October 07, 2024
In “The Third Aunt from the Sun” episode of Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, Sabrina visits her Aunt Vespa, who lives in the Pleasuredome. Despite having everything she could possibly want, whenever she wants it, it turns out that Aunt Vespa is desperately lonely, and turns to a closet full of empty compliments to cheer herself up.
The entire episode is well worth watching as a preview of what virtual reality could be like and is available for free on Hulu. This, to me, sums up the whole idea of virtual reality.
Even in a perfect magical world, where you can point your finger and have literally anything you want, what really matters is the fundamentals — your relationships, whether you are making a difference, whether you are being creative.
Otherwise, you’re just getting high on another drug. And that gets old. If they don’t die of an overdose, people get tired of doing drugs. Old hippies quit their communes, cut their hair, settled down with family, kids, careers — building a life. Okay, some people never do grow up. I don’t think Sabrina’s aunt did.
The series Sabrina the Teenage Witch has whole mythology to go with the Other Realm. It’s not just the Pleasuredome and Cloud Nine. There are people living there, working there, going on skiing vacations on Mars, that kind of thing. And people go back and forth between the mortal realm and the other, magical realm. You can think of the entire series as a kind of glimpse into what a virtual reality future could be like. A second realm, of literally limitless magical possibilities.
