Harsh Realm characters

Harsh Realm

Harsh Realm is a science fiction television series about humans trapped inside a virtual reality simulation. It was developed by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files and Millennium, and began airing on the FOX Network on October 8, 1999. The series fared poorly in the ratings and was removed from the schedule after just three of its nine episodes had aired. The remaining six episodes premiered on the FX Network. Repeats of the series will begin airing Fall 2007 on CBC Country Canada.

The term "harsh realm" originates from the "grunge speak" hoax of 1992, in which it meant 'bummer'.

The show was loosely based on a comic book by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette. When the creators noticed the credits read "Created by Chris Carter", they sued Fox to get properly credited. The credits were changed to read "Inspired by the Harsh Realm comic book series, Created by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette, Published by Harris Publications, Inc."

The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Setting

"Technology and the threat of nuclear annihilation in the last half of the 20th century have changed the world forever. They changed war and its consequences, as they have forever changed the battlefield and the warriors who must still fight there. It's been estimated that a nuclear device the size of a small suitcase, smuggled in and detonated in New York City would kill several million people instantly and many times that amount with radioactive fallout. This scenario prompted the DoD to create the project code named Harsh Realm. Using the 1990 census, satellite cartography and other classified data, the creators of Harsh Realm have created a virtual reality where landscapes and people are identical to our world, down to every man woman and child. By putting players into this simulated crisis scenario..." —An introductory video to Harsh Realm viewed by Tom Hobbes in the pilot episode, spoken by Gillian Anderson, who was Agent Scully in Carter's most famous show, The X-Files.

Harsh Realm is a military simulation programmed by the US Army and went online October 13, 1995. For several hours, there was no distinction between our world and Harsh Realm. At noon, a nuclear bomb the size of a briefcase was detonated in the simulated New York City of Harsh Realm. Four million people were killed instantly. ("Camera Obscura") From that point onwards, Harsh Realm became a training simulation for a post-apocalyptic disaster scenario. With this premise, Harsh Realm borrowed liberally from such genres as Cyberpunk, alternate history, and Fantasy.

Lieutenant Tom Hobbes is unknowingly thrust into this world by his superiors with one mission: to kill Omar Santiago. Along the way, he meets fellow soldiers sent into the game and alternate versions of people he knew in the real world. Tom Hobbes quickly finds companions such as Mike Pinocchio (a cynical long-time resident of Harsh Realm), Florence (a mute with mysterious powers), and Dexter (an alternate version of his real world dog).

Lieutenant Tom Hobbes' target is Sergeant-Major Omar Santiago, the highest scorer in Harsh Realm. Santiago controlled five eastern seaboard states in a police-state dictatorship and was actively conquering more from a base of power, Santiago City. Its exact real world location is unknown but is located fairly close to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Santiago City is a police-state dictatorship.

From his new companions, Tom Hobbes learns that General Santiago has in fact hijacked Harsh Realm. Hobbes is merely the latest soldier in a long line of soldiers sent to kill General Santiago. Hobbes also learns from a mysterious "ally", Inga Fossa, that General Santiago is planning the ultimate act of terrorism in the real world so that Harsh Realm is all that remains.

It is this world that Tom Hobbes must survive, defeat General Santiago, save the real world, and somehow return to his real life and his fiancée, Sophie Green.

"It's just a game." —Harsh Realm tagline.

Episode Information

Characters

Tom Hobbes (Scott Bairstow)

Lieutenant Thomas F. Hobbes was close to his discharge from the Army when he was called to do one last mission and sent into the virtual reality simulation known as Harsh Realm. He left behind in New Jersey his fiancée Sophie Green. They had planned to move to California. He was decorated for saving the life of his friend Waters when they served together in Sarajevo in 1994. In the realm, Hobbes was reunited with the virtual character of his dog Dexter. He also came upon the dying virtual copy of his mother, Katherine, at the same time she was dying of cancer in the real world. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio. He is named for 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes. His gun is an Walther P99. Hobbes originally had a Heckler & Koch P7 pistol in the Pilot episode before moving onto the SIG Sauer P226 pistol and onto the Walther P99.

Mike Pinocchio (D.B. Sweeney)

Specialist-4 Mike Pinocchio served in Operation Desert Storm. After that, he served in Yugoslavia, where he was severely injured by a land mine. The loss of his leg and eye prompted him to volunteer to go into Harsh Realm (in which Pinocchio has neither injury). In the Realm, he worked for Santiago before presumably faking his own death and going to live outside the fence. He drives a modified 1970s era Chevrolet Chevelle. His gun is an Heckler & Koch MP5K PDW.

Florence (Rachel Hayward)

Florence is mute and a VC ("virtual character"). She has the ability to heal injuries that occur within the game (not pre-existing conditions coded into the game). She was a member of a group known as the Sisters, all of whom were mute healers. But she left the religious group and took up arms. Her gun is a Colt Commando.

Omar Santiago (Terry O'Quinn)

In the real world, Santiago is a Sergeant Major in the US Army and was the most-decorated combat veteran to serve in Southeast Asia. He retired, but apparently that retirement took him to Harsh Realm, where he holds the rank of General in the Republican Guard and is working from his Santiago City headquarters to take over the United States, with a United States of Santiago. Pinocchio claims that Santiago is able to go in and out of the game. The US government in the real world wants him dead. His plans are said to involve destroying the real world so that Harsh Realm is all that remains.

Mel Waters (Max Martini)

Although they were best friends in the real world, Waters and Hobbes are at odds in Harsh Realm. First Hobbes finds that Waters married Sophie's virtual character. Waters also works for Santiago as well as holding the rank of Major in the Republican Guard (Waters' real world military rank was Sergeant).

Inga Fossa (Sarah-Jane Redmond)

She works with the military in Fort Dix, New Jersey. She can come and go as she pleases between Harsh Realm and the real world, where she approached Sophie Green with information. She has a past connection to Pinocchio. Her motives in Harsh Realm are unclear, having also worked with Santiago, Waters, and aiding Tom Hobbes. "Inga Fossa" translates to "in the trench" in Latin. Redmond appeared in the 2008 film The X-Files: I Want to Believe as a character referred to on-screen as "Agent Fossa", possibly a reprisal of the character.

Sophie Green (Samantha Mathis)

Sophie is Hobbes' pregnant fiancée, left behind in the real world. She has two sisters and a brother named Sam. The "virtual character" version of Sophie within Harsh Realm briefly becomes Hobbs' ally until she is gunned down by Waters.

Harsh Realm lawsuit

A lawsuit filed by the creators of the Harsh Realm comic book series that was licensed by Fox and Carter as the basis for the TV series became a precedent setting case. In it, Fox attorneys argued that Carter's sole "written by" credit was not only warranted, but required under the rules of the Writer's Guild of America (WGA). The judge in the case disagreed, saying "...in response to the comic book authors’ request for a preliminary injunction, Judge Martin found that “While there are substantial differences between the comic books and the television series, a trier of fact could find that it is misleading to represent Chris Carter as the creator of ‘Harsh Realm’ without giving adequate recognition to the role [Hudnall and Paquette] played in its creation.”

Fox argued – with the support of the WGA – that it could not give Hudnall and Paquette the credit they demanded, because of the WGA agreement. “The problem with this argument,” Judge Martin responded, “is that [Hudnall and Paquette] are not members of the WGA and are not bound by its contract. If the listing of the credits violates [their] right under the Lanham Act, the fact that the violation is pursuant to a contract with a third party is no defense.”

Harsh Realm (TV series) vs. Harsh Realm (comic book)

In the comic book (on which the television series is based), a detective named Dexter living in a dystopian city is sent into a High Fantasy world complete with elves, goblins, and werewolves. This world (and many others) are run by a corporation which sells entry into these worlds as an escape from the city. Dexter is sent into Harsh Realm with a mission to track down the missing son of two parents and in a parallel to the television series, this individual also seeks to take over Harsh Realm (albeit with fantastic powers rather than military power).

Differences:

Harsh Realm in the television show is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Harsh Realm in the comic book is a High Fantasy world, one of many different types of playable environments. Ironically, the environment players of Harsh Realm actually live in is more similar to the Harsh Realm of the TV series than the virtual Harsh Realm in the comic.
The television show added a X-Files-esque conspiracy, the details of which were never revealed
The television show added Cyberpunk-inspired touches to its world mechanics

Similarities:

There are several scenes in the comic, depicted as 2-page splash panels, that are almost identical to scenes in the TV series from episodes with the same numbers as the issue of the comic the scene comes from. The town market scene in issue 2 for instance, is very similar to the market scene in episode 2. Another very close approximation of an actual scene in the comic is a bar scene in episode 5.
The mechanic of sending a detective into Harsh Realm to fish out someone who is trying to dominate the realm is identical to the primary mechanic of the TV series, though dressed in more contemporary production design.

The television series plays homage to the comic book by naming Tom Hobbes' dog, Dexter.

Trivia

The chair Hobbes sits in to enter Harsh Realm has "siege" and "perilous" on its armrests. See Siege Perilous.
The crossed swords logo of Santiago's army is an ancient symbol for conflict.