Shatter Belt

Bluesky

Shatter Belt is a series of four episodes, each a half hour or so. It is in the vein of TV shows like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Each episode is a near world science fiction or horror story with a twist in the end.

The episodes have a consistent look and feel. They all have a warm, opulent colour palette, similar sound design and and the same directorial style. Some of the actors are shared between episodes. The writer/director (James Ward Byrkit) gets some good performances out of a cast of lesser known actors. His work is impressive when it comes to interiors and tight, close in character interaction. Outdoors it is a bit lacklustre. Where the episodes work is when they have a driving, kinetic energy about them. When they don't it's repetitious loop.

The problem with Shatter Belt is threefold. Firstly the material has been dragged out. What would have made a tight 15 minute short has been padded to a half hour TV episode. The driving narrative keeps missing the turnoff from the roundabout; it keeps up the pace but doesn't go anywhere. The second problem is with the characters. They are utterly self centred and for the most part they exist at a level of affluence that is unattainable by the 99%. Their world and their selfishness is far beyond what a normal person watching the show can identify with. The third is that the plots and twists have an "I've seen this somewhere before" vibe about them.

In episode one, The Hard Problem Of Carl, a woman, Callie (Emily Baldoni), is killing rogue AIs that are developing in the internet of things. After gaining entry to a house she finds Carl (Hugo Armstrong), who has been possessed by a newly aware smart fridge. After the palaver of dealing with the newborn intelligence, she visits her senile mother Marjory (Mariko Van Kampen). The juxtaposition of a machine gaining awareness while a human is losing theirs isn't new. Robot And Frank handles it in a more gentle, nuanced way.

Immotus, the second episode, might as well have been called El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) With An Apple. In the original it was aristocracy, now it's about nouveau riche new media wankers who can't touch an apple. Yes, it is taking a sideswipe at some people's obsession with certain product lines. There are no sheep.

Third in line is The Specimen. Dervey Ryan (Patton Oswalt) is failing to make a documentary about the most significant joke in the world. It's the old one about Chinese food (in China it's just called food) that turns up in an episode of Friends. Much later archaeologists misinterpret the joke, light entertainment, as something of spiritual significance. An old 2000AD Future Shock, The Domino Theory 1 (prog 371 Script: Martin Feekins, Artist: Ian Gibson), makes the same point in four comic pages. The Specimen takes 26 minutes. The Domino Theory 1 is at the same time also commenting on the media landscape in 1980s Britain.

Finally, in Pearls, Colin (Richard Follin) and his partner Carrie Anne (Catherine Lidstone) dine with their bosses at an exclusive restraint. Colin, trapped by the Peter Principle, reluctantly drops six grand on the meal in order to impress his employers and gain promotion. After they eat several disturbing prepared courses from the menu à la eXistenZ, the couple have a revelation. It's the sort of revelation you can only have if you can afford not to work.