Baulko Bulletin Reviews: Virtual B15
It seems, to this humble television critic, that we are in a golden age of television. House of Cards; Breaking Bad; Game of Thrones – all sophisticated productions with high budgets garnering immense audiences removed from cinema screens. And now, a new and very worthy entry into this parthenon of televisual greatness – “VirtualB15”, a new series from the BHHS Maths Department.
Believe me when I say this: if you’re not following this riveting show, you’re sorely missing out. I was fortunate enough to come across it whilst preparing for a recent examination, and have been hooked. So how has a modest Youtube series become so immersive and engaging?
Well first of all, it’s the high production values, akin to all the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. It hits you from the very outset – this is no ordinary series. Whether it’s the brilliantly designed text boxes which frame any important formulas or the ample use of arrows, it’s obvious that no costs have been spared in ensuring the most immersive audience experience is created. Certainly, the dragons on Game of Thrones look positively amateur when compared to the amazingly realistic graph of y<√4-x featured in the episode “Regions in the Plane”:
And the lush, serendipitous scenery paying homage to traditional Japanese art in the Legend of Korra pales in comparison to Virtual B15’s recent illustration of the reciprocal graph of f(x).
The writing too, is both sharp and intelligent. Take, for example, a recent episode concerning half angle results (T07E05). In a surprise twist ending, in which the relevant textbook questions were revealed to be from Exercise “2B”, the episode’s writer weaved in a subtle yet powerful Shakespearean reference – “Let’s do the Hamlet exercise…or will we?” (alluding to the first line of Hamlet’s immortal soliloquy ‘to be, or not to be’). It’s undoubtedly an immensely witty pun, but the thing about VirtualB15 is, there’s always a deeper meaning. Just like Hamlet internally torments himself as to whether to submit to his internal afflicting hamartia or commit deserved regicide, we, as the audience are also forced to ask a similar, universal question: “Do we do the odd or even questions?”
Such deft control of the English language is also on full display in the controversial “Asinx + Bcosx = C” episode, when the exercise “2E” is described as “exercise ‘half a jolly good fellow’” (a reference, of course, the classic English language folk tune ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’). Eat your heart out Orwell!
But it’s not just brilliant writing that separates VirtualB15 from the rest – it’s also the piercing political commentary. A prime example is seen in the episode “Combinations”. After asking “How many committees are possible only containing males?”, the host follows up with a sharp, intelligent comment – “Look what happens by being sexist.” It’s an incisive and subversive critique of a pertinent social-political issue of our time, and further proof that VirtualB15 is a cut above all other programming.
But what an honour it would be to be involved in this production! It’s been said that only the top maths students are allowed access to filming, and they are notoriously tight-lipped about their involvement – many refuse to speculate on developments in upcoming episodes, admitting “I watch them sometimes”. Indeed no doubt many of the online forums will be scrambling for clues following the season finale of “Cartesian Geometry”, which ended abruptly due to the school holidays. There’s widespread speculation about where the series might go from here – will we see the return of Trigonometric Equations, or will new characters such as ∑ be introduced? Only time will tell.
But perhaps the most important part of VirtualB15, is the honest and open enthusiasm which radiates from the videos – whether it’s deriving a most general formula for differentiating inverse trig, or using permutations and combinations to find out how many tickets would need to be bought to guarantee a lottery win, the videos exude an infectious zeal which is indicative of a teacher who not only seems to go above and beyond to help students do well, but also has a genuine beyond the classroom passion for mathematics.
And for that alone, I give VirtualB15 five stars.
