Ronald D. Moore. Among the geek set, this name sparks controversy and not a small bit of lunacy. The reason, he was whose vision successfully resurrected the venerable and until 2003, dormant 70s space opera, Battlestar Galactica. The source of the controversy was an almost complete change in it's approach. The basic characters were kept, but radical changes were made to many (Starbuck a chick). The basic scenario was the same (remnants of humanity fleeing killer robots), but they became much different from the lumbering targets of the original. A much grimmer, darker product resulted, much less family friendly, but much more layered, nuanced and thoughtful.
Anyway, the geek world exploded, but the man undeniably proved himself a skilled storyteller not afraid to ask his audience come up to his expectation, rather than slavishly come down to theirs. He showed this on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Carnivale and the new BSG prequel, Caprica. He likes to give layers and nuance to his stories, rather than have pure black and white shoot 'em ups. He likes gray in the moral makeup of his characters. He likes ambiguous situations that are hard to size up and award long term attention paid to them. He likes the murky gray, the deep, dark black, and even the blazing white that blinds, but reveals nothing without you making the effort. The voyage inner as well as outer, this is a signature of his work.
Which had many of us wondering what he would do post Galactica. Except for STDS9, his work has tended to be critically acclaimed, yet has struggled in the ratings. So his follow-on would probably have to make a big splash early on.
Virtuality didn't. In fact, it aired as a TV movie in 2009. There have been rumors of a pickup of some sort, but in all likelyhood, for those of us who have watched it, the DVD may be all we get. So...what did we get?
We are introduced the the ship's company of the Phaeton, man's first attempt at interstellar travel. Their mission? To explore Epsilon Eridani, a voyage which will take ten years with their nuclear pulse drive system. This mission has turned into a bit of bread and circuses for a politically and environmentally beleaguered planet Earth. The crew's day to day life has become a reality TV show called Edge of Never: Life on Phaeton. In fact, ratings are tracked and one of the crew members, Billie Kasmiri, is the show's host as well as the ship's chief computer expert. Another crewmember, Dr. Roger Fallon, serves double duty as Edge of Never's producer as well as the shipboard shrink. The ship is full of a colorful set of characters, from a gay couple who work as the ship's mess staff to the paraplegic who is also the ship's drive expert. And there's the captain, Commander Frank Pike, who seems to be becoming...weird...as the "go-no go" departure point approaches (this is the point where Neptune's gravity will be used to bring them back around and on a course back for Earth, or give them the slingshot boost to set them on course for Epsilon Eridani).
The tension ramps up as a series of technical and personal problems add pressure to Commander Pike's coming decision. The ship's chief physician, Dr. Aiden Meyer, begins exhibiting early signs of Parkinson's disease. And among other technical quirks, Kasmiri is beaten and raped within the virual world the ship's computer maintains as part of the coping systems the crew has for this long duration voyage. Among the issues discussed...if the rape was not real, if it was just virtual, was she really raped? Is rape a physical experience...or an emotiona/psychological one?
As time goes on, with these extraordinary people, cream of their professions, begin to absorb the full ramifications of a long duration in these confined conditions, the building crises begin to let them know just what they've gotten into, and the walls of reality begin to crumble around them.
What is real?
I would love there to be a miracle and this show get picked up, some sort of continuation. If the pilot is any indication, Virtuality was a voyage that Ronald D Moore was set to embark on with no holds barred.
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