How long is it?
I mean if you wander down a path and reach an ending, how long is it?
Well, they are still telling the story, or rather one of multiple stories. I haven’t seen this yet, but I don’t see any reason why incorporating the viewer (or reader) into a story can’t be an effective part of the point of the story they are trying to tell.
I didn’t really time it, but it is listed as 90 mins. If you reach an end, you can get a jump back to a previous decision (which may now have different choices, parallel realities and stuff :dubious:).
I think my first ‘wrong choice’/‘soft-end’ was after 10 minutes or so, jumping back to a previous choice gives a short montage of the story-as-chosen up to that decision. After a couple of those ends, there was an option ‘jump-to-credits’ overlay, which I did not use. I did get to the ‘definite’ end with credits roll where there was no option to jump back anymore (so with some options never visited).
I think I did spend ~60 minutes total (may be of base though, as didn’t time), without covering all choices as mentioned.
Spoilers on branching paths:
It’s interesting that some things change permanently based on your choices. The main endings are the same, but some paths will be locked on your first playthrough based on your choices even when you go back to a previous choice, and there are some small detail changes. For example if Colin jumps, he’s missing from some future scenes of other paths. If Stefan jumps, Colin will be present. Hiding an easter egg in some obscure path would be a fitting homeage to these styles of games.
I thought it was boring and gave up on it.
I’ve been watching over 90 minutes and have reached 3 endings or so.
Ummmm…this might be brilliant. I am now deep in it again and have different choices. Stefan asked me who I am and I had more options.
OK, I appear(according to reddit) to have reached all the main endings. It took me to credits with no “go back” episode and played a bonus tag with Stefan on the bus and this time, he had a tape called Bandersnatch demo.
I liked it a lot.
The story reminded me of BioShock where it used the medium of the story as part of the story. One thing that really tickled me was
Having the option to tell him he was a character in a show on Netflix. My final ending though was the same as someone else’s above where he gets on the Train in the past and dies in the doctor’s office in 1984.
I got a different “final ending” than the ones others are talking about.
I refused to take the train trip with mom, because it felt too Donnie Darko for my tastes and I was hoping for a path where Stefan’s outlook changes when he realizes he wasn’t responsible for her death. There wasn’t one, disappointingly. The ending that kicked me to the final credits was when Stefan tries to jump out the window during the fight scene, the director yells “Cut!”, and suddenly he’s the only person who doesn’t realize he’s an actor.
Also, a question;
Does anyone know what phone number Stefan’s supposed to call after he kills his dad? I couldn’t think of a number to enter, and subsequently it defaulted to the version where he buries his dad alone, the neighbors’ dogs dig him up, and it ends with him in prison watching a review where the games company decided to publish Bandersnatch in its unfinished state despite his crime.
Also, some Easter eggs I noticed; the clinic is called “St. Juniper’s”, in a nod to San Junipero. Also, the cassettes you can choose between are Into the Gap by the Thompson Twins and Now That’s What I Call Music! Volume 2, both of which have “Hold Me Now” on them.
The biggest reference to previous BM episodes is the glyph the author of Bandersnatch came up with - it’s the same one from White Bear. Also, the titles of both of Colin’s video games shown are Kreativli Speld versions of episode titles from the last couple seasons - Nosedive (Nohsdiv, I think…) and Metalhead (Metl Hedd).
I never hit any endings that kicked me directly to the real end credits without a ‘go back’ option, but I did hit one with credits (the whole ‘intercutting the credits between bits of story’ technique)…
A flash forward to Colin’s daughter recreating Bandersnatch…and showing signs of the same thing happening to her as happened to Stefan.
Weirdly, when I got that bit…
The number was actually given while the option to enter it was up, using clips from earlier in the episode, where various characters (Stefan, Colin, and the doctor) said numbers. It was 20541…or 25041. One or the other. Of course, that’s assuming it’s the same in the ‘we’ll give you the numbers’ and ‘figure it out, you dope’ versions of the scene.
As an aside; when Stefan first pulled out the book at the breakfast table, I paused and tried to search for Bandersnatch by Jerome F. Davies, because it sounded like the kind of classic sci-fi novel I’d want to know about and read. I was disappointed I couldn’t find anything. As I continued watching, it gradually dawned on me that it was something the writers made up for the purpose of the episode.
Now I kinda wish they’d write and publish the novel itself as a spinoff of the episode.
I don’t think the novel exists, but Bandersnatch was a real computer game being developed in the 1980s. The company went bankrupt before it could be completed, and it’s believed the game was later finished with a different name. Brataccas - Wikipedia
Yes, the episode told me the numbers at that point.
I rabbit holed through it last night and hit a couple of endings before going back make other options. There are lots of write ups out there about all the endings, easter eggs (including a free video game) and nods to other episodes. Really enjoy the twist on this episode and endless possibilities to how the story goes - just like real-life!
Here’s a flow chart someone created. I know it isn’t 100% compete because my exact path was a little different but it had every scene I saw as best as I could remember and many I didn’t.
The creepiest part of this episode tom me is the meta-ness of it in the context of Black Mirror universe and its themes. Within that one step future universe this game would exist and Stefan would be an AI agent with sentience that we interactive viewers/players would be controlling for our amusement. Do we stop at Stefan working as part of team producing a meh reviewed game as part of an industry about to explode? That would be the best win for the sentient agent. But nah. More fun to go back and explore the options that make him and others suffer! So we do. I did. And certainly so would players/viewers in the Black Mirror universe.
FWIW I also tried to have him have his rabbit and not get on the train, to create a present in which his mother still died but he knew it wasn’t his fault and in which his dad had shown him empathy and kindness so he never hated his dad. Obviously can’t get there from here.
Finally saw it yesterday through several different playthroughs, and I was glad to see that Black Mirror did indeed use the interaction in a manner that is central to the story. Very cleverly done.
All-in-all, I really enjoyed it, but they had me from the get-go with the subject matter, and a shout-out to the Commodore 64’s soundchip (the SID). (I had no idea this was going to be set in the mid-80s centered around a young 8-bit games programmer. Just completely in my wheelhouse.) My only irk was questioning why the hell they’re programming these commercial games in BASIC!? (I know, visually it works better, but I kept thinking, ‘what kind of amateur computer gaming outfit is this?’ Assembly!)
Still need to seek out all the paths, as I haven’t gotten most of the mother story (I only know one little part of it), and there’s some other plotlines I’ve heard about that I’ve completely missed, but I did get a 5/5 Bandersnatch game review on my first full play-through of the episode. I also enjoyed the dark humor at parts, especially the
crazy action scene that comes out of nowhere at the therapist’s office, after a meta-discussion about “who would be controlling your boring-ass programmer life–the audience wants entertainment!” and then you’re presented with a choice to kick up the entertainment level with a choice of “yeah” or “fuck yeah.” I chose the latter. Haven’t seen what the former does yet, but I found the action that followed hilarious in the context of the episode.
The product placement for Netflix was off putting, they could have just said a streaming service instead was controlling him. Also we were watching it in Netflix, no need for product placement.
I guess that part bothered me, I’m usually fine with product placement but that was as subtle as a dick in the face and took me out of the film.
[spoiler] Also I have gotten to almost every ending, I don’t believe there is a happy ending. He either dies, goes to prison or creates a shitty game. I was hoping there’d be at least one good ending. I went online to look at decision trees and yup, no good ending.
I liked how the game reviewer gave game reviews that matched the storyline itself.
Also wtf was up with Colin? He dies in one scene then is alive twenty minutes later.[/spoiler]
I didn’t perceive that as “product placement” at all, but rather involving you more specifically in the story. After all, like you said, you’re watching it on Netflix, so I think it’s pretty cool that Netflix itself is mentioned. Makes it all the more meta all around. Hell, if it could read what computer and operating system I was using to watch it and incorporate it into the episode, that’d be even cooler. It makes me feel more like I am a part of the actual story, rather than an observer. Obviously, your mileage varies.