Yep. It was quite disturbing. With Silent Night as background music.
News Black Mirror Star Trek Spoof
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The ending left me with a similar feeling that I had after watching The Skin I Live In... I think it has to do with a certain sort of realism combined with isolation.
In the case of this ep Daly's social awkwardness and other issues caused him to be isolated from others to the point that it will lead to his ultimate demise. For some reason that unnerves me... not sure why. The film I referenced, in a way, also has this in place as part of the plot (though "demise" might have been preferable in that case).
Or some combinations of these three genres.
Well, anyone who identified with the "captain" in that one deserves to be made to feel uncomfortable. I mean, really.
A lot of it was observant of fandom in general.
Love how the USS Calister became the JJ-verse Callister (complete with lens flares) after travelling through the upgrade wormhole!
Then you should absolutely check out their respective Joe Wright/Keira Knightley and Cary Fukunaga/Mia Wasikowska films.
A few years late but I finally saw this episode and loved it. With a few minor tweaks, it could have been an actual Star Trek episode. Imagine a crew "out there" in virual reality.
- NotMattDamon did a fantastic job with his mild Shatnerisms. I first saw him years ago on Breaking Bad and he pops up every now and then in something. He usually plays the deranged creepy type.
- Always nice to see Cristin Milioti in something.
- A full series? Maybe not but I can see a follow-up. They're in a game and have to fend off real-world players, and the game itself could be shut down, threatening their very existence. And how would their real-world counterparts react if they were contacted? How would the world at large react to this new technology? Lots to explore.
A+
- NotMattDamon did a fantastic job with his mild Shatnerisms. I first saw him years ago on Breaking Bad and he pops up every now and then in something. He usually plays the deranged creepy type.
- Always nice to see Cristin Milioti in something.
- A full series? Maybe not but I can see a follow-up. They're in a game and have to fend off real-world players, and the game itself could be shut down, threatening their very existence. And how would their real-world counterparts react if they were contacted? How would the world at large react to this new technology? Lots to explore.
It also reminded my of Trek's periodic visual and uniform updates. Good attention to detail with this episode.
A+
USS Callister was good, except for how scanning DNA somehow gave the AI Clones memories too.
And I think it's safe to say that Black Mirror HAS become more outright technophobic as it's gone on. The first few seasons were more about how people abuse the technology rather than the tech itself being bad but now it's just more about the tech being bad.
That said, some of the episodes just never made sense to me. Like the "White Christmas" special. Everyone kept saying how great it was, but all I could see were the plot problems. Especially with Jon Hamm's character.
And I think it's safe to say that Black Mirror HAS become more outright technophobic as it's gone on. The first few seasons were more about how people abuse the technology rather than the tech itself being bad but now it's just more about the tech being bad.
That said, some of the episodes just never made sense to me. Like the "White Christmas" special. Everyone kept saying how great it was, but all I could see were the plot problems. Especially with Jon Hamm's character.
In Callister, the technology was an means to an end. It was the NotMattDamon's character that found a way to terrorize those he despised instead of finding another way to overcome his social distances. It could be transposed into a fantasy setting, where let's say a wizard turns people into chess figures.
I don't see the Captain as a representative of all nerds or all Star Trek fans. Just a particular kind of person, that if the virtual world wasn't an option would probably be in incel or something. People with a combination of lack of social skills and sense of entitlement, who have no power over other people but are absolutely sure they deserve it. Who feel they are such victims that they have the moral right to do whatever they want to anyone to fight back against it.
I'm not sure the show portrays technology as inherently bad so much as specifically technology to make digital copies of consciousness. And even that had San Junipero. Or rather, it's not the technology that's inherently bad, so much as that our culture isn't mature enough to handle it ethically.
I agree White Christmas has a lot of problems. The whole idea of the 'block'. In real life I can imagine that immediately leading to assaults, and the assaulter wouldn't even know when they'd gone farther than they meant to, leading to accidental killings that were meant just to be assaults.
I'm not sure the show portrays technology as inherently bad so much as specifically technology to make digital copies of consciousness. And even that had San Junipero. Or rather, it's not the technology that's inherently bad, so much as that our culture isn't mature enough to handle it ethically.
I agree White Christmas has a lot of problems. The whole idea of the 'block'. In real life I can imagine that immediately leading to assaults, and the assaulter wouldn't even know when they'd gone farther than they meant to, leading to accidental killings that were meant just to be assaults.
And it could be interpreted as cruel and unusual punishment, being blocked from everyone else in the world for the rest of your life.
I imagine that there'd be an underground black market for Z-Eye removal, at the very least...I mean, if you don't have one, you can't be blocked, can you?
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Both good points. Not only are you blocked, everybody who sees you just sees a shapeless sex offender. How could you even go to the store? Those eye implants must be removable somehow.
You find out in Black Museum they eventually established laws over treatment of AI, but even those laws had catch 22s, because you couldn't kill them, but also couldn't really help them if they were trapped and helpless.
Then there's that episode where they have a dating app where they put you in a situation where you're kept apart from your pairing and see how many times you rebel against the system. Which means they probably also do this to predict outcomes of sports events for gambling. Or, job applications. Kind of like the theme in Westworld with the AI that plots out your whole life for you, that exists in the near future of Black Mirror, they can predict your behavior in any situation by creating your AI and simulating you.
My problems with White Christmas is that Hamm's character came off as such a moron I figured he HAD to be lying about some stuff.
Like he says his wife blocked him because he couldn't explain why he was throwing away his computer. As smooth and intelligent as he was, he couldn't think of an excuse? He was probably lying about being married and having kids just so the other guy would empathize with him seeing how that happened to himself.
And Hamm also seemed to think that making a deal with the Cops so instead of going to jail he'd be...blocked from everyone for life and given a special signature so they'd know he was a sex offender? Why the Hell would he think that was better than jail?
To say nothing of Rafe Spall's story. The episode never seems to point out his girlfriend was the real bad guy here. She was the one who cheated on him and never bothered explaining to him even years later that the child was never his to begin with. It seems to put all the blame on him. Heck, the woman's father was also in the wrong to make sure none of his letters got to her because if she'd known how obsessed he'd become she would've told him the truth before she died so he'd move on.
I think this is quite overshadowed by , well, his crimes?. I suppose if he hadn't done what he did and we were talking about this story on a talk show or similar, I could concede that she could have handled the matter better. But really, we can't absolutely compare what he did with what she had done (and probably it's the point of the story).
His girlfriend was cruel, but she didn't murder an old man and then leave a child to die.
I'd like to see an episode where Captain Daly somehow manages to return and seek revenge. They could call it...
I.S.S. Callister. 
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A lot of Black Mirror interconnects. Different eras taking different attitudes to the same tech (new, standard, banned).
Also, the news channels running on the tv in the background often mention the triggering event of another episode, unnoticed by the characters of that episode.
Also, the news channels running on the tv in the background often mention the triggering event of another episode, unnoticed by the characters of that episode.
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