Black Mirror

[Mr Loligo]

I have been watching these and particularly enjoyed last night's dark and funny episode - "15 Million Merits".

"Charlie Brooker, the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world."

Black Mirror - Channel 4

Channel 4 is a UK channel, but I do hope it's possible for all members to be able to access these; possibly by watching the programmes through the "4 on demand site"?

Channel 4 - 4oD

[Stu]

I enjoyed Black Mirror a lot. I'm a bit irritated that it didn't seem to get much attention though (says the man replying to this thread nearly four months after it was posted) as I thought it was a major piece of ground-breaking SF satire. For some reason genre fans seemed to hardly make a peep about it yet every time a new episode of Dr Who airs there's enough comments to threaten to break the internet. Sigh.

Among those who have commented on the programme there 's no real agreement on which story was the best; everyone has their own favourite. Personally I liked the first one, The National Anthem.

[Mr Loligo]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

Among those who have commented on the programme there 's no real agreement on which story was the best; everyone has their own favourite. Personally I liked the first one, The National Anthem.

The National Anthem was certainly very good in that it had that awful: "I'm-not-sure-I-can-bear-to-watch-this,-but-I'm-going-to,-because-I-need-to-see-how-this-turns-out" factor!
Certainly it was a talking point amongst friends of mine who had seen it.

I liked "The Entire History of You".
It was possibly the least humorous of the three, but I found it intriguing. Mainly because with the way technology is advancing I think it is the most likely to happen in the future. With equally depressing results!

[MetaMortician]

Quote Originally Posted by Mr Loligo

I liked "The Entire History of You". It was possibly the least humorous of the three, but I found it intriguing.

Ditto. Reminded me of Flash Forward, Total Recall, etc. . . .

Made me wonder how unreliable actual (non digital, organic) memory is.

I have been watching the show "Awake". It is about a man living in two realities, unsure which on is a dream. Not horror per se, but an intriguing concept.

[Stu]

Has there been any news on whether a second series has been commissioned?

[Corman]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

I enjoyed Black Mirror a lot. I'm a bit irritated that it didn't seem to get much attention though (says the man replying to this thread nearly four months after it was posted) as I thought it was a major piece of ground-breaking SF satire. For some reason genre fans seemed to hardly make a peep about it yet every time a new episode of Dr Who airs there's enough comments to threaten to break the internet. Sigh.

This could be my own biases talking, but perhaps Black Mirror was mostly overlooked because it was so delightfully satirical about the negative impacts technology might have on us, whereas Doctor Who is full of fantastical alien robots that all make life super keen (even if they sometimes malfunction and kill a few hundred people). Nerds (myself included) love to only focus on the positives of shiny, blinking geegaws and minimize (or sometimes, even wholly deny) the fact most technological advances come from government R &D departments designing more efficient ways to drop bombs on people.

[Stu]

Yes, there's probably an element of that. Funnily enough, I think the first episode suffered from the way the series was initially marketed in an advert that looked as though it was selling a shiny new gadget instead of a TV programme. Even after I saw the trailer a few times I still wouldn't recognise it as the Black Mirror advert until the reveal about halfway through, by which time I was already trying to block it from my memory as I didn't want to buy a new gadget-laden phone thanks very much. Consequently, at least in my case, the marketing campaign was too clever for its own good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpgQPpdZayg

Even after Channel 4 gave the first episode its own trailer it looked more like a political thriller than SF -- which to be fair is actually the case -- and so I think at least some genre fans overlooked it as they didn't even realise what the programme was going to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=midBr3d3MUg

[Mr Loligo]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

Has there been any news on whether a second series has been commissioned?

Black Mirror 2

Black Mirror 2 - Channel 4 - Info - Press

Three new episodes/stories

First one being aired in the UK on Channel 4, 11th February 2013 22:00

Looking forward to it!

[Stu]

I enjoyed the second series. While it's not always entirely successful in its blend of SF, horror and satire the fact that it's even trying makes it a 21st century Twilight Zone, which is no bad thing.