Harsh Realm (TV Series) Pilot (1999) User Reviews

What??! No Way Jose!

[mereel77 · 7/10 · 21 May 2005]

What? I think not. I thought this show was pretty damn good. And it had more than three episodes. The actual number was closer to thirteen. While the Matrix connection was an unfortunate coincidence, the setting was very intriguing and I loved both D.B. Sweeney and Terry O'Quinn. It's the show that could'a, would'a, should'a been great. Even now'a'days for some reason I still imitate Sweeney's little mutter of "Santiago!" You gotta hate that Santiago guy. It's been a long time since I saw the show, but I'm just a sucker for the kind of universe the Harsh Realm was. It was like Lord of the Flies, but instead of children everybody was Special Forces! How cool is that?

The world of Harsh Realm would make a sweet massively multi-player online game, anybody else agree?

Finally !

[cyril-18 · 8/10 · 13 April 2005]

Hello fellow Harsh Realm fans. Have you heard the good news ? The short lived T.V. series from the creative mind of Chris Carter ( X-Files fame ) is finally out officially on DVD ! For those those of you out there reading this not familiar with the short lived Fox network television program let me fill you in. The government is running a covert computer program known as "Harsh Realm" People's minds are "transported" into this computer program without there knowledge. Here everything seems real but in this reality America is a post nuclear wasteland. Here it is survival is a daily struggle. It is in this computer program where a former highly decorated soldier known as "Santiago" rules with an iron fist. A soldier is sent in to "win" the game by killing Santiago. The soldier is not told by the government that in the computer program if you die there, you die in the real world. The Fox network recently released this short lived but innovative T.V. show on DVD. Only nine episodes are on it but it is well worth it. You can find used sets of this TV show for sale on E-bay for a reasonable price. You can also purchase it new from National store chain Best Buy for about $30.00 I hope my description helped you in deciding if you wanted to purchase or view this show. I gave it 8 out of a possible 10 stars only because they show did not have enough time to develop the characters and plot of the show. The show is well worth the money.

From an Aussie

[gooterzau2 · 8/10 · 21 February 2005]

It's a pity this sort of show gets canned so often! It doesn't matter if the Aussies like it cos it will get a bad time slot and probably already be canceled before it gets over here. What some people in Aus want to watch is not always the same as others! This show started screening in Aus from about 11 pm at night. i just happened to see the occasional episode of it. It was great! very much like the matrix but different enough to make it interesting.

If they happened to put this show on with star gate it probably would have the an audience to support it because thats the sort of show it was. But i guess fox didn't want it so didn't even bother advertising it!

fastest cancellation I know of.

[henry-tindall · 10/10 · 24 October 2003]

I was dismayed and confused by the fact that Fox canceled the series after the 3rd (yes, THIRD) episode.... But, I've told my wife several times that the only show I ever liked that ran more than three seasons was X-files. Unbelievable that people will watch an "Animal Psychic" and keep her on the air for two years (and still counting), but a great show like Harsh Realm dies such a premature death. Even the repeats on FX were in a dead time slot, and the so-called "Series finale" didn't wrap up anything... It just ended. It was pretty obvious to me that Fox pulled the plug VERY rapidly on this show. I'm also surprised that no other network picked it up and continued it...

Great.

[CovertEquation · 10/10 · 28 October 2003]

I loved this show, personally. However, it never caught on. And now, I'll never know what happens next. The tv show rocked. I thought it was one of the better shows FOX decided to give a whirl. In fact, I'd say its much better then the garbage they try to unload now (A show called 24 comes to mind). The premise was pretty cool. If i remember correctly, Hobbes is put into a computer/alternate reality (to test out a new training simulation) and is stuck in. The real reason he was put in is to get rid of this guy, Santiago, who is controlling the sim. Note: The song Climbatize by Prodigy is played numerous times.

I'm gonna eat your dog.

[Sanpaco13 · 10/10 · 28 July 2008]

This Pilot episode sucks you right into the show very quickly. The episode starts with a battle sequence in which Hobbes saves his best friend Waters' life. As the episode continues we learn that Hobbes has returned home and is engaged to be married. Because of this he plans to leave the service and settle down in California. He is however called on one last mission to which he remains extremely suspicious even after he is told that he is going to enter a virtual reality world created by the pentagon with the purpose of simulating war games. He is told his mission is to enter the game and find a man named Santiago and kill him. As he is watching the orientation video, the video suddenly cuts off and Hobbes wanders out to find out what is up. He quickly realizes that he has entered the game and is immediately running for his life. The rest of the episode is full of action and mystery as he is healed mysteriously by a woman who does not talk, finds that his fiancée's virtual counterpart is married to his best friend, Waters, who is one of Santiago's right-hand men. Hobbes also gains an unlikely companion in Michael Pinnocchio who robs him of his wedding ring minutes after entering Harsh Realm and continuously threatens to eat Hobbes' dog, Dexter. The episode also features two well known cameos for fans of Carter's other more popular shows The X-Files and Millennium. Lance Henricksen (Frank Black) plays the general and the voice doing the orientation video is none other than Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully). Very entertaining episode which sets the show up very well for a wide variety of opportunities. This being the first (and only really) attempt by Chris Carter of a solely SciFi non Horror show, I thought he did a great job and I was excited to see more.

Seriously under-rated

[aegisprime · 8/10 · 10 July 2006]

While pre Matrix, this show only failed due to being a little too military, and too SF for mainstream audiences. It showed great potential, and some of the final episodes really showed off how this series could have progressed. But like Freakylinks and The Others, series can sometimes be too smart for their own good. Could have been great, but was never given the chance to shine, it's certainly worth a watch on DVD.

There was some great acting in there, especially by D B Sweeney, and the ever cool Terry O'Quinn, it showed great potential for a good conspiracy SF thriller with parallel worlds. It could be that the timing was just wrong for it, being screened too close to the Matrix to be taken as anything but a clone.

Good premise...very bad execution.

[innocuous · 2/10 · 10 August 2005]

Great idea, even if it is Matrix-derivative.

But, guys, if you're going to place a "carefully screened and selected soldier", who is supposedly representative of the "best" the Army has to offer, into a VR game, please don't turn him into a big p****y right away. I thought he was going to scream and run away when guns started firing. He certainly never got out of basic training, as he has no idea of how to conduct himself, how to survive in a hostile environment, tactics, weaponry, or anything else even remotely military. The military would have been better off just pulling a wino off the streets and putting him in the game. At least the wino would have been smart enough to find a cardboard box and get out of the weather.

Very, very poorly executed. No evidence whatsoever of any effort in writing. Strictly a concept show.

Not worth your time to rent on DVD...really.

From the creator of "The X-Files". One of the silliest television shows ever made.

[practiced_bravado · 25 June 2004]

In the fall of 1999, Chris Carter's "Harsh Realm" debuted on the Fox Network to some of the lowest ratings ever for a premiere. Taking over the slot vacated by the cancelled "Millennium", it was an adaption of an obscure sci-fi comic book. The comic had dealt with "pocket universes", but Carter's show dumped its characters and used the concept of virtual reality to tell stories.

Unfortunately, "The Matrix" had been released earlier in the year and this show probably looked like some kind of bad rip-off to the public. It played out like a cross between that landmark film and Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now". As you would guess, the mix just didn't work. It was pretty cheesy.

In fact, during it's short three episode run, "Harsh Realm" dealt with the idea of fate and it had, believe it or not, a "savior" for those stuck inside the VR. Actress Samantha Morton had the misfortune of saying the line "You're The One!" near the end of the pilot episode. It was funny, something I don't think the show wanted to be.

After "The Matrix", Carter's new show was too little, too late and was doomed from the start. Even if "The Matrix" hadn't come out, this show still probably wouldn't have succeeded. It was just plain bad. It needed to be a movie because the limited budget of TV was not enough to bring out the vision this concept really needed.

Oh, well. We all make mistakes. Mr. Carter, I forgive you.

Hard to watch and should NOT be watched.

[guido_thepimp-1 · 1/10 · 31 March 2005]

Simply, Harsh Realm is overall a thoughtless show with a potentially good premise. But, it fails harshly in writing because of clichés and weak characters. The reasoning behind the main character is flawed which made m lose interest immediately.

Sorry, there are many more traps which Harsh Realm has seemingly stuck its head into that I could go on, and I should go on, but it is so bad I have no energy to even waste my time trying to communicate the details of finger painting with feces.

Trust your instinct and never watch or mention this film because it does not deserve any recognition.

Watchable pilot, as for the show...

[bombersflyup · 4/10 · 2 August 2019]

Feels like "Sliders" but only military and not much science fiction, which is a big drawback, not that "Sliders" is some great show anyway. Creator of "The X-Files" uses many of the same sounds and has Gillian Anderson doing one voice over and the main actor Scott Bairstow who appeared in the episode "Miracle Man" and a long hallway setting that looks like it's from the episode "Triangle," with also Terry O'Quinn who appeared in some episodes and the film. The episode's watchable to decent, though it already forecasts that it may be very limited in what it has to offer. Also with the he's the one, like "The Matrix" and like in that we have a butch woman, who's also mute, thanks a bunch. Being a virtual reality world, it really should be more fun.