''Virtuality'' is a 2009 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

and written by Michael Taylor and Ronald D. Moore. Originally filmed for the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network as a

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

for a series that was not commissioned, it aired on the network as a standalone film on June 26, 2009. It features the crew of ''Phaeton'', a spaceship designed to search for a hospitable planet in a nearby star system after an ecological catastrophe in near-future Earth. While approaching the

point of no return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...

, the crew experiences problems with their

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

entertainment system, which quickly escalate and threaten their mission.

Plot

The story is set aboard the ''Phaeton'', Earth's first starship, on a ten-year journey to explore the nearby

Epsilon Eridani Epsilon Eridani ( Latinized from ε Eridani), formally named Ran, is a star in the southern constellation of Eridanus, at a declination of 9.46° south of the celestial equator. This allows it to be visible from most of Earth's surf ...

star system. In order to help the 12-person crew endure the long mission, a system of

modules are installed aboard the ship. These modules, which are worn like glasses and suppress real-world body movement, allow the crew to assume various identities and enjoy a variety of adventures. The crew's experiences aboard the ship are broadcast back to Earth as Fox's

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

program ''Edge of Never: Life on the Phaeton''. The pilot picks up approximately six months after the launch of ''Phaeton''. The crew now faces a "go or no-go" situation, in that they are fast approaching their last chance to change course back towards Earth. However, their home planet is quickly becoming uninhabitable, with dry land becoming increasingly rare. Scientists estimate that the planet will become completely inhospitable within the next hundred years. The ''Phaeton'''s priority mission has been changed to that of searching out and discovering a new planet for humans to inhabit. Unfortunately, as the crew fast approaches their point of no return beyond the planet

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...

, several problems arise. Dr. Adin Meyer (Metwally), the crew's only physician, becomes aware that he is in the early stages of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. Via use of the ''Phaeton's'' virtual reality programs, Commander Frank Pike (Coster-Waldau) has begun a secret sexual relationship with botanist Rika Goddard (Guillory), whose husband, psychologist Dr. Roger Fallon (D'Arcy), is also a part of the crew, the mission psychologist and producer of ''Edge of Never''. Meanwhile, the crew's virtual reality simulators have been experiencing several bizarre glitches, all of which involve a mysterious man, whose acts against the crew inside the virtual simulations become more and more disturbing, including "murdering" Pike during a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

re-enactment and "killing" Meyer by pushing him off a cliff. Despite the hardships, the crew unanimously decides to continue on with the 10-year voyage. After Billie Kashmiri (Bishé), the new host of ''Edge of Never'', is beaten and raped by the mystery man within the virtual world, the crew considers discontinuing use of the virtual reality programs, possibly for the remainder of the voyage. Now past their "point of no return", the crew faces the prospect of continuing on for an entire decade within the confines of the ''Phaeton'' without a virtual world for comfort. The communications array fails to deploy, and after Dr. Jules Braun (designer of most of the ''Phaeton'''s systems, played by Erik Jensen) tries everything that he can from inside the ship, Pike, Rika, Val Orlovsky (Farber) and Manny Rodriguez (Cantillo) prepare to identify the problem from the outside. However, while preparing for

EVA Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

, the airlock chamber closes by itself, with Pike inside and without his pressure suit helmet. Despite efforts to save him, the airlock opens and Pike is killed. His death leaves the crew in shambles. Braun, however, believes Pike's death was murder, and does not know whom to trust. The ''Phaeton'''s drive engineer and second in command, Dr. Jimmy Johnson (Coster), unwillingly assumes command, foreseeing conflict with the crew as he is a somewhat abrasive loner. While going over the ship's recording of Pike's death, Fallon discovers Pike's last confession of love to Rika. Rika finds Pike's virtual reality headset in her quarters, and when she wears it, she finds herself in Pike's favorite simulation: a tactical military command of the Civil War era. Inside the simulation, she encounters what appears to be a simulation of Pike that tells her, "None of this is real," and only by following him "through the looking-glass and down the rabbit hole" will she learn the truth. He rides off on horseback into the virtual sunset, with Rika crying out Pike's name in desperation.

Cast and characters

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Nikolaj William Coster-Waldau (; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993, and had his breakthrough role in Denmark with the film '' Nightwatch'' (19 ...

as Commander Frank Pike *

Kerry Bishé Kerry Lynne Bishé (born May 1, 1984) is a New Zealand-born American actress, known for her lead role as Donna Clark in the AMC television series '' Halt and Catch Fire''. Bishé played the lead/narrator role in the final season of the ABC medi ...

as Billie Kashmiri –

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

, reality show host *

Joy Bryant Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award ...

as Alice Thibadeau –

astrobiologist Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that inves ...

Jose Pablo Cantillo Jose Pablo Cantillo (born March 30, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Ricky Verona in '' Crank'', Miguel in ''Cleaner'' (2007), Pepe in ''Streets of Blood'' (2011), Detective Martinez in '' El Chicano'' (2018), Hector Sal ...

as Manny Rodriguez – astrophysicist *

Ritchie Coster Ritchie Coster (born 1 July 1967) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Dietrich Banning in '' The Tuxedo'' (2002), the Chechen in ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), Elias Kassar in '' Blackhat'' (2015), Mayor Austin Chessani o ...

as Dr. Jimmy Johnson – pulse drive engineer, second-in-command *

James D'Arcy James D'Arcy (born Simon Richard D'Arcy; 24 August 1975) is an English actor and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series '' Agent Carter'' and the ...

as Dr. Roger Fallon – psych officer, reality show producer *

Clea DuVall Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall (born September 25, 1977) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She is known for her appearances in the films ''The Faculty'' (1998), '' She's All That''; '' But I'm a Cheerleader''; ''Girl, Interrup ...

as Sue Parsons – pilot, flight systems engineer * Gene Farber as Val Orlovsky –

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

Sienna Guillory Sienna Tiggy Guillory (; born 16 March 1975) is an English actress and former model. She portrayed Jill Valentine in several entries of the ''Resident Evil'' action-horror film series. Other prominent roles include elf princess Arya Dröttningu ...

as Rika Goddard –

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, microbial exobiologist * Erik Jensen as Dr. Jules Braun –

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

, ''Phaeton'' designer *

Nelson Lee Nelson Lee (born October 16, 1975) is a Taiwanese-Canadian actor. He is best known for portraying Shen in '' Blade: The Series'' and Dragon King in '' Stargirl''. Life and career Lee was born in Taipei, Taiwan on October 16, 1975. He starred in ...

as Kenji Yamamoto – astrobiologist *

Omar Metwally Omar Metwally is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Vik Ullah in the Showtime television series '' The Affair'', as well as for '' Rendition'' (2007), ''Munich'' (2005), and ''Miral'' (2010). He has also appeared in the ...

as Dr. Adin Meyer –

medical officer A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Jimmi Simpson Jimmi Simpson (born November 21, 1975) is an American actor. He is best known for his work on television, which includes recurring roles as Liam McPoyle on ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–2013), Lyle the Intern on ''The Late Show ...

as Virtual Man *

Kari Wahlgren Kari Wahlgren (born July 13, 1977) is an American actress who has provided English-language voices for animated movies, TV series, and video games. She got her start in anime voice-overs as Haruko Haruhara in '' FLCL'', and would later land ma ...

as Jean (voice) – onboard computer

Production

The screenwriters consulted

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

to accurately display space travel technology. After seeing the scheduled airing time of ''Virtuality'', Michael Taylor called it a " New Orleans funeral", having little hope in Fox picking up the series. The closing credits honor Nora O'Brien, an

NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

executive, who died in May 2009 of a cerebral aneurysm at the age of 44.

TV series campaign

''Virtuality'' was filmed as a pilot but aired as a film when Fox did not pick up the series. On Friday June 26, 2009 Jessica Blank, wife of actor Erik Jensen who portrayed Dr. Jules Braun, posted a call to action on her husband's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page urging people to watch the movie and write in support of more episodes.

DVD release

''Virtuality'' was first released on DVD on October 27, 2009 in the United States, exclusively through

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

. The DVD then had a full release on May 4, 2010.

References

External links

*
Michael Taylor interview
at AMCtv.com {{Peter Berg 2009 television films 2009 films 2009 drama films 2009 science fiction films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s science fiction drama films American drama television films American science fiction drama films American science fiction television films American space adventure films Fiction set around Epsilon Eridani Films about virtual reality Films directed by Peter Berg Films set in the future Films shot in Vancouver Films with screenplays by Ronald D. Moore Neptune in film Television films as pilots Television pilots not picked up as a series