When we first heard Battlestar Galactica ’s Ron Moore was doing a show about a cryptical - outer space longsighted - haul crew who lose themselves in virtual reality amusement , our first thought was , “ Oh slap-up , a whole show of Star Trek holodeck episodes . ” But Moore ’s new Fox pilot , Virtuality , is a lot more multi - layered and deform than that , judging from the tons of script pageboy that have turned up . The pages are “ casting sides , ” for actors auditioning for roles in the serial , but they appear to be involve from the real pilot script . Details , with spoilers , after the jump .
There are three strands in the Virtuality pilot , and only one of them touch to virtual world as such :
1 ) The ship , the Phaeton , is near a slingshot play around Jupiter , which will either institutionalize it back to Earth or send it hurtling frontwards to its finish of Eridani . This is the “ go / no - go ” decision point , which will decide the crew ’s fate once and for all . At the same clock time , the ship ’s doctor , Eyal Meyer , has Parkinson ’s Disease , which throws an extra seam into the tough decision . Should the ship go forward and risk not having a MD on board ? If they do n’t go , it may be 20 year before human beings can try again — which may be too late . There are also bug with the ship , and emergency repair may be one theatrical role their life .
2 ) The gang are all spend time in virtual realness “ faculty , ” including everything from a restful seaboard scenery to a Civil War fight where Confederate troop attack Union soldier , only to fall into an trap . In all their “ module , ” a mysterious figure sleep together as the Green - Eyed Man shows up and kill the mankind in grisly way . ( Unlike in The Matrix and other scifi classics , being killed in VR does n’t harm you in substantial life , but it ’s jarring . ) Is the Green - Eyed Man a hack by one of the gang extremity ? A computer bug ? Or something else ? Everybody suspects Billie , the computer eccentric person — until she ’s raped by the Green Eyed Man , in a brutish and horrible tantrum .
3 ) Even as the work party is stressed out by the experience of being in thick space alone for 10 years , and lose themselves in VR entertainments , they ’re also being watched . In special , the ship is one immense “ reality TV ” show , which is pass around back on Earth . The ship ’s estimator whiz , Billie , becomes the “ host ” of the show , which is fight with declining ratings — so she has to find ways to increase the show ’s “ drama ” to make it more compelling screening . There are interview segments interspersed with sequences where Billie films the crew reason . The crew have to take part , or risk of infection infract their contract bridge — which could mean their families back on Earth lose their discriminatory lodging . ( There are tons of hints that Earth is one Brobdingnagian ecological cesspool , and livable dry demesne is at a premium , with prospicient waitlists for caparison . )
The show ’s most freakish character — sort of a cross between Gaius Baltar and Brother Cavil — is Roger Fallon . He ’s the ship ’s healer ( and may have to take over as doctor if Meyer is incapacitate . ) But he ’s also the producer and director of the ship ’s “ reality TV ” show , which localise him in a eldritch fight of interest . He ’s presuppose to be heed to the gang ’s trouble , even as he ’s urging Billie to make more “ dramatic event ” to boost the show ’s ratings . He ’s a manipulative snake , who ’s a famous ego - help guru with a book that ’s almost as popular as the Bible back on Earth . We ’re intelligibly presuppose to hate him and yet come up him oddly compelling . His wife , Rika , is experience a practical realism affair with the ship ’s chieftain , Frank Pike . ( Yes , the police chief is really name Pike . )
Other simmering subplots : Manny and Val , a gay couple , have been stuck on galley duty and detest cooking , plus they ’re bad at it . Another married couple , Alice and Kenji , are experience sex in weird spots all over the ship and trying to keep it secret for some grounds . ( Plus it seems as though Alice had an miscarriage so she could go on the Phaeton ’s space flight of steps , and her sis just had a child back on Earth . ) Billie is adjust to being the innkeeper of the “ reality tv set ” show , and her VR module is a hilarious scenario where she ’s a Joan Jett - esque rock ‘n’ roll star who ’s also a superspy . ( And her striation are all superintendent - spies too . ) Another reference , a scientist named Jules Braun , is having the computer create a virtual reconstructive memory of his dead son , Shawn .
Bottom line : It ’s a bleak and disturbing look at the effects of a long space slip on humans , as dark in its own agency as Battlestar Galactica . It sort of reminded me of the underrated film Sunshine , in the focus on psychological drama in cramped quarters , plus the grave fix sequence and the fact that the ship has a hydroponic garden . But the “ realism TV ” aspect adds a whole extra sardonic layer to the cake . [ Thanks to Lukas for the heads up ]
Ron MooreStar Trek
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