The Realm of Never: Moratorium
If you had omniscience, you'd also want to have omnipotence.
Moratorium is an episode of The Realm of Never – a science-fiction drama series that plays on US cable access. The series attempts to blend the feel of 1950s television theatre with the science-fiction and fantasy overtones of The Twilight Zone. And, as part of this, the series is filmed live.
Myles Goddard (Darren O’Hare), a Senate intern, has been exposed to the Liresept virus, a biological weapon that has been unleashed, leading to a severe clampdown on the rights and liberties of the public.
When the film opens, he’s been removed to confinement in a military hospital, under the care of Dr. Beverly Mathias (Jacqueline Muro) who is waiting for him to come around so that she can make a diagnosis as to whether he has been infected with the treatable general strain of the virus or the far more lethal Strain 51. The brain imaging points to the virus being Strain 51, but for the final diagnosis, Dr. Mathias and her assistant, Wyndham (Jason Murphy) need to hear what Goddard has to say.
Live filming does, inevitably, place restrictions on what can and can’t be done and the resulting film is far more theatrical than cinematic. And I have to admit that, not being familiar with American TV theatre, the very static sets and exposition heavy dialogue threw me a bit. Indeed, there is so little movement here that the film could even work as a radio play.
However, when Myles Goddard wakes up the film really comes into its own.
Goddard has indeed been infected by Strain 51 and is told that he needs immediate treatment. But he rejects this because the side-effect of the virus is omniscience.
The bulk of the film is taken up with the debate between Goddard and Dr. Mathias and, while the premise is deliberately cheesy, the film is vindicated by a superb performance from Darren O’Hare who manages to nail both the social paranoia expressed by so many 1950s science-fiction films and the insight/paranoia of his character in this film.
But Moratorium is more than just homage to the past. By inserting some all too contemporary references to trading freedoms for security and an omnipresent and ever-watchful government, writer/director Christopher Del Gaudio effectively demonstrates the way in which well written and intelligent science-fiction can be used to talk about where we are, as a society, and where we are going.
Moratorium is a bit of an oddity and it’s deliberately dated look did take a bit of getting used to – for me at least. But once you get past that, what you have is a well scripted, superbly acted slice of science-fiction that really does achieve Del Gaudio’s aim of proving that even with the most limited of resources there is still plenty of room for creativity and innovation.
0 comments Wednesday 14 Mar 2007 | Paul Pritchard | Science Fiction
