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March 28, 2024, 10:46:09 PM

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Black Mirror; Bandersnatch

Started by Dex Sawash, December 26, 2018, 02:44:02 AM

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Rev+

It took me the predicted 90 minutesish to reach a proper ending, with some false turns along the way.  Have to agree with Kotaku there.  It's a hell of a proof of concept for Netflix, but the story is barely there and wouldn't be at all interesting if it wasn't interactive.

I know he wasn't at Imagine but Colin was definitely based on Matthew Smith, right?

olliebean

I reckon it'd be stretching it a bit to call where I eventually ended up a "proper ending." Actually I'm wondering if the thing glitched and showed me alternative endings after it should have finished - did anyone else get what seemed like the credits starting, and then it suddenly jumped forward to the woman adapting the game for Netflix and then went on for ages showing what seemed to be other possible endings before the credits proper?

imitationleather

Like others, I was impressed with how smoothly it worked but I found the actual story pretty underwhelming. I was pretty desperate for it to finish by the end, and I don't really feel much motivation to go through it again. It felt a bit like they could have done more with the '80s setting and trying to make the game. It all seemed to suddenly be dropped so they could pack in the meta stuff. Whenever a choice came up to talk to the psychiatrist or do stuff concerning the stuffed toy I would always pick the other option because that storyline seemed very boring to me. Of course it turned out the episode was mainly about that stuff and you had to sit through it to get to the end. Yawn etc. (Woo, another Black Mirror episode where it turns out it's all to do with kids and childhood and other dullness.) I'm guessing a lot of the 90 minutes run time is due to repeating strands and it can be finished a lot quicker? I clocked in about an hour and a half before I got to a proper ending with credits but I had been sent back about three times (if I remember correctly).

Glad they had a crack at making it, anyway. I wonder how long it will be until the proper series.

Rev+

Quote from: olliebean on December 29, 2018, 12:21:47 AM
I reckon it'd be stretching it a bit to call where I eventually ended up a "proper ending." Actually I'm wondering if the thing glitched

If the credits start it's a proper ending, although mine was really brief.  You did get a glitch there - I think you're just supposed to get a little thing with Spectrum code after the credits, but I missed out on that because Netflix did its thing of crowding the screen with shit as soon as the credits started and I pressed the wrong button trying to make it fuck off.

McChesney Duntz

Apparently the shortest route to an ending will take you about 40 minutes, the longest around 2 1/2 hours.

McChesney Duntz

Best rundown I've seen about the construction of this show:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/bandersnatch-black-mirror-episode-explained

So, yes, though I'm looking forward to jumping into it again, it's probably more impressive as a structural/presentational object than as a piece of drama. But I'm a sucker for certain strains of meta, and it's got 'em (there's also a moment in the key flashback scene - or one version of it anyway - that first played like a pretty great joke, then became on reflection kind of sad and even somewhat profound. But I'm not spoiling that, either, so I imagine none of you have any fucking idea what I'm talking about and if you did you'd say I was overthinking it and maybe I am but fuck the fucking lot of you oh excuse me where was I again?), and I'm quite curious to see what Brooker has in mind for the format now that the initial bugs have been worked out of the system and the novelty has worn off a bit.

Blue Jam

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on December 29, 2018, 12:46:01 AM
Apparently the shortest route to an ending will take you about 40 minutes, the longest around 2 1/2 hours.

I ended up in a loop and struggling to get to the end after well over two hours, is that normal? I got there in the end, but was I being punished for choosing the obvious paths?

Fascinating stuff, dragged a bit towards the end because of that loop I got into, but fucking hell- more of this sort of thing please.

BritishHobo

Quote from: Rev+ on December 29, 2018, 12:44:20 AM
If the credits start it's a proper ending, although mine was really brief.  You did get a glitch there - I think you're just supposed to get a little thing with Spectrum code after the credits, but I missed out on that because Netflix did its thing of crowding the screen with shit as soon as the credits started and I pressed the wrong button trying to make it fuck off.

When I finally got the end credits, it did credit squeezing three times (giving a five-second countdown before it'll start episode 1 of Black Mirror) despite me clicking back to full-screen every time. I wanted to start again to try different paths, I don't know why it was shunting me to sack it off and watch a different episode - especially since I've already watched every other episode on there already. NOT SO SMART NOW, NETFLIX.

mjwilson


Petey Pate

Not watched it yet but if it isn't like Futurama's prediction of how interactive movies would work I'll be disappointed.

https://youtu.be/A1F4OduqrtQ

Small Man Big Horse

A torrent of this has now been released but it only features one ending and none of the diversions along the way. I've no urge to watch it but I imagine the first half would be pretty bland without the interactive side of things.

Timothy

Maybe try and get the free Netflix trial for a month. It's worth a watch.


Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Timothy on December 29, 2018, 03:54:40 PM
Maybe try and get the free Netflix trial for a month. It's worth a watch.

Oh I did, I was catsitting at a friend's for the week over xmas so played it yesterday and mostly enjoyed it.

olliebean

The more I've read about this, the more I'm convinced it went wrong when I watched it and showed me all the alternate endings after it was supposed to have finished. The first one just seemed like a coda, the others at the time I thought were just Brooker being weird, but having read what the various endings are supposed to be, them's what I saw - plus one other particularly odd one that none of the articles I've read have mentioned.

Not sure I would have got any more out of them by replaying in the hope of finding them, tbh, so maybe it's better this way.

olliebean

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on December 29, 2018, 04:27:02 PM
It won't play on my TV :(

Apparently it doesn't work on an Amazon Fire Stick either, which is odd as it works on Android and I thought Fire was essentially an Amazon-branded version of Android. Black mark there for Amazon, anyway.

St_Eddie


batwings

Quote from: olliebean on December 29, 2018, 04:36:35 PM
The more I've read about this, the more I'm convinced it went wrong when I watched it and showed me all the alternate endings after it was supposed to have finished. The first one just seemed like a coda, the others at the time I thought were just Brooker being weird, but having read what the various endings are supposed to be, them's what I saw - plus one other particularly odd one that none of the articles I've read have mentioned.

Not sure I would have got any more out of them by replaying in the hope of finding them, tbh, so maybe it's better this way.

This happened to me too. After coming to an apparent ending, it went on to show a load of alternative paths and choices (some with only once choice available) until getting to actual credits. This was via the Netflix app on an LG tv.

Hobo

I got a run through of all the endings too, PS4 Netflix app.

Dannyhood91


Head Gardener

I've downloaded a 5 hr torrent of this and it appears one long episode - will this still be watchable? (no, I have not started it yet)

Quote from: olliebean on December 29, 2018, 04:44:30 PM
Apparently it doesn't work on an Amazon Fire Stick either, which is odd as it works on Android and I thought Fire was essentially an Amazon-branded version of Android. Black mark there for Amazon, anyway.

It does work on the Amazon Fire Stick, as that's what I was watching it on and all the options/choices came up OK. 

olliebean

Quote from: Beep Cleep Chimney on December 29, 2018, 09:52:32 PM


It does work on the Amazon Fire Stick, as that's what I was watching it on and all the options/choices came up OK.

Doesn't work on mine (it plays a trailer instead), but it's quite an old one. I watched it on my Roku, though.

Dannyhood91

I just got the boy in this to buy a Tangerine Dream album which is ok I guess but I well don't give a fuck what happens

non capisco

I found this a right old chore to watch and stopped giving a shit about any of it very early on when it kept rerouting my choices back to an earlier fixed point. There was also the faintest wisp of a story behind the interactive concept compared to Black Mirror at its best.

THROW TEA AT BROOKER.

KILL JESTER.

VelourSpirit

I enjoyed it. Poulter and Whitehead were really fun to watch. Not really bothered enough to go back and do it again just yet - I'm glad it seemed to show a few endings before it showed me the credits. I can think of a few places that would change things - choosing who jumps off the building, getting the passwords wrong (if you even can)... oh and that bit where you decide if you want little Stefan to get the train with his mum. Genuinely felt quite sad at that bit. I generally chose the least violent options because I cared enough about Stefan to want him to not smash his computer up and ruin his game. Really cool that this even happened, as a standalone 'event'.

BritishHobo

At one point you can make Stefan take his medication after a breakdown, which leads to his game being a boring load of old shit, nicely implying that really suffering through the worst depths of your mental illness is the only way to make fucking genius, seminal, transcendental art.

Poor bloody Stefan. He'd have pissed his kecks if you showed him Skyrim.

St_Eddie


PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: BritishHobo on December 30, 2018, 01:38:11 AM
At one point you can make Stefan take his medication after a breakdown, which leads to his game being a boring load of old shit, nicely implying that really suffering through the worst depths of your mental illness is the only way to make fucking genius, seminal, transcendental art.

Poor bloody Stefan. He'd have pissed his kecks if you showed him Skyrim.

That's a bit rum.

Dannyhood91

I watched/played this yesterday and thought it was a load of old shit. When I picked Frosties for breakfast I got told it was childish. I don't appreciate being insulted like that.