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Post by champskees on Jan 1, 2019 8:17:16 GMT
Hi all, long time no see.
Netflix has recently released an interactive movie, set in the Black Mirror universe titled 'Bandersnatch', which is a story about a young programmer who sets out with the objective of converting a cyoa adventure called Bandersnatch into a computer game. Suffice to say, the movie hit very close to home for me, and touches on many gamebook mechanics such as the illusion of choice/free will etc.
Black mirror is imo one of the best TV series I have watched in the past 4-5 years, and this movie was on par with the rest. The gripe I have is how society still cannot understand the power and potential of interactive fiction.
Gamebooks and cyoa novels have always been viewed as games rather than literature by the masses, and it seems that this new attempt at interactive fiction is perhaps too ahead of its time. Many reviews write off Bandersnatch as more of a video game than movie, which is quite depressing to me. The movie is very smart and makes a few subtle digs at the traditional movie/TV plot structure.
Anyway, strongly recommended. Would love to hear opinions from other gamebook fans.
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Post by daredevil123 on Jan 1, 2019 11:02:52 GMT
Welcome back! I am a big Black Mirror fan and thought Bandersnatch was incredible. I highly recommend it to FF and general interactive fiction fans.
One thing that occurred to me was that Bandersnatch, being Black Mirror, was far more meta than any of the FF books. I've always liked it when FF plays around with the CYOA format (as with the para 400 trap in The Crimson Tide or the structure of Creature of Havoc). More self-aware adventures like Bandersnatch in FF could be a really interesting new direction to take, although probably a bit niche considering the target audience.
Any thoughts?
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Post by slimehunter84 on Jan 3, 2019 1:26:58 GMT
I thought it was great. I think it was partly super-meta because they went all-out and threw everything they could think of in it, just in case it flopped (just my own guess not based on hard facts).
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,676
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 6, 2019 1:25:36 GMT
I'm gonna be the minority in saying that I didn't like it. Great execution, but hated the story.
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Post by daredevil123 on Jan 6, 2019 11:20:45 GMT
I'm gonna be the minority in saying that I didn't like it. Great execution, but hated the story. I think a lot of people had problems with the story. I personally found the themes of free will etc. quite compelling but I admit most Black Mirror episodes have better writing.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Mar 15, 2019 17:06:46 GMT
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Mar 16, 2019 5:24:22 GMT
I've not seen Bandersnatch because I don't have Netflix You can watch it with the Netflix free trial. One full month of viewing and you can cancel anytime you want. And while you're at it there's plenty of other great series to watch as well, not least Black Mirror. As for the lawsuit, it seems ridiculous to me. How else is the show going to refer to Bandersnatch? A gamebook? If anything Chooseco should be happy that Bandersnatch used the term "choose your own adventure", shows that it's still the most well-known series around, might even spark some nostalgia in viewers to buy some of the new ones, if there are even new ones. They "received an unprecedented amount of outreach from people who believed we were associated with the creation of this film, including parents who were concerned that we had aligned the ("Choose Your Own Adventure") brand they knew and loved with content that surprised and offended them". Seems a bit unlikely to me, but notice how they didn't elaborate on what other kind of responses they got other than the parents' ones. Perhaps the rest all gave positive feedback.
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Post by champskees on Mar 18, 2019 10:35:43 GMT
I've not seen Bandersnatch because I don't have Netflix You can watch it with the Netflix free trial. One full month of viewing and you can cancel anytime you want. And while you're at it there's plenty of other great series to watch as well, not least Black Mirror. As for the lawsuit, it seems ridiculous to me. How else is the show going to refer to Bandersnatch? A gamebook? If anything Chooseco should be happy that Bandersnatch used the term "choose your own adventure", shows that it's still the most well-known series around, might even spark some nostalgia in viewers to buy some of the new ones, if there are even new ones. They "received an unprecedented amount of outreach from people who believed we were associated with the creation of this film, including parents who were concerned that we had aligned the ("Choose Your Own Adventure") brand they knew and loved with content that surprised and offended them". Seems a bit unlikely to me, but notice how they didn't elaborate on what other kind of responses they got other than the parents' ones. Perhaps the rest all gave positive feedback. Prima facie, Chooseco could have a legitimate claim here. The phrase is trademarked in the US, Netflix uses the phrase to describe a book that is extremely similar to the CYOA titles, and I think it is fair to argue that the themes and nature of the film may have impacted their brand negatively (although I think they know the exposure is likely a positive for them). Netflix will settle out of court, nice payday for Chooseco though. Makes me wonder if Livingstone was savvy enough to TM anything from FF. The distinctive green spine, the 'you are the hero' phrase?
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Post by daredevil123 on Mar 18, 2019 22:45:08 GMT
Netflix have announced their next interactive project is a survival adventure featuring Bear Grylls:
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Post by pip on Aug 3, 2021 19:59:16 GMT
The episode made me wish there really was a huge "Bandersnatch" gamebook.
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Post by Charles X. on Aug 3, 2021 20:47:21 GMT
Thought it had the usual Charlie Brooker dark & humorous tone. Half of it was blocked off unless you got smashed on LSD! If you - not unexpectedly - didn't go down that path, you were left heavily puzzled by the out-of-the-blue mirror sequence. It was the first serious effort at an interactive Black Mirror film, and as such, I thought it was good. If there were more, they could probably be more brave and large.
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Post by petch on Aug 3, 2021 21:02:31 GMT
The episode made me wish there really was a huge "Bandersnatch" gamebook. Just don't read it round your dad's.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 15, 2021 23:45:59 GMT
The episode made me wish there really was a huge "Bandersnatch" gamebook. They coded some 8-bit games in Bandersnatch as an Easter egg (if you get all the main permutations in the game, or if you're 'playing on easy mode', as it were, if you wait on every choice and let the system choose for you), the big one being Bandersnatch, which is on youtube. It's nothing special, and it probably would have had a 50 50 chance of being accepted by a computer mag for their free tape in 1984. A large Bandersnatch gamebook - and game - would be amazing.
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