5 Best Sci-Fi Anthology Series to Binge Before Black Mirror Comes Back
Anthologies are perfect for those who are tired of complex global plots. In these projects, each episode or season is a new story.
In April, the seventh season of Black Mirror will be released on Netflix. Over the years, Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology has not only managed to win over many fans around the world, but has also inspired other writers to create similar anthology series.
In honor of the premiere, we remember Black Mirror's predecessors and successors.
1. Secret Level, 2024-...
2023 was the year when Hollywood finally tamed video games: several adaptations attracted not only millions of video game fans, but also people far away from the gaming industry.
Amazon bosses decided to release an anthology in the Love, Death & Robots style, but about video games – they even invited the creators of the Netflix hit to join the project.
Secret Level is 16 adaptations in the form of animated shorts: from God of War to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. A digitized Keanu Reeves appears on the screen, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kevin Hart lend their voices to the characters.
2. Channel Zero, 2016-2018
Channel Zero consists of four seasons, each of which tells a new story in six episodes. There is a story about a psychologist who investigates the disappearance of children from the 80s, or about a couple who found a mysterious basement in a new house.
But perhaps the most outstanding of them all is a melancholic and frightening horror based on creepypasta – like the whole series, it adapts stories from the Internet – about a house without end.
The main character dares to enter it and faces her greatest nightmares: complexes, the pain of losing a loved one and loneliness.
3. Electric Dreams, 2017-2018
Channel 4's anthology brought little-known works by Philip K. Dick to the screen for the first time: The Impossible Planet, The Hood Maker and others.
The episodes are not connected in terms of plot, the action takes place on Earth and in space, in our time and in the distant future.
The characters in the series don't have much in common, but they are all haunted by the same questions: what makes us human, what makes a person risk their life, and where is the line between a dream and the real world.
4. Tales from the Loop, 2020
Tales from the Loop is a film adaptation of the art books by artist Simon Stålenhag, whose work is the basis for the recently released The Electric State.
Unlike the Russo Brothers' film, the series closely follows the visual style of the original source, but at the same time fills Stålenhag's works with vivid stories about people who live in a small town near a strange structure called the Loop.
Each episode is a separate story about one of the locals who has encountered something strange and unknown. It is a catalogue of small plots that create a unique picture of a godforsaken place where you can swap bodies or travel to a parallel dimension.
5. Love, Death & Robots, 2019-...
This one is already a classic. Love, Death & Robots remains one of the most unique projects to date, demonstrating the latest technologies of modern animation, while at the same time trying to communicate with the viewer about really important issues.
It should be noted, however, that the quality of the episodes varies greatly depending on the form of the narrative and the message of its creators.
There are brilliant episodes like Zima Blue or The Drowned Giant, and there are completely passable ones like The Tall Grass or The Secret War.
