Harsh Realm : The Ultimate Mind Game - The Complete Series (Three-disc Collector's Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Harsh RealmDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 387 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-08-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Harsh Realm : The Ultimate Mind Game - The Complete Series (Three-disc Collector's Edition)
Movie Review: Cancelled,eh? Welcome to HARSH REALM.
Summary: 4 Stars
After seeing the most recent X-Files movie, I heard an audience member mention that one character, Inga Fossa, had the same name in the TV show Harsh Realm. All I remembered was the following: it got cancelled after only airing 3 episodes.
With no time like the present, I picked up this box set and watched all the episodes in about 3 days. After finishing it, I think it's a little cruel and dismissive to call this show a "Poor Man's Matrix". There's a lot of potential here, and with a few tweaks, this could have been a show that rivaled the X-Files in popularity.
The premise is simple enough - Omar Santiago (Terry O'Quinn) is the top player in a virtual reality simulation called Harsh Realm. He rules this post-apocalyptic world with an iron fist, and to date, no one has been able to beat him. Tom Hobbes (Scott Bairstow) is sent in by the U.S. Government to kill Santiago. However, once inside Harsh Realm, Hobbes discovers he is trapped there until Santiago is killed - only then can he return to reality. Along the way, Hobbes picks up some unlikely allies - Mike Pinocchio (D.B. Sweeney), a Gulf War veteran with a Han Solo attitude, and Florence (Rachel Hayward), a mute VC (Virtual Character) with the ability to heal other characters in Harsh Realm. This trio sets out to eliminate Santiago and free Harsh Realm from his oppressive tyranny.
Right away, there are several contradictions - we are told that Santiago can move in and out of Harsh Realm, but there are no episodes that actually show him doing this. We are told that there is no concept of an afterlife or religion in Harsh Realm, yet one of the central characters in a later episode is a priest. Worst of all, we only get a hint of Santiago's plans to make Harsh Realm all that remains of the "real world" - how he plans to do this is never disclosed.
A few episodes introduce unique technology: weapons that can freeze Virtual Characters, Digi-Wands, Jump Points and Glitches. Sadly, most of these technologies were shown in the 6 episodes that aired after Harsh Realm's cancellation.
The DVD Treatment: Two audio commentary tracks are on the pilot episode, but they do not include D.B. Sweeney or Scott Bairstow. There are TV spots/ads for Harsh Realm, and a neat little feature on the creation of the logo & intro sequence for the series.
Chris Carter and two of his colleagues offer their thoughts on the creation and cancellation of Harsh Realm - not surprisingly, the lawsuit between Carter and the creators of the Harsh Realm comic were left out of this featurette.
If I had to guess, the reasons Harsh Realm failed were as follows:
(1) This show started out in the "Friday Night Death Slot" - there's a long history of TV shows that get cancelled because of a late time slot on Friday nights, and with only 3 aired episodes, Harsh Realm never had a chance.
(2) "Poor Man's Matrix" theory: The Matrix came out 6 months before Harsh Realm hit the airwaves. This is an unfair comparison, simply because both touch on the idea of a virtual world. Harsh Realm had more of a Quantum Leap premise, with Bairstow's character trying to get back to his fianc? in the real world.
(3) The episodes with the best scripting were not aired early enough. For example, Terry O'Quinn gave his best performance in the series in "Cincinnati" - he showcases his character's ruthlessness, intelligence, and ability to lead others through intimidation. Another example is "Manus Domini": this episode showed a vulnerable side to the Mike Pinocchio character - his fear of finding faith in a world without it.
If a few episodes that centered on Santiago's plans in the real world were scripted and aired early enough, it could have given Harsh Realm the fan base it needed to keep on the air. Alas, we will never know.
If you're a fan of shows like the The X-Files, Millennium or Quantum Leap, I'm sure you'll enjoy this box set.
Sure, the series leaves you with more questions than answers.
Welcome to HARSH REALM.
More Harsh Realm : The Ultimate Mind Game - The Complete Series (Three-disc Collector's Edition) reviews:
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Summary of Harsh Realm : The Ultimate Mind Game - The Complete Series (Three-disc Collector's Edition)
The virtual world becomes a dangerous reality in Chris Carter's Harsh Realm. It's the ultimate mind game when a soldier testing a military war game discovers that the only way out. is to kill the top player! The complete series debuts on DVD in August, including killer extras and 6 additional episodes that never aired on network TV!The dark and fantastic Harsh Realm, a science fiction series about a war fought by flesh-and-blood humans trapped inside virtual reality, was launched by The X-Files creator Chris Carter in 1999 and died a regrettable, premature death on the Fox channel after three episodes. The remaining six shows found sanctuary on the FX network, and then Harsh Realm slipped into history, its wild story, based on a comic book, far from resolved. Perhaps Harsh Realm's ratings failure had something to do with its broad similarities to the hugely popular The Matrix, released only a few months before, or, for that matter, David Cronenberg's 1999 eXistenZ, in which characters fight for their lives inside a video game. Whatever the reason, enough time has passed to take an objective look at Harsh Realm, and there is a lot to be admired in its high level of imagination, complex plotting, and cutting-edge production values.
Scott Bairstow stars as U.S. Army Lieutenant Tom Hobbes, a decorated hero who risked his life rescuing a buddy, Major Mel Waters (Max Martini), during a peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslavia. Set to return to civilian life and marry his fianc?e, Sophie (Samantha Mathis), Hobbes is summoned by a mysterious superior (Lance Henriksen) and asked to test-run Harsh Realm, a virtual reality war game devised by the Pentagon. Once he begins, however, Hobbes is mentally imprisoned in the dangerous game (his body, along with those of hundreds of other "volunteers," is cared for in a secret military hospital), where he is identified by other, desperate captives as the savior they've been awaiting. D.B. Sweeney is very good as another soldier, Mike Pinocchio, whose sense of mission is re-awakened by Hobbes and who becomes a partner in an endless effort to defeat a madman named Santiago (Terry O'Quinn), who rules Harsh Realm from within. As with The X-Files, the nine episodes in this boxed set are each very striking on their own terms, with post-apocalyptic sets, constant surprises, and that special Chris Carter touch (fans of his Millennium will like Harsh Realm, too) that makes every story look and feel like a collision of a nightmare and a crisis of faith. --Tom Keogh
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