Mind Screw/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions

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** It has been said in the series companion book that there was discussion for the final scene of the final episode to be Benny Russell holding the series script standing in a studio lot (presumably at Paramount)... either implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is [[All Just a Dream]] in-universe... or implying that all of ''Star Trek'' is a real vision of the future sent by the Prophets ([[Magnificent Bastard|holy...!]]).

** In something of a similiar vein, one early draft of the episode "Little Green Men" (in which Quark goes back in time and causes the 1940s Roswell incident) featured a quick segment of a Lt. Roddenberry being inspired by the episode events to write a science fiction story...

* Elsewhere in the ''Trek'' franchise, ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|Next Generation]]'', ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Voyager]]'', and ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Enterprise]]'' had their share of these episodes -- and most can be traced back to one inveterate Mind Screwer. Brannon Braga absolutely ''loves'' stories like this, and [[~~Schrodingers~~ Butterfly]] in particular. The results are mixed: Braga's Mind Screws include some of the best ''and'' worst episodes of these shows.

* Elsewhere in the ''Trek'' franchise, ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|Next Generation]]'', ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Voyager]]'', and ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Enterprise]]'' had their share of these episodes -- and most can be traced back to one inveterate Mind Screwer. Brannon Braga absolutely ''loves'' stories like this, and [[Schrodinger's Butterfly]] in particular. The results are mixed: Braga's Mind Screws include some of the best ''and'' worst episodes of these shows.

** One of the greatest Mind Screws in ''TNG'' is the episode "Remember Me." To put it simply:

{{quote| '''Dr. Crusher:''' Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. What is the nature of the universe?<br />

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** The final season of Classic Who is notorious for this sort of thing, mostly due to editing-room decisions made to shoehorn the stories into the X-episode serial format. 'Ghost Light' is especially full of it - even the DVD-issued Special Edition is best tackled with a notebook and pen.

** And then there's "Midnight". The audience never learns who, what or ''how'' the monster was, why it took over Skye and wanted to kill the Doctor, if there even ''was'' a monster or just a bunch of terribly conjunctive mishaps... the only thing we can be sure of is [[Humans Are Bastards]]. And it's one of the best episodes of the show.

** From the [[Expanded Universe]]: ''The Blue Angel''. Parallel universes. Space warthog Valkyries. The Doctor {{spoiler|''giving birth to a winged baby from his leg''}}. Claims that the Doctor's mother was a mermaid. Giant space owls. A ''[[Star Trek]]'' parody starship called the ''Nepotist''. One character is an elephant (a green one, no less!), another gets turned into a giant squid for no adequately explained reason. Parallel universe Dalek-analogues who are humanoids made out of ''glass''. Twenty questions that manage to be clever, patronising, and headache-inducing all at once...yeah, [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs|it seems to be a product of an acid trip during a Classic Who marathon]].

** From the [[Expanded Universe]]: ''The Blue Angel''. Parallel universes. Space warthog Valkyries. The Doctor {{spoiler|''giving birth to a winged baby from his leg''}}. Claims that the Doctor's mother was a mermaid. Giant space owls. A ''[[Star Trek]]'' parody starship called the ''Nepotist''. One character is an elephant (a green one, no less!), another gets turned into a giant squid for no adequately explained reason. Parallel universe Dalek-analogues who are humanoids made out of ''glass''. Twenty questions that manage to be clever, patronising, and headache-inducing all at once...yeah, [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs?|it seems to be a product of an acid trip during a Classic Who marathon]].

** Also, the Troughton story "The Mind Robber". Episode one was written in a hurry with no budget (hence the 'void' set and the robot costume re-used from a version of ''[[RUR (Theatre)|RUR]]''. The weird dream-like setting of episode 1 coupled with the metafictional setting of the rest of the story and the disappearance of one of the characters at the end gave the impression that episodes 2-5 were all a dream.

** "Castrovalva" is set on a planet that is {{spoiler|a figment of Adric's imagination}} and towards the end turns into a complete perversion of logic and geometry.

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** Also in the new series, there is the episode: "Amy's Choice". It turns out that {{spoiler|both options are really dreams and that neither one is reality.}}

** The Eleventh Doctor is a walking mind-screw, because of the Cracks in Time story-arc. It makes sense if you interpret the Pandorica to be a Freudian superego; however, the Fifth Series ends with a two-part Finale with a convoluted plot that does not explain the origin of the TARDIS explosion at all; without this question answered, the plot makes no sense.

*** Thankfully, [[Word of God|Moffat has stated]] that it was supposed to be this way, as the arc isn't done yet. The Silence arc will carry over into Series Six, and will explain the cracks, the voice, River Song, and [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|the ducks]].

*** Thankfully, [[Word of God|Moffat has stated]] that it was supposed to be this way, as the arc isn't done yet. The Silence arc will carry over into Series Six, and will explain the cracks, the voice, River Song, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the ducks]].

** At the end of ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 E2 Day of the Moon|Day of the Moon]]'', the little girl {{spoiler|starts to regenerate.}}

** We discover, in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 E6 The Almost People|The Almost People]]'', that for the whole of season six, {{spoiler|Amy has been a Ganger.}}

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* There's a great Japanese show called Uchu Keiji Shaider. You can bet it will contain something like mind-controlling dolls,or people doing a demonic dance or some really odd-looking chroma key!

* ''[[Carnivale]]'': Considering it was heavily influenced by ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', this is unsurprising.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' relies on this to an extent. Much of the symbolism (the "symbol", cockroaches, etc.), the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|religious subtext]], and the obvious puberty / [[Have You Tried Not Being a Monster]] themes that generally pop up in this genre. And that's not even getting into the [[Mind Rape|Season 3 finale]]...

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' relies on this to an extent. Much of the symbolism (the "symbol", cockroaches, etc.), the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|religious subtext]], and the obvious puberty / [[Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?]] themes that generally pop up in this genre. And that's not even getting into the [[Mind Rape|Season 3 finale]]...

* During the taping of one of his comedy specials, comedian Howie Mandel once executed a [[Mind Screw]] on a person from one of the front rows who got up to go to the restroom. As soon as the poor unfortunate was out of earshot, Mandel had the audience in the vicinity of his seat rearrange themselves, and then continued with his act. When the audience member returned and stood, confused, in the aisle trying to find his seat again, Mandel stopped his act to "help" him for several minutes while the audience went wild, before revealing the gag and letting everyone go back to their original seats.

** Additionally, comedian Mark Watson will frequently extol the virtues of randomly chasing people, and will do so if people get up. If he fails to catch them, he will [[Mind Screw]] them by sitting in their seat, waiting for them to return.

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*** To answer the question about the {{spoiler|simulation of a gynecologist, Alice is using her VR module to imagine the pregnancy she's not allowed to have being aboard the ship.}} Maybe. {{spoiler|We conspicuously never see her break character or take off the module. And there are a lot of unncessarily details: magazines, waiting room, that make her seem less in control of the program.}} In essense, it's a question that may never be answered.

* ''[[We Are Klang]]'' is generally surreal, but balanced with 'realistic' comedy. ''Alien'', the last episode of series one, however, is essentially a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid and ends on a borderline [[Gainax Ending]].

* [[Once Upon a Time]], (June the 11th, 1934, to be more precise,) in [[Useful Notes/Sweden|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 ~~Its~~ 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|Meaningful Names]], 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 ~~Stationattendant~~|Staffan Westerberg]] is [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero|singlehandedly blamed for the psychological problems of the entire 70's generation.]]

* [[Once Upon a Time]], (June the 11th, 1934, to be more precise,) in [[Useful Notes/Sweden|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|Meaningful Names]], 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 (TV)|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.}}

** You can just stop at [[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]. The series as a whole dipped into this so often that Crichton himself lampshaded it in a late episode when he realized their minds were being toyed with by the alien of the week.