Virtuality

Show Info

Genre(s): Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Created By: Michael Taylor
Ronald D. Moore

First Air Date: June 26, 2009

Summary

Starring Clea DuVall, Erik Jensen, Gene Farber, James D'Arcy, Jimmi Simpson, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Joy Bryant, Kari Wahlgren, Kerry Bishe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omar Metwally, Richie Coster, and Sienna Guillory

A spaceship crew on a 10-year trip battle boredom with virtual reality, and their virtual lives are beamed back to earth as a TV show.

Episode Guide & More Info: More about this show at TV.com

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this show is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eric W gave it a10:
Any time you're dealing with "holo-deck"-type technology it opens the story up to limitless possibilities. I enjoyed this pilot and hope someone decides to pick it up and make some episodes.

Joshua E. gave it a9:
An incredibly compelling made for TV production, Virtuality has a similar vibe to Sunshine and an infinite amount of great directions the story could take. Apparently, it won't go anywhere past this 2 hour pilot, which is a crying shame, because this could have been the best thing to happen to TV since Lost. Excellent!

P W. gave it a10:
Why doesn't this show go to series. It deserves at least one season test.

Laurie O. gave it a10:
Had this DVRd so watched it 2 days after it was on assuming it was the beginning of a series. I wish I checked it out first as I really enjoyed it and especially after that ending hoped that it would continue. The music was great, the “explosion-go” visuals were a wonder to watch, the cast were exactly what they were supposed to be for this story, and the story lines had me caught enough to want to know where it goes from here. I loved the way it flowed from Real life to Reality to VR (Matrix was great, but it started w/Star Trek) and back again with the same characters in each. Putting character favs aside I thought that the way they interacted kept you watching, especially when they would all talk over one another with several issues going at once. There are so many paths running from the source here that need to be followed up on…the interpersonnal issues, the TV show (eh), the “is the reality real” scenario, Doomsday, and the VR “glitch”. The glitch alone is a huge undertaking and could cover so much area. It was different for everyone; a molester, an assassin, a murderer (although interpreted by the character as a sort of re-birth), an OB/GYN doctor (hope of a child), and when the captain re-played his VR scene over to see what happened, he showed it continuing past death into the “light” and stars (definite reminder of Brainstorm when Christopher Walken plays someone’s death (brainwaves) into his own mind and lets it run past when that person’s brainwaves stopped, seeing what happens after we are truly dead). Oh, I forgot to mention the whole “what are we doing here, where are we going and what is out there” path. For those who remember it, sort of along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey theme, and as long as I brought it up, Krubrik’s spacestation was what I thought of when I saw this one, Yes, I’m showing my age. I tried to get some of my thoughts across without giving too much away for those who haven't seen it. I really hope that SciFi picks it up…too many times really good shows are dropped because our society can’t handle anything thought provoking (yes, WAYYYY too dark and deep!...are they serious???).

Walter G. gave it an8:
The pop-philosophy of the Matrix recouched in terms of the sometimes-rogue holodeck from Star Trek? The reality TV angle signals that the writers are taking Baudrillard more seriously than the Wachowski brothers did. Like almost all television, it wasn't incredibly original, but I got the sense that it was trying--and it has enough interest, polish, talent, and even social sense that I sincerely hope it gets picked up as a serial.

Elias C. gave it a9:
From those Battlestar Galactica guys comes a superior SF tale expertly directled that raises many unanswered questions. This above average Sci-fi TV movie in-explicitly appears on Fox with little fanfare and broadcast during the usually dead Friday night summer time slot. Why? This film is actually a pilot for a SF series that Fox did not pick up. Too bad. This film looks like another Battlestar Galactica.

Muldfeld gave it an8:
The best thing Fox has put together since The X-Files and Season 1 of Millennium. The acting is terrific (especially the psychologist, the second-in-command, and the male pilot who misses his son), and there's plenty of texture. I enjoyed this much more upon second viewing. The reality TV element upset me at first, but I think I could get used to it. It's such a relief to see something ambitious rather than the usual drivel people fawn over, such as all that commercial formula put out by J.J. Abrams and his cynical colleagues who continue to saturate the market in TV and cinema.

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