Ok… I’m trying to remember what I learned from the fan group back in the 90s. I did find my Viewers Guide (publicity booklet with a lot of details about the series. I should scan and share that.), and a Polaroid photo with a post-a-note signed by Samoset offering me Duncan’s Tequila painting for $50.
Anyway, what I recall is they used different film for the real world and VR. I BELIEVE that real world footage is shot on film at 24p like regular TV was at the time and telecined to 29.97i. VR footage, on the other hand, IIRC was filmed using a different stock (possibly B&W) so they could colorize and manipulate it with the final modified version being in video format. So, although it’s all 29.97i, if you bob the VR footage you’ll find it to be 59.94 unique fields.
The conversion to PAL 25FPS means that there is a lot of blending that affects VR and real world footage differently.
If you are upscaling, I’d recommend going 720p60 since you can’t convert to 24p.