Loaded Couch Potatoes

Fox, oh Fox, why do you taunt us so?

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Here’s a mildly friendly reminder from Honk Mahfah:

Tonight, while vast hordes of Americans are busy reducing their brains to doo-doo sundaes by watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, there is a (probably) superior alternative for science fiction fans: Fox airs the pilot for Ronald D. Moore’s Virtuality.

The pilot introduces a series that seems destined to never appear, which will likely make this two hours’ worth of a peek a bit of a bitter experience at best, but anybody who feels any warmth in their heart for Moore thanks to his previous television achievements (most notably, Battlestar Galactica) owes it to themselves and to Moore to check it out.

After all, good ratings could theoretically lead to a series order from Fox.

Ain’t It Cool has up a smattering of quotes from critics’ reviews, most of which seem to be pretty positive (though few of them seem to be the “raves” AICN’s headline claims them to be).  Check it out here.

Speaking to SciFi Wire, producer/writer Ronald D. Moore said that there is still a chance Virtuality might be taken to series by Fox.  The project — directed by Peter Berg and produced by Battlestar Galactica vets Moore and Michael Taylor — was once considered a shoo-in for pickup, but it seems that certain Fox executives were left scratching their heads over the viability of the project as a series.

The two-hour pilot will air on June 26, and tells the story of a spaceship crew on a 10-year journey.  The crew has extensive experiences inside a virtual-reality system designed to relieve the stress and boredom of extended space travel, and simultaneously is being filmed for a reality show (!) being broadcast back on Earth.

Moore says of Fox’s decision to order a series or not: “They haven’t officially said, ‘That’s it.  It’s over.’  You never know how these things turn out, but at the moment I think Fox’s attitude is probably wait and see.”  Should the pilot receive good ratings and reviews, a series could still happen.

In a separate interview, Moore also talked about how he felt about the wildly divergent fan reactions to the Battlestar Galactica finale, the current status of spinoff series Caprica, and his involvement with the new movie based on The Thing.

Honk Mahfah reviews the DVD release of Caprica, the pilot episode for the upcoming Syfy series.  The One True God demands spoilers.

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