Virtuality: Le voyage du Phaeton

For those of you complaining about how the show seemed to end right in the middle of its plot. Yes, it was supposed to be the pilot for a TV series. There's been plenty of speculation on websites that FOX has decided not to proceed with the full series, but it will proceed with the pilot since they already paid for it. So that's why the show was left in a cliffhanger.

FOX doesn't have a lot of confidence in this show, and I can't blame them for it; better to let it die quickly than to have a sci-fi fan base disappointed when it inevitably gets canceled in mid-season. It seems a bit inaccessible for non-sci-fi audiences, the pacing was a little slow most of the time. The virtual reality special effects seemed like bad CGI greenscreen, but perhaps that was on purpose, so that you'd know you're in a virtual reality setting. I started only getting interested when they started showing the special effects for the journey to the other star system, Epsilon Eridani. They did research their interstellar propulsion mechanisms well, and it looked like nuclear propulsion drives as described in various science fiction novels in the past.

I didn't think the idea behind the story was bad though. It was about a rogue virtual-reality character showing up within various crewmembers' holo-stories, and creating very scary havoc inside their stories. When things start going wrong in the holo-stories, a lot of finger pointing goes on between the crewmembers against each other. However, I don't think solving a new holographic mystery every week is enough to keep people's attention for a full-length series.

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.

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.

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.

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.