Editor's Note.
I came to this party about ten years too late. Most of the guests left a
long time ago, and few of them will remember the occasion or even care.
But here I stand at the banquet table, and hey! the nosh is still great, it's fresh, it's nuanced
and undoubtedly strange. (I mean, what's with the blue rats?) Thing is, the menu
appears to have been truncated and the chef long since decamped. Where are the
second, third and fourth courses? Where is the dessert, the coffee, the fine cognac?
More, please, dammit...
What is VR.5 about?
Premise: Sydney Bloom is a telephone lineswoman with a tragic past and a lonely present.
While tinkering with her home-made VR rig she makes the accidental discovery that she can
not only tap into her own subconscious but draw others into specific scenarios herself;
scenarios that she is often unable to control but ultimately have an effect on the
thought processes and thus the behaviour of her unsuspecting partner, who remembers
only the feelings evoked by the experience but not the experience itself. This discovery
brings her to the attention of a shadowy, powerful organization called the Committee...
Hokey? yes, but never ridiculous. Weird too, because the episode elements are often presented in a surreal,
non-linear dreamscape format. Phrases and scenes are often repeated, with context and meaning
twisted around every which way. But once you can get past the initial (impossible!) premise
and come to terms with the storytelling technique you realize that the show is more about
the people than the flashy technological handwavey stuff.
This is Sydney's story (who is she? what does she want? what really happened on that fateful night?
what is the connection between the Committee and her family?) and that of the people with
whom she interacts. The season-long arc is internally consistent but extremely difficult
to follow without watching the episodes back-to-back. There is humour, but not of the "I am
a funny sequence, please laugh at me" variety. Characterizations are muted - no screaming
histrionics here.
Thirteen episodes of this fine series were produced but only ten broadcast in the show's
initial 1995 run. FOX declined to renew for a second year, leaving fans with a humongous unresolved
cliffhanger but also with almost enough information to fill in the blanks. The series has been
shown in its entirety on cable TV channels, which is better than nothing but does limit its audience.
So why this page?
Ten years later there is very little VR.5-related material available on the Web, and it is
widely scattered and hard to get at. Dead ends abound. Meta-tag abuse has resulted in
irrelevant/dubious/malicious sites being served up by various search engines.
The initial purpose of this page, then, is to make it easier to access the existing information by linking
to the sites on which it is hosted, and then by hosting that information directly as the
original sites disappear.
In the fullness of time I may provide synopses and commentary, but I'm a lazy sod and the job
may take a year (or six).
I'd like to thank John Sacret Young and his talented creative team, cast and crew, without
whom this engrossing, addictive show would never have been produced.
MCZ,
17 December 2005
Updated: 25 December 2005
WANTED:
1. The chat transcripts involving the production team (and cast and crew?) mentioned in the FAQs. If anyone has access to these, I'd be grateful for a copy.
2. Press articles not already listed below.
3. Comments, reviews and other articles from individuals who are willing to have their work published here.
4. Archives of the newsgroup alt.tv.vr5 in its heyday, in the standard mbox format.
5. A contact address for Samoset.
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| VR.5 Episode recaps
| Marina Chong
| 2006
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| VR.5 Series Description
| Rysher Entertainment
| 1995
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| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| VR.5 Viewers' Guide (scans)
| Rysher Entertainment/Samoset Productions
| 1995
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| Psychovixen
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| VR.5 Viewers' Guide
| Rysher Entertainment/Samoset Productions
| 1995
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| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| Show trips Out On Virtual Reality
| Miami Herald
| 10 Mar 1995
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| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| 'VR.5' Aims For Good Stories, Not Just Sci-Fi
| Lynn Elber
| 1995
| Cleveland Plain Dealer
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| VR.5
| -
| 1995
| Cinescape
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| Stop Calling Me
[2
3
4]
| Sheldon Teitelbaum
| Apr 1995
| Sci-Fi Universe
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| I'm A VIRTUAL Star
| Penn Jillette
| 1995
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| Sincity: Penn and Teller
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| The Next X? (JPG)
[ 2 ]
| Benjamin Svetkey
| 10 Mar 1995
| Entertainment Weekly
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| The Next X?
| Benjamin Svetkey
| 10 Mar 1995
| Entertainment Weekly
| Louise Fletcher Appreciation Page
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| Out of This World
| Gina Bellafante
| 03 April 1995
| TIME
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| Tripping in the Fantasy Zone
| Rick Marin
| 13 Mar 1995
| Newsweek
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| Science Fiction Is The Hot Trend on Television This Season]
| Mike McDaniel, Houston Chronicle Dateline
| 16 Apr 1995
| The Gazette (Montreal)
| The Official Clancy Brown Website
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| Reality Check
| JDL
| 14 Mar 1995
| Soap Opera Weekly
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| alt.tv.vr5 Survival Guide
| John Dobbin
| Jan 2006
| alt.tv.vr5
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| VR.5 FAQ [updated]
| Augie De Blieck Jr. (after Jonathan Gan et. al.)
| 19 Dec 1997
| alt.tv.vr5, rec.arts.sf.tv, etc.
| Augie De Blieck Jr.
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| VR.5 FAQ
[ 2 ]
[ 3 ]
[ 4 ]
[ 5 ]
[ 6 ]
[ 7 ]
[ 8 ]
[ 9 ] |
Jonathan Gan et. al. |
1995 |
alt.tv.vr5, rec.arts.sf.tv, etc. |
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| John Sacret Young
| [Chat Transcript]
| 28 May 1997
| SCI FI
| SCI FI
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| Anthony Head Interview
| M J Simpson
| 04 Oct 1995
| -
| MJ Simpson
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| Virtual Reality Vixen
| James Van Hise
| -
| -
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| Anthony Stewart Head
| Mike Thomas
| Nov 1995
| Cult Times
| Anthony Head Official Site
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| Directorial Realities
| Frank Garcia
| -
| STARLOG SF EXPLORER
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| VR.5 Fascinates McCallum
| Kathleen Toth
| June 1995
| Dreamwatch
| David McCallum Fans Online
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| Jeannine Renshaw and Lisa Cunningham
| -
| 1995
| OMNI/AOL Chat Transcript
| -
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| Lori Singer
| -
| -
| OMNI/AOL Chat Transcript
| -
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| Lori Singer
| -
| 30 May 1995
| Compuserve Chat Transcript
| -
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| Interview With John Frizzell
| Jose Luis Díez Chellini
| Sep 1995
| -
| BSO Spirit (Spanish)
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| Anthony Stewart Head
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| June 2002
| Charm City Creep Con Discussion Panel Transcript
| Andy Hallett UK
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| Anthony Stewart Head
| Becky Dorrie
| Nov 1997
| ConRad Discussion Panel Transcript
| Bentley's Bedlam
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| Michael Easton
| Tracey Neale
| 12 May 1995
| FOX WTTG
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| John Frizzell Interview
| Dan Goldwasser
| 08 Nov 1998
| Soundtrack.net
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| VR.5's David McCallum
| Susan M. Rasko
| 1995
| Starlog
| David McCallum Fans Online
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| Louise Fletcher Interview
| Ian Spelling
| Aug 1995
| Starlog
| Louise Fletcher Appreciation Page
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| Rebooting The Bard
| Kathleen Murphy
| Jul-Aug 1995
| Film Comment Magazine
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| 'VR.5' Invitation To Computer Dreamland
| -
| 10 Mar 1995
| Philadelphia Inquirer
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| VR.5
| Alan Pergament
| 09 Mar 1995
| Buffalo News
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| 'VR.5' is lively bit of fun and games
| JoAnne Weintraub
| 08 Mar 1995
| Milwaukee Journal
| Findarticles.com
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| Virtual Duality
| Ken Tucker
| 24 Mar 1995
| Entertainment Weekly
| Dimensions Of Continuity
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| VR.5 "Lost Episodes"
| Doug Pardee
| Jun 2003, Dec 2005
| Creative Karma
| Creative Karma
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| On-Line To The Subconscious
| Robert Goldberg
| 1995
| Wall Street Journal
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| VR.5
| Todd Everett
| 09 Mar 1995
| Variety
| Variety
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| The Couch Critic: VR.5
| -
| 09 Mar 1995
| TV Guide
| The Official Michael Easton Corner
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| VR.5 Vies With X-Files For Weirdness
| John Carman
| 10 Mar 1995
| San Francisco Chronicle
| SFGate
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| "VR.5" virtually hip but no "X-Files"
| Joyce Millman
| 10 Mar 1995
| San Francisco Examiner
| SFGate
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| Coming To Terms
| Christina Kamnikar
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| Kiki's Chaos
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| The Milliways List
| Yahoo Groups
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| Your host: John Dobbin.
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| Brian Hebb, cinematographer
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| Frank Serafine, audio post-production
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| John Frizzell, composer
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| The Official Anthony Head Site
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| Katspace: The Wind Of The Mind
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Last update: 22 January 2006
Page created: 17 December 2005
