Summary
- Black Mirror season 7 offers dark, twisted, and compelling dystopian worlds.
- Friends sitcom weirdly predicted a Black Mirror episode 17 years prior.
- Show creator Charlie Brooker drew inspiration from real events and other works.
Black Mirror season 7 finally arrived in April this year, giving eagerly awaiting fans another chance to jump into its complex, twisted, and compelling dystopian worlds that explore the dark side of humanity and society through the lens of technology. However, 17 years before one episode in season 3 of Black Mirror aired, the comedy sitcom Friends had weirdly predicted its storyline.
Created by Charlie Brooker, who also wrote for comedy series like Brass Eye, The 11 O'Clock Show, and Nathan Barley, Black Mirror was inspired by The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected, although some episodes were actually influenced by real-life events or true stories, like 'The National Anthem' episode, in which elements were taken from the British TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, where contestants have to eat horrifying animal parts in trials. Producer Annabel Jones said the episode was about “humiliation, and the public’s appetite for humiliation.” The episode 'Beyond the Sea' was also apparently inspired by Brooker's experience working from home, as well as the cult mirroring the horrific actions of Charles Manson and his followers when they murdered Sharon Tate.
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Black Mirror’s San Junipero Episode Was Foreshadowed in Friends
As reported by ComicBook, an episode of Friends from 1999 predicted Black Mirror's season 3, episode 4, “San Junipero.” Praised for its unique and optimistic tone, as well as a combination of beautiful storytelling, fans fell in love with Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Yorkie and Kelly's depth and chemistry, along with the show's nostalgic settings. However, 17 years before the popular episode was released, an episode of Friends from season 6, titled “The One Where Phoebe Runs,” showcased that Ross Geller had an unknowing peek into the future, where he commented to Janine (Elle Macpherson) that “By the year 2030, there will be computers that can carry out the same amount of functions as an actual human brain. So, theoretically, you could download your thoughts and memories into this computer, and live forever as a machine.”
Even though Ross loves to flaunt how smart he is when it comes to digging around with dinosaur bones, it seems as though many took his intellectualism for granted, as it's pretty strange how accurately he predicted the storyline of San Junipero. However, during an interview with NME in 2018, the show's creator revealed, “I don’t think the notion of consciousnesses being uploaded to a computer came from Ross from Friends.” Continuing, “I’d certainly heard that concept before, so I must have stolen it from elsewhere.”
Naturally, there are countless Easter eggs splashed throughout Black Mirror's world, which offer callbacks to previous episodes. Most notably in season 7's San Junipero, where the vacation spot, The Juniper Lodge, can be seen in episodes Common People and Juniper Drive in Hotel Reverie. Even though nothing official has been announced for Black Mirror Season 8, Brooker previously said that "Nothing is off the table. I'll keep doing this until people get sick of it. Or me."
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- Release Date
- December 4, 2011
- Network
- Channel 4, Netflix
- Showrunner
- Charlie Brooker
- Directors
- Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh
- Writers
- Jesse Armstrong
Cast
-
Cristin MiliotiNanette Cole -
Jimmi SimpsonWalton
WHERE TO WATCH
Source: ComicBook