Fans coming to Ron Moore’s “Virtuality” expected something similar to what they saw on “Battlestar Galactica” may be in for a bit of a surprise. According to co-writer Michael Taylor, the new two-hour movie/back-door pilot deals more with “technology” than “Galactica” did.
“It’s more about the technology we are already dealing with and how that will change our lives. I would say that, that reality is the internet,” Taylor told io9. “The technology which enables us to communicate with other people. We conduct a lot of our lives though websites dating sites, facebook, email, phone links that allow us to get in contact with people on the other side of the world. But there’s no physical contact. In other words we’re already living our lives in a kind of virtual reality.”
Taylor also took time to address rumors that Fox had become involved in the series’ development and had “inteferered” with several ideas that he and Moore wanted to see explored.
“The show that will air on June 26 is not really changed at all from what we shot,” he said. “On the other hand, the show did start out as a one hour pilot. NBC Universal and Fox the airing network [asked us] to turn it into a two hour movie. In a way, that had to change the nature of the script that had been widely circulated on the internet (for the original one hour show). It deepens the draw in some ways, it complicates it in others. I think when Fox saw the end result, they thought, “wow this is a very heady mix.” Or as one Fox executive said, it’s “Very cool but kind of dense.””
“Clearly they were afraid that it was not the kind of network material they were used to,” he continued. “Initially Peter Berg, our marvelous director, said, “I think I can boil this down to an hour, and maybe that will make it an easier sell for you guys. Let me try.” So they gave him the legway to do that, and he did it in a one-hour cut. It turned out very interesting, but very different — and it would have to be. To make a two hour movie from a one hour, you have to make a lot of changes and focus on different things.”
“In the end, I don’t think Fox found that [one-hour cut] more compelling than the two hours,” added Taylor. “There were compromises made along the route. There are things Ron and I would love to change, or Pete would love to change if we had the opportunity or the budget. The chance to reshoot some stuff, to work even better as a two hour. But what you will see is essentially what we set out to make, for better, hopefully, and for worse too. It’s a show that we’re all really proud of and we think is really cool. But I should say that it looks more like an indie move than ‘Mission Impossible III.'”
And while the movie is intended as a pilot, Taylor says the odds of it being picked up are slim.
“Fox has not given us the official word. I have to be honest, I think the scheduling of this the way it is… it does not look good,” he said. “Neither Ron nor I are holding our breath for a miracle. We’re just happy people have a chance to watch what we made.”
Taylor did say that it’s possible the show could be picked up by SyFy, if the network could afford the price tag.
When the show airs later this month, Taylor said that one of the show’s central hooks will be built around the virtual reality used by each character in their vision of the future.
“Because we’re meeting the group for the first time, we’re setting a lot of balls in motion as far as the plot and what the story and the situation is,” he said. “So it requires us to spend a lot of time in the reality of the spaceship. Also it’s expensive to produce these virtual realities. They were all created digitally — there are no real back drops to these virtual environments. Everything was created in the computer. We are creating a true virtuality. And that’s expensive. We get windows into our characters’ experiences, which are kind of mind blowing in some places. But the meat of the show takes place in the reality of the spaceship. But by the end of the show, you may start to wonder what is real and what is not. Which is one of the themes of the series as a whole.”
Taylor dropped hints about how this new world will play out in the storyline surrounding Billie Kashmir, played by Kerry Bishe.
“she’s a young computer scientist on the ship. And she’s kind of shy, she’s still finding her confidence she’s in with a lot of seasoned astronauts,” he said. “What is her virtual reality? She’s created a alternate ego for herself. She’s very much a Buckaroo Banzai, a character who is a rock n’ roll superspy. It’s very funny and tongue in cheek. It’s whimsical, and kind of James Bondy. We get to see a bit of it. So in a way, her environment is an expression of who she is, or who she wants to be. It tells a lot about her, but is also a lot of fun for the audience to see.”
You can catch “Virtuality” when it airs on Fox June 26.
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