VR. 5
Click to viewSo, I loves me some mindfuck, right? I figure that long lasting love was first solidified back in 1995 when this trippy tv show called VR.5 came out. It was a time when sci-fi suddenly became cool and every other show started regurgitating the X-Files formula, hoping for another prime time smash hit (often with hilarious results). VR.5 is said to be one of those shows, although it leaned toward the surreal rather than the paranormal and has, imho, in its short run out-shined the X-Files. And I say this as a huge XF fan.
In its essence, VR.5 is about accessing other people's subconsciousness in a dream-like setting through a pair of VR goggles and an acoustic modem. The technical aspect does sound silly, especially in this day and age, but at least it looks sort of cool and doesn't pretend to be anything other than a gimmick that triggers the plot. But yeah, creeping into people's minds, finding out what makes them tick and sometimes doing a bit of rearranging in there. Add a secret society, a family tragedy and a whole lot of weirdness to the mix, and you've got the story in a nutshell.
I don't know if this is just my bias speaking - because I honestly cannot possibly overstate my love for this show - but it seems to me that VR.5 was ahead of the curve on so many levels, it's absurd. The show's lead was a girl, who, though pretty, wore hideous overalls and lumberjack boots most of the time (and not just because that was, for some reason, socially acceptable back in the 90's). Due to the fact that bits and pieces of info about the central story were revealed in every episode, it ended up being a show with practically no filler. Episodes often ended abruptly, leaving the filling of the blanks up to the viewers in a style that almost resembles Evangelion's (though admittedly, the saner Eva episodes and not the wtf festival that is the final third of the show). The sets were wacky, the special effects were mostly gorgeous, the characters were flawed and appealing, the relationships were understated and beautifully handled; it was the sort of world you want to live in and the sort of people you want to hang out with. Especially Duncan. I wish I had a Duncan living on the roof of my building.
Unfortunately for the fans, good things are usually not meant to last. After moving the show around from slot to slot, skipping episodes, airing episodes in incorrect order, etc., FOX decided to pull the plug on VR.5 after only one 13-episode season, probably citing a lack of dumbed-downedness as the reason. The online community organized a seemingly successful campaign to bring it back, but then the plug was pulled once again and the show never even got a decent home media release. This bums me out like whoa, but at least it was awesome while it lasted, and at least the thing had, like, 20 reruns over here. It just needed one tv-movie to be perfect, dammit :((.
So there, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Been meaning to write about this for a very long time, I really have no idea what took me so long (though I did take the time to add a bunch of stuff to the TV Tropes entry a while ago). If anyone is interested in checking the show out, which I always warmly recommend to everyone ever, this kind soul has uploaded all the episodes on the Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vr5fan#p/u