Virtuality

Mr E

Just a heads up (and discussion thread) about Virtuality. The pilot airs tonight in the States. Good buzz about this since its coming from Ronald D Moore, but the morons in Fox are putting the pilot in the Friday night slot of death (tm) during the summer.

Twelve astronauts onboard Earth's first starship, the Phaeton, are on a ten-year expedition to search for a distant solar system. To stave off boredom the astronauts spend time in the self-created worlds they experience in virtual reality modules. The crew are faring well until someone downloads a bug into the system - is one of them the saboteur?

Very good early reviews for this, so hopefully it'll go to season (in a decent time slot).

The 2 hour pilot airs tonight on Fox.

Basq

Oooohh.. this could be very good!

KTRIC

Oh nice

Been looking forward to this. Seems an awful lot like Star Trek TNG with the holodeck, which I have no problems with

Ron DMC

Sounds like a bad episode of The Outer Limits.

Some good heads behind it though, so let's hope they make something of it.

J-blk

Sci Fi.

FOX.

Grrrrrr :mad:.

Then again, Dollhouse got renewed so who knows? Lightning may strike twice...

As bad as Fox airing it tonight let's just be thankful that they moved it from the July 4th slot in which it was destined to be a complete and utter flop.

lostexpectation

Mr E wrote: »

Twelve astronauts onboard Earth's first starship, the Phaeton, are on a ten-year expedition to search for a distant solar system. To stave off boredom the astronauts spend time in the self-created worlds they experience in virtual reality modules. The crew are faring well until someone downloads a bug into the system - is one of them the saboteur?

isn't this the plot of life on mars (US) :P

Richard Dower

OK, just watched it....not to sure tbh,

the plot such as it is has no real direction. From what we saw it seems like a HAL 3000 type "ghost in the machine" scenario....each week someone gets picked off?
Finding out what is wrong with the VR program and how it relates to the ships systems going mad and killing people.

The pacing was very slow and it seemed rather confused and unfocused in many parts. My main gripe is this "Real World" reality tv crap, what is it about?....it reminds me of The Bedford Diaries, video blogs, lots of security camera shots, reality show within the mission. This aspect annoyed me and just seemed like Ronald D. Moore tryna be clever and sell something to the FOX execs.

Hell even the reality show says "tonight on Fox" etc., the ending seemed to suggest a bit of direction, as in maybe none of it's real and it's all a Matrix type deal, or as i say it's a ghost in the machine type deal.

It's hard to say what direction R D. Moore would take it, but if it did get picked up it would need to be much more focused and have a clear direction, but overall it kept me interested, the CGI was pretty good. Dunno....another undecided from me.

Hobbes

I would disagree with you. Looks really good. Very Philip K Dick.

I don't think people get picked off each week. I suspect that the spaceship itself is not real, and some of the characters on the ship are also not real.

At first I thought it was the ships computer or the company manipulating them but comments some made I suspect there is more to it then a "big brother in space".

For example one of them being manic depressive saying "We are just playing parts" and the captains comments at the end. Prehaps the AI built characters are becoming self aware.

Certainly could be the next lost if they play it well. Of course being on Fox guarantees they will kill it as soon as it gets interesting.

don ramo

Hobbes wrote: »

I would disagree with you. Looks really good. Very Philip K Dick.

I don't think people get picked off each week. I suspect that the spaceship itself is not real, and some of the characters on the ship are also not real.

At first I thought it was the ships computer or the company manipulating them but comments some made I suspect there is more to it then a "big brother in space".

For example one of them being manic depressive saying "We are just playing parts" and the captains comments at the end. Prehaps the AI built characters are becoming self aware.

Certainly could be the next lost if they play it well. Of course being on Fox guarantees they will kill it as soon as it gets interesting.

its more or less dead, was looking on IMDB, people there said it didnt get picked up, but they also said it might get a pick up for midseason, so its not looking great, i think ill wait and see if its picked up before id get,

lostexpectation

found it hard to follow who was who, especially as they wake up in the gloom with their eyes covered.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Watched about 15 minutes, got bored and moved on to something else. Ultimately I should have watched the whole episode, but none of the characters appealed to me and I didn't really know or care what was going on.

KTRIC

CaptainNegative wrote: »

Watched about 15 minutes, got bored and moved on to something else. Ultimately I should have watched the whole episode, but none of the characters appealed to me and I didn't really know or care what was going on.

It got good towards the end. Its pretty slow for a polite though.

Some nice eye candy, but as a sci-fi fan I'd like to see it being made into a show. On the other hand I don't think it would survive past 1 season.

starn

Very slow, very ponderous. This show would of died a death. It would never of got past 6 episodes. Shame on you Ronald D Moore

Richard Dower

I want to note that Wendy & Lisa did the music!...aka Heroes, but i have to say i really liked that set piece and especially the song used in the long sequence when they were activating the Orion drive, bit different it's not an engine but some form of explosive device.....best part of the whole pilot.

Richard Dower

starn wrote: »

Very slow, very ponderous. This show would of died a death. It would never of got past 6 episodes. Shame on you Ronald D Moore

EXACTLY what i said while watching it, it would be canned after 6 episodes....i bet he would take things very slow and drag it out, a la "Lost" and people would lose interest. I'm not saying it should be a Transformers crapfest, but you need to engage the audience...stop tryna be clever and "original".

You need to give the audience a bit of the plot each week and keep them hooked, they need to engage their brains and ask questions, which is why for me Dollhouse got me hooked. I hate shows that plod along tryna be cutting edge and quirky and in the end you get no answers and it's all just meh.

:mad:

J-blk

I kept looking at the clock while watching it...

Very slow in a lot of places and like others said, I don't care about the characters - there are too many of them and they also slip into these virtual characters as well, so it's like the cast is twice as big as it really is. It gets a bit confusing following what's real, what's virtual and then there's the crap big brother style show at the center of it all...

And the ending itself was pretty much meh, since if it's going in the direction it seems to be going, it's been done before...

JP Liz

Has it been picked up for a full series (considering its on Fox i'm doubtful)or was that just a tv movie?

Ron DMC

Finally got around to watching it last night, and 'Well, Ted, I'm rather cynical as you know', but to be perfectly honest, I was pleasantly surprised. Best thing I've watched in a few weeks.

Initially, I thought all the Diary Room and Big Brother style camera cuts were gonna annoy the hell out of me, but that psychiatrist producer fella is a very good character and made the 'show' element a lot more interesting.

Not sure how they'll continue the story it if it gets picked up but let's hope

they don't leave the Captain as a ghost in the virtual modules

cos that would suck,

if he's gone, then he's gone. Full stop.

.
Otherwise they'll need to go down the whole 'everything is fake in the first place, no one is in control'. That would be far too predictable.

Even as a tv movie, it didn't totally suck, and if it does make it into a series, it has potential if they manage to do it right.

Richard Dower

I don't deny potential, ANYTHING can have potential....but as it stands it would need a radical rework.

L31mr0d

I watched it today and feel enraged that this hasn't been picked up. Sure it's not blended swill that the masses will guzzle down by the truck load (dollhouse gets renewed and this gets cancelled? Whedon can suck my left nut :mad:)

It had everything going for it, isolation, paranoia, humanity on the brink of destruction, adventure, exploration. I felt an atmosphere reminiscent of sunshine or even 2001 (some fairly obvious nods in places)

I feel the whole reality TV show format was a hook for the FOX viewers, but maybe also a deeper nuanced plot device (a direction I was thinking they could take the show in, a la Vanilla Sky)

I hope this gets picked up in some form or another. Even if it doesn't, it's definitely the best hour and a half of sci fi TV I've watched in the last year or more.

Richard Dower

^ Dollhouse is FAR superior!

L31mr0d

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ Dollhouse is FAR superior!

So on your scale of Dance movies to The Hills where would Dollhouse sit just so I'm clear. Is it better than say the episode of The Hills where Spencer was a dick and one of the girls said "oh my god, like, no way" or the dance movie where a guy from the wrong side of the tracks meets a private school girl and they learn to communicate through the medium of dance.

It's hard to decide with Joss Whedon though as Dollhouse is such a break from his usual shows that have a hot chick who kicks ass and doesn't ask questions :rolleyes:

Richard Dower

^ Oh please!....i could do a search and dig up all sorts of ammunition on your likes/dislikes, but it's just childish!. I know you're taking the pee but you could have just said i respect your opinion but you're wrong or called me a dumbass without the post mining.

L31mr0d

Richard Dower wrote: »

i respect your opinion but you're wrong or called me a dumbass without the post mining.

I actually haven't done any post mining, lol, I just remember what I read in threads in the media forums.

Also, you say Dollhouse is superior to Virtuality. Are you seriously saying the first 2 episodes of Dollhouse where superior to this pilot of Virtuality. Compare like with like here and not the fact that Dollhouse got the privilege of an entire season.

Conor108

Watched the first episode of Dollhouse, It was bad imo

Watched the first episode of Virtuality, It was bad imo


The whole idea of Humanity's first major space exploration being a reality show is just...silly:) Nevermind the mission being sponsored by companies

L31mr0d

Conor108 wrote: »

The whole idea of Humanity's first major space exploration being a reality show is just...silly:) Nevermind the mission being sponsored by companies

it's a common dystopia that's seen in a lot of science fiction, a future where capitalism has taken over and countries are ruled by an oligarchy of conglomerates. Read 1984, in it Orwell outlined how the lottery and simple mind numbing music is what kept the masses under control. The modern day version of this is reality TV.

Even on the brink of destruction on Earth, these conglomerates need to recoup the losses from investing in this mission (remember they are private enterprises, this isn't NASA) how better than televising it. I had begun to think however that the whole danger back on Earth due to natural disaster could merely of been a red herring to keep the crew motivated and pushing forward. The whole mission itself could be a fabrication, with none of the crew actually being in space at all, but merely strapped into VR headsets back on Earth. The could take the show in this direction but leave the question mark there, in the same vein as Existenz or Total Recall.

Anyway, I hope we find out, if it ever gets picked up again. It's been a while since we had a good dystopian sci-fi. Although the very nature of it and it's place on FOX means it will probably never get renewed on that channel.

Richard Dower

Just seen that this Fox pilot is now out on DVD.

Zardoz

Watched it last night and I enjoyed it .
Pity it hasnt been greenlighted for a series as I could do with a good scifi show after BSG ending .