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| Black Mirror vs Electric Dreams vs Twilight Zone |
In 2011, a little-known British show filled an anthology-sized void the greater television viewing community didn’t even know they had in their lives. Once Black Mirror was picked up by Netflix in 2014, the series skyrocketed to the top of everyone’s queue and became streaming television’s next big thing. There have been a few other series to try to piggyback on Black Mirror’s success, most notably two in particular. Amazon – not wanting to back down from a fight – released the 10-episode series Electric Dreams in 2017, which are all based on Philip K Dick’s short stories, and out of nowhere and to everyone’s delight (well, mine, and I assume everyone else is like me), Jordan Peele announced yet another reboot of the Twilight Zone in 2019. Only it would be on CBS All Access so no one would actually get to see it.
When it comes to my television viewing habits, I do like
being shackled to the same characters and plot line for the next 5-10 months as
much as the next guy. I once thought I might want to check out the X-Files.
Then I saw how many hour-long episodes there were and that number is 218.
That’s too many hours. So occasionally, it is nice to break free and change the
scenery a bit. That’s why I love these series (serieses?). These shows are all
anthological, which means the episodes exist in and of themselves as short
movies (and in some cases, regular-length movies) and you can watch them in any
order you like. I chose random because I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let Charlie
Brooker tell me in what order to watch stuff.
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| The truth may be out there, but somebody else is gonna have to find it |
The three of these series have some subtle differences, but only in the way Honey Crisps differ from Granny Smiths. All of these are unburdened by the need to carry storylines, actors, or even film styles (see Metalhead) across multiple episodes, but they also similarly need to engage you entirely in the short run time that they have. The Twilight Zone is both aided by and hampered by the format it has inherited – notably the theme song and the fourth wall break by the narrator. Electric Dreams episodes are all based on Philip K Dick short stories, and though there are many that are high quality, there is a finite number. Black Mirror has much more freedom. Its episodes vary in length from 41-89 minutes and aren’t handcuffed to any source material, format, or tradition. But it also had the heavy lifting of growing an audience from scratch.
Black Mirror is definitely the Granny Smith of the bushel in
that most of the episodes are so bitter, you can only eat one at a time and
often need to shower and call your therapist afterwards. Black Mirror delights
in leaving you feeling angry and/or empty inside. It is great for the sadist
and the thinker. They do an excellent job of showing us what technology there
could be in 5-15 years and what horrible problems that could lead to. Expect
some great twists, but be warned that some of them are tough to watch.
Electric Dreams quite frankly, is like Black Mirror Lite. And I don’t mean that in the pejorative. I don’t drink Everclear because it’s poison and my heart literally caught on fire last time I tried it. But I still enjoy a nice Hard Cider. That’s Electric Dreams. It doesn’t seem to exist to make you feel horrible, but it won’t pull punches either. Its goal seems more to be clever and show you a world that could be. And don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing really uplifting about any of these episodes either.
The Twilight Zone has always had a slant toward societal
allegory. Really, so do Black Mirror and Electric Dreams and most science
fiction, but that was always the rub in the Twilight Zone. And this is also a
series you could watch with your kids – for the most part. There is comedy,
tragedy, and originality, but most episodes directly say things like “Hey. The
world is still racist” and “Hey. Our political system is screwed up.” And the
narration brings it to another level of connectivity with the audience.
THE FIRST QUARTER
The following are the first quarter, or the first 13 of 52.
If this was a deck of cards, these would be the clubs. Nobody gets a club and
says “Oh great, I have a club.” You know, if all other things are equal. Some
people actually call them clovers too. I’m not kidding. But I’m getting a
little off track.
#52
You Might Also Like, Twilight Zone 2.10
Featuring - Gretchen Mol, Greta Lee
Summary - This episode opens with a series of commercials, most of them
being ads for something called an egg that is just coming out. Meanwhile, a
woman seems to be waking up in her bed with shoes on and no idea how she got
there. These two storylines dance around each other and leave you to figure out
what it’s trying to say.
Analysis - This episode very obviously was an allegory for something
more than just the story on the screen. But damn if I have any idea what it
was. I watched this more than any other episode trying to get it, but other
than the obvious jab at consumerism, I have no idea what they were trying to
say. Though I did enjoy the homecoming of the Kanamits from Twilight Zone
royalty, this episode is a scattered mess. Where the first season ended on such
a high note, this one missed by a long shot.
What I learned - In film school, I was made to feel like if I didn’t get
something, it was my fault. Since then, I have come to terms with my at least
average intelligence, and if I don’t get it, maybe it’s not me.
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| We're all crazy Kanamits, living in a twilight paradise |
#51
Crazy Diamond, Electric Dreams 1.4
Featuring - Steve Buscemi, Sidse Babett Knudsen
Summary - In a world where erosion is taking out most of the inhabitable
land little by little and the government seems to control all the food
production and distribution, a man who works in a factory that makes some sort
of artificial consciousness plans a heist with a woman he just met. But his
indecision in carrying out his plans could be his undoing.
Analysis - This episode was also a mess. There was way too much going on
for the time allotted. There were these random pig people who had little to do
with the story and were never explained. I get the feeling that all the sci-fi
components of this episode were just misdirection for what turned out to be the
story of a heist, and not an extremely original or interesting one. I’d rather
be confused than bored and here, I was both.
Personal context - I once watched a guy at a fair spinning plates and he
wasn’t very good and almost all of his plates broke. That’s what this episode
was like. Next time, maybe don’t try to spin so many plates. Also, at its best, plate spinning is boring anyway. Also also, this story
is not true.
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| If your two options are to be either bad or boring, maybe find a different form of entertainment |
#50
Impossible Planet, Electric Dreams 1.8
Featuring – Jack Raynor, Benedict Wong
Summary - The two-man crew of a space cruise ship docks after a mission to
find a strange request waiting for them. A 387-year-old lady wishes to charter
their ship for a trip to earth, which has been uninhabited for about the last
three centuries. But the crew decides to take her to a planet much closer which
closely resembles earth in hopes that she doesn’t know the difference.
Analysis - There was a bit of tension in the dynamic between the crew’s
decision to go to a closer planet and the woman’s robot companion discovering
their plan, but that fizzled out and the rest of it was odd. And I like odd,
but when it makes sense. This was the kind of odd that I didn’t understand
and/or appreciate. I’m not sure if something larger was at play, but the ending
was – as advertised – rather impossible.
Truth time - Truth told, I think I was too bored by this episode to
think about what it might have actually been trying to say. And that’s
not a good sign.
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| Me, during this episode |
#49
The Blue Scorpion, Twilight Zone 1.9
Featuring - Chris O’Dowd
Summary - Jeff, an anthropology professor, walks in to find his dad – a
gun-hating hippie – has apparently shot himself with a bullet that had his dad’s
name on it. As Jeff tries to sell the gun, he sees that there is another bullet
that has his own name on it. He also discovers the gun is a legend and it is
said the gun finds you, you do not find it. Over time, Jeff develops strange
feelings for the gun.
Analysis - I got it. We value objects over life and can easily fall in
love with power. But also, everybody he met was named Jeff, so he didn’t know
who the bullet was meant for. It just wasn’t very resonant for me. It kind of
drug on and it didn’t impact me like those that came before and after it. It
was filler, and I think it was obvious.
So you know - No, this is not a commentary on gun regulation. Also, it’s
basically Taxi Driver, but with half the run time and none of the DeNiro.
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| The things we do for our daughters |
#47
The Commuter, Electric Dreams 1.9
Featuring – Timothy Spall
Summary - A train station employee meets a rather peculiar woman who
asks to go to a station that doesn’t exist. After she disappears in front of
him, he becomes curious about this place she was asking about. A little digging
reveals that it was a planned community on a certain route that was never finished.
And he grows curious of what could possibly be there.
Analysis - Let’s file this under things I didn’t understand. I get the
very general lesson here of somewhere between being careful what you wish for
and the grass is always greener. What I did appreciate was how this episode
sets up a world where you’re never sure if this place exists or not, but it’s
not enough to detract from a common message dressed up in a boring cardigan
that doesn’t quite fit.
Insecurity - I read a blog post where a professional person called this
his favorite episode. When this happens, I doubt myself and wonder what I
missed. Then I saw him mention Impossible Planet as another favorite and I
instantly felt better. I’ll bet he probably likes Goonies as well.
#46
The Waldo Moment, Black Mirror 3.5
Featuring - Daniel Rigby, Chloe Pirrie
Summary - A vulgar, animated TV character inadvertently gets drawn into a political argument with a senator running for office, and in time, runs against him. While this is happening, Jamie - the actor playing Waldo - befriends a woman involved in the political race and he is placed in a position where he has to decide between publicly berating her or disobeying his production team.
Analysis - This episode maybe isn’t as bad as my rating, but I was so disappointed and confused by the ending of it, I need the world to know. I rather enjoyed the position Jamie found himself in between his job and his love interest, but there was a rather disjointed feeling once he has his collapse. I found it hard to believe and couldn’t really figure out if I was missing any allegory, which isn’t a good sign.
Life Imitates Art - This episode came out in 2013, but really provided the blueprint for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Be loud, brash, anti-politics, defensive, don’t say anything of substance, and rule social media with entertainment and ridicule. Cut and print. Thanks a lot, Brooker.
#45
Ovation, Twilight Zone 2.4
Featuring - Jurnee Smollett, Tawny Newsome, Thomas Lennon
Summary - A street performer is presented with a coin by the hottest singer in the world shortly before that singer kills herself. This new owner rises to the top of the public’s eye in no time and she suddenly realizes the cost of fame might be more than she’s willing to pay. And now she’ll have to face the choice of possibly giving up fame once she’s achieved it.
Analysis - This “cost of fame” trope has been done before and this version does not bring anything new to the table. It is rare that I feel an episode of the Twilight Zone is as uninteresting as this, but in the end, I feel like they just put in a twist because that’s just what they do. Just like on Jasmine’s hit album, this track is just filler, not even the B side of a single, if anyone even gets that reference anymore.
Egg Hunt! - The magazine cover featuring the new singer Mynx from this episode is also featured in Among the Untrodden, a future episode. Is this just done for fun, or is this supposed to indicate these stories and people exist in a shared world? And if so, what would that mean? No seriously, I’m asking.
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| Mom, what's a B side? Or a single? |
#44
Human Is, Electric Dreams 1.3
Featuring - Essie Davis, Bryan Cranston
Summary - Earth – now known as Terra – is running out of breathable air, and the story centers on the government and the military who have been tasked with travelling to another planet to steal some version of concentrated air from the aliens that inhabit that planet. The mission goes terribly wrong and only two survivors make it back to the ship, and their bodies may have been infiltrated by the aliens.
Analysis - It’s not only a story we’ve seen before, but one from later in this series in The Father Thing. The wrinkle in this episode is that the potential alien-morphed version of the colonel returning from space might be a better person than the original human. The episode is saved by a speech made at the colonel’s hearing by his wife about what it means to be “human.”
More Human Than Human - Yes, the overarching theme behind this episode can be summed up by a line from another Philip K Dick story (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) turned into another movie (Blade Runner) turned into a song by White Zombie. It’s an interesting concept and the hour I spent thinking about it afterwards was better than the hour I spent watching this. Which is actually a credit to the episode. And also, it isn’t.
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| Being human is overrated |
#43
A Traveler, Twilight Zone 1.4
Featuring - Marika Sila, Steven Yeun, Greg Kinnear
Summary - A mysterious visitor shows up in the jail cell of a remote Alaskan town claiming to be an aggro-traveler, and being pardoned by the small town sheriff as part of a Christmas celebration was on his bucket list. But everyone seemed to be too full of being recognized by this YouTube-famous traveler to wonder how or why he really managed to get here. All except one deputy.
Analysis - As an audience, we are immediately asked to expect that the sheriff, mayor, and most other members of this small town are so taken with this stranger’s obsession with this place, that they don’t bother asking who he really is and how he managed to slip passed everyone at the sheriff’s office and lock himself in the jail cell. From there, things didn’t get any easier to swallow.
Seventh Grade - One of the things I really enjoyed about this new Twilight Zone series is that each of the episodes is almost like a modern remake of an original episode. This one pays homage to the classic The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street episode from 1960, which my class did as a play back in 7th grade. Norman Phengvath played this character with one line. He was leaving town and was supposed to say “I’ll be right back.” Instead, Norman left and said “I’ll write back,” which gave the scene a significantly different meaning.
#42
Not All Men, Twilight Zone 1.7
Featuring - Taissa Farminga, Rhea Seehorn
Summary - While on a date to watch an asteroid shower in the sky, Annie sees some of these rocks hit earth, and she and her date go out to see one of them. As it turns out, this rock carries with it something that seems to give men – and only men – a disease that makes them overly aggressive, and Annie needs to get her sister and find a way out.
Analysis - This is clearly an allegory on toxic masculinity (#NotAllMen), and carries a message at the end that makes sure this point is not to be missed. It sets up this world, but never really convinces the audience of all of the rules by which it is governed. I found myself saying “Why would that happen? Oh well. Moving on” more than once. However, considering the importance of the subject matter, I recommend you ignore the low-ish ranking and check it out.
Next level analysis - In filmmaking, sometimes you have to sacrifice story for meaning. Just like in music, sometimes you have to sacrifice meter for rhyme. Personally, I’m a meter guy.
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| No, I'M a meter guy |
#41
The Father Thing, Electric Dreams 1.7
Featuring - Greg Kinnear, Jack Gore
Summary - A 10-year-old boy and his father are out camping when they witness a meteor shower. In time, a few strange things happen and the father starts to act differently. The son seems to be the only one to notice and after doing some research, discovers some other people are having the same experience. The boy is forced to decide if he wants to confront what is likely an alien in his father’s body.
Analysis - This is obviously a retelling of The Thing, and doesn’t hide it – even paying homage in the title. But the 1982 The Thing, which was a retelling of the 1952 The Thing from Another World and would be later remade into the 2011 The Thing got it right the first, second, and third times. This doesn’t really have anything much to add, but for the allegory of what a divorce could mean for the father/son relationship and a fun scene and conversation about the hot corner.
If you enjoyed this - If you enjoyed this episode, you’ll probably also like Human Is. They both explore aliens taking over human bodies and what it means to be “human” the adjective, when you’re not “human” the noun.
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| OK, I heard my name like four times. What do you need? |
#40
Arkangel, Black Mirror 4.2
Featuring - Rosemarie DeWitt, Brenna Harding
Directed by - Jodie Foster
Summary - After a mother briefly loses her 3-year-old child at a park, she decides to have her participate in an experimental procedure which implants a chip in her head. The mother can then locate her daughter, see what she’s seeing, monitor her vitals, and much more. When she discovers she may be doing more harm than good, she turns off the filters and stows the monitor. Until her teenage years.
Analysis - This is a very interesting look at helicopter parenting taken to an extreme. And it’s easy to see how one could slide down this slippery slope, and how temping it can be to pick it back up once your child gets old enough to experiment with lying, drugs, and sex. Unfortunately, this interesting look into helicopter parenting doesn’t come to a natural conclusion, and though interesting, feels a tad disingenuous.
True Story - The day DeWitt shot the scene of her screaming into her tablet was the day after the 2016 presidential election. She said she used her raw emotions from that event to fuel her performance. I think we all heard those screams.
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| Wait. You're in this blog too? |
End of the
First Quarter
Black Mirror
– 3 episodes of 22 (14%)
Twilight Zone – 5 episodes of 20 (25%)
Electric Dreams – 5 episodes of 10 (50%)
And at the end of the first
quarter of play, you can clearly see that Electric Dreams is ahead. But not in
the way you want to be. Half of the episodes in its run are in the bottom 25%
of the rankings. The Twilight Zone is right where is should be statistically,
and Black Mirror only had 14% of its episodes in the bottom 25th
percentile. And now is a good time to again note that I would still recommend
almost all the episodes in various situations to different and possibly very
specific people. All but for the bottom 4ish, and even then, I recommend you
check them out to tell me why I’m wrong. I enjoy being told I’m wrong. Just ask
my wife.
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