The pilot for Ronald D Moore’s highly-anticipated sci-fi thriller, Virtuality, is set to air in the US on Fox on Friday 26 June. The announcement comes as the networks begin to line up the genre heavyhitters for next season.
Set to to be broadcast on what many consider to be a disadvantaged slot, Virtuality marks a quick return to hard sci-fi for Moore, whose Battlestar Galactica series finished only months ago. Telling the story of the crew of the spaceship Phaeton as they embark on a ten-year voyage into outer space, Virtuality centres on the effect a glitch in a virtual reality device – designed to help the crew maintain their sanity – has on everyone on-board. With tension mounting, the crew endeavour to solve the increasingly dangerous problem all the while being recorded for a reality TV show broadcast back home.
With networks less tolerant on weak early ratings than ever before, and with a potentially tough concept to sell to unforgiving audiences, the pressure will be on from the start for Moore’s show so there’s a great deal riding on the pilot. Expect a full report in the magazine and online soon.
Written by Ronald D Moore and Michael Taylor, the two-hour pilot will be directed by Hancock’s Peter Berg.
