Virtuality

Moore's other pilot-turned-movie was advertised as such because FOX didn't pick it up as a series, and the only shot it had at that happening was doing a good job in the ratings, and being a new science fiction property without any big names and airing on Friday night, it failed to do so. What did FOX expect? There was supposed to be a decent ad campaign behind it but even I didn't know when it was airing, and for all intents and purposes they left it to die. I'm not too broken up about it, because as a prospect for a series I'm not sure how they could keep it interesting for more than a season or two, but as a simple introduction to a bunch of characters and possible conflicts I mostly enjoyed it.

The problem is it doesn't work as a stand-alone movie because it leaves too many plot threads dangling, and it probably wouldn't work as a series because there's only so much you can do with a realistic mission through space and no fanciful elements like extremely quick space travel or aliens or anything. The premise is fairly interesting; a space crew that's being filmed for a huge reality show is faced with a decision as they near Saturn - return to Earth which is rapidly experiencing a decline in living conditions or continue on with their ten year mission to a nearby star. Given that it was supposed to set up something long running, it's fairly obvious which will be picked, but there are decent reasons for both and some amount of tension and drama to the whole proceedings. Happening alongside all this is some mysterious figure who keeps popping up unexpectedly in the virtual reality simulations the crew uses to unwind and killing them repeatedly. I like seeing a sci-fi story that's mostly grounded in reality and most of the cast is pretty good, but in the end all Virtuality does is begin to tell a story that will most likely never continue, making it little more than an interesting failure.