The Tale of the Renegade Virus

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, October 1, 1994
Storyteller: Gary (Ross Hull)

Frame: As the Midnight Society gathers, Sam (Joanna Garcia) asks why Gary's late to the meeting. Tucker (Daniel DeSanto) informs them that Gary got caught up dealing with a computer virus that consumed his book report, forcing him to rewrite it. It's unspoken at the campfire, but it seems abundantly clear that Tucker is responsible for planting said virus. Gary then uses this virus to segue into his story, suggesting that, as scary as a computer virus can be, there's one computer we never want to get infected by a virus: our own brain.

Story: A kid named Simon (Christopher Redman) is friends with another kid named Evan (Micah John Gardener), but seems to enjoy being "above" him in several ways. One day at school, the pair heads to the computer lab to test out a new game created by one of their teachers, Mr. Poe —a virtual reality game that people can play not with a controller, but with their minds. Simon tries it out first, but soon finds that things are a bit glitchy, and it's all thanks to a "virus" (Paul Cagelet) that has taken control of the game and intends to use the very fictional VR technology to enter and take over Simon's brain.

Review: This episode is a guilty pleasure. It's by far one of the most dated episodes, considering the technology was so limited back then as compared to now. The internet was still in its infancy, and people used computers primarily for gaming or writing documents. It makes for an interesting time capsule that way. Beyond that, I love Cagelet's performance in this. You can tell he's having a blast with it, almost coming across as a Freddy Krueger type. So, despite being stuck in the past, it's an episode that many in my generation can enjoy today. I know I did. But again, this is in the guilty pleasure sense of things.

Final Rating: Spooked

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