Harsh Realm

Sci-fi is a genre that's widely scorned. You think sci-fi and you think of high school dorks eating pizza, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and debating who's the better Starfleet commander"”Captain Kirk or Captain Picard. ("Dude, c'mon, Kirk was the only one to ever beat the no-win scenario test!") Once in a long while, though, something comes along that transcends the genre. Through compelling storytelling, rich characters, and a thoughtful exploration that is almost philosophical, some sci-fi shows can hold any demographic spellbound.

Harsh Realm isn't one of them. Created by X-Files honcho Chris Carter, Harsh Realm was cancelled in 1999 after airing just three episodes. It's easy to see why. In one of the DVD extras, Carter asserts that Fox canceled the show "for no good reason." Then, in the next breath, he complains that his show hadn't yet found an audience. I'm no network executive, but isn't that a pretty good reason for canceling a show? (He also says the show was "under-watched." Ah. I see the distinction. Does that make a bum "under-employed?")

Flash forward five years. After watching the property collect dust, the suits at 20th Century Fox released the entire series on DVD, including episodes 4-9, which never aired on television. So the truth is out there, and here it is: Harsh Realm, though it looks great, and while it serves up a premise that will delight any card-carrying fan of science fiction, is ultimately barren of the main reason we watch tv shows week after week: well-drawn, engaging characters. It's smart. It's sleek. But there's no emotional core. Imagine The X-Files without Mulder. (In fact, this happened, and when it did, the show died a slow and painful death).

So what is Harsh Realm, exactly? Loosely speaking, it's a cross between The X-Files, The Matrix, The Twilight Zone, and Escape from New York. As far as source materials go, that's not bad. More specifically, Harsh Realm is a top-secret game of virtual reality, created by the military for training purposes, but a game that has spun out of control and is essentially a parallel universe. The world of Harsh Realm is a mirror image of our own, but a darker one that has somehow gone terribly wrong. (Imagine the Republican National Convention.)

The hero of this doomed series, Lt. Thomas Hobbes, played by simple-but-good-hearted-country-boy-looking Scott Bairstow, is sent by the Army to enter this virtual world. He is instructed to find and kill the rogue solider Major Santiago (Terry O'Quinn, one of many X-Files alums), who has taken the game hostage. Once inside this "game," Hobbes realizes that he's been misled, the stakes are real, and that he can't leave until he kills Santiago.

The parallel world of Harsh Realm is a post-apoplectic dystopia, with all of the VCs (virtual characters) living in fear of Santiago. Along the way, Thomas Hobbes runs into another such solider who quickly becomes his friend, named John Locke. Just kidding. Hobbes partner-in-crime is named Mike Pinocchio (not kidding), played by D.B. Sweeney, and it's safe to say that Sweeney's laughable acting is easily the low-point of the series.

So that's the set-up: Hobbes is on a virtual quest to kill the ruthless and all-powerful Santiago, who, in turn, has a bounty for the head of Hobbes, Pinocchio, and any other would-be assassin. Oh, and there's also an awful, awful, awful romance between Hobbes and his fiancé, Sophie (Samantha Mathis) who of course is still out there in the "real world." It's so bad, it makes you pine for the animal-cracker scene with Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler in Armageddon. The first several episodes begin with either Hobbes or Sophie saying "Dearest Sophie," or "Dearest Tom, I miss you so much." Barf.

This limp romance is symptomatic of the problem with Harsh Realm. We cared about Mulder finding his sister, but Carter doesn't give us any reason to care whether Hobbes makes it back to his dearest Sophie. The characters are wafer-thin. Hobbes, while seemingly a nice enough guy"”I'd invite him to a barbecue"”lacks a leading-man's charisma. And Pinocchio, well, there's bad and then there's Pinocchio. Sweeney delivers his lines with a forced earnestness that belongs on soap operas. And there's a third member of the gang: Hobbes and Pinocchio hang out with a machine-gun totin' chick who's also a miracle-healer and a mute. (I think I saw one of those on the L-train this morning.) Suffice it to say, the mute is no Holly Hunter.

The villains are cartoonish and don't inspire fear. While Santiago isn't bad, his second-in-command, Major Waters (Max Martini), spoils every scene he's in. Remember that rogue Marine from The Rock, the creepy one who scared Nicolas Cage's character by saying things like, "I'm gonna take pleasure in guttin' you, boy!" It's not the same actor, but that's the same kind of performance. Which is fine in The Rock, but Waters is supposed to be a calculating, scary, intelligent, ruthless bad-ass who is hunting down Hobbes. Instead he's just a goofball.

Okay, sci-fi fans, listen up! This next part's for you.

The good news is that what Harsh Realm does well, it does very, very well. Once you swallow the implausible premise, it makes for a damn good storytelling platform. As he did in The X-Files, Carter succeeds in creating a mysterious, shadowy world, one that has its own set of secret rules. In the virtual

reality of Harsh Realm, Hobbes encounters a mirror image of his fiancé (who of course doesn't recognize him), his mother (who does), and others that he used to know in the real world. The resulting conflicts, interactions, and moral dilemmas are the meat and potatoes of any good sci-fi story.

And just like in The X-Files, there's an overall story arc that teases and tantalizes, dropping hints like breadcrumbs and keeps us wanting more. The X-Files had the Cigarette Smoking Man, and this has the Tall Brunette Woman, a mysterious character who can somehow go back and forth between Harsh Realm and the real world, pulling strings on both sides. What's her agenda? Is there some other secret purpose to Harsh Realm? Is it some hidden power from Harsh Realm that makes her freakishly tall?

In terms of sound, look, and feel, Harsh Realm is gorgeous. Just like with The X-Files, every episode has the texture of a feature film, even the clunkers. This is no coincidence, as they share the same talent. In addition to godfather Chris Carter, the opening credits list many of the same directors (Kim Manners, Daniel Sackheim et al.), producers (including Vince Gilligan), writers (Frank Spotnitz), cinematographers, production designers, and art directors. The gang's all here. Most importantly, the music is again courtesy of the wonderful Mark Snow, whose dramatic score lends moodiness to even the most banal scene.

Some harsh questions: (And yes, these are nit-picky, but that's half the fun of sci-fi).

1. Okay. So this virtual reality world was created using variables from the US Census and topological satellite maps. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the US Census is exactly 100.00000000% accurate, recording every last man, woman, and child. (Ha!) So how come certain dogs from the real world are also in Harsh Realm? Similarly, how come houses, apartments, vehicles, wallets, pantry shelves, gumball machines, etc., are perfectly replicated in this virtual reality?

2. What's the deal with the whole "savior" thing? Much like in the later seasons of The X-Files, Carter seems to waver back and forth on the ultimate meaning of the story. He teases that Hobbes is "The One." In this alternate reality, Keanu Reeves must be filming Point Break 2. (In fairness, though, and in a bit of bad timing, Harsh Realm was filmed before The Matrix, but it didn't play on tv until afterwards. Ouch. Talk about getting beaten to the punch.) Anyways, what makes Hobbes The One? How is he different than the other soldiers that have come before him? Maybe we would have found out in Episode 9.

3. In the Harsh Reality universe, Hobbes vaguely refers to his "cause," saying that if the other virtual-reality people band together

and overhaul Santiago, then they will claim their freedom. Um, how? If they overthrow Santiago, doesn't that mean the game ends, and since their lives are defined by the game, they'll all die? I understand that the characters themselves don't know this, but doesn't Hobbes?

4. In the episode Reunion, Hobbes meets up with the Harsh Realm version of his mother, who is dying of cancer. In a staggering coincidence, at the exact same moment in the real world, Sophie is taking care of Hobbes' flesh and blood mother, who is also dying of cancer. Okay, I'm a generous person, so I'll give Team Carter the benefit of the doubt"”when the military created the Harsh Realm computer program, the "census data" must have scanned his mother's cancer. But why would it trigger at the exact same time?

5. How are Hobbes and Pinocchio always without food, ammunition, gas, and water, yet somehow their goatees are always perfectly trimmed in that "I'm so sexy" two-days stubble?

Ironically, right around cancellation, the show seemed to find it's groove. For one, Carter deemphasized the sappy romance between Hobbes and Sohpie. This was a move even smarter than if George Lucas had beheaded Jar-Jar Binks. Also, the standalone episodes, none of which aired on tv, are better than the ones that are devoted to the story arc.

In the standalone episode Kein Ausang, for instance, Hobbes and Pinocchio are trapped in a strange, anachronistic, 1940's-esque battle, which turns out to be a computer reenactment of an actual battle from WWII. Every 29 days the battle repeats itself, Groundhog Day-style, and Hobbes is stuck forever unless he can find a way out. This toying of time, which has become something of a gimmick for most sci-fi shows, makes perfect sense given the elastic reality of Harsh Realm. If one episode can freely introduce Nazis"”and justifiably, even"”the possibilities for storytelling are truly endless. In moments like this, you realize that the dramatic potential for Harsh Realm truly is astonishing.

In the end, there was very little chance that Harsh Realm could survive on a network channel such as Fox. Not because it's too "high concept," as Carter suggests, but rather because the characters aren't appealing or accessible enough for a mainstream audience. For those who watch the Sci-Fi channel, though, Harsh Realm delivers in spades.

Maybe in a parallel universe, Fox was smart enough to launch the show on FX. In this alternate reality, Harsh Realm lasted five seasons, spawned a feature film, and developed the cult following that it surely deserved. And I'll admit it. After ripping through all eight episodes, the closeted, greasy-pizza-eating geek in me wished that I could have see episodes 9, 10, and 11. (Oh, and as for the no-win scenario test: Kirk

cheated. Picard wins.)

Grade (if you're a Sci-Fi geek): A-

Grade (for a normal, well-adjusted person): C+

DVD (kudos for the frank conversation with the creators: B+

Overall Grade: B