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Review: Will we lose ourselves in Ron Moore's Virtuality? It's a mystery.
Take the first starship from Earth headed to a faraway planet, add 12 people confined together on board for a 10-year mission, and it begins to sound like the ultimate reality show waiting to happen. Throw in some virtual reality that allows the characters' avatars to interact as if they are in a holodeck, and you've got Fox's two-hour movie "event," Virtuality, which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Oh, and there's one other element ... mystery.
Virtuality follows the journey of the crew of the Phaeton, which began on a mission of exploration. However, the mission changed when it was discovered that Earth would be habitable only for another 100 years. Suddenly, the fate of the human race depends on the ship's successful journey.
In the pilot/movie, the Phaeton is about to reach the "go"/"no go" point. If the captain decides to go, there's no turning back for any of them. The question of whether to go is complicated when problems pop up on the ship and a crew member contracts an illness. Beyond that, there seems to be a bug in the VR that's putting the crew through disturbing deviations in their simulations.
But is it a bug in the system? Or is one of the crew literally messing with their minds? What's up with the captain (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau)? And is Mission Control telling them the entire truth about what's happening on Earth?
Through their trip the cameras are rolling and capturing it all as the reality show goes on to huge ratings on Earth on the future Fox network.
Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor's intricate pilot didn't make Fox's fall schedule, but apparently the network likes it enough to put it out there and see how it does on a Friday night. It's easy to see more than a little Battlestar Galactica influence, not in story, but in style.
Virtuality follows 12 complex, fascinating and often unlikable characters through a multifaceted story that would have made a compelling series. Perhaps not a highly rated compelling series, however. The series is edgy and feels a bit distant, and not because it takes place in outer space. Still, it would have been a series worth watching.
On the other hand, as a movie, Virtuality leaves us hanging in every way you can imagine. There are plenty of surprises and questions asked. But don't expect any answers.
Virtuality was directed by Peter Berg and stars Sienna Guillory, James D'Arcy, Ritchie Coster, Erik Jensen, Omar Metwally, Kerry Bishé, Joy Bryant, Nelson Lee, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Gene Farber, Clea Duvall and Jimmi Simpson.
By joesocwork at 9:51 AM ON 06/26/09
Note to self: Remember to watch more good science fiction shows on FOX before they disappear into DVD land.
By Paul at 10:09 AM ON 06/26/09
Let me guess: when they actually get to the planet it turns out to be our Earth 50,000 years ago.
Nah, that'd be too ridiculous.
By yokozuka at 11:11 AM ON 06/26/09
Stupid FOX Network!...I Can´t believed they DARED to DOUBT Ronald D. Moore!!...I mean, it´s the man behind ¨BATTLESTAR GALACTICA¨, he ensures us TOP QUALITY TV For GODS sake!!....They take almost any kind of crap like ¨DOLLHOUSE¨ (with all due respect to Mr. Whedon, but it really isn´t that good) or ¨K-Ville¨ and start giving it a lot of ¨HYPE¨, then a few weeks later the show disappear cuz nobody watches them, and they lose millions!, but you know what, they don´t often get a chance on getting something from RDM...Oh! and if the wanna slowly get rid of anything, they just put it on a friday night!...Like they did to our poor ¨TERMINATOR:THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES¨, the only good thing they got running is ¨FRINGE¨ currently....How come they dont move their precious ¨BONES¨ or ¨HOUSE¨ to the deadly friday night line-up huh?...No they don´t risk that!!,...Those bastards, anyways, i hope they´re smart enough and get at least 1 season of ¨VIRTUALITY¨ on the air later on.
By icdeez at 10:13 PM ON 06/26/09
Just watched it and man do I hope Fox does the smart thing and do a series.The previews made this look really boring but this show has some incredible concepts and story potential.True Scifi (not SYFY)
By Y? at 10:58 PM ON 06/26/09
Watched it for lack of nothing else to watch and was hooked from the begining. Fox HAS to pick up at least one season....if not to give me back the two hours of my life I watched without getting any freaking answers!!! An as for Sarah Connor Cronicles....well Fox...if I had a dick, this is were I would tell you to suck it!!! Not only did you ruin a GOOD series but you ended it in the worst way possible!!!! Thanks Fox.....House and Bones suck! Break the freaking mold for once!
By Ariadne at 11:50 PM ON 06/26/09
I'm not sure how I would feel if it became a series, it certainly raised some good questions but the only character I liked and would watch for is Frank Pike.
But it's definitely better than Dollhouse and miles better than Mental, even better than House this season. What a waste if Fox doesn't pick it up.
By cfb at 12:43 AM ON 06/27/09
Hope Fox picks this up for a series - my husband and I both watched it and feel it is very deserving of network backing. It 's high quality was obvious -- well written, produced and quite the puzzle to ponder -- we could think of many great plot directions. Please pick it up FOX!
By Kairo at 2:35 AM ON 06/27/09
This was an insult to Michael Taylor and Ron Moore. It's like having an author write the first chapter of a book, then telling them to stop. Then they took that chapter and distributed it around to the world and said, "How do you like this book? I'll bet those never-to-be-written chapters would have been great, right? Too bad we'll never get to read them!"
And by showing it, Fox is tying up the rights to it so that it can't be shopped around to other networks. I'd bet that HBO, Showtime or (sigh, fine) SciFi would have allowed the show to flourish.
An insult.
By baron_elric at 2:16 PM ON 06/27/09
My wife and I watched the two-hour film/pilot last night and were blown away. Given who was behind it we were hoping for something decent, but this actually has the potential to be the best SF on TV right now. Count us among those who will be writing to Fox to encourage them to pick it up. Someone has to, because all those loose ends left us desperate for more!
By jennino95 at 2:26 AM ON 06/29/09
they could've at least made a miniseries out of it. then maybe we would've gotten some answers...
By MTwain at 4:16 AM ON 06/29/09
A breath of fresh air in TV wasteland. A cool, cerebral and high quality science fiction that had me hooked from beginning to end.
Virtuality deserves a series!
By Captain Pierce at 11:36 PM ON 06/29/09
"Virtuality follows 12 complex, fascinating and often unlikable characters"
Only "often" unlikable? Wow, that's a big upgrade from Galactica, where the characters were unlikable 24/7... Ol' Ron must be mellowing in his old age...
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Captain Pierce:
"Virtuality follows 12 complex, fascinating and often unlikable characters" Only "often" unlikable? Wow, that's a...More »