Virtuality (FOX) review

How is it that a show that is two network hours long can be so boring for 1 hour and 50 minutes and then actually turn into something that has a remote chance to be interesting in the last 10 minutes? I guess that is why we have shows like Virtuality on Fox.

All of the people, which includes myself, that loved what Ron Moore did with Battlestar Galactica are ready to sip any flavor Kool-Aid that this man gives us. I can admit to being excited about this show, but then a weird thing happened, the show actually started. I can even take a look at the summary of the show after watching this mess and still say to myself, “How did this not work?” I find the idea pretty solid actually, and am sitting here wondering how it turned out so bad. From the wiki:

The story is set circa 2045, aboard the Phaeton, Earth’s first starship, on a ten-year journey to explore the nearby Epsilon Eridani star system. In order to help the crew endure the long mission, a system of virtual reality modules are installed aboard the ship. These modules allow the crew to assume various identities and enjoy a variety of adventures. The crew’s experiences aboard the ship are broadcast back to Earth as the reality television program The Edge of Never.

I think they missed one of the main points which was the fact that they are traveling to the Epsilon Eridani star system because Earth is flooding and has massive storms. Part of point of the show is that it seems the leaders of Earth, who now seem to run reality television, have not really told the people of Earth how bad things are. This was a movie that supposed to be a pilot for a television series so maybe that was the reason that the show was such a slow start. The actual cool plots of the ship going to Epsilon star system and the fact that they have a medical doctor that has his own problems with just finding out he has Parkinson’s Disease are overshadowed by this ghetto virtual reality mystery. I mean these people are killed in the VR world and suffer no effects, one would think heart attack or something similar, and it really only gets dangerous from the psychological side, but the script does not work well enough to show us how powerful that can be. Also how is this VR so powerful when it is just a bunch of glasses, I envision something like the Star Trek holodeck to recreate something like they are doing with some spray painted sun glasses. There is just not a lot of tension in this one episode with the VR glitch or hack that causes their modules to be invaded.

Some thoughts -

- People are complaining about the scene with the captain in the airlock, I think that it was just a practical joke to break up the tension that malfunctioned and just played out bad. I did not mind the scene at all

- I had a hard time telling Billie and Rika apart, and it was not because they looked so much alike, but rather that the story did not do a good job with the characters

- The fate of the Earth is a reality show? I know the networks will do a lot for ratings, but it seems to me this would have been better as a documentary and with a little more weight back on the fate of the Earth

- Clea Du Vall may not be the hottest actress, but she is pretty sexy I think

- Manny and Val who are the gay couple are written horribly, I think they say that themselves on the show, I mean reality tv, I mean this television movie

- Alice and Kenji are worthless for this episode, they did not have to even be there, which is just fat in the script, if you need them for later episodes use them in the first 2 hours better so that people will care about them

- I did think it was funny and cool how Billie was a rock star who is also a spy, with her whole band being spies as well in her VR module

- The virtual reality affair between the captain and Rika really brought some interesting discussion about what is cheating to mind, I thought they did a good job with bringing that subplot to the table

- Dr. Jimmy Johnson could have been an interesting character to watch play out if this had gotten picked up

Overall it was a great idea by Ron Moore with a psychological element, in a confined environment that just did not go anywhere. It could have used a rewrite, as the premise seems solid on paper at least. Is this a show that might have gotten better with some episodes under its belt? I think it stood a good chance at that, the problem is these days networks just do not like things grow, either you have a good pilot or a bad pilot. This episode was the poster child for bad pilot, so it is a wrap it looks like. The shows first episode was pretty crappy and that is the final rating from me, pretty crappy. The funny part is, since this show did not get picked up does that mean we will get more reality television on Fox to take the spot?