History Film / BlackMirrorBandersnatch

** Depending on the path you take, if you try and make Stefan destroy his computer, he'll [[spoiler:fight back, and demand to know who's controlling him... which you can choose to be ''yourself'' if you choose "Netflix".]]

** One example is when Colin offers Stefan a blotter strip for a psychedelic drug. If you pick "Yes," Stefan takes the drug and the scene of Stefan's drug trip proceeds; if you choose "No," Colin puts the strip in Stefan's tea, which he drinks and the same scene follows.
** Another blatant example is in one flashback to the day when Stefan's mum dies. Stefan can't find his rabbit toy and Stefan's mum insists that it's time to leave. The only option Stefan is given in that scene -- given that its "already happened" -- is to say "no." [[spoiler:Until it isn't.]]
** When [[spoiler:Stefan's therapist asks if he should be more entertaining if he is in a TV show]], the choice that appears is either "Yes" or "Fuck yeah", which lead to the same outcome.
** Regardless of your decision for Stefan to bite on his nails or pull his earlobes at the shrink's office, he will resist the viewer's command.
** A more subtle one happens when you're asked to pick between the ''Thompson Twins'' or ''Now! II'' when Stefan is putting on his Walkman in the bus. You do get different songs, but the Thompson Twins selection is ''Hold Me Now'', ''which was also released on the Now! II cassette'' [[note]]For those in the countries who do not get them, The ''Now, That's What I Call Music!'' tapes are compilation albums containing the previous year's UK chart toppers.[[/note]] regardless choice, Stefan will eventually encounter the song!

'''Colin:''' For fucks sake, I'll skip it for you. [[SmashCut *claps*]]

* OneHundredPercentCompletion: Not only can you rewatch the whole film, before you reach the credits it lets you choose other pathways from all your decisions. There’s a lot. Netflix's tracker bar will show you how far into the entire footage you are - if you finish the film in a MinimalistRun, it'll look less than a quarter of the way through, ''because it is''.

!!''Tropes have no control''

** When Stefan demonstrates his game to Mohan, we see an encounter with a government agent where the options are to "BACK OFF" or "KILL AGENT". Later, the viewer has a similar pair of options in a confrontation between [[spoiler: Stefan and his own father, when the former becomes paranoid that he's not in control of his life.]]

* MinimalistRun: Though advertised as 90 minutes, if you don't make a choice that branches into extra story elements you'll get a simple 40 minute show.

** Colin has posters of Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' and Music/NewOrder's ''Music/PowerCorruptionAndLies'' hanging on the wall of his flat.

* [[invoked]]EightPointEight: As a call to older style of reviews and ratings from the 80s, the game reviewer is very harsh when giving his final note. As far as he's concerned, a 5/5 rating requires from the game to be absolutely perfect and flawless, while simply being a good and well-made is no more than 4/5. Conversely, just existing isn't enough to get ''any rating at all'', meaning bad games are stuck at 0/5.

The first official ''Series/BlackMirror'' film. [[note]]"White Christmas" was a special that ran to 73 minutes, and "Hated in the Nation" was a regular episode even though it was feature length.[[/note]]

The first official ''Series/BlackMirror'' film. [[note]]"White Christmas" was a special that ran to 73 minutes, "Hated in the Nation" was a regular episode even though it made feature length.[[/note]]

** When giving his 0/5 rating, the game reviewer notes that the developers of ''Bandersnatch'' should have gone right back to the start to try again. In a later 0/5 review he mentions that if there were second changes in life, he hopes the developer would've chosen differently.

[[WMG:[[center:[-'''Recap/BlackMirror''': Bandersnatch-]]]]]

[[WMG:[[center:[-'''Recap/BlackMirror'''\\
BlackMirror/SeriesOne | BlackMirror/SeriesTwo | [[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteChristmas Christmas Special]] | BlackMirror/SeriesThree | BlackMirror/SeriesFour | '''Bandersnatch''' | BlackMirror/SeriesFive -]]]]]

* SpotOfTea: As it's set in Britain, there's naturally a lot of cups of tea, several of which have choices and plot points attached to them.

* FlashSideways: Stefan and Colin both remember certain events from alternate timelines, even if they haven’t happened in their own yet.
** For example, in the first run through of the story, Stefan won’t know what’s wrong with Colin’s game when it crashes. In the next run through he will, surprising Colin and Mohan.
** Colin will also remember meeting Stefan even if, in that timeline, they haven’t met yet. [[spoiler: If he jumps from the balcony,]] his last words to Stefan are “See you around.” Restarting back to their first meeting leads to this exchange:
---> '''Colin:''' We’ve met before.

---> '''Colin:''' We’ve met before. I told you I’d see you around, and I was right.

** In terms of gaming history, the story of a legendarily surreal work of literature being adapted into an even more legendarily surreal computer game in the 1980s is highly reminiscent of VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy, although neither the subject matter nor the real-life circumstances were nearly as dire as Bandersnatch. The Hitchhiker's game was even, like Bandersnatch is in-universe, a notoriously TroubledProduction due to Douglas Adams sharing Stefan's problems with deadlines. Creator/{{Infocom}}'s followup to the HHGG game, VideoGame/{{Bureaucracy}}, was an even more troubled production that reflects Adams' paranoid view of a surreally hostile universe to an even greater degree (invoking real life ConspiracyTheorist culture along the way), thus making it an even stronger parallel.

* AspectRatioSwitch: From the second time the viewer reproduces the movie and so on, there will be a section which recaps the events up to the point where the viewer stopped. This section will be in a 4:3 format until the last scene they watched, when the screen format will slowly change to the previous screen format (which by itself will depend from which scene the viewer finds themselves in). This change helps the viewer to regain immersion in the story as it resembles them regaining control over the movie.

* GenreDeconstruction:Of {{Gamebooks}}, regarding the illusion of choice. The viewer is given many paths to choose, but the paths are limited in certain aspects. For example, there is no ending in which [[spoiler:Stefan can create a perfect video game while still maintaining his sanity]]. This is lampshaded in the ending in which Stefan's game ''Bandersnatch'' becomes critically claimed as Stefan admits that he, the game's creator, gets to decide what the players can and can't do in his game. In-universe, Stefan is a CosmicPlaything of the viewer, and his choices are ultimately not his to make.

* [[invoked]]EightPointEight: As a callto older style of reviews and ratings from the 80s, the game reviewer is very harsh when giving his final note. As far as he's concerned, a 5/5 rating requires from the game to be absolutely perfect and flawless, while simply being a good and well-made is no more than 4/5. Conversely, just existing isn't enough to get ''any rating at all'', meaning bad games are stuck at 0/5.

* TakeThat: [[EpicFail The shortest path to the credits]] can be interpreted as a potshot at big-budget video game publishers. An independent game developer with a fresh, revolutionary idea sells himself out at the prospect of hitting it big, only for his brainchild to end up "streamlined" and ChristmasRushed for maximum profit by a guy who clearly doesn't have the slightest clue about what gamers want. The result is a soulless, critically panned a-dime-a-dozen product that nobody is happy about. It's even lampshaded InUniverse.

BlackMirror/SeriesOne | BlackMirror/SeriesTwo | Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteChristmas | BlackMirror/SeriesThree | BlackMirror/SeriesFour | '''Bandersnatch''' | BlackMirror/SeriesFive -]]]]]

BlackMirror/SeriesOne | BlackMirror/SeriesTwo | BlackMirror/WhiteChristmas2014 | BlackMirror/SeriesThree | BlackMirror/SeriesFour | '''Bandersnatch''' | BlackMirror/SeriesFive -]]]]]