VR.5

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.

VR.5 is an excellent show which went unnoticed by general public and network executives who feel that the show was too 'unconventional' for their taste. The show stars Lori Singer ("Short Cuts"), Michael Easton, Will Patton ("Armageddon", "Entrapment"), Anthony Head ("Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), Tracey Needham ("JAG"), and occasional guest appearances by Louise Fletcher ("Deep Space Nine"), and David McCallum ("The Man from UNCLE").

The show is actually more about exploration of subconscious mind and human's brain and DNA rather than the virtual reality technology which becomes the title of the show. However, virtual reality is the tool that the main character uses to explore the different subconscious mind of other people. It also cleverly mixed in the conspiracy angle of an unknown organisation who wishes to utilise the newfound technology for their own purposes. Unfortunately, after its first season, the show was canceled (even though it is now repeated on the Science-Fiction Channel) and the actors have moved into other projects, most notably Anthony Head in Buffy Tv Series and Will Patton in Armageddon and the soon to be released, Entrapment.

Rep Detec

This show had the dark side and very cool visual possibilities wide open to it and made a great start at exploring both in its one and only season. I was very curious to see if it, unlike Alias and the X-Files (both of which I like nevertheless), could credibly sustain the intrigue surrounding the conspiracy-like back-plot of her father, the "organization" and just who she was working for, but then, of course, it got cancelled. In many ways this show staked out territory that Buffy was eventually able to mine more deeply (three cheers for Anthony Stewart Head, another link between the two shows) and, handled right and backed hard by a caring network, it could have developed into something like.

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.

A few episodes of this show were displayed in the VERY late section of Egyptian Channel 2 TV (3:00 AM). And I've been looking for it everywhere since then! I find these series much better than many other popular science fiction ones. They had a special 'atmosphere' to them that cannot be found in mainstream science fiction series. This and the 80's 'Twilight Zone' are my most favourite. Too bad it was discontinued