Can ‘Black Mirror’ be the New Twilight Zone?

Black Mirror
Black Mirror

Two times during the year, watching the Twilight Zone is the thing to do for science fiction fans. This scheduled marathon on New Years Eve/New Year’s Day sets you up for binge watching before it even became a thing.   After seeing Star Wars Episode 7 twice (no worries, no spoilers will be posted here) it set off an urge to watch some more sci-fi. I had to get my fix, so to Netflix/Hulu I turned. Whether it was Dr. Who or Deep Space Nine, I was there for it. As much as I like shows, there is just something that is appealing to me about science fiction anthologies.While enjoying some of my favorite, classic TZ episodes, I could not help but think of how few and far between these kind of shows are.

Some fans will remember the 1980’s remake of Twilight Zone, as well as the attempt in the 2000’s to bring the show back. Both efforts, well- fell short of the original (fight me) Then, we had the Outer Limits, which ran from the mid-90’s till the early 2000’s which had some good episodes. Of course, it was a remake of the 60’s Outer Limits, but ran longer than the original show. When it ended, there would be no sci-fi anthologies of note. Until now.

Which brings us to Black Mirror. If you have been watching my timeline, you have probably seen me rave about this show. After being put on to the show by a friend, I got hooked. The premise of the show is exploring the dark side of our modern technology. While perusing Netflix, I found out that a new episode -“White Christmas” was now available.  I watched it.. wow. My mind, was blown. I got more than I expected out of it. It was cutting edge, and worrisome at the same time. When I found out that the show is scheduled to be produce 12 more episodes on Netflix sometime this year, I was thrilled. Just from what I have seen so far, I believe this show has a lot of potential. While TZ will always hold a special place in the heart of geeks everywhere, Black Mirror has the potential to really step into a science fiction void. In a market where we are inundated with shows and movies based on comic books, there is still a space for sci-fi as social commentary. I await what this show has in store.

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