(6) - VR (6.1) - What are the levels of VR? In each VR.5 opening sequence, we see: (thanks to Dave Kliman ) VR.1: Computer Screen VR.2: Interactive Video Game VR.3: Flight Simulator VR.4: Cyber Space VR.5: Virtual Sensory Reality Dr. Frank Morgan said that VR.5 uses all 5 senses, and he also mentioned that Joseph Bloom made a breakthrough in VR.3. That ubiquitous FOX press release , via Todd Palino , says this: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEVELS OF VR VR.1: Computer screen. Flat two-dimensional projection. VR.2: Interactive (e.g., video games). User-controlled manipulation of items on a screen. VR.3: Flight simulator. The user manipulates items and objects on a screen and the simulator responds physically to those actions. This level controls the space and place containing the individual, but not the individual's senses. VR.4: Cyberspace. User is transplanted into an electronically created world. Does not involve user being in controlled environment. Equipment that can neutralize the user's sensory input necessary to alter reality (e.g., helmet, gloves, bodysuit). VR.5: Level at which Sydney initially operates. It provides a window to the subconscious mind. User is taken into the virtual world, accessed at the subconscious level. Experiences, for all intents and purposes, are real for the user. Results in little or no conscious recall of virtual experiences for participants unwillingly brought into virtual plane, yet subconscious behavior is altered, affecting real-world behavior. VR.6: This level, much like VR.5, brings the user and participant into the virtual plane. Access is at the conscious level, with both user and participant having full recall of virtual experiences. VR.7: Telepathy. Communication/experience via the mind, rather than via hardware. A cyberlink formed between the minds of two people without the need for a computer, monitor or mouse/keyboard. VR.8: The level Dr. Bloom reached. The ability to transplant or implant a single or multiple personality and life experience within the mind of the participant. Total mind manipulation. VR.9: The ability to manipulate the real world via the mind. Telekinetic abilities. The virtual becomes real, and reality becomes just one of the operating planes of the user. VR.10: All knowing, all seeing, the ability to transcend normal, natural, and physical laws governing experiences. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Many Faces of Alex" publicly unveiled VR levels higher than VR.5 for the first time in the series. "Reunion" showed VR.6 and VR.7 being used for the first time in the series. VR.7 was more dangerous; we saw Sydney in a coma (dead?) at the end of the episode. It was used to draw Nora Bloom out of her catatonic state. (6.2) - Why does Sydney's clothing change in VR? speculates that the people Sydney calls determine what clothes Sydney appears in: Actually, I have to agree with whoever noted that the *subject* of the VR experience seems to be the one clothing Sydney in those trips. It seems to be their perceptions/expectations/ desires that frame her. There's also been speculation that Sydney's clothing changes reflect her improved self-confidence when inside VR, as opposed to how she dresses in real life. (6.3) - How long does a VR call take? It was established in the first few episodes that a call took nearly no time in reality. This is reinforced most recently in "Simon's Choice," when the traitor picks up the phone -- presumably to receive his VR call from Sydney -- and almost immediately puts it back down again. Prince recalled that in "Dr. Strangechild," the scientists taped the VR call Sydney made and said it lasted less than a second. (6.4) - What exactly happens in VR? We don't know. The letter from FOX in section 1.3 seems to imply that something other than the modem makes the connection between minds. Sydney's (or Duncan's) mind touches with another, and the two have a VR experience that extends into the subconscious. At VR.5, the originator of the call remembers what happened, but the receiver does not consciously remember. We learned in "Reunion" that at VR.7, the equipment used a different section of the brain than at VR.5, which is why time and space didn't work the same. Of course, we still didn't learn about what exactly "the equipment" does. Spencer Rasko has archived a theory of his own. Visit his thoughtful and detailed analysis at: http://206.8.125.20/bhs/students/Spence/how.htm (6.5) - How does Sydney go into VR? Did Dr. Bloom experiment on Sydney? Why can Duncan go into VR? These topics have been the center of a lot of discussion on alt.tv.vr5. Dean Adams , Stanley, "Spokesman for the Committee" , GOMLB , and many others have speculated that Dr. Bloom experimented on Sydney, Samantha, and Duncan, recombining their DNA sequences into the necessary configuration that made VR.5 possible for the three of them. J. Walters thinks it's the mind that allows VR.5 to happen, posting: I've been thinking this, too. What made me wonder was the scene where Sydney took her mother into VR5 and she and her sister and Duncan were engaging in a spirited discussion over the divinity or lack thereof of Jesus. It isn't exactly the sort of thing kids discuss and I thought, "What's going on here?" Then I thought that the best way for Sydney's father to have made her (and presumably her sister) ready for VR5 would be to exercise their minds in all sorts of directions which would help form the neural connections which would let them work within VR. (Forgive me, I'm not entirely up on the science of this, but I do know that to learn any skill requires neural connections to be made and usually early in life.) If he did this in the form of games, discussions and other intellectual exercises, then Duncan, who just about lived with them, would have been exposed to the same sort of mental exercise, and would have developed the same skills. This makes a lot of sense to me since I can't see Dr. B. conducting experiments on his own daughters which would require any sort of physical manipulation. Of course we might find out that he was some sort of cold-blooded fanatic about VR and regularly opened the girls' skulls and popped in circuit boards and such. Mark Chaffe adds: It had occurred to me that Duncan's attitude towards life was rather "Zen". Before someone drew my attention to the fact that he was included in that little "family portrait" I was wondering if his mind set was what allowed him to us VR. The theory above makes *a lot* of sense to me. BTW, I've got a (expessive) degree on psychology and I can confirm that your thoughts on early learning are correct. In fact, many complex skills *must* be acquired at an early age, or not at all. Keep thinking. Many think that the acoustic modem doesn't automatically make VR.5 possible and that it's just a point of focus. (John Sacret Young, VR.5 producer, confirmed this in an interview. See section 2.9.) They think that the DNA makes the VR.5 interaction possible. Elayne Wechsler-Chaput says: I think it's more than that. I think the DNA is one of the keys as well. Remember the constant questionining by the Committee: "Did you father ever experiment on you or your sister?" And remember, DUNCAN CAN DO IT TOO. Sure Dad experimented on her. HE ALSO EXPERIMENTED ON DUNCAN, her and Sam's childhood friend. Think about it. Dave Kliman wrote that Duncan may have been part of Dr. Bloom's experiment. According to the pilot, Duncan was with Sydney and Samantha 17 years before the time of the pilot. Jeff Kramer agreed with Elayne: Don't forget that piece of paper, with the DNA segment drawn on it. Sure, it might be symbolic, but it's something. Carlos Francisco Gomez confirmed this theory: I agree. She also got her hands on a piece of paper (via the "dead" professor) that her father wrote which showed a DNA strand. I say the father used gene therapy to modify his daughters and Duncan. I'm not sure he's such a nice Dad after all. In "Reunion," we learned that there was a system to scan the retina pattern of the people trying to go into VR. If the retina pattern didn't match the ones that were programmed -- Sydney, Samantha, and Duncan -- they would presumably die. Lisa Cunningham added her own thoughts: The retina pattern seems to be the secret to accessing VR5 but perhaps it is not enough in higher levels of VR. Perhaps Dr. Bloom was working on the theory that DNA analysis would provide the next step up in the survivability of VR levels above 5. It also works with the primordial part of the brain theory I hypothesized earlier. This theory also supports the fact that the retina pattern offered no protection in VR7 for Syd. But one has to ask why Syd was having trouble in the episode Reunion while still in VR5? She is clearly in pain and vertiginous coming out of VR on at least 2 occasions ("How's your head?" she says to Duncan when he asks if she's ok), the problem increasing with every passing trip into VR. Why is the system breaking down for her only? Has she spent too much time in VR5, even for someone who has the retinal imprint? Has nutty old dad removed her retinal imprint from the system? (6.6) - Why do Oliver and Alex know that they and Sydney went into VR? In "The Many Faces of Alex," we discover that Alex is able to remember what happened in VR after being pulled in by Sydney. We also learn that Oliver knows when he's pulled into VR. Jonathan Gan thinks it's because Alex has special powers. He wrote: Alex also took some of the powers of the personalities she held. Because Dr. Bloom was able to go into VR.6, Alex was able to remember what happened after her and Syd went into VR. Ashley Majzels guessed: As for Oliver and Alex knowing when they'd been VR'd, how is that? Does it mean they've experianced VR.6 or above? Does it come with experiance? Or... maybe you know when you've been VR'd, when you are able to VR... jeez... one could get lost in speculation. Don Alsafi thinks that Oliver remembered that he'd gone into VR because he simply recognized the signs. He wrote: actually, i was confused by oliver's remembering it too. my friend, however, pointed out a different reason. (incidentally, it was his first time watching vr5--i was explaining facts and speculations left and right.) if you recall, he only berates syd for taking him in--he never mentions what the vr5 sequence contained. now we all know that vr5 only takes a second or two, right? so, assuming he DIDN'T remember, it would still be apparent to him (or at the very least likely, considering what he's dealing with) what happened by his picking up the phone and getting silence for a few seconds followed by a hangup. In answer to the argument that *anyone* could've called and hung up, Don wrote: yeah, i thought of that, but considered what with how much he's dealing with VR5 that such an occurence would automatically have him assume what happened, and that his berating sydney for taking him in was just a passionate accusation which turned out to have been right. Lisa Cunningham says it's really no big deal. She wrote: Some people, presumably those with better access to their own subconscious or the more trained minds of the characters in the show, do remember VR5 if vaguely. Oliver knew - he said it felt "peculiar"; Alex knew, presumably because of her wider experience in VR and the fact that Sam's personality was in her mind; Booth recognized her in the stadium (?); Simon said "You're the girl in my dreams." (6.7) - Are there safeguards in VR? "The Many Faces of Alex" raised questions about VR levels higher than VR.5 for the first time, and sparked a discussion on the VR experience as shown in the show. Jean Thompson <75465.3153@compuserve.com> thinks that Dr. Bloom implanted a security feature into Sydney, Samantha, and Duncan -- that VR's full potential can only be reached with all three minds working together. if Dr. Bloom implanted sections of knowledge into each of their minds.. but only when all three (?) work together in VR they'd be able to go beyond VR.5.. thats interesting.. it would be a good security feature.. unless all three are working together the full potential can't be reached, so if any one faction controls just one of them, they won't have full knowledge.. agreed: (this was written the same week that "The Many Faces of Alex" was broadcast) Jean, I think you're brilliant! That makes incredibly good sense and on a mythological level it has tremendous power. The promos for the season finale put Syd and Sam back together again and can Duncan be far behind? We'll all see it you're right in less that a week. "Reunion" revealed that this was, indeed, the case. When Samantha, Sydney, and Duncan linked up together, they were able to unravel the truth behind their childhood, instead of the lies that Sydney had been exposed to. We also learned in "Reunion" that there was a safeguard in that the equipment would scan the retina pattern of anyone trying to enter VR, and -- presumably -- deny access to anyone with the wrong pattern. (6.8) - What's the meaning of VR.8 in the series? Through most of the first season, viewers had thought that VR.5 was the highest level of VR, as was reinforced by the title sequences. However, in "The Many Faces of Alex," Alex mentioned VR.8 for the first time. We have some information about VR.8 from FOX's press release (section 6.1), and Alex revealed in "The Many Faces of Alex" that Samantha was transferred into Alex by using VR.8. Jonathan Gan wrote: After watching "Many Faces," it looks like Dr. Bloom used VR.8 to copy Sam's personality into Alex while the two hid somewhere. We don't know what happened after Bloom and Samantha hid, but it seems like Alex became unstable. She could change into the "Samantha" personality, but the change became involuntary. Lisa Cunningham responds: I think it's probably a safe bet that Alex always was unstable, whether you run with the multiple personalities complicated even more by VR8ing Sam in or with the idea that Sam had been VR8'd before Oliver became involved with Alex. A person with a chameleon-like personality who lives on the razor's edge of danger and seems to enjoy it can't really lay claim to stability and responsibility as strong character traits. VR.8 may have also been used to transfer the various personalities of Alex into her. John Dobbin speculated on VR.8 and what it actually was: In one of the VR sequences where Sydney encounters her father and sister, her father says that he survived the only was he knew how and that was by using VR8. The FOX information on VR8 is that it is the ability to implant personalities and is a kind of mind of manipulation. This suggests that Alex (played by Markie Post) had VR8 contact. This would explain her chameleon-like behaviour and the confusion she had about being Sydney's sister. For a moment, and only for a moment, it looked like she was going to convince Duncan that she was indeed the sister of Sydney. And then she kissed him! Duncan's remark before being slapped down by Sydney was "I think I'm In love." Did Alex have the ability to use VR8 on Duncan but fail? (6.9) - In "Reunion," were Sydney and Nora Bloom in VR.6 or VR.7? At the end of "Reunion," Sydney apparently pulled her mother into VR.7 to draw her out into the real world. But the creators haven't been really clear -- in either the FOX press release or the show itself -- on what differences there are between VR.6 and VR.7. William Wood tried to sort it all out: As I understand it *from the show* (not the Fox promotional materials) VR.5 is the Originator (i.e., the person with VR gear/access) contacting the Other's subconscious mind; VR.6, on the other hand, is two (or more) Originators contacting *each other's* subconscious minds *simultaneously*. VR.7 (AKA "telepathy") would probably (logically) be the next step--an Originator getting into contact with the Other's *conscious* mind. Sydney, in the past, has only touched her mother via VR.5, which probably ruled out reasoned discourse... from what we've seen in the show, the Other's subconscious can be poked, questioned, even channelled, but it remains "reactive," not assertive/pro-active/really helpful. As long as Sydney could only contact her mother using VR.5, all she could do was ask questions, to which Nora usually responded in a manner that seemed reflexive and intractable by turns. It was only in VR.7, at the end of "Reunion," that Nora was able to escape VR *on her own* (i.e., her mind was free to take independent, conscious action). Now, why are they still using hardware to do this, when Fox is trying to say that none should be required: simply put, I think the Fox list is wrong. Samantha tells Sydney that VR.7 acts on or through different parts of the brain than VR.5--within the technical context of the show, this makes more sense if it is explained as a *refinement* of the VR technology rather than an evolution away from it. Perhaps, over time, continual exposure to a VR.7 environment (but NOT from within a coma) would develop the portions of the brain responsible for "telepathy" to a point where the hardware is no longer necessary. Who knows? As things stand now, as far as the show is concerned, I think we should ignore and/or amend the Fox list's description.