The streaming platform Netflix has released a new interactive episode of the extremely popular series Black Mirror on Friday 28 December. The special episode allows users to pick and choose how the story develops and culminates. The feature-length entry titled Bandersnatch showcases new technology developed by Netflix.
The episode was a surprise drop from Netflix and announced only a day earlier. Take a look at the trailer.
Bandersnatch is directed by David Slade and stars Asim Chaudhry, Will Poulter and Fionn Whitehead.
When the user starts the episode for the first time on a computer, a short tutorial appears with instructions to "keep your mouse or trackpad close at hand," as multiple options to take the story in different directions pop up throughout the viewing.
The viewer is presented with simple yes/no options for where they would like the story and characters to go. However, if the view stops the show at any point and decides to resume from the beginning all previous choices will be lost.
Black Mirror is known for stories that touch on fears associated with technology in the present and near future. The official synopsis for Bandersnatch reads:
In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge.
There is apparently 5 hours of cumulative footage in Bandersnatch. However this is not the first time a TV show or even Netflix has experimented with a “choose your own adventure” style series. Earlier this year, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh released Mosaic, which the viewer could watch on a special app and pick different paths for the characters to follow. In 2017, Netflix had released the animated children’s series Puss in Book which allowed viewers to choose different endings for the show.
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