VR.5

There comes a time when every video collector has to go back through their archives, sometimes taped on the fly and never properly watched, and give them another look. And so it was that, after five years, I checked out VR.5. I freely admit that most of my reasons had to do with Anthony Head, but it would be simplistic to say that I haven't found other reasons to mourn its loss. The plotline is labyrinthine, the loyalties are tenuous and constantly changing, yet at the heart of it is a group of characters who learn to love, respect, and trust each other in spite of repeated and persistent efforts from without and within to fragment them. Sydney goes from a withdrawn, antisocial voyeur with a half-suppressed past to a caring, sympathetic crusader; Duncan evolves from her stereotypical eccentric platonic buddy to a strong, creative, supportive hero; and then there's Oliver, who manages to grow from an infuriatingly enigmatic button-pushing Committee Man(literally as well as figuratively) to a rebellious individual whose tragic past has shaped him into someone both caring and terrified of getting involved. Even the amorphous organization known as the Committee progresses, from a standard top-secret non-government agency, dedicated to amorphous and impossible standards, to a global conspiracy frought with schisms and internicine rivalries. Not a bad progression for thirteen measly episodes, three of which didn't even make the series' first run. It would have been nice to at least see what happened next, as the final episode was both a downer and a cliffhanger.

I was into the show, even being young at the time, and had to search hard to remember the title and where I could rewatch. I wish they would reboot or at least reshow this series. Definitely deserved more than 1 season

When I first saw this show I was in sixth grade, and it scared me more than anything else I had ever scene. It was the pilot episode and the main character, Sydney, had just taken her mother into her dream world, where the mother freaked out. I had nothing better to do on a friday night, but I avoided the show until one night I had a sleep over and my two friends were channel surfing and they found the show, and we all loved the episode (Escape) soooo much we had sleep overs every friday until it was canceled just to see more.

The idea of a dream world, and how everything you ever read/imagined/saw all of your subconscious could become true was to me "the coolest thing ever". When I finally got to see the whole series I began to wonder why it was pulled off the air, yes sometimes the plot was not the greatest, the episodes were sometimes VERY strange, but there was this amazing quality about it, it was original, it was real (character wise), and it explored something we all wonder about, our dreams.

As time goes by I go back and watch the episodes over and over and they have become better. I now know and understand more of the references, ideas, relationships, it has a deepness A sixth grader could never fully understand no matter how much they loved the show. If you get a chance I believe you should give the show a try.

VR5 is without doubt the best, most entertaining and thought provoking and compelling sci fi TV series i have ever seen, or can ever envisage being made.

Despite being shown in the uk after midnight, it is the one show that could enforce insomnia.

I regret that i only happened upon the series by luck, as it seems to have evaded all possible sources of reporting. i hope no other series as Outstanding as VR5 have suffered its fate. inexplicably anonymous.

If this is ever repeated or you cna find a record, watch it buy it, treasure it.

Just finished watching this one for the first time in 2025.

It had so much going for it, and when it was using creative imagery and genre-bending dreamscapes it was really cool, but I feel like it got a bit bogged down in the spy stuff and repeated some basic plot outlines a bit towards the end, before introducing a ton of new interesting plot threads right as it gets its permanent cliffhanger.

The other problem is that when its not repeating itself you can sometimes tell its getting caught up in production issues, like writing an actor off. If you read interviews about it, it was quite a strange process, they had to shoot a lot of extra stuff for one ongoing plotline to make the first few episodes feel right. It honestly works out fine at that stage, but i get the feeling that is how they worked a lot of the time, they admit they were rushed. Some episodes get a bit confusing, and I feel like Im good at parsing weird narratives.

Ultimately, if you go into this looking for some of that dated 90s atmosphere in a show you haven't seen before, with reasonable production value, and a lot of artistic flair, you might dig this. Just don't go in looking for a plot that knows exactly where its going or finishes in a satisfying way. There IS in overarching plot, and its actually not bad, it just doesnt get to wrap up at all, its one of those finales htat feels like the first episode of the nest season will be the actual finale lol

TLDR; A fun cultural artifact, one of the first few pieces of mainstream VR media after Lawnmowerman.