VR.5 (1995–1997) User Reviews

An excellent show which received an unfair dismissal after only 13 episodes of its first season. If TV Networks is looking for an excellent show with a cult following, this would be it.

[Oryx-3 · 9 September 1998]

VR.5 is an excellent show which went unnoticed by general public and network executives who feel that the show was too 'unconventional' for their taste. The show stars Lori Singer ("Short Cuts"), Michael Easton, Will Patton ("Armageddon", "Entrapment"), Anthony Head ("Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), Tracey Needham ("JAG"), and occasional guest appearances by Louise Fletcher ("Deep Space Nine"), and David McCallum ("The Man from UNCLE").

The show is actually more about exploration of subconscious mind and human's brain and DNA rather than the virtual reality technology which becomes the title of the show. However, virtual reality is the tool that the main character uses to explore the different subconscious mind of other people. It also cleverly mixed in the conspiracy angle of an unknown organisation who wishes to utilise the newfound technology for their own purposes. Unfortunately, after its first season, the show was canceled (even though it is now repeated on the Science-Fiction Channel) and the actors have moved into other projects, most notably Anthony Head in Buffy Tv Series and Will Patton in Armageddon and the soon to be released, Entrapment.

Rep Detec

Way ahead of its time

[Oracle1 · 10/10 · 16 May 2010]

This show was Lost decade before Lost and The Matrix several years before The Matrix. And it featured Anthony Stuart Head and Adam Baldwin years before Joss Whedon discovered them.

It's one of the early examples of an incredibly strong sci-fi series being killed by the infamous Fox Friday night death time slot that would go onto to kill so many other great series too soon. One reviewer commented that it's not realistic. Well duh. Fortunately, realism isn't a major criteria for great television. I would love it if a DVD were released for this show, especially if some of the cast and crew could be reunited to put together some DVD extras.

exhaltation

[zephyr8l · 10/10 · 21 August 2002]

VR5 is without doubt the best, most entertaining and thought provoking and compelling sci fi TV series i have ever seen, or can ever envisage being made.

Despite being shown in the uk after midnight, it is the one show that could enforce insomnia.

I regret that i only happened upon the series by luck, as it seems to have evaded all possible sources of reporting. i hope no other series as Outstanding as VR5 have suffered its fate. inexplicably anonymous.

If this is ever repeated or you cna find a record, watch it buy it, treasure it.

Bring Back

[farmerangelique · 9/10 · 15 May 2020]

I was into the show, even being young at the time, and had to search hard to remember the title and where I could rewatch. I wish they would reboot or at least reshow this series. Definitely deserved more than 1 season

This show was too much 90s even in the 90s.

[dien · 5/10 · 4 January 2017]

I'm currently on a trip to watch older TV shows I find interesting (sci-fi, horror, mystery, etc.) which I couldn't watch back in the day. I came across VR.5 and found the premise interesting. The whole "entering someone's unconscious by the means of telephone and virtual reality" got my interest peaked.

Pretty much every 90s cliché you can think of is presented here - the main character has a mysterious past where the relatives may or may not be dead. The memories may or may not be fake. The main character lives in a loft. She has a childhood friend/neighbour who is all-alternative, reads books, knows the wisdom of many wise men, doesn't work but can still afford an apartment and a car. There is a shadowy organisation that may or may not be the enemy, but who the main character works for. She has a "keeper", who brings her new assignments but who also has a tragic/troubled past of his own. You name it, it's there.

The acting is, well, mediocre at best. Lori Singer is sleepwalking through the show and is hardly someone you will care for. Michael Easton mumbles some barely audible words (I wonder if his character was written this way or if he is always like this), Anthony Head, Louise Fletcher and David McCallum are utterly wasted in this.

For me the worst part is the writing. You see, in the mid-90s many people didn't even know what Internet (called Cyberspace then) is, and here's a show throwing terms and ideas at an audience not prepared for it. The technology needed a bit more explaining to make it more convincing or at least help to suspend the disbelief. A couple of rewrites from more competent writers could have saved the show.

There was a good show here with some good ideas buried under pretentious and cliché-filled writing and un-engaging characters. Still, I am glad I watched it and if it ever comes out on a DVD, I would grab a copy just as a time capsule of 90s sci-fi VR show.

Why the Sci Fi channel should not produce content

[uavrpv · 1/10 · 28 July 2019]

This should have been in black and white with a year of production in 1958. I saw 6 episodes worth and i was all I could stand.

It will be remembered with such titles as "Attack of the puppet people" and "It conquered the earth".

Bad writing, worse props and bad effects. This turkey etched itself in my mind and I's like it removed.

If it were to get an award it would be "The Incelies" as only an incel would watch it. I figured that out when I reviewed it on the SciFi channel and an incel had a fit and threatened me with harm which I found funny.

quality show

[r0smail · 8 February 2003]

When I first saw this show I was in sixth grade, and it scared me more than anything else I had ever scene. It was the pilot episode and the main character, Sydney, had just taken her mother into her dream world, where the mother freaked out. I had nothing better to do on a friday night, but I avoided the show until one night I had a sleep over and my two friends were channel surfing and they found the show, and we all loved the episode (Escape) soooo much we had sleep overs every friday until it was canceled just to see more.

The idea of a dream world, and how everything you ever read/imagined/saw all of your subconscious could become true was to me "the coolest thing ever". When I finally got to see the whole series I began to wonder why it was pulled off the air, yes sometimes the plot was not the greatest, the episodes were sometimes VERY strange, but there was this amazing quality about it, it was original, it was real (character wise), and it explored something we all wonder about, our dreams.

As time goes by I go back and watch the episodes over and over and they have become better. I now know and understand more of the references, ideas, relationships, it has a deepness A sixth grader could never fully understand no matter how much they loved the show. If you get a chance I believe you should give the show a try.

Confusing, absorbing, harrowing, and unjustly killed at 13 eps.

[makimaus · 29 July 2000]

There comes a time when every video collector has to go back through their archives, sometimes taped on the fly and never properly watched, and give them another look. And so it was that, after five years, I checked out VR.5. I freely admit that most of my reasons had to do with Anthony Head, but it would be simplistic to say that I haven't found other reasons to mourn its loss. The plotline is labyrinthine, the loyalties are tenuous and constantly changing, yet at the heart of it is a group of characters who learn to love, respect, and trust each other in spite of repeated and persistent efforts from without and within to fragment them. Sydney goes from a withdrawn, antisocial voyeur with a half-suppressed past to a caring, sympathetic crusader; Duncan evolves from her stereotypical eccentric platonic buddy to a strong, creative, supportive hero; and then there's Oliver, who manages to grow from an infuriatingly enigmatic button-pushing Committee Man(literally as well as figuratively) to a rebellious individual whose tragic past has shaped him into someone both caring and terrified of getting involved. Even the amorphous organization known as the Committee progresses, from a standard top-secret non-government agency, dedicated to amorphous and impossible standards, to a global conspiracy frought with schisms and internicine rivalries. Not a bad progression for thirteen measly episodes, three of which didn't even make the series' first run. It would have been nice to at least see what happened next, as the final episode was both a downer and a cliffhanger.

VR-5 - Ahead of its TIME!!

[Heidelberggirl · 12 January 2006]

The show was JUST getting started, and I was hooked. The next thing I knew, it was OFF THE AIR!!! I liked it so much I found the soundtrack to the series. I found the concept to be fascinating and absolutely plausible. SHAME on the networks that kill so many great shows before their time. The heroine was just about to find the answers to many of her questions when it was taken off the air. I would love to find out what happened and will do so if I can locate the DVD of the show. Hopefully, it will have additional episodes that will even out what I have already seen. This has happened to Buffy, Angel, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, Witchblade, just to mention a few!

Great Show

[gharbeia · 15 August 2002]

A few episodes of this show were displayed in the VERY late section of Egyptian Channel 2 TV (3:00 AM). And I've been looking for it everywhere since then! I find these series much better than many other popular science fiction ones. They had a special 'atmosphere' to them that cannot be found in mainstream science fiction series. This and the 80's 'Twilight Zone' are my most favourite. Too bad it was discontinued

Too intelligent for People

[stormy_daze · 13 November 2005]

This show was a fantastic show, but it''s biggest flaw is that it was just too intelligent for the average Desperate Housewives watcher. It's not a reality show, it's not even really an action show. It's a thinking show-- they mention one thing very briefly in one episode and if you weren't paying attention the next four episodes don't make sense.

As one user alluded to, this is not a show about virtual reality or technology, it's more about how this woman discovers her own past through that technology. Sydney Bloom is not who she believes she is-- her past is riddled with lies, deceits, and just plain blank spots. Though this virtual reality device, she begins uncovering who she really is, and subsequently her own family's past as well.

Some of it is the Matrix BEFORE the Matrix: in this virtual world, Sydney can do anything: she need only learn how to control it. As I saw this programme first, I always felt that the Matrix stole quite a bit of some of the theory. But no matter.

If this programme ever comes on DVD, it's worth whatever price they fix. The cast is brilliant (I always loved Duncan) and my poor ten year old tapes just don't hold up anymore!! They've started breaking from overuse.

This show is not your run of the mill sci-fi junkie stupid predictable programme. It's weird-- too weird for most people, which was why it was cancelled. It's intelligent-- like the New Battle Star Galactica, they do not hand feed you with over-explanation. It is subtle and you have to pay attention. This is both it's biggest strength and it's biggest weakness.

It's a fantastic show, and if you ever get the opportunity to see it, it's utterly brilliant.

maddy

Could have been Buffy before there was a (TV) Buffy

[cinqorojo · 9 October 2003]

This show had the dark side and very cool visual possibilities wide open to it and made a great start at exploring both in its one and only season. I was very curious to see if it, unlike Alias and the X-Files (both of which I like nevertheless), could credibly sustain the intrigue surrounding the conspiracy-like back-plot of her father, the "organization" and just who she was working for, but then, of course, it got cancelled. In many ways this show staked out territory that Buffy was eventually able to mine more deeply (three cheers for Anthony Stewart Head, another link between the two shows) and, handled right and backed hard by a caring network, it could have developed into something like.

I enjoyed this show very much and liked the ideas about it., bring it back.

[rmrommer · 31 March 2006]

As I recall, when the show first came on TV in my area. I didn't see any ads about it. If the networks had them (ads) it was a secret. Despite that I watched, probably, every one of them. At the time I was into video recording some TV shows/movies for my own use. And can say that, by accident, I record a very good show about VR and the idea about "what's is that person about". Also, about the sci-fi use of computers. I wish it was back on the air with newer episodes. The series ended with a too many questions. Did they find their father?. Was Sid able to recover?. What happened to the Commentee?. Bring it back, Please.

Stay clear if you know the slightest thing about VR

[zaphirax · 22 September 2004]

This show was obviously made by someone that doesn't have the slightest clue about computers or Virtual Reality in general.

Imagine this: You have a "state of the art" computer which is connected to a very old analogue modem, you know these antiques where you had to put the phone down on the modem with speeds around 2400/1200bps.

This setup is then used to "connect" to unsuspecting peoples brain, i.e. you dial their phone and when they answer with a "hello?" you put the phone down on the modem, and BAM! you are transported in to their brain which happens to be another "reality" with some pseudo colors.

How can anyone but complete computer illiterates find this believable?