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How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

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Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#71

Post by angersock »

mei0Iesh wrote: post #62
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Are people liking the latest season of Black Mirror? I'm only three episodes in and haven't yet gotten to San Junipero, which everyone says is the really good one, but so far I've been a little disappointed. This might be regression to the mean, since I felt that the first six episodes were six home runs in a row and it must be tough to keep a streak like that going, but so far season 3 seems to have lost something.…

I found no value in the first two seasons. It's been on the front page of HN at least 4 times in the past couple weeks. I tried watching the third season hoping it was better. It's still stupid. It's like they just take some very plain 1:1 observation about exactly how the world is right now, focus on one specific demographic, then create a skit around it that has no depth. They create imaginary worlds, but they're n…

You must be a riot at parties.

> Black Mirror seems to be optimized for people who are blunted both in terms of intellect and social emotion.

Are you sure Black Mirror is the stunted one?

> They're basically exactly the world we're in, but they replace a few things with something slightly different.

That's the key to good speculative fiction--unless you're one of the folks that needs aliens and spaceships and nanojiggers and other raygun bullshit to think something is scifi.

The trick for good science fiction is that you focus on the people, not the tech--and you only focus on the world insofar as the people experience it. "Fifteen Million Merits" and "The National Anthem" used existing social technology but showed how the human cost of certain scenarios.

"The Entire History of You", and "Be Right Back" focused on only a single real application of a novel product but again showed a solid study on how people would find ways to make themselves miserable even through the best of intentions by the creators.

Simple ideas played out through character drama--that's what makes good science fiction.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#72

Post by tempestn »

bcheung wrote: post #64

I wouldn't consider using people on bicycles to power society good science. It's probably one of the most inefficient methods of energy generation. That episode seemed a bit far fetched to me.

I agree that it would be terrible science, but since that seems so clear - the bicycles could barely power the screens in front of them at the speed the people were riding, let alone the greater world - I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed that they're literally make-work. The (presumably uneducated) riders may believe they're doing something necessary, but this could be a picture of a dystopian post-scarcity future when both work and scarcity are imposed artificially simply to keep people in line.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#73

Post by Torgo »

LurkingPresence wrote: post #42

I really didn't like the 'bee' episode because it brushed a frightening ecological disaster under the table so it could have an episode about how mean people are on twitter. Really? Even if we could construct something like those robot bees, what effect would that have on the surrounding eco-systems? What happens when a bird or a frog eats some little carbon-fiber robot? I feel like they squandered a more interesting…

It feels like everybody has pretty much forgotten about, or at least gotten over the emotional impact of the deepwater horizon oil spill despite it being one of the largest manmade ecological disasters in history. brushing it under the rug is probably closer to real life and appropriately uncomfortable when fed back to you as fiction.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#74

Post by cm3 »

Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Are people liking the latest season of Black Mirror? I'm only three episodes in and haven't yet gotten to San Junipero, which everyone says is the really good one, but so far I've been a little disappointed. This might be regression to the mean, since I felt that the first six episodes were six home runs in a row and it must be tough to keep a streak like that going, but so far season 3 seems to have lost something.…

I don't know if it's US production influence, but seasons 1 and 2 plus the bonus holiday episode were, compared to season 3, raw and felt more real. If I had to explain it, I'd say it's because it was a pure British production. I really hoped after the bad 1st episode that it would get better, but it didn't achieve the same positive effect as the previous seasons.

That said, if the content of season 3 manages to push some of the concerns outlined into the general public's perception and highlights them, then it's a good thing and well achieved.

The thing that stuck and was funniest for me was from the worst episode (ep 1) about the adapter and planned obsolescence.

Since San Junipero is mentioned here positively, I should add that it didn't work for me and seemed like ep 1 just too long for the content, but that's a subjective thing I guess. I kinda found it uninteresting and boring and honestly the ideas brought forward not crazy or exciting. Maybe it's because having lived in the tech world, the concepts are just as old as the availability electricity or even anyone who watched the matrix or read the mangas it's based on would find it "old".

Playtest reminded of the No End House creepypasta.

My favorite episode, despite the plot flaws, was Hated in the Nation, and that one almost saved the season. In light of InternetOf*, it was the episode I enjoyed the most.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#75

Post by Torgo »

tempestn wrote: post #72
bcheung wrote: post #64

I wouldn't consider using people on bicycles to power society good science. It's probably one of the most inefficient methods of energy generation. That episode seemed a bit far fetched to me.

I agree that it would be terrible science, but since that seems so clear - the bicycles could barely power the screens in front of them at the speed the people were riding, let alone the greater world - I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed that they're literally make-work. The (presumably uneducated) riders may believe they're doing something necessary, but this could be a picture of a dystopian post-scar…

other than being post-scarcity, I'd say recycling is literally almost this. it's not actually all that valuable as an activity and functions more as penance for the sin of consumerism.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#77

Post by gone35 »

soneca wrote: post #6
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Are people liking the latest season of Black Mirror? I'm only three episodes in and haven't yet gotten to San Junipero, which everyone says is the really good one, but so far I've been a little disappointed. This might be regression to the mean, since I felt that the first six episodes were six home runs in a row and it must be tough to keep a streak like that going, but so far season 3 seems to have lost something.…

The first episode is the very worst of the whole serious. "Fan-fiction" level of writing. Everything so obvious with tired tropes. A critique to social media that could be done by an imaginative high school kid. The other ones are good, interesting and worth watching. Although only San Junipero is great. Edit: Shut up and dance is great too.

"Fan-fiction" level of writing. Everything so obvious with tired tropes. A critique to social media that could be done by an imaginative high school kid.

Funny: that's exactly what I think about the whole series. I have (guiltily) watched all three seasons with anticipation, and I still don't really see what the big deal is.

But then de gustibus non est disputandum, so that's just me.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#78

Post by jen729w »

rhizome wrote: post #52
the_af wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I liked the first episode. What I think is the absolute worst (of all Black Mirror, I'd say!) is the second episode, Playtest. It's embarrassingly bad, completely amateurish, not really scary, too drawn out and with dodgy SFX and a weak premise. I also didn't like Shut Up & Dance much. To me it felt like a weaker "White Rabbit", and much of the episode hinges on a single plot twist at the end (much like White…

Interesting about "Playtest," did you see "10 Cloverfield Lane?" Same director.

Oh god. That movie.

I watched the trailer on a flight. Looked great. Started the film.

Turns out the only action in the entire movie is what they showed in the trailer. I thought it was deathly boring.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#79

Post by soneca »

ashark wrote: post #63
soneca wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first episode is the very worst of the whole serious. "Fan-fiction" level of writing. Everything so obvious with tired tropes. A critique to social media that could be done by an imaginative high school kid. The other ones are good, interesting and worth watching. Although only San Junipero is great. Edit: Shut up and dance is great too.

> The first episode is the very worst of the whole serious. "Fan-fiction" level of writing. Everything so obvious with tired tropes. A critique to social media that could be done by an imaginative high school kid. It was as much as 10 minutes too long and something was wrong with the editing, like they didn't have enough good meaty shots to fill out some kind of required run time so the editor had to hold shots too l…

Well, maybe it is about some expectations alignement problem. If I had started to watch not as "food for thought" story with twists, but expecting a simple satire and enjoying more the humor, I would have appreciated it more.

Re: How “Black Mirror” Gets Its Barely Sci-Fi Tech Just Right

#80

Post by soneca »

skciva wrote: post #45
soneca wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first episode is the very worst of the whole serious. "Fan-fiction" level of writing. Everything so obvious with tired tropes. A critique to social media that could be done by an imaginative high school kid. The other ones are good, interesting and worth watching. Although only San Junipero is great. Edit: Shut up and dance is great too.

You think that was a worse episode than the first episode of the series? Or The Waldo Moment? I really think Black Mirror is suffering from the Internet hype machine. If you never saw the show and only read the buzz online you'd think the first 2 seasons were masterclass and this one was a disaster..I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 seasons and thought some episodes were stronger than others but there was no large change in…

I actually think S1E1 is very good. And had some fun with The Waldo.
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