Sci Fi TV Genre Gems: Virtuality (2009)

Sci Fi TV Genre Gems: Forgotten magic and hidden treasures from the worlds of sci fi TV

What Is It?  Virtuality was a two hour TV movie written and produced by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar: Galactica) which aired in the Summer of 2009 on FOX and was originally intended as a pilot for a series.  It follows the crew of a deep-space mission headed to the Epsilon Eridani star system on a journey that will take ten years. Their day to day activities on the ship are recorded and transmitted back to Earth where viewers watch them on television, reality series-style (this helps with the funding of the mission). In addition, each crew member has a virtual reality module that they can use as an escape from the rigors of deep space travel (which is very long and dull). However, a glitch in the programming has led to several bad experiences in the virtual world, and the crew considers switching off the system for the duration of the mission. This glitch seems to extend beyond that, though, and ultimately leads to the death of one of the crew members which points toward a potentially subversive plot unfolding on the ship.

Aired: June 26, 2009

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kerry Bishé, Joy Bryant, Jose Pablo Cantillo, James D’Arcy, Clea DuVall

Created By: Ronald D. Moore, Michael Taylor

Why It Stands Out:  While at first glance Virtuality seems to give us an odd mish-mash of elements—hard science fiction meets reality television meets the Star Trek holodecks meets murder mystery meets a conspiracy story arc—it ends up delivering a superior sci fi tale that had potential if it had gone on to an ongoing series.

Is It Must-Watch Sci Fi TV? Possibly. It is definitely worth a look as a rare attempt at hard sci fi on television and because of the fantastic cast that was assembled.

The Skinny:  This TV movie arrived in the Summer of 2009 and delivered an odd yet compelling bit of hard sci fi.   It is a space-based tale, but it is filmed very much like a reality series, with the jerky, hand-held camera flitting about trying to catch the quibbles among each of the crew members along with separate “confessional” pieces directed at the camera (the short-lived TV series Defying Gravity, which aired later the same Summer, would also take a similar approach to this, more on that at this link). But it never descends into the petty bickering and melodrama expected of a reality show and instead brings a hint of authenticity to the way that the characters on the show interact with one another.

Adding the virtual reality system to the mix of course draws immediate comparisons to the holodecks of the Star Trek franchise (right down to its tendency to malfunction). However, Virtuality takes a very different approach with this gimmick. Each person wears a virtual reality visor that lets them see and experience this cyber-world, though it is not physically “real” like Trek’s holodecks. And to what extent this virtual reality engages all five senses is not made completely clear in the pilot. The participants seem to fully experience the situations in their mind, including sexual encounters, but we don’t know just how real it feels to them. Still, having such a system on a long, daunting voyage does make a lot of sense.  Add to this a scientifically accurate approach toward space travel (including no sound in space!) along with an excellent cast (headed up by a pre-Game of Thrones Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and you have a production that delivers an interesting and challenging science fiction concept.  It is definitely worth checking out as a sci fi gem that never received the support it deserved from its network.

>Buy Virtuality on DVD from Amazon.com

Cancelled Before It Began? Yes.  Unfortunately, even though this concept may have sounded good in a pitch season (“reality show in space”), it almost certainly left the FOX network execs befuddled after watching the pilot.  They decided to bury it on the Summer schedule, where it barely found an audience and ended its chance to carry on as a series.

Should It Be Rebooted? Possibly.  There was a very good idea here and it was pulled off quite well (though the pilot could be slow and dense at times), and it had plenty of potential as a series.  But at this point you would have to go with a completely different cast and Ronald D. Moore is pretty busy these days.  But if he was involved, this might be brought back as a decent series that might work well on one of the streaming services.

Interesting Fact:  According to Wikipedia, Virtuality has several references/homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey including the faulty computer, the similarity of the Phaeton to the Discovery and the captain’s first name Frank (from Frank Poole).  His last name, Pike, is almost certainly a reference to Captain Christopher Pike from Star Trek as well.

Where Can You Watch It? The film has been released on DVD and it is available at a very economical price. It has not received the Blu-ray treatment and it is not currently available for streaming or purchase by VOD.

Read More About the Film: Wikipedia | IMDb.com

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