Virtuality

[cljohnston]

A couple of weeks ago, Fox ran a 2-hour pilot for a series they'd already decided not to pick up, presumably just to torment Sci-Fi fans.
I almost wasn't going to tune in, because io9 had posted a preview clip that looked just like a typical scene from a crappy reality show.
Sure glad I let my curiosity get the better of me!

Hulu - Virtuality (Apologies to those outside the U.S.!)
Virtuality (2008) (TV)
Virtuality (TV series) - Wikipedia

It got great reviews!

Virtuality | TV | A.V. Club
Virtuality's Bold, Lonely Mission - Tuned In - TIME.com
The intriguing 'Virtuality' doesn't deserve to be lost in space | The Watcher
'Virtuality' - Los Angeles Times
Virtuality Web Campaign Calls for Full-Blown Series | Underwire | Wired.com


The whole thing reminded me of BBC's Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets from a few years back.
Very well done!

The CGI supervisor was Doug Drexler. (I drove him in my limo back when he was doing the make-up for Dick Tracy!)

Virtuality VFX and the Good Ship Phaeton – UPDATED! « Drex Files

 

[Andy44]

Will check this out...

---------- Post added at 04:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------

Okay, watched it, reporting back:

The premise is similar to Red Planet and other "we killed the Earth and need a mission to save the species" movies. Global warming is suddenly killing the Earth and so a 12-man mission to the Epsilon Eridani system goes from a simple exploration mission to a potential colony pathfinding mission.

The hook, is that the company that owns the ship and launched the mission is also using it as a reality TV show, complete with sponsers, to finance it. There are cameras all over the ship, and the ship's shrink doubles as the on-site producer. The result: A cross between 2001 and The Office.

The ship, the Phaeton, is a nuclear pulse-propulsion vehicle with a very large centrifuge, and most of the pilot takes place before and just after a slingshot maneuver past Neptune. The ship's computer is a female HAL wannabe (SAL, maybe?), and the crew fights boredom with a Matrix-style virtual environment similar to the Star Trek Holodeck, which, of course, can't be trusted.

The space vehicle and general physics of the show seem fairly well-done, but there are some problems.

Good: The centrifuge must stop rotating and the decks rotate to handle the Orion-drive's acceleration. The Orion drive is really cool-looking. The ship is very very big, as you would expect for a 10-year mission, with a stocked galley kitchen, bar, greenhouse, etc. Neptune looked very cool. Despite some issues, the makers of the show tried to get the science right. At one point after accelerating to relativistic speeds the crew discusses uplinking new software from Earth, and it was explained that the speed and distance would make that difficult.

Bad: The engineer has to use a VR-controlled robot arm to fire each nuke charge on the Orion drive. That would take all month to do one maneuver. During the scene with the centrifuge shut down, it doesn't look like anything's in freefall. One of the characters says they are at 1/5 c, which I find hard to believe; the giant Orion starships designed by Freeman Dyson couldn't reach that velocity, they were meant to be generation ships.

As for the story, plot, writing, etc., let me start by saying that I hate reality shows. That format works in The Office because its a mockery of reality shows. So the method of filming this show, and the fact that it's a major part of the story, is a little annoying. Also, there are too many sci fi cliches going on here. Earth dying of global warming? Yawn. You can't trust your supercomputer? Unoriginal. The airlock hatch has no manual mechanical controls, allowing a software problem to cause accidents? Please. Apollo 1 taught us a long time ago how to build safe hatches, and 2001 cemented the thought in our minds forever. The crew are a bunch of unprofessional crybabies who can't get along? Oh, come on, now. The inclusion of a gay couple seemed a bit odd, but I guess it is a reality show, afer all, like MTV's Real World, so what do you expect.

All that aside, it was fun to watch. BSG's Ronald D. Moore was involved with this, and it shows. The tension, the style, and music, etc., as well as the mind-bending aspects of the story.

And besides, I never dreamed I would ever see an Orion drive on a TV show!

 

[Ark]

Apollo 1 taught us a long time ago how to build safe hatches, and 2001 cemented the thought in our minds forever.

Gah, you figure we could build a proper door by then. :lol:

 

[cljohnston]

Totally agree with you on all points, Andy.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

 

[Andy44]

I have to wonder: Isn't Epsilon Eridani supposed to be the star that the planet Vulcan revolves around in Star Trek? If this show continued, would they have met Spock?

 

[cljohnston]

Well, Babylon 5 orbited Epsilon 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani_in_fiction

 

[tori]

It's also the system in which the Babylon 5 orbits... so that's what they might be after.

Edit: D'oh! Race condition.

Edit: How exactly do they explain going at 1/5 c AND doing a "10 year mission" if Eps Eri is 10 ly away?

 

[Andy44]

They may have planned more accelerations along the way or something.

 

[Hielor]

Yes, going 1/5c after only one explosion--the acceleration on that would've splattered them all over the bulkhead.

Sure, there were some errors like that, but no more than any other sci fi series, and at least they were actually trying to get some things right. Andy44 did a good job pointing out most of the stuff I would've brought up.

It was interesting, though, if a little heavy at times--I would've liked to see more.