Stark's Mind

"Follow the thoughts of Vincent Stark, a 24-year-old ex-Black Mesa employee and Dr. Gordon Freeman's reluctant body double."

- Series description.

Stark's Mind is a Black Mesa machinima series created by Dylan Lumanta-Simon, better known by his online alias, Anion. The series was first announced in January of 2015, although the show itself began airing an entire year afterwards. The first episode premiered on January 21, 2016.

Set in an alternate timeline near-identical to the one seen in Freeman's Mind, a hungover Gordon Freeman finds himself far from the United States near the end of his paid vacation, lacking the proper means necessary to return home in time. Far too disoriented to return to work and fearing termination at Black Mesa, Freeman, along with his colleague Eddie, track down and bribe Vincent Stark, a former co-worker who bears a heavy resemblance to the doctor, into acting as his body double on the week of the Black Mesa Incident.

Synopsis
In the year 2009 on May 16, an in-depth analysis of the foreign sample "GG-3883" is to be conducted by the staff at the Black Mesa Research Facility, a government-funded research lab located several kilometers beneath the New Mexico desert. While a good amount of Black Mesa personnel are heavily intrigued by the sample's purity, including facility Administrator Wallace Breen, others are cautious and outright fearful of its properties. Despite the massive amount of anticipation surrounding the upcoming experiment, it is delayed by one Dr. Gordon Freeman, who is infamous for his mischief and general irresponsibility around the facility.

Unbeknownst to the Black Mesa staff, in place of the unreliable Gordon Freeman is Vincent Stark, a former employee who bears a striking resemblance to Freeman. Though at first reluctant to assume Freeman's role, the nature of Freeman's bribe is more than enough to make his former cohort comply. As "Dr. Gordon Freeman," Stark is forced to go through with Freeman's schedule, unaware of what lies ahead in the coming hours.

Episodes
Main article: List of Stark's Mind episodes

As of May 2021, 35 episodes (one episode being an April Fool's Joke) have been released. The first episode was released on January 21, 2016. The most recent episode, Episode -1, was released on May 16, 2021.

Trivia

 * Though Freeman is unfamiliar with the majority of the Black Mesa Science Team (as seen in Freeman's Mind 2), save for Isaac Kleiner, Stark shows the opposite, conversing with or talking about several figures within the facility, including Eli Vance, Wallace Breen, Barney Calhoun, and Felix Freeman.