VR.5

Volkswagen also offers an engine known as the VR5 in Europe. For information on this family of engines, see VR6.

VR.5 was an American television program running from 10 March 1995 to 12 May 1995 on FOX before it was cancelled. 13 episodes exist of which 10 aired on its original airing, the remaining 3 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 an advanced virtual reality system.

When inside the virtual reality system the visual look of the show was changed by digitally altering the colours, 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.

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

Contents

1 U.S. Order of Episodes
2 U.K. Order of Episodes
3 Cast
4 Music
5 Status of VR.5
6 The Ten Levels of Virtual Reality
7 External links

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're called the "missing episodes," and were broadcast in countries like Canada Norway, and the U.K. The series was eventually shown in its entirety on the Sci Fi Channel

U.K. Order of Episodes

Sky TV in the U.K. 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 4-10.
David McCallum - Dr. Joseph Bloom
Louise Fletcher - 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.

Status 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 illegal downloads using BitTorrent.

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

The Ten Levels of Virtual Reality

VR.1: Computer screen. Flat two-dimensional projection.

VR.2: Interactive (e.g., video games). User-controlled manipulation of items on a screen.

VR.3: Flight simulator. The user manipulates items and objects on a screen and the simulator responds physically to those actions. This level controls the space and place containing the individual, but not the individual's senses.

VR.4: Cyberspace. User is transplanted into an electronically created world. Does not involve user being in controlled environment. Equipment that can neutralize the user's sensory input necessary to alter reality (e.g., helmet, gloves, bodysuit).

VR.5: Level at which Sydney initially operates. It provides a window to the subconscious mind. User is taken into the virtual world, accessed at the subconscious level. Experiences, for all intents and purposes, are real for the user. Results in little or no conscious recall of virtual experiences for participants unwillingly brought into virtual plane, yet subconscious behavior is altered, affecting real-world behavior.

VR.6: This level, much like VR.5, brings the user and participant into the virtual plane. Access is at the conscious level, with both user and participant having full recall of virtual experiences.

VR.7: Telepathy. Communication/experience via the mind, rather than via hardware. A cyberlink formed between the minds of two people without the need for a computer, monitor or mouse/keyboard.

VR.8: The level Dr. Bloom reached. The ability to transplant or implant a single or multiple personality and life experience within the mind of the participant. Total mind manipulation.

VR.9: The ability to manipulate the real world via the mind. Telekinetic abilities. The virtual becomes real, and reality becomes just one of the operating planes of the user.

VR.10: All knowing, all seeing, the ability to transcend normal, natural, and physical laws governing experiences. May be a virtual embodiment of God.

External links

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