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September 7, 1999
Harsh Realm More Blade
Runner than Matrix?
Harsh Realm, the new virtual reality series by conspiracy-minded X-Files creator Chris Carter is already drawing comparisons to the monster box office VR flick The Matrix . Carter admits he did have existing films in mind when he created his new show, but not the ones you think.
In an interview with Eon Magazine, Carter says, "What I wanted to do was to do a TV show that had elements of some of my favorite movies: Paths of Glory, Platoon, Blade Runner, and a lot of really good early war movies. And this was my way of doing that, using a contemporary element, which was the virtual reality element. This I think has a tremendous romantic story and has a great mythology potential as well."
Like The X-Files, Harsh Realm will deal with conspiracies and mind-altering realities. However, unlike its cult predecessor, the new series isn't about little green men and vast UFO domination plans, but a military training simulator that's more than meets the eye.
Harsh Realm stars Scott Bairstow as a soldier who's tapped to test the newest in military combat training, a top-secret computer simulation known as "Harsh Realm." D.B. Sweeney (once the star of Strange Luck, a brief X-Files lead-in), Samantha Mathis, and Rachel Hayward co-star.
Of course, Carter isn't playing up that Matrix reference, although he realizes his new show's similarities to the Keanu Reeves action flick.
"I didn't know about The Matrix until our show was shot," he admits to Eon. "I saw it and there were elements that I think you're going to find in any kind of parallel world idea. So I think there were some similarities." Carter admits to being "super impressed by the special effects" in The Matrix, effects he presumably won't be able to afford in a weekly series. However, the constraint of a weekly series is also what will differentiate Harsh Realm from the Wachowski Brothers' sci-fi trilogy.
"Even though it is a virtual reality idea, it's different than The Matrix. We've set the stage for many episodes of this show, where a [television show based on The Matrix might have to change its concept a little bit in order to do the same thing," says Carter.
Carter says he became interested in doing a virtual reality-themed series after X-Files producer-director Dan Sackheim showed him the Harsh Realm comic. "There were elements in it that I really liked a lot and I thought it was a great vehicle for telling a series of stories," Carter recalls. "No one had ever tackled virtual reality in a satisfactory way on network television. (Apparently, Carter's not the only one to have forgotten the virtual reality series VR5, one of many short-lived X-Files lead-ins.)
And, of course, neither Carter nor the Eon interviewer brought up Tron, that trapped-in-a-computer-game dud from 1982.
While making the point that Harsh
Realm is a show that is "of its time," Carter is quick to point
out X-Files was ahead of its time, "for cell phones alone, it was
important!"
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