VR.5

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For Volkswagen's European VR5 engine, see VR6.
VR.5
Format Science fiction
Created by Jeannine Renshaw
Starring Lori Singer
Michael Easton
Will Patton
Anthony Stewart Head
David McCallum
Louise Fletcher
Tracey Needham
Country of origin  United States
No. of episodes 13
Production
Running time 44 min (approx.)
Broadcast
Original channel FOX
Sci Fi Channel
Original run March 10 – May 12, 1995
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VR.5 is an American television program. It was broadcast on the Fox network from March 10 to May 12, 1995. Of the 13 episodes that were produced, only 10 aired during its original run.

The show starred Lori Singer as Sydney Bloom, a telephone engineer and daughter of Dr. Joseph Bloom, played by David McCallum, inventor of advanced virtual reality. Also involved in the project was his wife, Dr. Nora Bloom, a neurochemist. The full extent of her contribution was never revealed prior to cancellation.

When inside virtual reality the visual look of the show was changed by filming on black and white film, then manually adding color to each image; this effect took four weeks for each episode and contributed to the cost of the show which was up to $1.5 million per episode.

While Rysher Entertainment has never released a definitive statement, it is generally believed that this well-above-average cost coupled with a poorly chosen time slot formed the reasons for the show's commercial failure.

The show used what appeared to be mistakes in continuity and chroma scheme as clues to what was actually happening.

Contents

[edit] US order of episodes

  1. Pilot 10 March 1995
  2. "Dr. Strangechild" 17 March 1995
  3. "Sisters" (unaired)
  4. "Love and Death" 24 March 1995
  5. "5D" 31 March 1995
  6. Escape 7 April 1995
  7. Facing the Fire 14 April 1995
  8. Simon's Choice 21 April 1995
  9. Send Me an Angel (unaired)
  10. Control Freak 28 April 1995
  11. The Many Faces of Alex 5 May 1995
  12. Parallel Lives (unaired)
  13. Reunion 12 May 1995
  • "Sisters," "Send Me An Angel," and "Parallel Lives" were not broadcast on FOX. They are called the "missing episodes" and were broadcast in countries like Canada, Norway, and the UK. The series was eventually shown in its entirety on the Sci Fi Channel.

[edit] UK order of episodes

Sky TV in the UK broadcast VR.5 out of order:

  1. Pilot
  2. Dr. Strangechild
  3. Love and Death
  4. 5D
  5. Escape
  6. Facing the Fire
  7. Simon's Choice
  8. Control Freak
  9. The Many Faces of Alex
  10. Send Me An Angel
  11. Reunion
  12. Parallel Lives
  • The episode "Sisters" was unaired to make room for an "X-Files" documentary.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Music

The music for VR.5 was created by composer John Frizzell. The opening theme music came to Frizzell in a dream. Dee Carstensen and Eileen Frizzell provided the vocals in the opening theme. The music supervisor of the series was Abby Treloggen.

[edit] Status of VR.5

VR.5 no longer airs on any broadcaster in the world (last broadcast took place on Radio Television of Serbia on 2008) and there are currently no commercial reproductions of the series available. An online community called Virtual Storm successfully lobbied FOX to develop a movie featuring the cast and crew of VR.5, but the project was dropped after the scripting stage.

[edit] The Ten Levels of Virtual Reality

Level Description
VR.1 Computer screen. Flat two-dimensional projection.
VR.2 Interactive (e.g., video games). User-controlled manipulation of items on a screen.
VR.3 Flight simulator. The user manipulates items and objects on a screen and the simulator responds physically to those actions. This level controls the space and place containing the individual, but not the individual's senses.
VR.4 Cyberspace. User is transplanted into an electronically created world. Does not involve user being in controlled environment. Equipment that can neutralize the user's sensory input necessary to alter reality (e.g., helmet, gloves, bodysuit).
VR.5 Level at which Sydney initially operates and the title's eponymous VR.5. It provides a window to the subconscious mind. User is taken into the virtual world, accessed at the subconscious level. Experiences, for all intents and purposes, are real for the user. Results in little or no conscious recall of virtual experiences for participants unwillingly brought into virtual plane, yet subconscious behavior is altered, affecting real-world behavior.
VR.6 This level, much like VR.5, brings the user and participant into the virtual plane. Access is at the conscious level, with both user and participant having full recall of virtual experiences.
VR.7 Official materials list this as:

Telepathy. Communication/experience via the mind, rather than via hardware. A cyberlink formed between the minds of two people without the need for a computer, monitor or mouse/keyboard.

When the show progressed to episodes using vr.7 it was portrayed as a yet deeper version of vr.6 that uses "different parts of the brain" but is definitely still tied to a physical computer.
VR.8 The level Dr. Bloom reached. The ability to transplant or implant a single or multiple personality and life experience within the mind of the participant. Total mind manipulation.
VR.9 The ability to manipulate the real world via the mind. Telekinetic abilities. The virtual becomes real, and reality becomes just one of the operating planes of the user.
VR.10 All knowing, all seeing, the ability to transcend normal, natural, and physical laws governing experiences.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR.5"