A woman wakes up on a Star Trek-esque ship where the crew praise their all knowing and fearless captain.
Air date:
December 29, 2017
Writer:
Charlie Brooker, William Bridges
Director:
Toby Haynes
Air date:
Writer:
Director:
December 29, 2017
Charlie Brooker, William Bridges
Toby Haynes
Storyline
A woman wakes up on a Star Trek-esque ship where the crew praise their all knowing and fearless captain.
Trivia
Kirsten Dunst can be seen very quickly in an uncredited cameo as a Callister employee. She happened to be visiting her partner Jesse Plemons and her cameo was unplanned.
The planet names "Rannoch" and "Skillane" are the surnames of characters from season two episode "White Bear".
Michaela Cole's character "Shania" asks Nanette to make her a Brushed Suede. A Brushed Suede is what Bryce Dallas Howard's character orders in the episode Nosedive (S3E1) Michaela Cole played the Airport Stewardess in that episode.
The VR interface used for Infinity are the same model seen in Season 3's episode "San Junipero."
In the scene where Robert Daly boots up the "Space Fleet" program, a STATUS screen appears, reporting that the operating system (OS) is ONO-SENDAI. Ono-Sendai was a fictitious company in the William Gibson novel, Neuromancer. There is also a real-life company that specializes in Virtual Reality named after the same company.
Robert Daly's speaking style as captain, which is quite different from the way he speaks in his real life, is a clear nod to William Shatner's performance as Captain Kirk (particularly in the way he imitates Shatner's notoriously idiosyncratic intonation patterns).
Shania has also a role in Black Mirror's 'Nosedive' S03E01 as an airport stewardess.
One of Robert's monitors has several windows that show the raining green code from the Matrix.
One of the items in Robert Daly's refrigerator is Raiman's Milk; Raiman was the female soldier in the Black Mirror episode 'Men Against Fire'.
Callister inc is on the 13th floor, its a reference to the movie The Thirteenth Floor (1999) which also feature a virtual reality simulation.
The process by which a real world individual is replicated in the Infinity VR platform using their DNA is called "assimilation". This is also the term used by The Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation to describe the addition of individuals into their hive collective.
Robert's singular coffee preference is likely a nod to that of Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation who always wants "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot."
The planet Rannoch is a possible reference to the same-named planet from Mass Effect 3, keeping up with the space theme of the episode.
Jesse Plemons and Cristin Milloti have previously worked together in Fargo (2015)
When Captain Daley is choking Lieutenant Walton (for failing to locate Valdack), he lifts him up with one hand, followed by a close up shot of Walton's dangling feet (well off the ground in comparison to Daley's firmly planted stance). This is notably similar to the scene in Star Wars: Episódio IV - Uma Nova Esperança (1977) where Darth Vader "lift chokes" Captain Antilles with one arm - and like Vader, Daley contemptuously throws Walton down when he's done.
Jimmi Simpson and Cristin Milioti have both been on 'How I Met Your Mother' as Pete Durkenson and the Mother.
Jimmi Simpson's character, James Walton, is a reference to his resemblance to Johnboy Walton, of the 80s TV show, The Waltons. His likeness was also playfully and deliberately pointed out in the Psych Christmas special.
When Walton calls Nanette to blackmail her, his voice is warped by an audio effect called a 'Phaser'. An obvious nod to the particle weapon of the same name that appears in the Star Trek universe the episode is parodying.
Jesse Plemons and Billy Magnussen both appear in the film Game Night (2018)
Jesse Plemons' character, Robert Daly, wears a jacket in-game that is reminiscent of Peter Quill's jacket from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films.
At the end when they head off into deep space, now-captain Nanette gives the command to do so, to which Packer replies "Ay ay, Nanette!", which is (coincidentally) the opposite of the name of the famous 1920s musical "No no, Nanette!" (whose most famous tunes are "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy", by the way).
At the end when they head off into deep space, now-captain Nanette gives the command to do so, to which Packer replies "Ay ay, Nanette!", which is the opposite of the name of the famous 1920s musical "No no, Nanette!" (whose most famous tunes are "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy").
