S04.E01: USS Callister

[catrox14]

This is probably my favorite ep of the entire series. 

[ganesh]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Agreed - this was a good episode, but it felt like a variant on the same theme so it wasn't entirely original. 

I was saying the same thing once the new woman was introduced to the crew. Maybe not the best episode to lead off S4 with on the tail of White Christmas.

Not that I'm not enjoying the episode though. The "captain" had Kirk's cadence down. At least the crew was more self-aware, and telling Nanette to 'just hit any button' and basically telling her to knock it off when she was complaining. Her reactions were funny, but I wasn't riveted. The whole, 'you can't even take a shit' was hilarious. 

I'm typically unspoiled, and I have no idea what the rest of the season is like, but stupid EW which spoils everything about everything was crowing about how this was the best episode ever, so I think that colored my cynicism. And I always like the actor that played the CEO; dropping his pants killed me. There was a lot of humor I wasn't expecting. 

On 12/29/2017 at 6:45 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Have to call BS on the notion that the no-genitals part of the universe.

I thought it was indicative of Daly being emotionally stunted at the age when he watched the original show. Over the coffee machine, the woman was saying how Daly gets 'starey'. I thought it was to mean that he didn't have adjusted relationships in the real world, so he escaped to the Callister where just kissing a woman was the extent of what he could handle. Note how he was drinking milk frequently from a straw. That struck me as a kid thing to do. Then he was all awkward when Nanette stripped down and jumped in the lake. 

On an space note though, why would you beam down to the surface and then test the atmosphere to see if it was breathable? Should you do that from the ship? 

On 12/29/2017 at 11:37 AM, CheezyXpressed said:

Daly seems like one of those 'nice guys' who are just as bad their macho super-misogynistic counterparts.

There was a great article a few years ago called something like, 'no you're not entitled to a hot chick', and I think this was the type of character they were portraying. That said, I didn't think real life Daly was a 'good guy' for a second. He was practically seething all the time, and they tipped us off with the conversation over the coffee making. 

I'm not buying the 'they're just code' argument. They're sentient and self-aware. Walton died in pain to restart the engines, and he's not coming back.

Really, the last line should have been "I'm the King of All Space. Bitch."

I died when the pilot peeked down his pants at the end. 

[Cheezwiz]

I really enjoy how this show plays with expectations, and you can't always tell where the episode is going. I was initially inclined to think Daly was a sympathetic character, bullied by his partner and dismissed by colleagues, but they turned that on its head. You realize that he's full of toxic rage, and is willing to channel this into pure sadism in his virtual game world. I wondered if gamer-gate was an inspiration for his character - seemingly mild-mannered nerdy guys on the surface, but boiling with hateful resentment & misogyny on the inside.

Although there were dark thought-provoking themes, I loved the comedic stuff in this episode - not typical for Black Mirror. When Daly went on his first pizza break during a gaming session, I laughed out loud when all of the characters slumped into relaxed positions - including the space monster!

Edited January 2, 2018 by Cheezwiz
fixing a grammar goof!

[Anela]

I didn't really like this one, and I got distracted and missed the ending. 

[VCRTracking]

Casting Cristin Milioti was perfect because I'm never NOT going to be rooting for her or be terrified when she's in danger. Whether it's her virtual self trying to distract Daly by swimming or her real life self sneaking into Daly's apartment.

Edited January 2, 2018 by VCRTracking

[Chaos Theory]

It’s funny I missed it the first time but watching it over again you can understand why real world Walton was pissed at Daly.  He kept shirking his duties to stare at his coworkers.  Someone has to eventually be boss and Walton may be an ass but nothing he did in either world made him out to be an asshole.  Just a guy pissed off that a big project wasn’t getting completed on time because Daly wasn’t doing his job.  And he kinda wasn’t.

Instead of hunkering down and doing what needed to get done he escaped into his virtual world and took revenge on those who slighted him.  That’s not what a good boss or a good captain does 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Chaos Theory
Editing

[akroll16]

Also spotted Kirsten Dunst (Jesse Plemmons Fiance) walking through the office briefly in the beginning. 

[Lady Calypso]

On 01/01/2018 at 1:24 AM, Hope said:

Two questions - if Daly had paused the game during the chase, would the wormhole continue to shrink, or maintain its shape? And what happened to Walton and Gillian (from marketing)? Is their code/cookie dead?

If Daly had the controls to be able to pause the game (for example, if there was a backup controller in his pod), then the wormhole would have continued to shrink, even with the paused game, because the wormhole was connected to the game being updated. And since Daly's copy of the game was offline, him pausing his own game wouldn't have stopped the update from happening. 

We saw Walton reappear once the crew left the wormhole into the actual game, but they never stated where Gillian was or the others.

I also questioned where the other trapped cloned colleagues were. Since they never stated where they were, I'm going to assume they were just deleted, since I don't recall them being on the ship in the first place. Although, wasn't Daly's enemy in the game, Valdack, on the ship? Didn't they capture him? So wouldn't he have been with the crew at the end? I may have to rewatch the ending. 

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

It’s funny I missed it the first time but watching it over again you can understand why real works Walton was pissed at Daly.  He kept shirking his duties to state at his coworkers.  Someone has to eventually be boss and Walton may be an ass but nothing he did in either world made him out to be an asshole.  Just a guy pissed off that a big project wasn’t getting completed on time because Daly wasn’t doing his job.  And he kinda wasn’t.

I stead of hunkering down and doing what needed to get done he escaped into his virtual world and took revenge on those who slighted him.  That’s not what a good boss or a good captain does 

I agree. The more I process the episode, the more I realize that maybe Walton wasn't the pure bad guy. Sure, he seemed like a douche and all that, but Daly was definitely a participant in his own demise. Shania even said it to Nanette. She was put in the game because she dared to call Daly out on the creepy staring. Daly didn't have any social skills to be able to be a face for the company. Walton had to step up; sure, maybe he needed to treat Daly like a co-owner rather than another employee. But Daly really put a lot of that on himself. And I will say that at least he got his own office and a proper title. Thinking back on it, if Daly was completely justified in his anger with Walton, he could have not gotten an office right beside Walton's. He could have been in a cubicle like the others. Also, Walton got angry for a reason; Daly was too distracted by Nanette to do his actual job in getting the update out earlier. Walton asked him to make sure the new patch was out in the next couple of days, and Daly screwed up. Daly didn't seem to get involved in the company any further than doing the tech stuff. Perhaps he sits in on the meetings, but I bet he doesn't fully pay attention or understand how difficult it is to really run the company from more than the technological side. 

Also, once he took Walton's kid's lollipop to put him in the game to torture Walton, he lost all sympathy points from me. The only hope I have is that he did let the kid actually die and he wasn't just continuously floating in space and in pain. 

[sacrebleu]

Quote

Have to call BS on the notion that the no-genitals part of the universe. If Daly can control things to the point he did, the absolute first mod he would do is allow himself to have virtual sex. I guess they wrote it that way to avoid the notion of his repeatedly raping people. 

 

I thought it was a function of him not allowing the characters trapped in the program to have anything good. They can't have sex with each other, or masturbate, or even take a shit.

[ChromaKelly]

22 hours ago, Amarsir said:

It occurs to me that real-world Nanette is probably going to think she was party to a murder. All she knows is that her nerdy boss was home alone on the computer, she tricked him into swapping out his neural interface, and shortly after he turned into a vegetable. So I guess this episode had a dark side to the ending after all.

I was wondering that too. All real Nanette knows is that someone blackmailed her into ordering a pizza for Daley and stealing stuff from his fridge. She might not even know what those things were. Will she contact the police?

[iMonrey]

I'm not sure I buy that they were able to "hack" into the game, or the system, or whatever, through a control panel on the space ship. We were told that all the buttons were the same and it didn't matter which one Nanette pushed on the Captain's orders. So if the control panels are basically decorative and serve no real purpose, how were they able to use them to do anything as functional as bringing up the game controls or sending outside messages?

[VCRTracking]

39 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

23 hours ago, Amarsir said:

It occurs to me that real-world Nanette is probably going to think she was party to a murder. All she knows is that her nerdy boss was home alone on the computer, she tricked him into swapping out his neural interface, and shortly after he turned into a vegetable. So I guess this episode had a dark side to the ending after all.

I was wondering that too. All real Nanette knows is that someone blackmailed her into ordering a pizza for Daley and stealing stuff from his fridge. She might not even know what those things were. Will she contact the police?

Yeah, I thought about that too. My headcanon is that Digital Nanette will contact the real one and tell her what really happened. Explain to her boss was really a sadistic piece of shit and she had nothing to do with his death.

[Ingrin]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

We saw Walton reappear once the crew left the wormhole into the actual game, but they never stated where Gillian was or the others.

 

I don't think Walton shows up at the end, that was the person playing Valdack.  Gillian and Walton are, I assume, deleted.  While not ideal for them, it is better than being under the control of Daly.

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, ChromaKelly said:

I was wondering that too. All real Nanette knows is that someone blackmailed her into ordering a pizza for Daley and stealing stuff from his fridge. She might not even know what those things were. Will she contact the police?

In the first text message she gets, it says it's from her. So she may have remembered that and done some more investigating. But she still killed the guy or had a hand in it, so when the body is discovered, I think she'll stay silent. 

If they were going to make this episode 76 minutes, there was room for some editing of the main story and adding a coda to it because there are certainly some loose ends. 

39 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

My headcanon is that Digital Nanette will contact the real one and tell her what really happened. Explain to her boss was really a sadistic piece of shit and she had nothing to do with his death.

Now that they're in the game proper it should be easier to contact people, so that's a possibility. Still, a loose end that could have been addressed rather easily. 

[DrSpaceman73]

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 2:01 PM, DammitHardison said:

I can't wait for the Black Mirror episode about how Jesse Plemons is slowly turning into Matt Damon.

I thought this was a great start to Season 4.

I just saw Downsizing with Matt Damon playing a very similar character to this one on Black Mirror, so I spend the whole time thinking that was Matt Damon. 

(Would not recommend that movie by the way)

I loved this episode, its my favorite one so far of the first 4 seasons.  Its the only season 4 one I have watched so far though

Good mix of funny and serious, even had a happy ending

Lots of references and allusions to the know sci fi universe

It was like the Twilight Zone episode Its a Good Life crossed with Galaxy Quest and, of course, Star Trek

The plots and the acting of the show were so hilariously cheesy it was funny. 

Loved the ending to with the first guy they encounter, voiced by Aaron Paul. 

5 hours ago, sacrebleu said:

I thought it was a function of him not allowing the characters trapped in the program to have anything good. They can't have sex with each other, or masturbate, or even take a shit.

Yes that was my thought as well. 

Though it seems they can eat, or drink, at least. 

[buttercupia]

We also thought it was Matt Damon but with something off.  My husband and I will henceforth be referring to Jesse Plemons as Not Quite Matt Damon.

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure I buy that they were able to "hack" into the game, or the system, or whatever, through a control panel on the space ship. We were told that all the buttons were the same and it didn't matter which one Nanette pushed on the Captain's orders. So if the control panels are basically decorative and serve no real purpose, how were they able to use them to do anything as functional as bringing up the game controls or sending outside messages?

The Callister's crew stole Daly's communicator device, which allowed them to talk with Real!Nanette.

An additional hypothesis or two:

Hypothesis 1: While Daly is there in his modded universe, he largely controls what happens or doesn't happen. Since it's his game, when he tells a crew member to do something, he makes it simple to do. Whatever button you push would result in doing what he wants the ship to do.

While Daly is not there, people can act independently and control of the ship is largely like any other ship in Infinity, modified to look/act like Space Fleet. So other actions would be available.

Hypothesis 2: The character's reference to "press any button" only apply to certain functions. Some of the panels are functional.

Hypothesis 3: The line about pressing any button was a wink and a nod to Trek fans, because of course in the various forms of Trek the actors basically did just press any button, so we should take it with a grain of salt.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I thought it was a function of him not allowing the characters trapped in the program to have anything good. They can't have sex with each other, or masturbate, or even take a shit.

My take on that was Daly made them essentially like Barbie and Ken dolls. Flat all over. Not because of any particular sexual hangups on his part or a desire to prevent them from experiencing any kind of pleasure, but simply because he saw them as playthings serving a function, like dolls.

Quote

Hypothesis 3: The line about pressing any button was a wink and a nod to Trek fans, because of course in the various forms of Trek the actors basically did just press any button, so we should take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah, I think that's most likely it, because the pilot actually was flying the ship and steering it, etc. so some of the controls had to be more or less "real." 

[Jael]

So much good about this one; definitely my favorite of the season. Fantastic casting, especially Jimmi Simpson -- plenty of actors can come across completely believable as a) a simpering coward or b) a confident jackhole, but it's rare to see someone so good at both.

I can't quibble too much with the genitals thing since it made possible the destined-to-be-classic line from Nanette, "Stealing my p*ssy is a red f*cking line!"

[Charlesman]

1 hour ago, buttercupia said:

We also thought it was Matt Damon but with something off.  My husband and I will henceforth be referring to Jesse Plemons as Not Quite Matt Damon.

 

For a long time he's been known as Fat Damon.

[millennium]

Last March, in the Star Trek forum, in the "Miri and The Children Shall Lead" thread, I posted this:

Quote

But getting back to the original Charlie X episode, I always wondered what happened to the woman who was turned into an iguana.  Did someone take care of her?  Put her in a terrarium?   Somebody must have found her crawling around the corridors.  And what about the "No laughing!" woman who lost her face?   How did McCoy deal with that? How did he refrain from mentioning it to Kirk?   How did the poor woman breathe?   These questions plague me.

This episode of Black Mirror made me feel not so alone in the universe, lol.

[AllyB]

7 hours ago, ganesh said:

But she still killed the guy or had a hand in it, so when the body is discovered, I think she'll stay silent. 

She didn't kill Daly. She distracted him by ordering pizza so that, unknowingly to her, the cookies could plan their escape. She took back the dna samples, which ultimately had no significance on what happened. And she changed his real interface chip for a dummy one which as it turns out would have saved his life if he hadn't been so quick to use his back-up and get back into his game.

[ganesh]

She was a there. She had a hand in it. If someone saw her, the cops will probably want to talk to her. Plus, knowing she at the least committed B&E, she's not going to say anything otherwise. 

[DearEvette]

This was one of my favorites of the whole series.  Yes, Landry/Todd was a terrible person and a really sadistic asshole.  But beyond that I liked that this was darkly funny.  The clones' cynical acceptance, their resigned "we have to laugh or we'll cry" way they brought Nanette up to speed, Walton's entire no-fucks-will-be-given attitude.  The entire scene where they tell her about their lack of genitals was great.  And I love that they committed to the TOS:Star Trek aesthetic even until the end, complete with the cheesy special effects as they were going through the asteroid belt. 

"He's a Jolly good felloowww  so say.."  SLAP  "Oh my fuck!"  - I swear I rewound this twice and giggled

I was so scared they'd all fall to the Black Mirror depressing, dark end twist and he'd come out victorious, so glad he got punished.  And I love that they were free to explore the universe and probably become expert at the game since Cole and Dudani at least all worked on the code!

[catrox14]

25 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

"He's a Jolly good felloowww  so say.."  SLAP  "Oh my fuck!"  - I swear I rewound this twice and giggled

That made me legit LOL. That was great timing. I think I'll likely be adding "Oh my fuck" to my lexicon

[tiramisue]

I didn't love the episode as much as everyone seems to. I don't know why that is. It was an interesting concept and I liked that the protagonist was the antagonist, but I was a bit bothered by the fact, that there wasn't even the attempt of a handwave explanation on how DNA can transport all previous memories into a computer program and I couldn't suspend my disbelief. 

Without the memories it would've been a different story just veeeery similar likenesses to the people, but wouldn't seem so much like "real people", more like advanced Sims, even if he programmed the personalities and memories. They would still be more virtual beings, than if he also put something to their heads and copied their brainstucture like in other episodes with cookies. I didn't have a problem to accept the reality of the people in "White Christmas", but without it, they are just close approximations, like in "Be Right Back". Real, but there's something missing.

And yes it's weird that I am bothered by something so small in a show about SciFi/Technology-Dystopia, but usually they put in a throwaway sentence how the memories are in the DNA, because the way I tried to explain it to myself with what we know from other episodes (that all seem to be in the same universe) they didn't seem real and with that I was missing something that resonated with a lot of you.

I kind of feel like last year, when everyone loved San Junipero and I didn't.

Edited January 3, 2018 by tiramisue

[marny]

22 hours ago, akroll16 said:

Also spotted Kirsten Dunst (Jesse Plemmons Fiance) walking through the office briefly in the beginning. 

Yes! So did i, and thought I was nuts. I kept waiting for her to reappear with some dialogue but nope. 

[festivus]

Loved this episode, I love Jimmi Simpson and Cristin Milotti. Both of them do the absolute most with whatever they are given. It was pretty upbeat ending for Black Mirror, even if the King of All Space or whatever it was he called himself kills them, at least they will really be gone this time. I think even the real Nanette will start to figure out what happened over time. The virtual crew may be able to contact her now. 

On 1/2/2018 at 9:53 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I also questioned where the other trapped cloned colleagues were. Since they never stated where they were, I'm going to assume they were just deleted, since I don't recall them being on the ship in the first place. Although, wasn't Daly's enemy in the game, Valdack, on the ship? Didn't they capture him? So wouldn't he have been with the crew at the end? I may have to rewatch the ending. 

I wondered about this too. I just thought maybe Valdack was still down in the brig and didn't know what the hell was going on, but where was Gillian the space monster?

[Lady Calypso]

22 hours ago, Ingrin said:

I don't think Walton shows up at the end, that was the person playing Valdack.  Gillian and Walton are, I assume, deleted.  While not ideal for them, it is better than being under the control of Daly.

Really? Damn, I really thought it was Walton.

ETA: So, I just checked the ending, and you're right. It definitely is Valdack, which means Walton didn't make it. I thought he would, since he was on the ship and that his programming would just reboot when they went through the wormhole. I thought that he would because they said that Daly would only let them die when he wanted them to. 

I guess his body didn't end up going through the wormhole? 

[festivus]

I'm confused. Walton wasn't there at the end? I guess I must have just seen what I wanted to see.

[Ingrin]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Really? Damn, I really thought it was Walton.

ETA: So, I just checked the ending, and you're right. It definitely is Valdack, which means Walton didn't make it. I thought he would, since he was on the ship and that his programming would just reboot when they went through the wormhole. I thought that he would because they said that Daly would only let them die when he wanted them to. 

I guess his body didn't end up going through the wormhole? 

There was some dialog when they were trying the figure out how to restart the ship, and discussed how someone would have to go to the... plasma fader, or some such thing... The downside was you would be caught eternally burning instead of dying like they intended in the wormhole.  Cole looked resolved to go, but Walton was already headed there, to complete his redemption arc (skeazy playboy CEO who took credit for other peoples work -> sniveling yes man broken by his captor-> guy willing to sacrifice it all to stop the madman he had indirectly helped create.). 

 

Now that I think about it,  he was on the ship burning when it went through the wormhole.  He should either be dead dead in the new universe in the fader system of the ship, or else returned to normal in  the new universe.  I think the writers just wanted that sacrifice to matter, so I'm pretty sure he didn't make it.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Since Walton's sacrifice was pretty much ripped off of Wrath of Khan, I like to think that during some subsequent adventure they will figure out a way to revive him.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Also, it looks like the powers that be floated the notion of a Callister spinoff series, which I would be all over watching like nobody's business. Especially if they bring Daly back.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/black-mirror-uss-callister-spinoff-ideas-director-star-trek-hidden-star-wars-nods-1070875

[Madding crowd]

Like most of you, I really enjoyed this and thought it was the best episode of the season. What I like the most about these stories, is that many of them have multiple layers to think about. There is the story of a guy who seems likable but is really a sadist. But I also thought there was a subtext of: Be nice to people. Let's face it, Daly was not a nice guy, but people treated him like crap. The guy said he only brought the wrong sandwich, but he also wouldn't acknowledge Daly even though he was his boss, and wouldn't get him coffee when that was his job.  For some really strange reason this reminded me of the story of the Columbine shooters: guys who were mentally ill and not likable, yet were possibly driven to act on that anger through people not treating them right.

I'm not saying Daly or anyone is right in any way for taking revenge, just that it is a reminder to treat people in a respectful way. And I saw a couple of posts saying Daly was not good at his job because the Christmas game was delayed: it was the programmer who told him he wouldn't have it ready, and Daly was too wimpy to insist. So, I do think some of this could have been avoided if he would have been treated better. 

Also, still wrapping my head around computer simulations being exactly the same as human beings. I see the argument, but am still not sure. 

[snowwhyte]

I think the update could have been done by the deadline but the programmer had some additional improvements that he wanted to include that would have delayed it. If Daley has been listening instead of watching Nanette he would have told the programmer to meet the deadline with the update as intended and include any other improvements at a later date. 

[Madding crowd]

I saw that as him being too timid to insist on the schedule.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Madding crowd
Spell check

[PatternRec]

I didn't know Jesse Plemons from anything else so I was calling him Discount Matt Damon in my head. Glad I'm not the only one. Also (and this is not a spoiler) I called Rolo in Black Museum Discount John C Reilly.

[tennisgurl]

I would watch the crap out of a USS Callister spin off. 

[catrox14]

4 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I would watch the crap out of a USS Callister spin off. 

And Eric Kripke, creator of SPN, Revolution and Timeless  wants to be the showrunner LOL

19 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Also, it looks like the powers that be floated the notion of a Callister spinoff series, which I would be all over watching like nobody's business. Especially if they bring Daly back.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/black-mirror-uss-callister-spinoff-ideas-director-star-trek-hidden-star-wars-nods-1070875

[monagatuna]

On 12/29/2017 at 11:01 AM, DammitHardison said:

I can't wait for the Black Mirror episode about how Jesse Plemons is slowly turning into Matt Damon.

I thought this was a great start to Season 4.

That name sounds familiar. Wasn't he Todd in Breaking Bad?

As soon as I saw him I said "oh, is that Matt Damon?" and my girlfriend laughed at me. I'm not face-blind except as it concerns bland interchangeable white male actors, I guess? I can pick out the cross-connections between Black Mirror actors and their other BM roles with the greatest of ease.

[catrox14]

12 minutes ago, monagatuna said:

That name sounds familiar. Wasn't he Todd in Breaking Bad?

Todd in Breaking Bad and Landry in Friday Night Lights

[PatternRec]

On 12/31/2017 at 10:10 PM, Amarsir said:

Not only a happier ending than Black Mirror usually gives us, but well above average for comedy, too. A Star Trek parody already sets itself up for that, but even lines like "any of the last 9 would do". 

"Packer, we ready to fly?"

"Uh-huh"

(nothing happens)

"You're supposed to say something like engage or increase thrust..."

"Just fucking go!" 

(engines rev) 

[CigarDoug]

This was a terrific tribute to both Star Trek:TOS and Galaxy Quest, which was a parody of such. But I wouldn't be a true sci-fi nerd if I didn't point out the nod to Battlestar Galactica as well:

"For he's a jolly good fellow,

For he's a jolly good fellow,

For he's a jolly good fellow,

And so say we all."

Unless the UK sings it differently, that song ends with "Which nobody can deny". "So say we all" is the equivalent of "Amen" in the re-imaged BSG universe.

Of course, Walton's ad-lib was pretty good, too.

[jade.black]

On 1/3/2018 at 8:18 AM, tiramisue said:

I kind of feel like last year, when everyone loved San Junipero and I didn't.

I agree. I wrote a whole post in San Junipero about how the people were still dead and the copies were just computer programs, so who cares? And I kind of felt the same way here. In the end, they're just code. Not people. Their bodies aren't even real. I struggle feeling sympathy for AI, so... I guess this didn't have the same impact to me as it did for others. The worst part to me would be knowing, as a real world human, that someone (especially my boss) was playing god with a computer program who looked and acted just like me. I wouldn't be feeling sympathy for my virtual counterpart, but I'd be real creeped out by the implications and wondering what sort of weird fantasies this person was living out with "me". 

[knaankos]

16 hours ago, catrox14 said:

Todd in Breaking Bad and Landry in Friday Night Lights

and one of the main characters in Fargo season 2

[Ingrin]

3 hours ago, CigarDoug said:

This was a terrific tribute to both Star Trek:TOS and Galaxy Quest, which was a parody of such. But I wouldn't be a true sci-fi nerd if I didn't point out the nod to Battlestar Galactica as well:

"For he's a jolly good fellow,

For he's a jolly good fellow,

For he's a jolly good fellow,

And so say we all."

Unless the UK sings it differently, that song ends with "Which nobody can deny". "So say we all" is the equivalent of "Amen" in the re-imaged BSG universe.

Of course, Walton's ad-lib was pretty good, too.

I've heard 'And so say all of us' in place of 'Which nobody can deny' used until the final refrain usually.  Actually, just checked Wikipedia and UK version is 'and so say all of us' all the way through. 

[catrox14]

4 hours ago, CigarDoug said:

Unless the UK sings it differently, that song ends with "Which nobody can deny". "So say we all" is the equivalent of "Amen" in the re-imaged BSG universe.

I think they say "And so say we all" in the UK. I was watching the Doctor Who Adventure in Space and Time and they sang that to someone and it ended with "And so say we all" .

But I'm fine with thinking it's a nod to BSG as well.

[Lady Calypso]

On 1/2/2018 at 0:30 PM, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure I buy that they were able to "hack" into the game, or the system, or whatever, through a control panel on the space ship. We were told that all the buttons were the same and it didn't matter which one Nanette pushed on the Captain's orders. So if the control panels are basically decorative and serve no real purpose, how were they able to use them to do anything as functional as bringing up the game controls or sending outside messages?

 

On 1/2/2018 at 4:42 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

The Callister's crew stole Daly's communicator device, which allowed them to talk with Real!Nanette.

An additional hypothesis or two:

Hypothesis 1: While Daly is there in his modded universe, he largely controls what happens or doesn't happen. Since it's his game, when he tells a crew member to do something, he makes it simple to do. Whatever button you push would result in doing what he wants the ship to do.

While Daly is not there, people can act independently and control of the ship is largely like any other ship in Infinity, modified to look/act like Space Fleet. So other actions would be available.

Hypothesis 2: The character's reference to "press any button" only apply to certain functions. Some of the panels are functional.

Hypothesis 3: The line about pressing any button was a wink and a nod to Trek fans, because of course in the various forms of Trek the actors basically did just press any button, so we should take it with a grain of salt.

In addition to the above, there could also be a callback to White Christmas, where Matt is at his day job and helping Cookie Greta adjust to her new life. He tells her that the buttons are just symbolic and that the task is already technically in motion. Combine that with Daly controlling everything when he's in it, and it does kind of make sense. But up until Nanette entered the game, they had one of them try to hack and fail at it. 

[DrScottie]

On 1/2/2018 at 2:43 AM, VCRTracking said:

Casting Cristin Milioti was perfect because I'm never NOT going to be rooting for her or be terrified when she's in danger. Whether it's her virtual self trying to distract Daly by swimming or her real life self sneaking into Daly's apartment.

I honestly think it has quite a bit to do with her doe eyes plus her charm. She plays an adorable and likable person so well that people hate the ending to "How I Met Your Mother" for what happened to her. 

Edited January 7, 2018 by DrScottie

[AllyB]

It wasn't just that. I think people had been (rightly) hating How I Met Your Mother for a couple of years as it had become ridiculously dragged out and boring. And then Milioti showed up and breathed amazing new life into a show that was long past it's sell by date. She's just utterly charming and exudes fun and warmth and manages to be innocent without being naive. Jimmi Simpson was fabulous in this episode too and managed to play both versions of himself with fantastic ability. I also really liked Michaela Cole and thought she was perfect as the cookie version of herself. The acting in this episode as really fantastic. It's not like the acting in the other Black Mirror episodes is ever awful but I think some of the best young actors in the business were in this episode.