Turns out, my smart TV isn’t smart enough — Remember when televisions sat in a box, were dumb as toast, and you had them repaired instead of buying a new one? Probably not, but I do 🙂
My laptop might be slightly more intelligent than my TV, but I didn’t inquire. For Bandersnatch, I wanted a big screen.
A little whining to younger family members got me the loan of a gizmo that temporarily increased my TV’s IQ and voila — I could now access the You Choose features that make Netflix’s production of Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch so intriguing.
Mind you, anything from Black Mirror is intriguing. Tales of a future just close enough to today’s reality to be deeply disturbing. I’m a fan.
This time, though I was more interested in the interactive format than the plot …
A few minutes into the movie and you’re given your first opportunity to affect the story line. Do you choose Door A or Door B?
Doesn’t matter, the fun is in the choosing. It’s incredibly satisfying watching the actor on screen follow the path you set. You get to play God from your couch. Very cool, but …
The novelty wears off quickly. The emotional charge you get from pressing that button becomes more of an intellectual experience. What happens if I …? Where will this end …? When will it end …?
The choices are all yours. You’re given many opportunities to choose and continue the narrative or exit to credits. It’s fascinating. You’re an active participant rather than a passive voyeur.
Multiple choices mean multiple endings. Interactive movies are not the shared experience we’ve become used to.
And that too, is fascinating 🙂
AimerBoyz 
Hi, Aimer – I learn so much from your blog. I had never heard of Bandersnatch, Black Mirror or Choose Your Own Adventure TV. Very cool!
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It was all new to me too 🙂
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Interesting. Never heard of this. I thought you were going to be talking about Benedict Cumberbund. I remember when the first “interactive” DOS games came out that were little more than narratives with left arrow or right arrow decisions like this. (Yes, I’m old and remember the dumb boxes also. The ones with giant CRTs that could kill you if you got too curious. Good times. :D) My ex loved those DOS games and could spend hours following the path to its new conclusion. I was easily annoyed by them for some reason. Maybe,
if I want to create a narrative, I want to create the entire thing from scratch with no help. Otherwise I want to be spoon fed tv schlock and don’t want to think. Who knows though, I might try this Bandersnatch thing once and get hooked.
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I’m undecided myself. Not sure I want to watch everything this way, but I was curious…
I’m trying to remember … like that DOS game, mostly we only get to choose between two options. Ocassionally, we’re given a choice between three. Anything more would probably be migraine-inducing to create and blow the budget, but who knows what next year will bring 🙂
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If I understood this correctly, it means you could watch the show multiple times and pursue all the options? It sounds a little like quantum mechanics.
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Yes, exactly. I’ve read there are 5 different endings. About 5 hours to get through them all.
I didn’t go that far, I got to an ending I liked and quit 🙂
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If the movie was “Love, Simon” you could have three endings, and choose whether Simon’s mystery correspondent was Bram, Cal or Lyle. (All of them handsome. I loved the smile on Joey Pollari as Lyle.)
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Tough choice, I’d watch all three versions:)
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It’s on my list, and I’m looking forward to watching Bandersnatch. I’m not sure how my partner will react, though. But, too tough, he had last night’s movie choice, so next weeks the choice is all mine. I may let him choose some of the choices the movie offers, though. It depends how much chocolate he gives me.
Black Mirror has had a big effect on my writing. I can’t get enough of some of the episodes.
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LOL! You can definitely take turns on choosing the next step in Bandersnatch. Apparently, that’s supposed to be half the fun 🙂
Black Mirror is mind- bending! Totally your kind of show 🙂
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I ALSO had to do a lot of finagling to be able to watch Bandersnatch … ugh. In any case, once I got it up on the screen I was really excited. In the end though, while I enjoyed it, I found it to be anxiety inducing! I mean, it was fun, but I started getting really stressed about my choices as the poor kid started to spiral!
We worked through a couple endings, and by the time we got to a hard finish (it didn’t give us any options to go back) I was exhausted.
I’d do it again, I suppose, with another story …
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Yes, I’ll probably try again, but I’m not ready to see every movie in this format. The interaction is fun, but sometimes I just want to sit back and relax… and not end up exhausted 🙂
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WOW. I didn’t even know about that! Pretty cool. 🙂
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