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March 29, 2024, 12:45:02 AM

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Black Mirror; Bandersnatch

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

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kidsick5000

Quote from: Head Gardener on January 01, 2019, 03:08:42 PM
awww bugger, is there a right way of watching this without Netflix? like a 90 min torrent I just saw offered?

Pretty sure I could edit it into a 15mins short. You'd lose a lot of nuance, but still get to a satisfying conclusion.
Don't know why you'd want to though. it's like going to a restaurant, asking for the chef's special, then asking for it to be microwaved

BritishHobo

Quote from: Ja'moke on January 01, 2019, 03:01:02 AM
But I mean... that was the point wasn't it? It pretty much states that outright at one point.

Whether you still think it's shit or not is a separate issue.

It just didn't feel like there really was any clear point beyond having some fun with the idea of a choose-your-own-adventure story. And if there was one I'm not sure about it being 'there's no choice or free will, the game controls your decisions too' because you could have different endings - the game would always come out different. It's a weird message - he'll always go a bit mad but sometimes the game will be good and sometimes not?

I think I feel weird about it because it feels like there's no middle. It sort of goes from that short montage of Stefan working hard on the game to SUDDENLY HE'S FUCKING DEEP IN MENTALLY FUCKED UP OBSESSION AND THE ONLY WAY OUT IS MURDER AAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH' with only the one scene with Poulter/the therapist in the middle.

garbed_attic

It was kind of like if Kim Newman's Life Lottery were crossed with 428: Shibuya Scramble and then massively condensed.

My affectionate feelings tinged with mild disappointment are almost identical to my feelings after watching the Inside No. 9 Halloween special.

Lost Oliver

Amazing idea but pretty dull. I was begging for it to be over by the end and it didn't feel as if I had any real choice in what was happening. Nothing else like this though so you've gotta applaud.

garbed_attic

Quote from: Lost Oliver on January 02, 2019, 10:40:42 AM
Amazing idea but pretty dull. I was begging for it to be over by the end and it didn't feel as if I had any real choice in what was happening. Nothing else like this though so you've gotta applaud.

I seriously recommend Shibuya Scramble if you have a relatively decent laptop/pc:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/648580/428_Shibuya_Scramble/

Timothy

Or PS4! Played it on there and watching it on tv was great. Highly recommend Scramble.

KennyMonster

Quote from: notjosh on January 01, 2019, 04:45:27 PM
Reading this, it looks like there are some interesting divergences, but they mostly happen in the latter half of the story. Not sure I fancy sitting through the first 45 minutes again just to watch Alice Lowe turn into a wolverine???

@@@@@
I'd say more like Chun Li
@@@@@

St_Eddie

Quote from: Lost Oliver on January 02, 2019, 10:40:42 AM
...Nothing else like this though so you've gotta applaud.

Netflix already has a fair few choose your own path programmes and Final Destination 3 had a DVD release with branching paths, way back when.  Therefore, I shaln't applaud.

SteveDave

My wife downloaded a 5 and bit hour long torrent of this yesterday. I can't wait to sit through it all in a weird order and then die.

olliebean

Presumably people with too much time on their hands will be doing interactive remixes of it before too long.

neveragain

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 02, 2019, 01:03:45 PM
Netflix already has a fair few choose your own path programmes and Final Destination 3 had a DVD release with branching paths, way back when.  Therefore, I shaln't applaud.

Oh you shaln't, shaln't you?!

Cerys

Lovely bit of spoiler that he's batshit right from the get-go - he's coding a 3d game in BASIC.

St_Eddie


mjwilson

Quote from: Cerys on January 03, 2019, 02:20:41 AM
Lovely bit of spoiler that he's batshit right from the get-go - he's coding a 3d game in BASIC.

This is one of a couple of inaccuracies which Charlie Brooker regretted having to include (along with the Spectrum error codes being all wrong).

sillymisslily

Will Poulter's got so much shit for this he's come off social media. Turns out all telly is interactive because if we don't like it we give the actors shit (how's it their fault?)

Either that or everyone's saying he looks like Sid off Toy Story again

BritishHobo

Anyone wants to chat shit about Poulter, they can come through me, pal. I'll go full Tumblr-fangirl. I fucking mean it. I've got a rounders bat.

kidsick5000

Quote from: sillymisslily on January 03, 2019, 10:13:35 PM
Will Poulter's got so much shit for this he's come off social media. Turns out all telly is interactive because if we don't like it we give the actors shit (how's it their fault?)

Either that or everyone's saying he looks like Sid off Toy Story again

It seems to be about appearance.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/03/bandersnatch-star-will-poulter-quits-twitter-after-black-mirror-backlash

fortunepalace

all i've seen on Twitter is American fangirl types talking about how sexy they found his weird Garth Marenghi vocal affectation, which is a bit jarring.

Dex Sawash

Finally finished. That's it? There's no story.

BritishHobo

Quote from: fortunepalace on January 04, 2019, 02:24:14 AM
all i've seen on Twitter is American fangirl types talking about how sexy they found his weird Garth Marenghi vocal affectation, which is a bit jarring.

Loads and loads of black American girls saying what a sexy white boy he is (I think it's a prominent thing because he's been very vocal standing up against racism, so he's popular with Twitter folks).

Also a lot of people saying you can't have an opinion if you weren't a fan back when he was in The Maze Runner. Ooh, think you're a real fan do you, hopping on during The Maze Runner? In the easy days? Where were you pre-Narnia, you shit, when things were tough for Poulterers? Did you watch fucking School of Comedy when it aired?! BOLLOCKS DID YOU, FAKE FAN CUNTS

Well I liked it, but only once I got to a specific ending which ended in the psychiatrist's office (suitably cryptic there I hope).

Natnar

The best ending for me was the O Superman one, reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode Perchance To Dream.

St_Eddie

#112
EDIT: WRONG THREAD!

TWAT!

ZoyzaSorris

Really enjoyed this actually, and I'm not really a huge fan of Black Mirror, though I'm glad it exists and that Charlie B is doing well for himself as a hero of my youth. Its always watchable and well-made but often feels a bit hollow for me. This however was the perfect medium for the meta side of Black Mirror, and about the only concept that I can see working with this format, playing wholeheartedly on the medium's inherent flaws. Those looking for a deep and satisfying story in its own right are thoroughly missing the point, I fear. I mean it could have been better, there were definitely strands I'd like to have seen explored further, but overall a very memorable and engaging experience, which isn't often the case in today's jaded entertainment landscape.

I'd agree with some posters that I'd like to see a more traditional story set in this kind of world or setting though, a sort of peculiarly UK version of Halt and Catch Fire kinda thing, maybe with a bit of a psychedelic edge. Would be very happy to see more of Steph's and Colin's metaphysical adventures in speccyland. Imagine this would be a much harder sell to Netflix though.

If you still read this forum Charlie, how about it?

Head Gardener

Quote from: SteveDave on January 02, 2019, 02:39:15 PM
My wife downloaded a 5 and bit hour long torrent of this yesterday. I can't wait to sit through it all in a weird order and then die.

haha, yeah I have this too - still not watched it though

Easter Egg

Mister Six


BlodwynPig

Quote from: Norton Canes on December 31, 2018, 03:14:38 PM

Sorry, should elucidate

Three things that really put me off:

1. Just like the recent Inside No.9 Halloween special, it was way too meta. Just because you're making a 'choose your own adventure' style story doesn't mean you have to make it about someone actually making a 'choose your own adventure' style story
2. The filming style was too slow. That kind of glacial atmospheric pace is fine for some dramas but I thought this needed much more pace, it needed to feel far snappier
3. More than either of the above, what really weighed it down was the endless cycling through alternative paths. For me the whole appeal of 'choose your own adventure' style stuff is that all but one of the endings has you dying, and tough shit, that's it, go again. I guess they weren't confident people would start again of their own volition, but, sorry, I'd rather that then be forced through every route in one go.

On the pus side there were some nice 80's home computer game in-jokes, and it's got me listening to Phaedra.    

(Was there any reason the character was named after John Ritman? He never seemed particularly like an acid casualty drop-out type)

and Love On a Real Train, plus the Exit poster - made the episode infinitely more enjoyable.

BlodwynPig

Did Brooker play the original Bandersnatch creator?

ZoyzaSorris

Disagree wholeheartedly with all three of Norton Cane's criticisms.

It DID have to be so meta, something this self-referential and PKDickish is about the only really great application I can imagine for this technology, which would otherwise be a bit shit. The whole cyclical concept was a masterstroke and makes it.

The pace was great, a slowly but steadily building sense of mental collapse.

The cycling of paths is also a key part of the story, the idea of parallel interweaving tangled roots of timelines, each slightly different.

Basically Norton Canes is terribly wrong and should shut up before they make more of a fool out of themselves.

olliebean

Quote from: BlodwynPig on January 09, 2019, 02:43:57 AM
Did Brooker play the original Bandersnatch creator?

No, that was Jeff Minter, founder of Llamasoft and gaming legend.