Bandersnatch

Bandersnatch
Episode information
Season	Unknown
Episode	Unknown
Air date	28 December 2018
Length	Unknown
Writer	Charlie Brooker
Director	David Slade
Episode guide
Previous	Black Museum
Next	N/A

Bandersnatch is the 2018 Black Mirror holiday special. It was written by Charlie Brooker and released on December 28, 2018.

Overview

In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge.

The episode is a choose-your-own-adventure for us, the viewers. All of our choices lead to different consequences. There are many soft endings that lead you back to make a different choice. Additionally there are multiple final endings as well.

Important choices

Choosing either of these options will impact the rest of the story and the final ending.

Unimportant choices

Choosing either of these options will not largely impact the final ending.

• Cereal - Frosties or Sugar Puffs (an advert for whichever cereal chosen will play prior to the video documentary on Jerome F. Davis)
• Music - Now 2 or Thompson Twins (affects soundtrack, and Stefan will tell Colin which of these he listened to later on when asked)
• Vinyl - Phaedra or The Bermuda Triangle (affects soundtrack)
• Take Drug? - Yes or No
• At Dr Haynes’ - Bite nails or Pull earlobe
• Destroy Computer or Throw tea over computer
• Try to explain or Tell him more
  • Try to explain or Stop conversation
    • Yes or fork yeah
      • Karate chop Dad or Kick him in the balls
• About Colin - No idea or He jumped

Flowchart

Cast

• Fionn Whitehead as Stefan Butler
• Will Poulter as Colin Ritman
• Asim Chaudhry as Mohan Thakur
• Craig Parkison as Peter Butler
• Alice Lowe as Dr. Haynes

Trailer

Trivia

• Bandersnatch was the name of a real game that was being developed for the Spectrum in 1984 but never saw the light of day.
• As has become standard for the series, Bandersnatch contains references to earlier episodes:
  • The psychiatrist is named Dr. Haynes', a reference to Rolo Haynes, and she works at Saint Juniper's which was also where the former Haynes worked in Black Museum.
  • Ritman's earlier game, 'Metl Hedd' is an obvious reference to Metalhead, with the Dog pictured on the front.
  • The game Ritman is working on, 'Nohzdyve' was the name of an earlier episode.
  • The symbol of PACS is the symbol first seen in White Bear but also resembles the branches of choices, what the whole episode is largely based around.
  • The newspaper seen in the 'Pearl' ending mentions a futuristic new love machine being developed by BRB software, a new chapter of Space Fleet airing and the premiere of a new talent show named Hot Shots and Princess Susannah starting school.
  • The news ticker on UKN (again, seen in the 'Pearl' ending) mentions Michael Callow winning Celebrity Bake-Off, Granular unveiling a new Pollinator drone, Liam Monroe entering Buckingham Palace and UK police testing a new memory recall device.
• A post-credits scene has Stefan listening to the Bandersnatch cassette. The resulting sound was put by fans in a Spectrum emulator, and revealed a QR Code featuring the White Bear symbol. When scanned, it lead to a Tuckersoft website with more games revealed, all with further episode references:
  • Roachbusters: "You are responsible for the wellbeing of mankind. You must protect everyone. Kill the Roaches and collect the stars."
  • Terror on Hannoch B: "You are still responsible for the wellbeing of mankind. You must protect everyone on an entirely new, far more terrifying planet. You know the drill: kill the Roaches and collect the stars."
  • Rolling Road: "Think you've got what it takes, hot shot? See if you can ride your bike day in, day out, going absolutely nowhere, but everywhere at the same time..."
  • Pig in a Poke: "Who'd have thought a ramble through the countryside would be so fun? You must escape from flying arrows and giant bees, squishing the little mice as flowers bloom all around you."
  • Valdack's Revenge: Based on Space Fleet.
  • White Bear: The cover has ice blocks in the shape of the famous symbol.
  • One page has a banner linking to the Coach app website.