Virtuality (2009 TV Movie) User Reviews

Pilot aired as a TV movie...

[squarecandice · 6/10 · 28 June 2009]

I have heard through the grapevine that FOX, even if it doesn't pickup a show, is contractually obligated to play the pilot on air. So of course FOX doesn't care if it is accurately portrayed or even advertised/marketed since they have no interest in the show.

I think this program is more suited for SciFi than FOX. The pilot seemed like an interesting beginning to a potentially more complicated series. Hopefully we will be able to see at least one season on another network that is more suited to the show's style.

Most of the characters were easy to relate to, even if a tad trite and stereotypical. As I said before I believe that there is potential here.

Great with flaws

[webb_lord · 6/10 · 4 July 2009]

This TV movie or plot if it ever continues has a special touch to it that makes it really enjoyable and i have to say i really got stuck with it after watching a while.

Even though it may become an enjoyable series it still has it's flaws I'm afraid, this whole reality show thing they're trying to put in does not make any sense to me, kind of lowers the quality etc, and then we have the "The whole world is going to end" thing, we've all seen it to many times and it does not necessarily make a show more exciting, could have the opposite effect in fact.

If this actually continues as a series i'd for one want to see some changes for the better, at least i would hope that they could just remove this reality show thing because it makes me think of all the stupid reality shows out there which makes me want to puke a 100 times over, i think that reality shows should stick to reality shows, the same with fiction shows and not trying to put these together because the outcome would be obvious.

Anyhow, overall it was pretty decent, the sci-fi feeling about it made it to be worth watching, the ending here did its part and i hope for a following series

A Soap Opera Set in Space

[yossarian100 · 6/10 · 27 June 2009]

If future episodes are going to be like the pilot, 30 minutes of material stretched to 2 hours, then this is going to be one bumpy ride. Plus, anytime our astronauts are together, they all talk at once, and yell, too.

Still, the virtual reality side of things could be interesting, plus the mystery of who's doing what to whom. Do we have another HAL9000 here, a saboteur, or is mission control the bad guy?

Another down side is I've gone two hours into this without liking any of the characters. That's not a good sign.

On the other hand, I've gone two hours into this without turning it off. That's a positive sign.

I'll wait for another episode and see how that goes.

One big confusion

[Gordon-11 · 6 June 2010]

This film is about the twelve astronauts who are on a spacecraft, going to a distant star that takes ten years to arrive. On board, things start to go wrong and yet they cannot turn back.

"Virtuality" seems good on paper. It is directed by a famous director, has several known (but not very famous) stars, and an intriguing plot. However, it does not seem to work well. The story might have been interesting, but the delivery of the plot is very confusing. There are many mystifying events on board the spacecraft, and these events are not explained well. I was hoping that the ending would bring some answers, but it brings even more unanswered questions. All the confusion annoys rather than being thought stimulating.

In addition, the film fails to grip viewers or to provide suspense for viewers to beg for me. "Virtuality" is a disappointingly confusing film.

A TV Movie Better A Series

[tabuno · 6/10 · 20 January 2019]

27 June 2009. The idea of a reality TV show format regarding a intersellar trip to the stars was fascinating as a sci-fi made for television movie. However, the premise in actuality was less than stellar and built on so many obviously fake assumptions that it couldn't really be pulled off without a brilliant script, direction, acting, and perhaps being made into a television series instead of a less than two-hour movie format. If for example the reality series had actually been real, it might have actually be worthy or interesting. But having to watch actors pretending to be real in a fictional movie was stretching matters, especially with the premise of heightened corporate driven ratings faking and dramatically driving such a perilous mega-trip to the stars (almost too unbelievable to accept). Alien (1979) had the corporate premise to preserve alien species for its weapon's division. This Silent Running (1972), Virtuosity (1995), The Truman Show (1998), Logan's Run (1976) amalgamation was too packed with ideas with too many characters (which was dealt with M.A.S.H television episodes fake-live interview format scenes as effectively as could have been expected). by the end, the culminating climax was a rather huge disappointment with some sort of psycho-virtual babble. This television movie wasn't without its exciting premise, its nice special effects and adherence to some strong scientific elements of space travel, and nice psychological atmospherics (like Sphere (1998) and Event Horizon (1997)). 6/10.

Poorly written

[maxmangel · 4/10 · 7 May 2011]

The problem with a science fiction movie/show based off human drama, is that on a mission of earth shattering importance, the crew are almost entirely antagonistic whiny incompetents, who have no business being responsible for a trillion dollar spaceship.

Quite early on it becomes obvious that the captain, who is the final decision maker on anything important, is of dangerously low intelligence, and would not be capable of managing an ice cream truck, let alone a 'world saving' space mission.

I think real astronauts would find this movie insulting.

But the visuals are nice.

I'd watch Clea DuVall read a book - But I've seen this before

[fin487 · 6/10 · 19 July 2009]

Effects are quite good - they even chose Projet Orion for their drive. Good on them.

But I'm pretty sure it's JG Ballards 13 to Centaurus. Hope they paid him for the use.

It's a long duration experiment that they aren't aware they are in. The psych is the only one who is cognizant and he's playing games of his own in his own little human ship in a bottle. Mission control knows this but are afraid that if they interrupt the experiment they'll damage the crew.

It's not to say that this can't be a good series. (a TEN year mission? yikes. That's like ten years of Weakest Link). There are only so many plots. Let's see what they make of it. Or has Fox, in it's infinite wisdom, already decided to cancel it?

Oh so politically correct and oh so predictable

[mike-ryan455 · 2/10 · 12 August 2009]

Virtuality is the pilot of yet another "Long voyage into space" series. It competes directly against Defying Gravity, another show in the same genre.

My first thought was that I would not want to trust my life into the hands of this crew. They're a bunch of wimps. I can not believe that they could possibly be the best that Earth would send on a trillion dollar space voyage. We have a crew of comfort junkies who are not even physically fit. The second officer and chief engineer is in a wheel chair. I am for affirmative action and reasonable accommodation as much as the next guy, but a space ship on a twelve year mission is not the place for a paraplegic. What if something goes wrong? So what are the "oh so lovey and oh so politically correct" cliché' gay couple doing on the ship? All I have seen them do is cook, cuddle and complain! And what about the girl who was using a video game on the ship's bridge while on duty? And that leads me to the next complaint. Our crew of futuristic video gamers clearly are having a major malfunction with their Nintendo WII. It's playing its own games with them, and those games involve their own deaths. As the Captain of the ship, I'd order everyone to surrender their 3D goggles and for the system to be used only for authorized and required functions that are directly related to furthering their mission. Instead, they keep on playing until I became oh so bored.

Oh dear

[mgdasef · 10/10 · 27 June 2009]

For the guy who hated it because it didn't have a satisfactory ending (amongst other complaints). Helllooo! It's a series and I think it left us exactly in the right place.

I was quite happy to see the entire two-hour PILOT despite the annoyance of commercials (love my DVDs). Virtual reality is a great science fiction theme. Star travel unaccompanied by starbursts as the ship goes into the (virtually) impossible FTL. Good riddance to warp drive.

I thought it one of the better efforts for straight-up SciFi on television.

I was bugged throughout trying to place the Commander, so came over here to IMDb to look it up. He played in another fun science fiction (more fantasy, but...) we enjoyed: Amsterdam.

I look forward to however much of the series they're willing to show us.

Cut Off at the Pass but Perhaps for the Best

[LemonLadyR · 6/10 · 6 July 2015]

I just got around to seeing this, in 2015, since I rarely watch TV, so at first I thought it was a crazy movie with even crazier ending. Now I know it was a pilot. While it is shot beautifully and the science of the set decoration is wonderful, I was a bit bothered by the character writing. The crew do not seem like NASA people or even scientists. So it falters fatally there. Why was the mission, a very serious thing, being used for a reality TV show? Other than to advertise that general idea to Fox audiences. Although the quizzical characters did fit that plot line and it would have been food for little plot lines and maybe solve some of the mysteries on board. Even with the character issues, I would have liked to have seen at least one season, although if it had been picked up in 2009, we might not have had Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau (the Commander) on Game of Thrones (Jamie Lannister). Very hard to imagine GOT without him, so all worked out for the best.

Looks and feels like a TV pilot

[dmstokes73 · 5/10 · 22 April 2011]

There is a quirk in the virtual reality simulation system of a long duration space craft which seems to be attacking the crew.

This is a sci-fi with quality production values and a solid cast but it never gets where it needs to go. There is a lot of time developing the characters and scene setting but the story arc is utterly incomplete. I think some of the other reviews have mentioned that this was supposed to act as a pilot for a TV series that never got picked up and it really feels that way because nothing gets resolved. There is a bunch of questions on the table at the end but no resolution, which is immensely frustrating.

This is nice to watch and not badly acted but in the end leaves a very sour taste for the incompleteness and lack of resolution.

brilliant!

[chinga747 · 9/10 · 28 June 2009]

reminds me of Harlan Ellison's "The Starlost", but also of sci-fi gems like "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Sunshine", "Solaris"...

first impression? Loved it!!! just brilliant! with wonderful characters that I felt deeply invested in - that by the time the gamechanger of an ending came I was left broken and demanding answers! that it just couldn't be!! I felt angry and a little bit betrayed. But mostly I wanted some explanation of what just happened. I didn't want to believe it at first. Then I understood the logistics of producing a Pilot - that sth had to grip you and sth needed to stand out amongst other new shows. On the other hand - this kind of storytelling - providing topics for discussion, for later pondering, for breaking each scene into little pieces of a great puzzle - this kind of storytelling is what I love most. I won't soon forget this little piece of art. please FOX give us more eps of this touching and ingenious new show.

This is a pilot for a cancelled TV series.

[estronbase · 6/10 · 31 July 2014]

This is a pilot for a cancelled TV series. If I had realised that, I may not have watched it. As it happens, I'm glad I did. This is the sort of science fiction I prefer. No ray-gun shoot-outs, just ideas (some confusing).

A big warning for those who dislike unresolved endings, this is about as bad as it gets. On the other hand, If you enjoy imagining what the writers intended for this series, have fun.

If anyone wonders what I made of it, I supposed the mission itself was virtual. The strange occurrences being intended to provoke confusion and conflict among the "crew". They were making a TV program after all.

Little entertainment value

[pmstone2 · 1/10 · 27 February 2011]

I have one question. You are putting together the first interstellar mission. A mission whose success literally carries the fate of the entire Earth. This mission will put 10 people together in essential isolation, for a period of 10+ years. Given all these considerations, why would you choose 10 of the most immature, unstable, social outcasts that you could possibly find?

Beyond that, this movie is an excellent choice, if you want to catch up on your sleep. I kept waiting for something to actually happen, and just about the time it finally started to get interesting, the final credits appeared.

Nice, but probably predictable

[emhemmes · 4/10 · 27 June 2009]

I just watched this pilot and besides the nice special effects there is is thin storyline waiting to be unfolded. I see some potential but..... I probably can already predict the twist at the ending of the series. There all in a simulation, testing if they are mental prepared for the ten year voyage ahead. Because I can't believe there are not getting along after a few months on the ship. Even normal astronaut are tested if they can interact with each other. The captain probably figured that out, thats why is gone. I'll just wait and see if I am. Or there are aliens that are testing them, in that case: aaaah, lame story that reminds me of "contact"

Tedious At Best

[janusgemini33 · 3/10 · 28 June 2009]

Once again a program with verisimilitude issues.

If I were to get a crew of astronaughts together I would screen them a little better.

I would:

1 Make sure all of them are capable of walking. 2 Make sure none of them want to kill themselves. 3 Make sure none of them have dead children. 4 Make sure none of them are having an affair. 5 Make sure none of them are argumentitive. 6 Make sure whoever cooks is actuallyany good at it. 7 Make sure any of them are likable. 8 Make sure none of them have mental issues that come with having been raped. 9 Make sure none of them have Parkinsons.

Orion Drive - what a joke.

Why does everything have to have reality TV rubbish in it now? Isn't everybody sick of reality TV in reality TV without it poisoning sci-fi and horror.

A waste of an hour and a half.

SUNSHINE Meets SURVIVOR Meets SOLARIS .... sorta

[headfella · 10/10 · 26 June 2009]

The first half hour hooked me. The remaining hour left me wanting for more. This was one of the best sci-fi programs on television in recent years since BSG. I watched it with the aid of my PVR and as soon as the program finished I searched the e-schedule for the next installment. But none was found. And that was disappointing since the ending was just the beginning of this adventure.

Will the crew survive their 10 year journey? Did the ship's computer/A.I. kill the commander? Or is there a PhD. wacko on board who'll kill again? (My money is on the computer) Will this mission succeed? Why will Earth's environment become hostile in 100 years?

Although VIRTUALITY contains numerous previously explored sci-fi themes and ideas, this revised treatment truly engages the viewer and invites you to stare down the rabbit hole of of your own "reality". I think this program is worth the view. I also think it would make a great 1 season 20 episode series. Well done Mr Moore, & Mr Taylor but personally I would have gone with the constant gentle nudge of an electric ion drive vice the pounding thump ("hit me") of the nuclear impulse drive. Much easier on any vessel

Bad mix of different stories

[john_is-1 · 1/10 · 5 July 2009]

Well, did Fox asked Arthur C. Clark (oh, because is no longer with us, rest in peace!) to make this movie? Because instead of HAL we have a Jean and so on except the story base. And this kind of boring documentary type and journal kind of movie it's not really digestible... The act is interesting, landscape and images are great but, that's it... And who send a bunch of people at those early ages in spaces? With a budget of 200 bill dollars I couldn't send people who swear and fight every time... I thought that a cosmonaut or someone who was sent in this kind of journey is more serious and can deal with own fears and is disciplined and so on... This scenario was write with legs , sort of speak in my country... So, to cut the criticism, the scenario it's very bad, it has a lot of influences from every SF book and movie that guy read and seen and no scientific background. Very bad movie...

Story structured like LOST should have been. Very good and unique idea

[The_Melancholic_Alcoholic · 8/10 · 28 June 2009]

I downloaded this without knowing anything (not even the genre!) about it, except that it was a pilot. By the name I figured it might be a sci-fi so the first few minutes were disappointing to me, I hate westerncrap.

Frankly, I dunno what all the negative comments are on about. This is a great idea, making a reality show out of a space journey. And it's hard SF too, which is increasingly rare these days. With the BSG makers retreating in Caprica, which is so much lacking in Scifi elements it looks more like Mad Men. It's sad when SF makers really hate SF and don't even understand it.

And can we stop being so childish about the technical scientific errors? There's such a thing as artistic license. As long as it's not as bad as adding sound effects to the WTC fly-ins, I'll tag along.

Yes, there's the gravity. The only gravity there can be is the one through rotation. And some parts of the ship do rotate, but then floors are where the walls should be and and vice versa. The only movie to get the gravity part correct is 2001 A Space Odyssey and apparently studio execs don't have the money for that kind of integrity anymore (meaning, we don't wanna cut into our personal bonusses), even with faaaaaaar more viewers and more money spent on film-making.

This is a great idea, especially the murderous villain in the virtual worlds etc. It's sorta brave, with killing off the Designated White Male Hero in the first episode. This is what LOST wanted to do, but ultimately didn't dare to do. And they have profited from it, does this mean that Virtuality will suffer for it? We don't know. Also cool: This might be the first time in TV-land that we see a mature gay relationship, although one of their lines spells doom: "I don't wanna be an interstellar punch line". Seems that's exactly what they're gonna be. So three couples, and plenty of possible other hookups, cheating. I see a lesbian relation between Sue Parsons (Clea DuVall) and Billie Kashmiri (Kerry Bishé) rearing its beautiful head real soon. It would have been better if this had developed over time, but hey. All in all, a good setup, interesting potential story lines, great developments ahead. I expected something less diverse from Fox, this looks more like an HBO production and casting. Who knew?

Please, no more!

[derekph-1 · 1/10 · 27 June 2009]

A real turkey. Please don't extend it into a series, have mercy on the American viewer.

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

Either, as another reviewer here has suggested, the WHOLE THING is a simulation - and I think that's dumb, but I hope it's right, because otherwise this space voyage is doomed, as whoever chose this group of misfits and lunatics was an idiot. I mean, come on, when you invest $200 Billion (that's 2150 dollars, so maybe just $10 Billion in 2009 dollars?), don't you want people who are at least compatible? Cooperative? Stable? Sane?

I won't bother to critique the "science" of their mission, it's too ludicrous, but just for starters, How could anything held together with toothpicks like their enormous space station survive that sort of acceleration? Unless they've invented a means of transferring the acceleration uniformly to every atom of the structure (including the inhabitants) - but then they wouldn't feel anything, so all the drama of their reactions wouldn't make sense. But none of it makes any sense, it's just a deep space soap opera, the setting is irrelevant.

Blecchhh!

This movie is a waste of your time.

[hella_bull · 2/10 · 2 May 2010]

Being that this movie has an avg rating of a 6.8, I thought I'd give it a shot. Thank God I didn't pay to see it. It had several flaws that I noticed, but I ignored them to give the movie a chance. Then, without notice, the movie all of a sudden ended! I was like, WTF?? I had to come back on here just to read some reviews to see what the hell the story was. When I found out it was a made for TV movie, and the pilot to a TV series, it made a lot more sense. This movie just leaves you hanging. Many parts of it are totally unbelievable and there is no resolution whatsoever. If there were at least a few episodes after it in which you could pick the story up I may be a little less judgmental. All in all, I could have found something better to do with my time than watch this movie.

bitching heads in space or is it Virtual Reality?

[bear42-875-318736 · 2/10 · 19 October 2010]

I didn't know this was a pilot. I like to be surprised when I rent a movie to some degree. Well I was surprised I waisted a perfectly good Saturday night on this. I concur with the first two critics. I kept waiting for something, anything to happen. Nothing explained, Oh :o, and like I hope they're not going to turn back, after spending Billions of dollars to get there. I dream better (whole movies) than this.

As for the spoiler alert, I guess there has to be something to spoil first.

I am not really a soap opera guy, I saw the nice packaging and went for the sci-fi.

If I can save just one person, this has been worth it.

I Totally Want More!

[pianys · 8/10 · 28 June 2009]

I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, I'm more into drama, and this pilot seemed to me like a very clever drama. Sure, it's set on a spaceship, but that's just one of many layers to this story. I can see this story developing not just in space, but in all the various virtual reality modes that the crew tunes in to. A pilot is always about setting the stage and introducing the players, and it was some good writing that had me doubting the presumed main guy for some reason, and when we lost him, it hurt but not for long. The character is obviously not gone, and I think there are endless possibilities for this to work. Peter Berg is one of my favorite directors, I could see a bit of Friday Night Lights camera work in there, some hate that style of erratic camera work, but I happen to be fine with it. Talking camera work, the VR mode sequences were beautiful, they sucked me in, really nice stuff! So in conclusion, I really hope I will see the continuing saga unfolding, this is a great idea for a TV-show!!!

Incredibly bad and formulaic... is this all there is of it, I hope?

[macraig-2 · 2/10 · 26 June 2009]

I didn't begin watching this with any preconceptions; I didn't even know about it until minutes before it aired when I saw it in evening program listings. I do love a GOOD science fiction yarn, though, so I watched it. I was not rewarded. It was unbearably formulaic, and THEN it ended suddenly, seemingly right in the middle of the plot! There was no reward for watching, no plot resolution, no moral to the story. Was this some sort of a sneaky cliff-hanger ending for a planned series? I could find no hint of that, neither in the program ending nor program listings nor even here at IMDb. Mercifully this was all there is of it, it seems.

I find it unbelievable that Fox would have the audacity to air this: Fox is the same network that first abused and disrespected and then canceled a far better science fiction series, "Firefly". What's worse, Fox has a history of doing this: "Space: Above and Beyond", "Keen Eddie", and others.

Then Fox turns around and tries to feed us this SF sewage. Peter Berg, I think, should focus on acting, and Fox should stick with the horrid reality shows and repulsive animated vulgarity that pays the bills.

Willing to give this a chance. (spoilers)

[larsemadsen · 8/10 · 29 June 2009]

While it isn't the be-all/end-all, I liked it overall. I can't believe though that the comp rating for this is 6.6 when Event Horizon gets a 6.3 and Terminator Salvation gets a 7.1 and Transformers gets a 7.4. Where's the justice in that? Anyway, I'll be interested to see what comes of this as a series. BSG had its moments that stretched into infinity, but overall the series was spectacular, so I'll give these guys enough rope to run with or hang themselves.

The infiltrated VR system is a neat hook, the idea of a possible life-after-death in VR land, the problems of whom to believe and trust as cabin fever sets in, this is all fertile ground for plot (and thus character) development. Plus, they took the entire pilot introducing you to a character who dies in the end. Gotta respect a writing team who is willing to invest in a doomed character!

True: none of the characters were dazzling, but then, have you ever watched a reality show and given a damn about anyone on it? (If so, please seek help.) A few of them at least have potential; Jensen and his simulated child, for one example.

Man up, folks. Whether you like it or not, sci fi is not always about chest-bursting aliens, "moon-based lazers", killer cyborgs (whether they disguise themselves as crappy American cars or not), or spaceships that become possessed by demons. Sometimes its just about how technology affects the way people live and interact with each other.