USS Callister, the first episode of Black Mirror Season 4, is obviously influenced by Star Trek, but that's not the only science fiction franchise referenced in the episode.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, director Toby Haynes recently pointed out the Star Wars references in USS Callister.
"There are also three Star Wars references," Haynes said. "I don't know when I'm going to do sci-fi again, so I try to put everything in there. One of the references is when Cristin wakes up in the medical bay, the way the lights came on was a reference to Gareth Edwards' Rogue One trailer — the shot that never made the movie, when Felicity [Jones] is standing up and the lights come on in sequence. That was an eight-page scene that we had to shoot in a day.
He added: "Then, the tube which Jimmi goes into when he reactivates the engines of the spaceship, I wanted that to look like the tubes of the Bespin in Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back, the tubes that Luke Skywalker falls down inspired that."
Haynes discussed the third Star Wars reference in the episode: "And there is one line when Daly has just turned Michaela into an alien where he says, 'Take that thing to the brig.' That's the same line they say about Chewbacca when they are on the Death Star in A New Hope. So there are the three Star Wars references, along with the endless Star Trek ones."
At first glance, USS Callister seems like a typical Star Trek parody like Space Balls but it's more than that. However, Haynes explains how the Star Trek influences still run deep in the episode.
"I'm probably a bigger Star Trek fan than [writer/producer Charlie Brooker] is," he says. "As a kid, I was a super-geek for all things sci-fi on TV, particularly Doctor Who. I knew the original ‘60s Star Trek show very well. I was such a fan that I'm kind of reverential about it, so I was happy to play fast and loose with this version. I knew stuff that Charlie didn't know, which is why we put Michaela Coel in a red outfit. Michaela had to be in a red outfit because she's the first of the crew to get killed. On Star Trek, the guy in red always gets nailed. [Daly is also wearing red on the ship.]"
Black Mirror Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
Read more: Netflix Releases Black Mirror New Year's Video To Celebrate Season 4
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