Kathryn Morris UK

Reverie To Be VR Experience – April Fool

It was very disappointing to discover that the new NBC sci-fi-ish drama series Reverie that was due to mark Kathryn’s return to the small screen had been delayed again.

First it was picked up to series for the 2018/19 season nearly a year ago now. Then it wasn’t on the autumn/fall schedules and was announced as a 10-epside mid-season show. Just as we reached the expected broadcast start it appeared to have been pushed later again, probably until late June.

Well, KM UK has discovered that that date is unlikely to happen either. In fact the TV show will not now air at all. I know, that’s terrible! It is not all bad news though.

With the very rapid advancements in technology such as the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive headsets we understand that Reverie is instead going to be turned into a fully immersive VR experience. Remember that Steven Spielberg’s company Amblin is behind Reverie and the success of his new movie Ready Player One has shown that this is the way forward for digital entertainment. This will be the first time ever that a TV-style drama is to be made available in this format. New and highly advanced headsets will have to be used. Sony is working on bringing these devices to the public by the summer.

During each episode of Reverie you will at times be watching 3D videos of the cast (Sarah Shahi, Jessica Lu, Dennis Haysbert, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Kathryn) as a mere observer of the unfolding story line. Though you will be able to move around the scene to view it from what ever position and angle you like. In other sections you will be an active participant, acting alongside real-time rendered avatars of the actors. Actually standing right next to virtual Kathryn as she plays Monica Shaw of the DoD sounds almost too good to be true right?

Near photo-realistic computer graphics are becoming common place but the interweaving of filmed elements into an interactive 3D world has required two specially developed technologies. The first, ‘Flair Loops’, is an advanced filming technique for capturing the actors performances from all angles so you can observe them from any view point. With those are ‘Polar Foils’ which are metallic stick-on sensors that you place on key areas of your head to monitor your emotional state so the characters can react to you correctly. If you get scared they can try and calm you down. Fall asleep and they will try and rouse you.

As the show is about people losing themselves in a realistic VR world there are understandably some concerns that this could turn into a dangerous case of life imitating art. However, the NBC TV network is said to be putting things in place to prevent people spending too much time in the system. If the player is believed to be too immersed a substance called ‘Isoflora PL’ will be released into their nose. This has the effect of immediately making them fully aware of their physical surroundings, taking them out of the VR world.

Hopefully we’ll finally get to see Reverie in its new virtual form before the end of the year.

Update: As I’m sure most of you spotted very quickly this is my annual April Fool joke post.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – March 2018

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As it is the end of the month (nearly) it is time for updates on the careers of the main Cold Case cast other than Kathryn. She gets enough attention around here. Here is the news from March 2018.

We’re going to start with one our less frequent fliers: John Finn (John Stillman in CC). It is pilot season in TV land and NBC has ordered one called The Enemy Within. Starring Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter), Kelli Garner (Pan Am), and Raza Jaffrey (Spooks) the show is about a former CIA agent jailed as one of the biggest traitors in US history. She, Erica Wolfe, is released to help the FBI prevent serious cases of espionage. John is listed as playing Richard Bregman. It is not known if the character is to be a recurring one. In coming months we will no doubt find out more. In last month’s CCCC-up we talked about the release of the movie Bent in early March. That happened on the 9th. See the previous article for more details, including a link to the trailer.

Another less frequent appearer in these updates is Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera in CC). Jeremy was in a recent episode of the NBC (them again) series Taken. Somehow based on the movie of the same name the show starts yet another Brit abroad Clive Standen (Vikings) and Jennifer Beals (Flashdance). Airing on the 2nd of March, titled Absalom episode 5 of season 2 saw Jeremy play Detective Lyons. A cop again!

In combined Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) and Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) news, the series that saw them reunited (after the brilliant BrainDead of course), Gone, has started being broadcast here in the UK. It is on the Universal channel on Monday nights at 9pm. The first episode of the 12-part drama was shown on the 19th of March. Universal is available on cable and satellite platforms.

Limiting ourselves to just Tracie she continued her recurring role in the cross-service based drama series 9-1-1. Including the season finale last week. There were only 10 episodes in this mid-season run but the show has already been signed for a second season due to start in the autumn/fall. So far the news is that it will have 16 episodes in two runs of eight stretching into 2019. The show stars Angela Bassett (Black Panther), Peter Krause (Sports Night), Aisha Hinds (Under The Dome), and Connie Britton (Nashville) amongst others. Tracie plays Aisha’s characters partner, I think. Speaking of guest roles Tracie’s episode, called Gestalt (a German word often used in a similar way to holistic), of returning show-within-a-show show UnREAL aired on the 26th of March. And the final season of the Netflix show Love got its big release all in one go in early March. Tracie returned as the TV show producer in a handful of episodes.

KM UK Awards 2018

The KM UK Awards like to stay up to date with current trends, reflecting what is going on around us all. Some would call it it band-wagon jumping for comic effect, opportunist, or just lazy writing. And those people could be best described as… correct. It’s just a bit of fun after all.

There have been several high profile political movements this past year, denoted increasingly more regularly these days with a hash tag. #MeToo for instance was used in reference to women speaking out against abuse and discrimination they’ve suffered for far too long.

Here at KM UK we will certainly not be trivialising such important issues. Instead we will be going old school and referencing a television phenomenon from the recent-ish past, that is still very much in the news today: You’re Fired! (Ironically said by a boss to a candidate going through a prolonged televised job interview and therefore was not in a position to be fired.) It feels like everyday at the moment someone in a high profile role is getting fired. Either they’ve done something wrong and getting rid of them is seen as serving a purpose. Or, they’ve done the right thing and that reflects badly on someone higher up. It also means we can used the same icon as last year

Welcome to the 2018 KM UK Awards.

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Reverie WonderCon Screening Date

As reported by KM UK last week the new NBC sci-fi-ish drama series Reverie will be getting a special preview screening at the upcoming WonderCon convention in Anaheim, California.

In the past couple of days a full schedule of the 3-day event has been released so we can now pin-point when and where that screening will take place.

The whole event kicks of at lunchtime on Friday the 23rd of March 2018. Sci-fi fans aren’t morning people Turn up a little late and you’ll miss Reverie as it is scheduled for 3:30pm on that first day.

The screening will take place in the recently opened North section of the Anaheim Convention Center. First used in September 2017 this annexe adds a significant amount of extra space and is accessible via a covered walkway from the main three halls. The room in question is called North 200A.

As things stand it does not look like any of the actors or producers will be attending but who know what might change in the next two weeks.

So that is Friday, 23rd March, 3:30pm, room North 200A. Got it?

The Comic-Con website HERE has all the necessary details.

Reverie @ WonderCon Anaheim 2018

Well at least some people are going to get to see Reverie this month.

A preview screening of the show pilot/first episode will be screened for attendees of the WonderCon Anaheim 2018 event.

Running for the long weekend 23rd-25th March the Comic-Con-related convention returns to the northern Californian, Orange County city of Anaheim for 2018. It is primarily a comic book show but has expanded to include films/TV based on superhero characters. They’ve obviously stretched things further to include a TV series like Reverie.

The specific timings on the Reverie screening have not yet been revealed but for now more details on the event and tickets are available on the Comic-Con website HERE.