- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Apr 28, 1999
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
A neatly conceived show that borrows from sources like Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness" and George Orwell's "1984." The plot is hard to summarize thoroughly - you'd need an instruction manual for that - but it unfolds easily on screen. [8 Oct 1999, p.D12]
-
Harsh Realm looks to be capably acted and artfully creepy, but I'm not sure I care to get involved in another dark, paranoid drama from Chris Carter.
-
In its present ragged state, Harsh Realm is a jumble of great promise and great weaknesses - every bit as annoying as it is amazing. At its best, the series is stylish and clever. At its worst, well, things have a tendency to get pretty heavy-handed and obvious. [7 Oct 1999, p.1E]
-
Harsh Realm plays like a bald reworking of "The Matrix", complete with allusions to a coming savior, but without that film's exciting special effects or logical, unifying conceit. [8 Oct 1999, p.13E]
-
"Sleepwalkers," a short-lived NBC series from two seasons back, also asked viewers to care about characters who only dreamed that they were in peril. The sleepwalkers only drew a yawn from viewers, and it turned out that NBC programmers who thought the audience might actually care about such a situation were the ones who believed in fantasy. Fox may be repeating the delusion. [8 Oct 1999, p.E-10]
-
Chris Carter wants to hijack your brain. Again. And after shuddering through tonight's premiere of Harsh Realm on Fox, you may be ready to surrender.
-
Word of caution: The glum, occasionally promising Harsh Realm won't be for everyone. It's violent and often relentlessly bleak. [8 Oct 1999, p.1D]
-
The overall effect is dispiriting and off-putting. Maybe Mr. Carter knows where he's going with all this. It's doubtful, however, that many viewers will have the will to go with him. [8 Oct 1999, p.1C]
-
With time and understanding, maybe his Realm will prove a solid successor to "The X-Files," his earlier hit, but that's assuming that more than Carter's cultish core fans stick around long enough to make sense of this elaborate war game inside a super-secret government virtual-reality setup called Harsh Realm. [8 Oct 1999, p.55]
-
Unfortunately, the pilot doesn't flesh out the premise, making the episode little more than an average "Outer Limits." With all the special-effects possibilities of a virtual realm, "Santiago City" looks like the set of "Combat" with a high-tech fence around it. [8 Oct 1999, p.S34]
-
Having now seen it, I don't think I want to go there. [8 Oct 1999, p.H1]
-
It's an intriguing but emotionally sterile show, with flashy effects and flimsy characters.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 1 out of 1
-
Mixed: 0 out of 1
-
Negative: 0 out of 1
-
Jan 7, 2014