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'Black Mirror,' 'Westworld' make for provocative sci-fi TV

Science-fiction fans are enjoying an exciting fall on network and cable outlets, and Friday brings Netflix subscribers the season's biggest thrill.

"Black Mirror," a collection of seven short films originally produced for British television, became a cult hit in America thanks to its exclusive deal with the video streaming outlet. Twelve new installments of this modern-day "Twilight Zone" - named "Black Mirror" after the screens at which we are constantly staring - will premiere on Netflix in the next two years. Friday we get the first six, whose stars include Bryce Dallas Howard ("Jurassic World"), Alice Eve ("Star Trek Into Darkness"), Cherry Jones ("24"), and "Game of Thrones" supporting players Jerome Flynn and Faye Marsay.

Created by writer Charlie Brooker, "Black Mirror" shows us bleak visions of how technology will change our lives in a not-too-distant future. The original seven installments feature blackmail in the age of social media ("The National Anthem"), reality TV as a form of slavery ("15 Million Merits") and the blurring line between satire and politics ("The Waldo Moment," which seems particularly relevant these days). The show tackles very adult subjects in a very adult manner, and often gets laughs from sick jokes while also making you feel sick.

The essential episode is 2014's "White Christmas," a three-part, 90-minute shocker with Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall ("The Big Short") that explores dangerous ideas like virtual prisons and real-life "blocking," a la Facebook and Twitter. The ending had me tossing and turning for hours and still haunts me to this day.

This, I'm sure, is Brooker's desired effect - "Black Mirror" is modern sci-fi filmmaking at its most provocative and disturbing, and is worth the price of a Netflix subscription.

Also provocative is HBO's "Westworld," whose fourth episode airs at 8 p.m. Sunday. Co-created by former Barrington resident Jonathan Nolan ("The Dark Knight"), this serial adaptation of Michael Crichton's 1973 film about a realistic Wild West theme park populated by advanced robots has so far been stunning. Instead of focusing on the endangered guests, this revamped "Westworld" focuses on the robotic "hosts," whose latest programming update by park director Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) has heightened their self-awareness.

The great Evan Rachel Wood, whose performance here will make her the queen of Comic Con, plays the longest-serving host in the park, farm girl Dolores Abernathy - and Dolores is beginning to realize that her world isn't quite what it seems. Wood plays an incredible range of emotions and tones in the show's first three episodes; an Emmy nomination awaits.

"Westworld" does what all great sci-fi should do: It tells a good yarn while addressing social and existential issues. It's about power, patriarchy, misogyny, sexuality, self-actualization and, if I'm reading the end of Episode 2 correctly, religion. And it does it all with style, gravitas and great music. (Was that saloon piano playing Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" in the premiere? Yes, yes it was.)

Add NBC's fast, fun "Timeless" and you have a healthy TV regimen for the next few months. We also have ABC's adaptation of the 1979 romp "Time After Time" to look forward to as a midseason replacement in 2017. Remember that movie? It's the one where "Time Machine" author H.G. Wells actually builds a time machine and uses it to chase Jack the Ripper in the 20th century. Check it out digitally via iTunes, Google Play, YouTube or PlayStation Network.

• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.

In HBO's “Westworld,” Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) is an advanced robot, but doesn't know it - or does she? courtesy of HBO
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