Lower Decks

Originally broadcast on 6/26/09

The best TV shows are those that defy conventions in utterly natural ways. They create a unique identity that doesn’t rely on conventions or quirks, but rather creates their own, new rules that feel as if in an instant they could have, or rather should have, been around forever. In short, they make you realize what you were missing before they aired for the first time. Now, the sad thing about ‘Virtuality’ is that it seems to have been a failed pilot, that the telefilm Fox debuted last night was meant to launch a bold new vision, but instead merely teased a revolution. I can hardly think of a worse crime. Many times Fox seems to have launched series in the genre vein that it cancelled prematurely, within a few tantalizing seasons or worse, episodes. But far and above anything else I can think of, ‘Virtuality’ deserves far better than one experience for something that would have blown all of those other projects out of the water.

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The main problem with Virtuality, and it was a big one, was the size of the cast. The crew of the Phaeton is twelve strong and I couldn’t for the life of me keep track of them all. That wouldn’t have been an issue if this was actually the first episode of a weekly series. After watching the first episode of Heroes, for example, I couldn’t remember who all the characters were. But as a standalone movie, twelve characters is really too many.

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