VR.5

aka VR

Sci-Fi - 1995 - 91 Minutes

STARRING

LORI SINGER, MICHAEL EASTON, WILL PATTON, ADAM BALDWIN, DAVID McCALLUM and LOUISE FLETCHER

WRITTEN BY THANIA ST. JOHN & ERIC BLAKENEY

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL KATLEMAN

CHARACTER:

Scott Cooper

CHARACTERS STORY:

THE FILM:

Young brilliant Sydney Bloom spends most of her spare time in front of her computer. Her shy personality contrasts a highly technical world as she begins experimenting with virtual technology.

Suddenly, her computer modem transports her into the incredible world of VR. The experience puts her through a frightening virtual scenario. When Sydney wakes up with her virtual gear on and her head resting on her computer, she believes she was dreaming, but soon realises that the world of virtual reality is more real than she imagined.

She must now learn to navigate the potentially deadly passage between the two worlds.

A local professor in the VR field warns Sydney of the things she may find in VR and the threat of various agencies that learn of her advancement in the technology. Sydney quickly learns that his warnings are valid when her life is threatened by a man who feels that she has learned too much in her latest virtual voyage.

The only way to find out the truth is by putting her life on the line.

THE REVIEWS:

REVIEW BY TODD EVERETT FOR VARIETY:

"A telephone installer falls upon the key to something like another dimension, the fifth level of virtual reality, in "VR.5." As science, it's largely horse pucky, but the new Fox series wins points for being unlike anything else on television.

Show is quite watchable for those somewhat attuned to developing technologies, and stands a chance of developing a cult following like those for "The Prisoner" (its most obvious antecedent as storyline continues through upcoming episodes), "Max Headroom" and "Twin Peaks." Timeslot, leading into "The X-Files," is ideal. Sydney Bloom is the young daughter of scientist Dr. Joseph Bloom (David McCallum), who is killed off (or is he?) under mysterious circumstances early in first episode.

Time shifts to several years later, to more-or-less present, where grown-up Sydney (Lori Singer) works for the phone company by day and tinkers with her home-made computer (assembled from parts liberated from her employer) in her off hours.

She's discovered a gateway into a kind of virtual reality some steps removed from how it's perceived today: she can suck people into it through her modem, providing they're on the other end of the line, and then return them, with no memory of what's happened, to where they were before.

Plot goes off in two directions during pilot, written and directed respectively by co-creators Thania St. John and Michael Katleman (other creators are Jeannine Renshaw, Geoffrey Hemwall and Adam Cherry).

In the more pedestrian storyline, Sydney uses the new technique to check out co-worker and prospective suitor Scott Cooper (Adam Baldwin).

The second strand finds Sydney and her technology pursued by a mysterious outfit known as the Committee, an apparently para-governmental org that's a conspiracy theorist's worst nightmare. It's the Committee that will propel series as long as it runs.

Singer is immediately likable and, more important, has a strong enough personality to carry the series, which she ultimately must. The series features Michael Easton, as a childhood friend and current platonic pal known only as Duncan, and Will Patton as Dr. Frank Morgan, a scientific brain with his own experiments in virtual reality. Featured in pilot are Louise Fletcher as Sydney's mother, Penn Gillette in a nifty cameo as Sydney's cranky neighbor, and Stephen Mills as a mysterious stranger who looks -- probably not accidentally -- like a cross between an FBI agent and Richard Nixon. Scary.

Show's much-vaunted special effects include some nifty computer display simulations (from Bill Barminski, Consumer Prods.) and considerable doctoring with film color credited to CST Entertainment Inc. -- every time Sydney goes into virtual reality, she and everything around her take on odd hues. This will probably grow old, quickly."

LEAFANS REVIEW:

FILMING LOCATIONS:

GENERAL FACTS AND STUFF THAT DOESNT FIT ANYWHERE ELSE:

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