yeah, I can see your point, but I'd argue the line's a bit blurrier than that. I mean in the capacity of technology being a feat of the humans behind it sure, but I get more into this in my Arkangel review where I've mostly focused on technological feats actively encouraging people to engage in counterproductive behaviour, behaviour that the people can't help but indulge in owing to a desire inside of them. I'd argue the technology mostly changes people by virtue of its existence, their lives would be totally different if e.g. the ability to have total control over your child's upbringing wasn't there

Fair enough> I'm always hesitant to say that technology (or whatever the "new" factor that allows people to indulge in their worst impulses is) is really to blame for said indulgence, because it sounds a bit too much like absolving people of their own conscious choices and actions.

Hooray! I have a recognizable brand!

Yeah, I think Where No Fan Has Gone Before was funnier because Futurama is more a strict comedy series. Whereas Callister is one of the only lighthearted stories in the otherwise dark Black Mirror.

while that's true I still think the message was better handled. while the writers of this episode weren't trying to diss Trek it can't help but feel that way because the major fan of it is an asshole and no one else really seems to respect their Trek equivalent that much. Where No Fan Has Gone Before is a real love letter to the franchise while still being critical of some aspects of fandom.

See I loved men against fire, but its probably cause Katie Hopkins was much more prevalent in the media when it came out and it basically played as a direct response to that controversy from 2015 where she published an article calling migrants cockroaches and said she'd send gunboats after them, set it in that context and it makes a lot more sense

hmm. well it's always interesting to have different reactions to these episodes.

I mostly went off about video game theory because I did a module on it at uni and a bit of my brain clicked and went "oh yeah - this, this and this" - my thinking was that star trek was used because Kirk was always the stereotypical hero type of character, a "sort of guy you would like to pretend to be" - cause y'know how kids in a playground would play as characters off a TV show they saw that week, they'd probably wanna be the cool charismatic space captain - that same pratice fits with the main character in a video game - a guy you'd wanna play as. Buuuut that's just my reading of it and yours is probably more accurate to the inspiration for this episode. Yyyyyeaah while I'm aware of it, I've mostly tried to avoid that loud and shouty corner of youtube. Like people get so defensive when you just criticise a videogame. My girlfriend posted a review of some kid's game from her childhood she bought on steam for nostalgic reasons, it was quite negative, and the shit she got over it was just nuts

I think this scenario was picked for the episode because there's traditionally a big cross-over between these two archetypes - which is sadly backed up with things like 'Gamergate'. The gamer community is often identified with the introvert who gets bullied and indulges in escapism. These are the 'nice guys' who feel they're entitled to things the world is denying them. "Why don't girls like nice guys like me?" - because you're not a nice guy. If Buffy has taught me anything, it's beware of the introverted geek who gains power.

I hate unicorns As someone who would classify themselves as an "introverted geek", this is behavior that I try very hard not to repeat. Overall I've (hopefully) learned to simply be the best human I can be, and let people judge me based on that.

Yep just watched the episode and got real Mogworld vibes from it, I bet Brooker has read it.

I think that is an important distinction. For instance I'm the opposite type of player from Stu. I like playing the evil bastard because playing paragon tends to be, well boring. I would not do the same in the scenario presented in this episode though. The copies of people just pushes the line of personhood in this almost "Measure of a Man" grey area, I'm just not comfortable with. But some may say, they're not really the people they represent! The catharsis still doesn't actually harm anyone. I don't care. I'm still not comfortable with knowingly torturing a voodoo doll with thoughts, perceives pain, and reacts as one would to that kind of stimulus. It's close enough to where your empathy should kick in and not dismiss it as mere entertainment.

Inside no.9 is worth the licence fee alone

Stubagful I was ecstatic when I heard they'd commissioned a fifth series. Next January can't come soon enough.

Jamie O'Rourke oh didn't know that, fantastic news! Season 4 was great, once removed & to have and to hold are easily new favourites

Stubagful To Have and to Hold was really great, I also loved Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room. Season 4 was fantastic overall, really enjoyed it

It came out before Black Mirror so I dunno how you can use that as an adjective as 9 pre dated it

keyphrase that changes that sentence - "that much anymore" doesn't mean I don't play any, just my interest has dwindled. Latest game I actually played to completion was Alien Isolation, that was pretty good. I still play the odd experimental indie thing here and there, played the Stanley Parable not that long ago, that was hilarious. Yeah I trace my waning enthusiasm with modern video games back Resident Evil 5. I just got about halfway through and just thought "isn't this basically just the last one but not as good?" then I was told that 6 was even worse and didn't bother, more bad gaming choices like Bioshock 2 (though I did play infinite which was a lot better, but I really reeeeally hated Bioshock 2), Dead space 2, I just started feeling like I was chucking massive stacks of money into a fire. idk, I just got the feeling the major game publishers were creatively stagnating and I got bored and lost interest. Then I played Metroid Other M which is the worst game I've ever played...that was the straw that broke the camel's back and the gamer in me died....seriously as a huge fan of Metroid, it was like having barbed wire dragged across your brain

Ahh... yeah I can see if you are in that genre of games how it became a bit stale. There is a new first person game called "Hunt: Showdown". I haven't played it but just saw a video on it and it looks pretty damn creepy. I believe it's only in closed Alpha testing atm, but it looks pretty near ready to release.

yeah my problem is I'm a story guy and if a game's story isn't that strong then I'm very, very hard to please. I've found that games I actually find interesting these days are commonly referred to by gamers as "walking simulators" which is kind of an appropriate summation of my relationship with the state of modern video games - I want a compelling story but a large majority of gamers come to games for other reasons, so games I find interesting with good stories get the "walking simulator" descriptor and companies have less reason to put out games with interesting stories. I've just grown so detached from it in recent years

Game developers are getting a bit lazy on the story aspect to be sure. I think in recent years the influx of so many console gamers has shifted games away from the days of a game like Myst for example and more towards typical jump and climb type games. Definitely not my preference either. Still there is the stand out game now and again that has a really in-depth story.

Yeah like it doesn't even have to be that complicated a story, it just needs to have something that hooks me. Oh yeah I also liked Limbo and Inside from Playdead, both had rubbish endings but they were pretty good and I'm really looking forward to this thing I saw advertised on steam called memory of a broken dimension

If you want a story about living self aware NPC's done well, I recommend the book Mogworld.

I'm guessing your joking. But if not San Junipero and Hang the Dj are the best episodes of the show and they both have happy endings.

headbite alien you're*

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