I have no doubt that the main character of the episode is an example of a very real type of terrible sci fi. I've seen them a lot online. But calling out Sci fi fans in general by shitting on Star Trek and treating people like that as basically what nerds are (as opposed to it being a type of person you find everywhere, from the nerdy to the jocks to every type of group inbetween) is not something I'm going to watch. Nerds have been shit on for years, they shouldn't be a topic of disparagement for any show that isn't generic crap, much less a show that only exists because there are nerds to watch it.
Your post did help me decide to definitely not watch the episode. Its being added to the list of episodes I'll be skipping (basically just this, the episode my brother told me about with soldiers killing things that aren't what they think they are and White Bear because I got spoiled on its ending and it sounds like crap).
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