Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) A Virtual Murder (1993) User Reviews

Jessica Fletcher in cyber space

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 19 May 2018]

This MSW story takes place in fabled Silicon Valley in California where Angela Lansbury has written a story to be turned into a video game. She and computer juvenile genius Shawn Phelan also from Cabot Cove are at the company that Kevin Sorbo owns who is designing the game.

But Sorbo has problems of his own with partners and when during a party a rival turns up dead, he's looking good for it.

With young Mr. Phelan's help, Lansbury navigates the highways and byways of a virtual world. Believe it or not the solution to the murder lies there.

Just reading also about young Mr. Phelan and how this was his farewell performance, dead after a car crash and 4 years in a coma. How incredibly sad.

Virtual reality murder mystery? Yup and it's bonkers.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 14 May 2023]

Jessica is convinced by Silicon Valley's Michael Burke to submit a script for a virtual reality called killing at Hastings' rock, the game is glitchy and flawed, but Jessica tries to help find a solution, Burke is hampered by code developer James Lindstrom.

1993, a time of floppy hair, floppy discs, 2unlimited and the early years of Virtual Reality. A time where Murder, she wrote was probably still appealing to a more mature audience, I wonder if this one was devised to target, more specifically the younger viewers.

Sure, it's dated by today's standards, it looks pretty dull, and even for 1993, it seems a little underdeveloped, but the characters and mystery itself are actually really rather good.

James Lindstrom, quite the visionary, he'd have loved the way things are heading in terms of Artificial Intelligence, some incredible, but terrifying developments.

There are a few irritating scenes, that moment where Jessica guesses a password in about thirty seconds is enough to make you chuckle. I'm not totally convinced Jessica would have signed up to a game, she went nuts when her book was used for a film.

8/10.

If Door #1 Is Locked, Then Door #2 Must Hold the Prize Body

[WeatherViolet · 8/10 · 8 October 2009]

This episode marks the last appearance of Shawn Phelan, after a very brief six-year acting career in film and television.

Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) appears briefly, he questioning Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) about the development of video gaming, before transporting her to Boston Airport, her to travel to Silicon Valley, California, to prepare for a reception honoring the adaptation of her mystery "A Killing at Hastings' Rock" to a 3-dimentional participatory game.

The son of her friend Kylie, Michael Burke (Kevin Sorbo) heads Marathon Images operations, along with developers James Lindstrom (Ramy Zada), Kate Walden (Kate McNeil), Sharon Baskin (Julia Campbell), Alex Hooper (Shawn Phelan), and David Salt (Phil Morris) as developer/business manager.

As the team explains technical methods, Jessica applies her electronic goggles and gloves to experience her book's coming to life, with characters providing clues to a murder mystery, intended for the participant to solve.

Often in film and television, we observe the plot structure of "a play within a play," with characters portraying performers, who assume the identity of a stage character. Here, we find a video game within an episode, with performers' portraying animated figures, such as Jeremy Hastings (Art Cohan), Mr. Townsend (Danny Woodburn), Colonel Fleming (Wayne Bolton), Carrie Brandeis (Shoshana Henri), Servant Girl (Heaven Brooke) and Man in Restaurant (Ryal Haakenson).

But the program contains a glitch, causing Servant Girl to skip and repeat in place, along the lines of a broken record. James and Kate begin to cast blame around the room, each pointing to Sharon, Kate especially because of jealousy over shared designs on Michael Burke.

Young Alex volunteers to assist the agreeable Jessica in a script rewrite, thus providing the easiest resolution to amend the program in time for tomorrow's open house reception. However, one of the doors inside the virtual reality room remains locked, and Jessica asks for it to be remedied, lest tentative participants believe it to remain a shelled clue and, therefore, a rip-off.

That evening, Dan Porter, P.I. (Thomas Ryan) trails James Lindstrom to the offices of John Crowley / Charles Crowe (Allan Miller), at Redwood Concepts, a rival company of Marathon Images, with David Salt's following James to join in the meeting with John Crowley, to wheel and deal over the source codes which provide the basis for the video game. When he reports back to Michael Burke, Dan Porter ups the fees instead of revealing the identity of a new file (on David Salt).

Alex and Jessica rise to the challenge, as the team amends the game's problems in the nick of time for the reception unveiling. Everyone attempts to locate James Lindstrom's source codes' diskette, but as Michael Burke searches through James' desk, he handles a 22-calibre pistol beneath pages in the top drawer of the desk, when James enters his office to confront him.

When John Crowley shows up as an uninvited guest at the reception, Michael Burke has him ushered away from the premises. But, back inside the institute, when Kate ushers guest into virtual reality booths, the second door doesn't open. Alex Hooper, succeeds to unjam it, to reveal a body, which falls into the presence of the gathering.

Sergeant Ignacio Delcanto (Richard Yniguez) and Officer Rossi (Sherman Augustus) investigate the murder, with Sergeant Delcanto's expressed delight to meet a famous author-now-turned-video-scriptwriter, whom he encourages to assist in the investigation, but who has a plane to catch back to Boston, before she hears that Michael Burke has been arrested because the murder weapon contains his fingerprints.

Jessica, again, enlists young Alex's capable assistance in studying the institute's pager system and program for clues, by trying to unlock the virtual door, to identify virtually any suspect of "A Virtual Murder."

A look at a virtual reality game when concept was new

[FlushingCaps · 6/10 · 22 April 2023]

In viewing this episode, the old craft kit they used to advertise on TV comes to mind. I refer to the Bedazzler. I think the viewers here are supposed to be so bedazzled by the look at a virtual reality murder game that they ignore the ludicrous way the killer's guilt is revealed.

Jessica has written a script for some folks in the Silicon Valley to turn into a virtual reality game titled A Killing at Hastings Rock. I cannot escape mentioning how the game had very choppy, pixelated characters as Jessica looked around the room in testing the game using those special goggles most of us have now seen a few times, at least on TV shows. Thirty years later, the images would be laughably amateurish. I imagine the then-new, now-obsolete hard floppy discs these professional computer programmers used also draw guffaws from the youth of today.

There is an old Columbo episode where our detective is taught about how a video cassette recorder works, where the Lieutenant is amazed at the technology. Viewers decades later are perhaps bored, thinking Columbo must have been living in a cave.

Shortly after a body is discovered someone volunteers information to the police that seemed out of place-pointing the finger, to this viewer at least, directly at the speaker. The detective's reaction also seemed poor-assuming, as Perry Mason often said-facts not in evidence. (I am being purposefully vague so as to not clearly reveal the killer's identity.)

This one had all the usual elements: business-related intrigue with one or more people planning to leave one job for another, perhaps ruining the business where they now work; a couple of people romantically interested in the same third person; a young person whom Jessica befriends and who plays a key role in helping her solve the case; and a couple of red herrings to suspect, although I can't imagine too many viewers actually choosing them as the killers.

Accepting that this look at a new sort of video game was of high interest at the time, I must give it a decent score because it did take us away from much of the usual MSW type of business affairs. The weaknesses described do not totally ruin the enjoyability of the episode, so I am scoring it a 6.

Murderous virtual video gaming

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 10 November 2017]

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

As far as Season 10 episodes go, "A Virtual Murder" is in the top half. It's not a 'Murder She Wrote' classic, but it is a lot better than the previous two episodes "The Legacy of Borbey House" (decent) and "The Phantom Killer" (fairly underwhelming). Some of the story is on the convoluted side, particularly for anybody whose technological and making-of-video-game knowledge is fairly limited, and it wouldn't have hurt to have seen more Seth (though that he appeared is a delight still).

Still it is very entertaining and engaging with a good set up/concept and the denouement is not over-obvious or confusing nor is it acted poorly, that is just one of the assets that immediately makes "A Virtual Murder" a better episode than the previous one. The technological/video gaming aspects are done very well, and it was interesting and fun to see how Jessica is faring being up to date with the times.

Angela Lansbury is terrific, and while the guest supporting cast is not an amazing one all the actors are never less than competent and often good. It was fun seeing Kevin Sorbo.

Production values are slick and stylish. music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

Writing is thoughtful and amiable.

In conclusion, well done episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A virtual murder

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 2 June 2022]

Amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher is asked to help develop a murder-mystery video game and soon finds herself investigating a real murder. The victim is a rather paranoid and egotistical guy, who made some enemies, hence he gets shot in this rather serviceable episode made interesting by the technology and video gaming aspect. Check out Kevin Sorbo before he starred in Hercules TV series.

It seemed very high tech at the time.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 27 July 2023]

Very dated due to technology.

Just hacked into FBI computers.

"A Virtual Murder" is an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" that is supposed to be very high tech and cutting edge. When seen today, however, it seems very dated, as software, computers and video games have changed immensely since it was made in 1993.

Jessica has been hired to help write and test out a virtual reality murder mystery game. However, when the man responsible for writing the source code for the game is murdered, Jessica resorts to good old fashioned investigative skills to uncover the murderer.

The ugly, pixilated game you see in the show actually looks a lot like a few of the games which came out in the early 90s...so don't hold this against the show. What I do hold against it is the bizarre motivation for the murderer...it didn't make a ton of sense. But otherwise, it's a decent episode...though far from the best from season 10.

OK for the usual formulae but not for the Silicon Valley side

[temporalcoldwar24 · 4/10 · 26 March 2023]

At first I thought this could be interesting, even a nostalgic trip back to the tech of 1993. But the "VR" turns out to be normal video with processing on it to make it look pixellated ! The Silicon Valley angle is just there to supposedly make an interesting Murder She Wrote story that seems to simply be trying to riff off (badly) to VR inspired fare of the era such as Lawnmower Man (at least that had actual CGI in it). So called "VR" was quite primitive in 1993 by todays standards. However the engine that powers the game "Doom" was created in 1993. I would have been cool to have Angela Lansbury interacting with something in that but that was maybe just too "cutting edge" for the time.