VR.5

infobox television
show_name = VR.5


format = Science fiction
runtime = 44 min (approx.)
creator = Jeannine Renshaw
starring = Lori Singer
Michael Easton
Will Patton
Anthony Stewart Head
David McCallum
Louise Fletcher
Tracey Needham
country = United States
network = Fox, Sci Fi Channel
first_aired = March 10, 1995
last_aired = May 12, 1995
num_episodes = 13 "VR.5" is an American television program that ran from 10 March 1995 to 12 May 1995 on FOX before it was cancelled. Only 10 of the 13 episodes aired during its original airing, the remaining three airing elsewhere at a later date.

The show starred Lori Singer as Sydney Bloom, a telephone engineer and daughter of Dr. Joseph Bloom, played by David McCallum, inventor of advanced virtual reality. Also involved in the project was his wife, Dr. Nora Bloom, a neurochemist. The full extent of her contribution was never revealed prior to cancellation.

When inside virtual reality the visual look of the show was changed by filming on black and white film, then manually adding color to each image; this effect took four weeks for each episode and contributed to the cost of the show which was up to $1.5 million per episode.

While Rysher Entertainment has never released a definitive statement, it is generally believed that this well-above-average cost coupled with an poorly chosen time slot (opposite the X-files) formed the reasons for the show's commercial failure.

The show used what appeared to be mistakes in continuity and chroma scheme as clues to what was actually happening.

U.S. order of episodes

# Pilot 10 March 1995
# "Dr. Strangechild" 17 March 1995
# "Sisters" (unaired)
# "Love and Death" 24 March 1995
# "5D" 31 March 1995
# Escape 7 April 1995
# Facing the Fire 14 April 1995
# Simon's Choice 21 April 1995
# Send Me an Angel (unaired)
# Control Freak 28 April 1995
# The Many Faces of Alex 5 May 1995
# Parallel Lives (unaired)
# Reunion 12 May 1995

* "Sisters," "Send Me An Angel," and "Parallel Lives" were not broadcast on FOX. They are called the "missing episodes" and were broadcast in countries like Canada, Norway, and the UK. The series was eventually shown in its entirety on the Sci Fi Channel.

UK order of episodes

Sky TV in the UK broadcast VR.5 out of order:

# Pilot
# Dr. Strangechild
# Love and Death
# 5D
# Escape
# Facing the Fire
# Simon's Choice
# Control Freak
# The Many Faces of Alex
# Send Me An Angel
# Reunion
# Parallel Lives

They left out "Sisters" to make room for an "X-Files" documentary.

Cast

*Lori Singer - Sydney Bloom
*Michael Easton - Duncan
*Will Patton - Dr. Frank Morgan-- episodes 1-4.
*Anthony Head - Oliver Sampson--episodes 5-13.
*David McCallum - Dr. Joseph Bloom
*Louise Fletcher - Dr. Nora Bloom
*Tracey Needham - Samantha Bloom

Music

The music for VR.5 was created by composer John Frizzell. The opening theme music came to Frizzell in a dream. Dee Carstensen and Eileen Frizzell provided the vocals in the opening theme. The music supervisor of the series was Abby Treloggen.

tatus of VR.5

VR.5 no longer airs on any broadcaster in the world and there are currently no commercial reproductions of the series available. Many new fans now enjoy the series through downloads.

An online community called Virtual Storm successfully lobbied FOX to develop a movie featuring the cast and crew of VR.5. Although scripts were developed, the project was very unceremoniously dropped.

The Ten Levels of Virtual Reality

External links

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* [http://www.nic.com/~augie/vr5/ VR.5 FAQ]
* [http://www.nic.com/~augie/episodes/episodes.htm VR.5 episode guide]
* [http://www.dismal-light.net/vr5/ VR.5 @ dismal light]