ABSTRACT
So far this book has focused on extensions of the fictional worlds of Spooks and 24. As discussed in Chapter 2, however, this is only part of the experience of emergent transmediality. It is also necessary to consider moments of transmedia engagement, moments that have less impact on the textuality of the content being watched (although that is not to say there is none at all) but instead have a significant impact on how that content is watched. This approach began to emerge in the previous chapter, with the more positive discussions on using the mobile phone as an alternative to the television set for watching news or sports content. In terms of drama, however, these positive opinions were still restricted by the discontinuity between the technology of the mobile phone and the kind of experience desired from dramatic fictional content. Although services such as the HBO mobile channel offer a fuller example of the mobile phone operating as an alternative source for television drama, the issues discussed in the previous chapter remain relevant. Screen size and the association with public spaces, for example, were not only raised in conversations directly relating to 24: Conspiracy, but were also issues for more general discussions about the ability to use a mobile phone as a platform for televisual content. For engagement with drama specifically, even if the content is identical to that available elsewhere, the lower immersive potential of the mobile phone as a technology remains an issue, and there was a general aversion to the use of this technology in this way. It is instead necessary to turn to the internet to find a new media space that is truly functioning as an alternative to the television set.
