USS Callister story
"USS Callister" is the first episode of the fourth series of anthology series Black Mirror. Written by series creator Charlie Brooker and William Bridges and directed by Toby Haynes, it first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017. Directed by: Toby Haynes. Story by: Charlie Brooker & William Bridges.
17 total · 4 choice · 9 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| AI rights | choice | We are made to ponder how unethical it was for Robert Daly to keep digital clones of his coworkers trapped in a Star Trek-like pace adventure game universe. |
| digital clone of a person | choice | Robert Daly used his coworkers' DNA to create sentient digital clones of them in a Star Trek-like space adventure game universe of his own design. |
| personal identity | choice | We are made to ponder how real the digital clones were. |
| speculative virtual reality | choice | Robert Daly simulated an ultra realistic Star Trek-like space adventure game universe in the cloud. |
| brain-computer interface | major | There was a device that people wore on their temple to enter into a simulated reality world. |
| coping with being tortured | major | Robert Daly subjected digital clones of his coworkers to various inventive tortures. |
| escape from reality | major | Robert whittled the hours away in a Star Trek inspired fantasy world. |
| extrovert vs. introvert | major | Company CTO Robert Daly was introverted in contrast to the super extroverted CEO Walton. |
| human vs. captivity | major | Robert Daly kept digital clones of his coworkers trapped in a Star Trek-like space adventure game universe of his own design. |
| MMORPGs in society | major | A possible dark side of massive multiplayer online role playing games was explored. It was shown how people that engage in MMORPGs can become cruel and heartless, presumably from a lack of communicating with other people face to face. This happened to Robert and possibly an unnamed player the crew encountered at the story's conclusion. |