Mind Screw/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* ''[[The Prisoner]]'' ended with such a colossal mind screw that fans reputedly harassed series star Patrick McGoohan for months demanding his explanation of the series. How bad was it? Well, any really, ''really'' bad [[Mind Screw]] will get compared to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', right? Okay, so now realize ''[[The Prisoner]] is what [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] gets compared to''!

** The remake's [http://www.seekthesix.com/ website] seems to be gleefully continuing this tradition.

* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' could be considered a mind screw. Alternately, it was just weird.

* Reality TV example: [[Criss Angel]]. Much like the name of the trope itself, it is also watered down version of the term best used to describe his feats.

* ''[[Lost]]''. They can fill the rest of this page with arguments back and forth about whether or not ''Lost'' is "really" that much of a Mind Screw, but, in all honesty, this trope is pretty much the show's whole reason for being. Either ''Lost'' ''is'' a Mind Screw, or else this either isn't a trope or ''Lost'' isn't a show. I'll leave it up to you to decide which. Like ''Lost'' does. Some examples from the show include its dream sequences and some particularly odd bits surrounding a cabin. One trippy episode was even set to be directed by [[Darren Aronofsky]].

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'', is weird as all get-out, especially the final episode but still straightforward. [[Word of God]] says {{spoiler|it was all in his head/he died}}. Individual interpretations may vary.

* [[Once Upon a Time]], (June the 11th, 1934, to be more precise,) in [[Sweden]], a child was born. This wasn't especially uncommon in itself, but it just so happened that this child was named Staffan Westerberg... One day, when he was 41 years, 2 months and 22 days old, (in other words, it was now September the 1st, 1975,) [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time|Staffan became the producer and show host]] of what was ([[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|supposedly]]) a children's show, ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Vilse i Pannkakan, Lost in the Pancake]]''. This show featured finger puppets that Staffan played with, all of them with [[Meaningful Name]]s, like the titular main character, Lost. It also included, amongst many other things, a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] potato, a [[Hobos|Hobo]], a firefighter who [[Firemen Are Hot|gets it together]] with a [[Our Angels Are Different|motorized angel]] and, naturally, a moose; [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|all living on the titular pancake]]. Oh, and the show was actually [[An Aesop]] about society and politics... These days, [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant|Staffan Westerberg]] is [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|singlehandedly blamed for the psychological problems of the entire 70's generation.]]

* ''[[Farscape]]'' has "Won't Get Fooled Again": Crichton is suddenly on Earth again, having apparently crashed his module and never gone through the wormhole...except he starts to see his crew mates around, acting extremely out of character, and no one seems to notice that they're, well, aliens. It just gets weirder from there, involving Rygel in bondage, D'Argo as a [[Camp Gay]], repeated recurrences of Crichton's dead mother, Crais as a high-heels wearing police officer, and Scorpius trying to get Crichton to pay attention to him. {{spoiler|It's eventually revealed that Crichton was kidnapped by a Scarran who's been frying his brain in order to get the information Scorpius wants out of his head. Also, there are ''two'' Scorpius in the illusion, because one of them is... something else.}}

* The Stargate episode "Forever In A Day" happens inside Daniel Jackson's head. His wife (Sha're) is sending him a message by slightly twisting Amonets's (the goa'uld who has take her host) usage of her kara kesh (torture device). The episode starts Sha're 'telling' Daniel Teal'c was going to kill her, and then a few seconds later (which seems like months to Daniel) Teal'c actually kills her. Having already gotten over it (with help from Sha're) Daniel manages to begin to forgive Teal'c almost instantly. He admits Teal'c did the right thing, which he now knows Sha're would have asked Teal'c to do.