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Series from the UK. Now available on Netflix, not even sure how to describe it.
Short stories from the near future? Half funny, sad , obscene. Watch it.

Yeah, I watched the first few the other night and really liked it, if a bit bleak.

It was described as an updated Twilight Zone.

Reading Netflix reviews:
Sign me the fuck up!

Edit: Just watched the first episode; the above review is accurate and I am entertained. For those on the fence, the premise of episode 1 is:

It's a great show. Almost all of them are written by Charlie Brooker, who you might know from Screen/News/Games wipe. Also How TV Ruined Your Life - which is a kind of revisit of themes from the earlier shows. And the annual reviews that Brooker does.

If not, I suggest that you track them down, if you like cynical/sarcastic/smart commentary on things.

Black Mirror is all sorts of fucked up - I love it.  For UK viewers, there's a Christmas Special  next week which starring Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall.  Black Mirror: White Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDFcTmdQqIc)

Brooker also wrote and directed a short series called "Dead Set" which is a satire of the Big Brother show. The premise is that the contestants in the Big Brother house are the only survivors of a zombie apocalypse. I thought it was really well done.

Dead Set Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQjq639WPiU)

I love this show.  I started watching it right after I finished Utopia.  OMG, I think I might turn weird!  The episode "Fifteen Million Merits" was brilliant and made me very uncomfortable.  For some reason many of the stories made me feel like I did when I read Lanark: A Life In Four Books, which is probably my favourite ever.  I love when stories make me feel uncomfortable.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who likes that feeling... right?  Please say yes.

Say yes, you are the only person who likes that feeling or yes, there are others like you out there?  :grin:

Well, being a person who also likes that feeling, I would say there are more people like that out there. However, there is nobody quite like Signe.

Except for me.  And you, too.  Well, I mean for you.  You know.

This is really good. And I'll second the recommendation of Dead Set too.

Yep. Dead Set is all kinds of fucked up awesome.

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT.

Just started watching this.

Fifteen Million Merits was stunningly good.  Really magnificent.

Yeah, that one was my favorite so far.

So depressing though.

They're all pretty bleak. Kind of the point in a way.

At the end of "the entire history of you" we are supposed to assume  right?

Yes.

Because that's more bleak and depressing.

It's like some of you don't get Brooker.   :why_so_serious:

I didn't really like the second episode of the second series, but that's a more than apt description for things at the end.

White Bear? I didn't really care for that one either.

Bear in mind that most of these are making points about UK Culture.

White Bear resonated over here like you wouldn't fucking believe....

Would you mind elaborating on that?  I'm genuinely curious.  I don't recall anything about that episode that was particularly UK'ey.  At least, not in a way that a Yank would have trouble relating to.

Yes, please elaborate.

We just discovered this series on Netflix. Spouse loved Fifteen Million Merits, I loved the Entire History of You.

"Loved" isn't quite the adjective. Found fascinating. Bleak and wow, wtf.

Well, long story short (because I hate paragraphs), Brooker has views about the pedo menace as a matter of public record due to his work with Brass Eye, particularly the media overreaction.  He also has had some things to say about the Bulger stuff, which was thrown into further sharp relief over here when the anniversary of the killers came out and one of them was found to be 'back in the public' and so the media dragged it all out over and over again and, frankly, it was just a shitshow.  Much like the episode tried to portray.

See, over there, the two who did the crime in this Black Mirror episode would probably just get shot and that'd be the end of it.  But not us Brits.  Oh No.  We have to make it a thing.  A big thing.  A big recurring thing that's actually fairly ludicrous because we (lack the spine/are civilised) delete as appropriate to actually do something PERMENANT about it.

Which is pretty much the sum up of the episode here.  After all, it wasn't really HER that was getting punished all the time.  She was only EVER getting punished ONCE because she couldn't remember it.  So, what the 'public' was doing was ENTIRELY for the benefit of the public.  It was just fucking ridicule and shame and a public display, almost like a goddamn bleak Disney theme park because he sees us as unable to do anything else.

It was a witch burning and a media shitshow all caught on the latest fucking smart phones.  It was Camera Justice, which is a particularly hot topic over here, since, er, we don't really have any other type....

Anyway.  Some of that.  More of the other.  I'm a bit pished, so typing's hard, but I'll gladly expound when you're over my house and I'm beating you to death with a camera phone.  Or summat.

(http://i.imgur.com/qaYZhFS.jpg)

Yeah;  "Challenge Myra."

Also, Fred and Rosie West.

Actually, the list is endless.

That gives the episode a whole lot more context. Thanks. At the end, I could see something weird like that happening here, but it would be for an entirely different more prosaic and less interesting reason.

Well, that was a harrowing trip down Google lane. I was unaware of these things - and how differently they are handled in the UK. Yikes.

Hadn't heard of Brass Eye. I'll track it down.

 :ye_gods:

Brass Eye is fantastic.

Edit :  Actually, I should say 'Was'.  You really ought to take a gander.  Or possibly a goose.

Seconded. Brass Eye is well worth your time. Prior to that, "The Day Today" which wasn't quite as controversial in content but as a satire on contemporary global news shows, was fantastic (which Brooker wasn't involved in iirc but was the brain child of Chris Morris who works with Brooker a lot).

I've, erm, "found" it. Will watch it in the next few days. I'll probably watch some Big Fat Quizzes first to wash the taste of Mel B out of my eyes.

Speaking of Brooker, for the non-UK people, check out A Touch of Cloth as well. My boss gavce me a copy of it, and while I haven't watched that either yet, it's Brooker and as such near the top of my list.

Anyone else find 2014 Wipe a little disappointing? The song was awful, but aside from that it just seemed a little less than usual.

ATOC is hilarious.  British Police Squad.

Again, some things may get lost in translation, especially the Todd Carty stuff.

Decided to take a leap and watch a few episodes. First one really turned me off with some of the overreaching... but the underlying currents stuck with me. 2nd episode was pretty poignant as well as the third. I like the show well enough to keep going though.

I've seen everything available on Netflix and found them to be entertaining.  The one that stuck with me most was '"Be Right Back," but "The Entire History of You" is the one that seems to be the most practical warning tale.  People do enough idiotic shit that gets recorded on technology they could avoid - when it becomes harder to turn off...

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-09-07/charlie-brookers-black-mirror-to-become-a-netflix-show (http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-09-07/charlie-brookers-black-mirror-to-become-a-netflix-show) Good news.

Hooray!

And the new season just dropped, first episode was great.

I wish they stuck the landing instead of giving us "we're all happy people past societies bullshit" ending.

I liked it, because ten minutes into the episode I was thinking "okay so what happens if you just say fuck it to all of this?" and they eventually answered that question for me.

Brief note for anyone starting the series: Power past the first episode of the first season, it is easily the weakest. Doesn't translate from British to American. It gets a lot better later.

--Dave

Jesus fucking christ, S3E3.  I need a brain scrub.

San Junipero is one of the best love stories ever told.

AMA on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/59cppq/were_charlie_brooker_and_annabel_jones_the/). I haven't seen this series, but the AMA has me interested.

Don't skip it though. I always enjoy seeing new viewers reactions to what has to be one of the most ridicolous premises I've ever seen put on a tv screen.

Yea, I thought the first episode was great.

The first two episodes of season 3 are two of the three worst of the series, but I would not avoid them. However, there is nothing wrong with watching 3.3 before them.

Watching 3.5

Given the ... ahem ... recently political upheaval, it's not much fun.

My three favorite episodes of the series:

1.) "Be Right Back" - Atwell was out of the world here.  Not the most realistic of these tales, but she gut punched me in this one.
2.) "The Entire History of You" - The most realistic cautionary tale. 
3.) "Shut Up and Dance" - I enjoyed the story, despite the clichés.

"San Junipero" could have been there, but the acting was just weak in some places.  I didn't buy the attachment either of the main characters had to each other.  I also didn't like the unearned twist.

I don't think I've seen White Christmas, yet, but they're all great. 

Netflix Submits Episodes as Movies in Sneaky Emmys Strategy

http://www.indiewire.com/2017/06/black-mirror-netflix-category-tv-movie-emmy-emmys-1201842522/

I actually hope this works for them. Most episodes are 10x better than most feature length films.

Just crushed this show in like a day. Really enjoyed it. I like that I'm still thinking about it, just enough mindfuck for me!

Follow-up: it worked! San Junipero picked up two noms, one for creator Charlie Brooker, for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special. The other for Outstanding TV Movie!

PREPARE FOR MIND FUCK SEASON 4!  :drill: :drill: :drill:

https://youtu.be/yef_HfQoBd8

With zero context that is still terrifying.

Casual dropping of "I'm 2000 years old..."  :why_so_serious:

THE SEASON 4 MIND FUCKERY TEASING CONTINUES IN "ROLLO HAYENS' BLACK MUSEUM"

https://youtu.be/CV0J3Bq3BIc

 :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

6 More episodes/mini movies: Friday, Dec. 29.

https://youtu.be/5ELQ6u_5YYM

FUCKING BE THERE!


 :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

Well, this first episode got dark after 25 mins.  You've got to admire the restraint.

I liked the subtle Neuromancer nod in that first episode (when he's booting up, the OS is listed as Ono-Sendai)

Pretty good season thus far. Two left to go.

Wasn't a fan of Arkangel. It had too little to say.

Arkangel seemed afraid to really explore the tech, I mean you implant that kind of tech into hundreds if not thousands of people and
Starfleet was a lot of fun, but  That might be the most unbelievable thing Black Mirror's ever done. Felt like a cop out honestly.

My biggest problem with Spacefleet was

Hang the DJ was great.

Arkangel

I keep thinking "that BITCH" the entire time and i'm only 20 minutes through.

 Spacefleet

They saved the best for last; The black museum was a hoot (Rolo Haynes  :heart:), loved all the little nods to previous episodes.
Overall a very mixed season, "had too little to say" applies to half of it, but Hang the dj and Black museum where on par with some of Brooker's best.
Metalhead though left me wondering why it's even a Black Mirror episode.

Oddly the episodes with the happy (-ish) endings are the ones I enjoyed most, coincidence or is Charlie Brooker going soft? (or am I?)

Looking forward to Black Museum then; only one I've got left.  I think Hang the DJ was my favorite so far and it was also IMO the most Black-Mirror-ish in that I was kind of craning forward in my seat the whole time wanting to see more of the world and figure out what was behind the curtain.

I did really enjoy Metalhead as a piece of straight up survival horror, though.  It seems like in general this season has been about changing up the formula and dabbling in other genres.

Using a snow day to binge watch this. First episides I've watched since Season 1. Enjoyed Black Museum thoroughly. Others were solid to good.

Anyone catch Bandersnatch yet? I think i spent like two hours on it already. Some of the endings are hilarious but none are happy, at least so far.

...I'm sorry, what? I knew they had a new thing out, but how does it have multiple endings?

It's a choose-you-own-adventure movie.

You get like 2 choices every few minutes and it causes the story to branch. I've heard it has 5 main endings with each of them having some subtle variations.

Some not very subtle.

It isn't great.  Some decisions appear to have minor impacts revisted throughout in background music or quick flashes of something on screen, while other decisions are more meaningful, but intentionally pointless in the end.  There are easter egg "endings", but when the credits role is not so much a factor of where the story should stop as when you've seen enough junk.  It was a bit of  slog at the end and it failed to deliver a Black Mirror worthy message.  There are better things on TV worth your time.

I think gamers are the worst audience for this episode, this isn't a game.

It uses the mechanic of a choose your own adventure to highlight the illusion of choice, of the different means at which you can be manipulated to think you have choice when you don't really.  It's still a normal episode, you aren't meant to 'win' or though the right choices get 'meaningful impact'.  You are meant to wonder if you really could change things and put yourself in the protagonists position and see that from both perspectives, your options where all scripted.

It's pretty good I think, but a lot of people are reviewing it as a game and well, it is not a good game.

It was also kind of confusing.  My wife kept asking what was going on until she eventually checked out and was on her phone for the last 30-45 minutes.

Was anyone watching this disappointed when the credits started to roll and you knew it was over?  It was a relief for me.  I didn't want to give up, but it was pretty much just my completionist nature that kept me going for the last several runes through the end game scenes...  I place this in my bottom 2 Black Mirror items.

Is it better than the pig fucking episode?

Wait....the pig fucking episode was bad?

8/10 pigs hated it.

The pig fucking episode was good but feels very different to the rest of the show, and I often tell people to skip it on first viewing because it's a bad S01E01 to introduce people.

I think it was the best black mirror episode I've seen, but I think most of the episodes aren't great, so...

But the other two realllllllly like it.

That episode is easily in the top 3 Black Mirror episodes for me and was a perfect introduction. I spent at least half an hour thinking "He's going to fuck a pig and it's going to be hilarious." Then he fucked a pig and it scarred me. I felt terrible that I originally thought him fucking a pig would be funny. For me that's what Black Mirror does that no one else does, make me feel like a bad person. The only other show that has come close to making me feel like I was a bad person was Patriot on Amazon.

Exactly.

Black Mirror season 5 is out!  Watched the first episode so far and it was eh.  Still looking forward to the rest.

Holy Striking Vipers batman  :grin: :awesome_for_real:

That was by far the weakest season of the show, none of the episodes were truly memorable like previous seasons.

I found the third one very memorable, for the wrong reasons.

 

I thought the third episode was the best of the season, personally, just because I actually found it entertaining.  In any other season it would have been the hands-down worst. 

Oh well.  It had a good run, and the great thing about self-contained stories is that new ones can't retroactively ruin the old ones.

Haven't watched this season (or Bandersnatch) yet, but... is this it? Are they not making more?

There were only three episodes for this last season, and if the quality is any indication they're out of juice, so I'd guess there won't be any more.

I found episode 1 this season the first one I actually enjoyed.

You're not meant to enjoy it, dammit.

I enjoyed the giant fuck you to Disney that was the Miley episode, shrug.

Oh.

The other episodes (only watched three?) mostly bored me, enjoyed is a step up.

What I liked about ep 3 was that most of her songs were direct rips from NiN.

I feel as if the suits got involved this season.


I'm hoping there's more stories. I'm also hoping Brooker just starts writing short stories. Maybe S3 was the high water mark.