NOWHERE MAN

NOWHERE MAN. Lawrence Hertzog, creator. Lawrence Hertzog Productions, in association with Touchstone Television. Bruce Greenwood, star. Syndicated on UPN/Star Network. Week of 29 Jan. 1996. Guy Magar, dir. Joel Surnow, script. Megan Gallagher, Sean Whalen, Karen Moncrief, guest stars.

The Nowhere Man, Thomas J. Veil, SSN 549-24-1889, meets Scott, a computer genius who tells him, "This stuff is beautiful man. It's pure poetry. It's orderly; it's logical; it's contained." He's talking about computers. More relevantly, he tells Veil, that "We're all in here, like it or not." Except Veil isn't: "You've been deleted man, big time. * * * Big time, Big Brother, freaky stuff." Veil and the computer guy debate reality vs. VR, and Veil is introduced to VR (through TV SpFx) and the question of whether or not VR is as good as the real thing, whether or not "It is real." Scott goes on VR double date with Veil, reuniting Veil, in cyberspace VR, with his wife. Scott feels his computer macho challenged by Veil's deletion and tries to find out who did so thorough a job. Scott runs into major ICE (called "fire-wall" here), which destroys his computer system and forces him and Veil out of his house—which is just as well, since armed thugs in suits and dark glasses soon arrive. Real life is major sensory overload for Scott, who has no friends to give them shelter (cf. THE NET (film), this Category). Finding his original computer teacher, Scott and Veil get access to a computer and through VR enter a cyberspace sequence, where Veil's file is marked with a painting of the photograph Veil took—and Someone wants to suppress. When Veil's file is deleted, Scott stays in cyberspace: he is unwilling to live life in the real world. See for theme of dangers of getting pulled into the computer (mostly, but not entirely, figuratively) and for imaging of cyberspace with cheap but serviceable TV SpFx that realize the space inside the machine. For the temptations of VR see "Hollow Pursuits" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation; for the more general temptation of a "Lotus Land," see the Star Trek episodes "The Apple" and "The Return of the Archons".