13th October 2016This week, fleshy computers, bicycle helmets and more
Top 5 VR Movies And TV Shows
-
Existenz
Sticking a piece of electronic equipment to your head is currently still the best way of experiencing VR, but in the movie Existenz (1999), a far more direct method is employed: biological computers connected to the human nervous system.
By inserting a fleshy 'game pod' directly into a 'bio port' on their spines, gamers in this fun sci-fi movie are able to experience fully immersive virtual reality, almost completely indistinguishable from the real world.
The problem with that, of course, is that players can easily lose track of whether they're still in the game or not. Considering how sucked into Candy Crush some people get, it's easy to see how this might lead to trouble. -
The Lawnmower Man
If you can remember as far back as 1992, then you'll probably also have memories of The Lawnmower Man, starring Pierce Brosnan. Coming at the height of 90s VR fever, when the popular Virtuality machines were finding their way into arcades the world over, it tapped into the public's hunger for this new technology.
The story centred on Dr Lawrence Angelo (Brosnan), who uses virtual reality to somehow turn his learning disabled gardener, Jobe, into a genius - but, unfortunately, of the evil variety. And from there, not only does Jobe no longer feel like pruning the petunias, he puts in motion a plan to go completely virtual, becoming 'pure energy' and entering all the computers of the world.
Okay, it wasn't a great film, and the special effects weren't brilliant either. But it also did a lot to help raise the profile of VR, so for that it can't go unmentioned. -
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Affectionately known as 'TNG' to its fans (And anyone who can't be bothered with the full title), this entry in the Star Trek universe is also home to the Holodeck. When not in action, it isn't that impressive, looking a bit like a school sports hall, with yellow lines running along the floor and up the walls. But when the Holodeck is in full swing, the only limit for the crew of the USS Enterprise is their imagination.
And there are no headsets here: the Holodeck actually creates matter using some of the technology found in the ship's replicators and transporters. That means it's almost indistinguishable from real life.
Of course, it goes wrong on more than one occasion, normally with potentially deadly results (health and safety would have a field day, etc, etc). Yet it never seems to get shut down, in spite of its obvious problems. -
Red Dwarf
Offering possibly the funniest portrayals we've ever seen of VR, Red Dwarf used virtual reality in a few episodes. In season two, for example, the gang donned what were very clearly bicycle helmets with flashing lights on them, in order to play the game Better Than Life.
Then, in series five, Back To Reality saw them being fooled into thinking their entire lives were nothing more than an extended VR game, which they were playing in order to avoid their 'real' lives.
And in Gunmen Of The Apocalypse (series six), the crew find themselves in a virtual Wild West town, on a mission to rescue Kryten. Smegging fantastic. -
The Matrix
The daddy of all VR movies, The Matrix is another film that sees virtual worlds being injected straight into the human brain - this time for our robotic overloads, who are busy harvesting our squidgy human bodies to make electricity.
Ignoring the obvious fact that there are much more efficient, reliable ways of creating energy, The Matrix was a film that reignited interest in VR and which also popularised the now somewhat cliched 'bullet time' camera technique.
Oddly enough, the idea that we're all living in a computer program isn't limited to fiction. There's an actual branch of philosophy that deals with 'simulation theory', which posits this exact notion. And like a lot of philosophical ideas, it's impossible to ever really prove or disprove.
