Web Series Review: Heroes of the North

Status: One Season with 19 episodes completed so far
Credits: Larry Vinette (The Canadian), Edith Labelle (Fleur-de-Lys), Anderson Bradshaw (8-Ball), Vanessa Blouin (Nordik), John Fallon (The Black Terror), Brad Carmichael (Major Pearson)

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis:  This web series follows a Canadian superhero group known as Heroes of the North which consists of The Canadian (powers: super-strength and stamina, electrostatic shield), Fleur-de-Lys (powers: electricity generating gauntlets), 8 Ball (powers: skilled martial artist, 8 ball grenades and other weapons) , Nordik (powers: bracelets with paralyzing neurotoxin, immunity to cold), and The Black Terror (powers: nanotechnologically enhanced strength).  They are recruited together as a team by Major Pearson who needs them to help with mounting threats against Canada (and the world) such as the sinister Madame Doom, the criminal organization Medusa, and the pro-Quebec terrorist organization the New FLQ.

Review/Commentary: I stumbled upon this web series when I noticed the release of the Season 1 DVD just a couple of weeks ago.  I hadn’t heard about the series previously, so I decided to check it out online and found myself oddly drawn into it despite its less-than-stellar productions values.  The series has produced nineteen episodes so far (the twentieth is on the way) and several comic books that elaborate on the story chronicled across the webisodes.  The show’s website also offers extensive profiles on all the principal characters which provide some good insights into their backstories and motivations.  The series starts out by introducing us to the five main characters of this Canadian Justice League of sorts, then it takes a step back and gives us a glimpse of the first superhero of the north, the Canadian Shield (consider him a Canuck Captain America).  Then it launches into several story threads each dealing with the multiple threats that the Heroes of the North must contend with.

There’s actually a heck of a good concept within this web series with a rich universe of characters and interesting enough inter-twining storylines.  You just have to overlook its subpar production values which fall below the level of a poor B-Movie and very much fit the perception that many people have of web series as cheap and amateurish.  Basically, think of what you would get if you rounded up a group of cosplayers from your local comic con and tried to put together your own superhero TV series.  But then the entire crew approaches the whole thing with such conviction, that more often than not the series rises above its limitations.  And to me, classifying something as a cheap B-Movie doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.  I can enjoy cheesy if it’s got heart.  Hey, I was a big fan of classic Doctor Who and it doesn’t get much cheesier than that!  And Heroes of the North definitely has an addicting quality about it and it just seemed to click with me.  Maybe it was the eye candy of the female characters (they’ve recruited some seriously hot actresses and clad them in some rather complementary skin-tight duds).  Maybe it just seemed like there was more here beneath the surface than what their budget could adequately portray.  Or maybe it's because I've always had an inexplicable draw to Canadian superheroes since the days of the Captain Canuck comic book (and I loved the original Alpha Flight as well).  But I can definitely say that I liked it.

The series borrows heavily from many of the expected superhero tropes, but it does it well enough that it doesn’t just feel like a complete rip off of what has come before it.  And one of the things I like the most about it is that these aren’t namby-pamby superheroes whose motto is that they won’t kill no matter what.  Nope, they acknowledge that the bad guys are a pretty dangerous lot and there’s bullets flying and heads a’cracking left and right and plenty of people biting the dust.  Not that it’s some sort of far right wing let’s-just-kill-all-the-criminals tale, the series just doesn’t pull any punches.  I also really liked the retro episodes where we see the exploits of the Canadian Shield back in WWII.  That, in my opinion, could work as its own stand-alone series.

And the comic book expansion on the web series isn’t just some half-hearted attempt to link it to the medium that inspired it.  These deliver some pretty good stories (what I’ve read so far) and some damn fine artwork and they can stand on their own.  You can view them from the website as web comics, though I found that rather clunky.  You can also download them in pdf format at a nominal charge and they have several print edition omnibuses of the comics available as well (at a reasonable price, though the shipping costs are a bit hefty).  It’s a shame that the comics haven’t received more notice here stateside, because they measure up well to the books the major publishers currently crowd the stands with.

They have the makings of a potential franchise with Heroes of the North, and I believe that it has developed a bit of a following in its home country.  It would be really nice to see this one catch on so that they could get some more funding and improve the production values.  Or perhaps the Space channel in Canada would be interested in picking it up as a series.  And I’d like to see the comics keep coming out as well.  Consider the web series a guilty pleasure and the comics a gem that has flown under the radar so far.  Both are definitely worth checking out, just understand that the web series is a rather cheesy affair and rather rough around the edges.

Links/More Info:  As mentioned, you can get a fair amount of back story on the characters at the show’s website, and you can watch all of the episodes and read several of the web comics.  You can also go to the store from there to buy the comics.  The episodes are all available on the show’s YouTube channel as well.  The first season also came out on DVD just recently, though it’s already out of stock at Amazon and the show’s website.  I assume that it just sold out pretty quickly and they will replenish inventory as soon as possible. 

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Web Series Review: Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis:  A young William Adama has just graduated from the academy and signs on with the Battlestar: Galactica expecting to receive an assignment as a Viper pilot in the war against the Cylons.  However, he is disappointed to learn that he will instead be piloting a Raptor and is given a straightforward “milk run” as his first assignment.  He and is co-pilot Coker are sent to deliver cargo and return with supplies, but are surprised to find that their cargo is actually a passenger, software engineer Dr. Beka Kelly.  Once they depart from the Galactica, she gives them new orders  to rendezvous with the Battlestar: Archeron which is currently located near Cylon space.  When they arrive there, though, they find that it has been destroyed and they encounter four Cylon raiders.  They manage to fight off the enemy ships then receive orders to jump to a new location where they rendezvous with a “ghost fleet” comprised of ships previously thought lost in battle.  They hook up with the Battlestar: Osiris which escorts them to the planet Djerba in Cylon territory where Dr. Kelly plans to upload a virus that will incapacitate the Cylons and hopefully turn the tide of the war. 

Review/Synopsis:  This “web series” is actually just Syfy’s airing of the intended pilot for the Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome prequel series that never materialized.  They broke up the pilot into 10 webisodes (thought they are run in pairs) which offers a first look at the movie before they will air it in full on Syfy in February of 2013 and also release it on DVD.  I’m not certain at this point if this is just a way of burning off a failed pilot, while attempting to make it seem like more of an event, or if they are trying to generate some buzz for a possible continuation of this story.

Despite some claims that I previously heard that this was always intended to be a web-series, the high level of its production values suggests otherwise.  Blood and Chrome appears to have the same sort of budget as a BSG or Caprica episode, and it would have cost even more than a typical episode because of the initial startup costs associated with a pilot.  And the fact is that a model just has not been established yet where a web series with that level of production values can sustain itself from the limited revenue available from internet streaming.  So I don’t see any scenario where we will see ongoing Blood and Chrome webisodes showing up on the internet in the coming months or years.  There’s a chance that Syfy could decide to pick this up as a TV series if the web series/TV broadcast generate enough interest.  But I just don’t see how an ongoing web series that sustains this level of production values would be financially viable.

Do I think this pilot/web series sets the stage for a decent ongoing show?  Yes I do, even if it’s nowhere near as hard-hitting as BSG and I found a lot of flaws with it.  Much of what Blood and Chrome delivered seemed all too familiar.  We have the hotshot pilot in William Adama who’s eager to make a name for himself but gets his ego blown when he gets assigned to a mundane mission.  Then we have the cynical, disengaged veteran that Adama is partnered with who has only a short time left on his tour of duty and who has no interest in heroic missions.  But then they find themselves unexpectedly in the face of danger and both rise to the occasion and overcome the odds against them.  And on and on as the story throws us one genre trope after the next.  But at least is does it with conviction, without seeming too derivative, and it also successfully channels that same grim ambiance that set BSG apart from so many other sci fi shows (and that Caprica could never quite tap into).

Blood and Chrome has its flaws, but that’s not uncommon with a pilot and that’s why it’s hard to judge based on that alone.  What I do see is a lot of potential for future stories.  The war with the Cylons offers plenty of storylines to tap into and I liked the idea of the “ghost fleet” as well.  And it just felt like BSG and seems to offer the prospects of a much more satisfying prequel series than Caprica (which actually started as a concept with no ties to BSG).  I would definitely like to see more of Blood and Chrome, and I’m sure they could quickly iron out the kinks and get this one to follow more closely in the path of BSG.

So what are the chances of this continuing on as a series?  It’s hard to say at this point.  It hasn’t set any records for online viewing; the first episode currently shows over 2.5 million hits on YouTube, but subsequent episodes are considerably less.  And even the 2.5 million number is nowhere near record-breaking.  I’m sure there’s videos of a baby falling and hurting himself or a cat playing the piano that have had plenty more hits than that on YouTube.  Of course, if the TV airing in February scores well, that could help its cause, but the impression I have gotten from what I have read suggests that Syfy already considers it a moribund project.

That aside, BSG fans should definitely check it out.  It will definitely satisfy your jones a least a little bit for some new BSG, and if it does get enough support it could lead to a revitalization of that franchise.  You can watch starting with the first episode on YouTube at this link.

Buy Battlestar: Galactica on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com:

Web Series Review: Suck and Moan

Status: One Season with 10 episodes completed so far
Credits: Brendon Fong (Writer/Director/Creator), Eric Hailey (Henry), Carmen Elena Michell (Myra), Joel Bryant (Mac), Chris Mollica (Ed), Kyle Eliason (Harold)

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: In this web series, two sub-genres collide (vampires and zombies) with hilarious results. The vampires in the series look like normal people who have integrated themselves into our society while keeping their true nature a secret so that they can go about feeding on humans unhindered. The zombies have arrived as the results of a pandemic (though some argue it is not a pandemic and that it is actually hardly worse than the Black Death of the Middle Ages), and their rampage threatens to curtail the food source of the vampires. Oh, and one of the vampires attempted to feed on a zombie (not realizing what it was) and now appears to be infected. But how exactly does zombieism affect the immortal undead?

Review/Commentary: This fun series takes great delight in skewering both the vampire and zombie genres, and it does so with high doses of wit, demonstrating both brains and a bite with its humor (sorry, couldn’t resist). It focuses mostly on a group of vampires (actually, a support group of the bloodsuckers) as they try to decide the best way to deal with the situation at hand. They debate on what parts of zombie lore from the many movies they have seen are true (seeing as they didn’t realize zombies could exist to begin with), then they start debating on what other supernatural creatures are real as well. And the series jumps around from one hilariously deadpan conversation to the next (taking many stabs at the Twilight style vampires) while also mixing in bits of action as the vampires work on thinning out the zombie hoards.  And whereas some comedy web series (or network sitcoms or big screen movies for that matter) have few laugh out loud lines, this one just keeps them coming with plenty of ringers in each episode (which run about four to five minutes).  I especially loved the part where several vampires debated over whether myth about vampires having to be invited into a house is real, while all are reluctant to test it out.

The series has some pretty cheesy special effects (compared to professional productions) and the acting comes up short from time to time, but it’s still first rate for a web series and one of the funniest things I have seen in a while.  I actually would much rather watch this than quite a number of the “professional” offerings the networks regularly throw at us, particularly ABC's horrid aliens-in-the-suburbs sitcom The Neighbors.

Vampire and zombie fans alike should enjoy Suck and Moan and pretty much anybody who enjoys a well written, wry comedy series will like it as well. I would rate this high on the list of web series that I have seen so far and consider it a must-watch show.  They have completed ten episodes of the first season with more on the way.

Links/More Information:  You can watch the entire series and get more information about it at its website at this link.  You can also watch the show at it's YouTube channel at this link.

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Web Series Review: The Vault

Status: One Season Ongoing with 9 episodes so far (plus Supplemental Episodes)
Credits: Aaron Hann (Creator/Writer/Director), Mario Miscione (Creator/Writer/Director),Shane Spalione, Lilit Arakelyan, Omar Najam, Barry Warrick

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: This web series delivers a mock reality/competition series taking place in 2016 in which a group of college students are competing for a multi-million dollar prize.  The series is supposedly running on a network that has devoted its programming twenty four hours a day for the seven days of the competition.  Each of the participants is in a separate room, all of which are adjoined together in a grid, and each room has some item of interest.  The items seem quite random and include such things as a stack of fortune cookies, an exercise bike, a marker board, a bunch of clocks, etc.  Linking everybody together is Henry in a room which has a switchboard that can connect with one or multiple rooms depending on which button(s) he presses.  As the game starts out, he thinks there are only ten participants, but by the end of the first episode, he discovers the number is actually 150.  He begins contacting each person to find out what item is in their room and he has the girl with the marker board keep track of these on the grid.  The assumption is that they must somehow find out how to use all of the items properly to solve the puzzle of the game.  However, a tremor rocks the complex and one of the people who claims to have been placed in the game as a mole insists that something is wrong and that he no longer has contact with the outside.  Now, what started as a game may be turning into a life and death situation.

Review/Commentary:  The Vault has proved an interesting web series so far by blending elements that we have seen in previous sci fi productions like Cube and Lost.  Of course it doesn’t delve into the horror elements of the former or the intricate storylines of the latter, at least not yet, but it has a passing similarity to both of those.  The mystery of the game and the different rooms with their arbitrary contents provides an intriguing enough premise that could actually carry the story for quite a while.  Unfortunately, early on the series seemed to drag and feel somewhat padded, which is never a good thing for a web series.  There was just not much sense of suspense as the series worked its way through its first few episodes, but that has changed to some degree in the later episodes.  The change of scenario with the tremors rocking the complex and the uncertainty of what has happened beyond the walls has finally given the series something more than just a casual mystery to solve and my waning interest has been piqued again.

The performances have all been solid so far, with Henry providing us with a strong and likeable central figure and all of the other characters differentiating themselves well enough so far.  And the production values of the show are good as well.  It hasn’t relied on special effects thus far, but the sets all look professional enough, not like cheesy throw-togethers from an amateur film.  It may lack the intensity and story depth of some of the better sci fi web productions that I have watch like Pioneer One, Cell: The Web Series, or Ark, but it still shows promise and it’s one that I will keep an eye on, though I would definitely like to see them pick up the pace a bit.

The series has produced nine episodes so far of around ten minutes each, and it has three prologue episodes, an Episode 0, and three interstitial episodes (1.5, 2.5, and 3.5) with all of those running usually just a couple of minutes each.  It began streaming episodes over a year ago and after a six month break between episode 5 and 6 it resumed again to deliver another four installments (and it appears to be on break again now).  It’s worth checking out, even if I don’t consider it quite at the level of some of the better sci fi web series that I have watched like the ones mentioned above.  But it could develop into somewhat of a gem as long as it avoids too much meandering, and I believe that genre fans will find it worth watching. 

Links:  The show’s website has some information available, but not too much.  You can watch an introduction to the web series at this link to get a good idea of what to expect.  And to watch the full series, including the ancillary episodes, go to the show’s YouTube channel at this link.  They have also recently added annotations to the first five episodes, which provide some additional information to the story.  I have not gone back and watched these yet, but if you are new to the series, you might want to start out with these.  They are available at the show’s YouTube channel as well.

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Web Series Review: Red vs. Blue

Status: Nine Seasons and Three Mini-Series Completed
Credits: Matt Hullum (Creator/Writer/Director/Voice Actor: Sarge), Burnie Burns (Creator/Writer/Director/Voice Actor: Lopez), Gustavo Sorola (Simmons), Geoff Ramsey (Grif), Dan Godwin (Donut)
Winner IAWTV Awards: Best Animated Series

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Red vs. Blue is a comedy animated web series that takes a stab at first person shooter games (like Halo from which it borrows its footage) while also acting as a parody on the science fiction genre and life in general. The basic premise (for the first five seasons) centers on armored soldiers from two teams, the Red and the Blue, who have set up bases in Blood Gulch and whose sole purpose is to destroy each other, even though there’s not a lot of shooting going on. For the most part, the series gives us the mundane, off-kilter conversions of the troops as they wait for orders or carry out the most recent routine instructions given to them. And the fact is that the soldiers don’t really care about killing each other (except for Sarge), they just want to get through each day without suffering much in the way of personal damage.

Review/Commentary: This web series, which first appeared all the way back in 2003, is made with the machinima process taking footage from the Halo video games. Machinima is an animation technique that uses the graphics engines from a video game to produce the visuals and it syncs the movement of the characters with the dialogue (you can read more about it at Wikipedia). Creators Matt Hullum and Burnie Burns first produced the series with the intention of it going about six to eight episodes. But it became an immediate hit on the internet and Bungie Studios (creators and owners of the Halo games) allowed them to continue to use the footage from their games with no license fee as it brought good attention to their products. The original series, The Blood Gulch Chronicles went for five seasons and was followed by three mini-series and four more seasons with another due out this year.

Somehow Red vs. Blue slipped under my radar until the IAWTV Awards brought the series to my attention, but I found rather liked it once I stumbled upon it. As the show has a very healthy compliment of episodes (somewhere around 200), I have not watched the whole thing but I have sampled quite a bit of it. And it’s definitely an enjoyable little romp livened up by the droll dialogue that provides the main focus of the episodes. Of course some of the lines just seem to pass by without much notice, and others can be quite dry or maybe overly subtle, but each episode usually delivers at least one or two laugh out loud moments. A note though that even though this series has generated multiple seasons each with ongoing story arcs, Red vs. Blue is best viewed in small bites. The mundane dialogue of soldiers who don’t really want to be fighting each other can be quite witty at times, but with the lack of much else in the way of action it quickly gets old in large doses. Still, this is definitely a must-see for video game fans, and sci fi fans in general will definitely enjoy it as well.

Links/More Information: You can watch the entire Red vs. Blue series at the website for Rooster Teeth (the show’s production company) as well as its YouTube channel. The entire series (up through Season 9) is also available on DVD. And you can find extensive information on the series and its characters over at its Wikipedia entries.

Watch Red vs. Blue at the Rooster Teeth Website

Watch Red vs. Blue at its YouTube Channel

Read Extensively About the Show on Wikipedia at its Series Entry and its Characters Entry

Buy Red vs. Blue on DVD from Amazon.com:

Web Series Review: Riese: Kingdom Falling

Status: One Season Completed Totaling 10 Episodes
Credits: Ryan Copple (Creator/Writer), Kaleena Kiff (Creator/Writer/Director), Christine Chatelain (Riese), Sharon Taylor (Empress Amara), Ben Cotton (Magister Herrick), Alessandro Juliani (Garin)

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis:  This sci fi/fantasy/steampunk hybrid web series focuses on the title character Riese, a former princess who is now on the run after her cousin Amara staged a coup and killed the rest of the royal family. Riese wanders across the lands of Eleysia with her wolf companion Fenrir as both Empress Amara and the religious cult known as the Sect track her down because she presents a threat to the grand designs of each. And meanwhile, a resistance movement battles against Amara’s armies as they also search for Riese hoping that she will serve as a leader and inspiration to their cause.

Review/Commentary: Riese: Kingdom Falling is an original web series created by Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff which Syfy took interest in back in 2009 after five episodes had been completed.  The network purchased the broadcast rights and an additional five episodes were produced with the entire first season then airing on Syfy.com, where it is still currently available for viewing.

If the basic rundown of the plot above has a familiar ring to it, that is because the series cobbles together some well-tread fantasy elements along with names straight out of Norse mythology (no actual connection established as of yet), but it adds a unique twist to these by placing the story in a steam-punk setting and it throws in a bit of Orwellian paranoia and anxiety to give it an even darker edge. So while Riese may seem derivative at times, it still throws in just enough in the way of new elements to set it apart from the pack and keep the viewer (myself at least) intrigued.

The production is of course confined by the budgetary restrictions of a web-series, but it makes the most of what it has and avoids the extreme cheesiness of some of the more amateur productions on the web. And it even throws in a few decent CGI shots to gussy up the edges here and there. The acting is okay for the most part, not spectacular but it never derails the production. And Amanda Tapping (Stargate: SG-1, Sanctuary) even lends her voice to the narration, though she provides a rather distant and dispassionate reading. Nothing against Tapping, but I would have much rather had one of the characters of the story, perhaps Riese, provide the voice-over instead. Also, Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar: Galactica) shows up in a few episodes as one of the members of the resistance, and Stargate: Altantis' Ben Cotton lends his talent to the series as well.

Overall, I consider Riese a decent web series and one that has some potential, but I wouldn't place it among the upper echelon of web productions I have viewed thus far like Pioneer One and Cell: The Web Series. The steam-punk setting gives the production its unique atmosphere and that offers the series some potential future territory to explore. But then that's assuming that more episodes will come at some point.  Syfy aired the series on their website back in 2009, and I'm assuming that was a test to see if it had legs to jump to an ongoing television series, sort of like what Sanctuary did.  Nothing has emerged since then, though, as far as either a television series or more episodes of the web series.  But hopefully we will at least get a continuation on the Internet because I think the series could grow into a decent genre entry (and I'd rank it above other Syfy fare like Warehouse 13, Being Human, and Haven).

 It's worth checking out, and if you are new to web-series, this is a good place to start because it’s a quick watch (the eps run between six and ten minutes each) and it’s not as rough around the edges as some other Internet productions. Just don’t go in expecting the same production values that you would see on a Prime Time television series (even one from the cable channels), and you should not be disappointed.

Links:  Riese: Kingdom Falling is still available for viewing on Syfy's website and it is also available over at Hulu.com.  It's YouTube channel only has clips now, and it doesn't appear that the show's official website is available anymore.

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Web Series Review: The Mercury Men

Status: One Season Completed Totaling 10 Episodes
Credits: Christopher Preksta (Creator/Writer/Director), Mark Tierno (Edward Borman), Curt Wootton (Jack Yaeger), Amy Staggs (Grace)
Winner IAWTV Awards: Best Directing (Drama), Best Visual Effects, Best Supplemental Content, Also Nominated for Best Editing

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: This web-series focuses on dour government worker Edward Borman (played by Mark Tierno) who finds himself thrust in the middle of a plot by the Mercury Men (beings of pure light from the planet of . . . well . . . Mercury) to pull the Moon into the Earth and destroy the human race. It seems that these beings see humanity as a threat and believe the best way to deal with this danger is to wipe us out of existence. Borman finds himself drafted into action against the Mercury Men by Jack Yaeger (played by Curt Wootton) of “The League” (led by the mysterious Dr. Tomorrow) as these beings attempt to plant their nefarious gravity engine in the City Building to fulfill their nefarious plan.

Review/Commentary: The Mercury Men is a retro-sci fi web series written and directed by Chris Preska that harkens back to the old serials from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. It began as a short concept film that was featured at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con and since that time Preska has expanded it into a full ten episode series (of about six to nine minutes per episode) and Syfy picked it up as a feature series on their website (though now it has moved over to Hulu). Preska made the entire series on a budget of less than ten thousand dollars.

And if the plot synopsis above sounds rather hokey, it is, and that’s part of the charm of this series. It throws in plenty of camp fun, just like the serials of old, even if its story does get a bit muddled at times and suffers from plenty of leaps of logic and plot holes. But where this series succeeds is the look and feel that it creates with its stylized throwback visuals. It’s filmed in black and white, lending to its movie serial homage, and throws in plenty of retro-future technology for good measure. And the special effects are actually quite good, much better than you would expect from a web series made on such an economical budget (and they won the series an IAWTV award).

Unfortunately, its camp appeal seems to work against it as often as not with many attempts at humor or winks to the audience seeming to fall flat. And while both Tierno and Wootton are likeable and seem to fit their roles, too often they vacillate between over-the-top acting and just plain wooden delivery of their parts. Plus, despite emulating the action-packed old movie serials, The Mercury Men can be slow and plodding at times with several scenes drawn out way too long. And surprisingly, it managed to grab the IAWTV’s Best Directing award, beating out several series which I considered much more deserving (particularly Pioneer One and CELL: The Web Series).

But all that aside, conceptually the series works and it has potential. This first ten-part serial may suffer from occasional flawed execution, but I stayed with it through to the end and look forward to more adventures of Jack Yaeger, Ed Borman, and Dr. Tomorrow’s League. Call this one a trial run for the concept and a chance to work out the kinks. And Preska definitely has his sights on a second season as well as comics and other possible venues for his story, so I’m hoping the exposure he gets from Syfy and the IAWTV awards will allow him to run with this and unlock potential beneath the surface of this web series.

Links/More Information: This had been a feature web series for Syfy just like Reise: Kingdom Falling, but The Mercury Men has since disappeared from their site (even though they still advertise it in some places). But it has moved to Hulu now and you can watch the entire first season on that site. And you can find more information on the series at the show’s website.

Watch the First Season of The Mercury Men on Hulu at This Link

Read More About the Series at its Website at This Link>

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Web Series Review: Dragon Age Redemption

Status: One Season Completed Totaling 6 Episodes
Credits: Felicia Day (Writer/Producer/Star – Tallis), Adam Rayner – Cairn, Doug Jones – Saarebas, Marcia Battise – Nyree
Winner IAWTV Awards: Best Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup/Special Effects, Also Nominated for Best Original Music

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: This web series, based on the Dragon Age video game, delivers a fantasy tale in which the grey giants known as the Qunari and the religious Templars known as the Chantry have sent agents to reclaim the rogue mage Saarebas (Doug Jones who played the Silver Surfer in the FF movie). The elf Tallis (geek queen Felicia Day), is sent by the Qunari and she will have her name and status returned to her if she succeeds in her quest. The knight Cairn Adam Rayner is a member of the Chantry, though he has his own personal motives for finding the mage. And along the way, a young Elven magic-user and a vicious Reaver join up with them to hunt down this dangerous warlock.

Review/Commentary: This series was written and produced by Felicia Day and it is a professional production, linked to the popular video game Dragon Age from Bioware. It’s also a logical next step for Day, seeing as her other web series The Guild (you can read about that one at this link) is about a group of people addicted to MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). Dragon Age: Redemption, though, dispenses with the comedy elements of The Guild and gives us a straight up fantasy tale; and quite a good one at that. This first season of the web series introduces us to Felicia Day’s Elven character while also setting up the world she lives in and offers some additional characters who could join her on future adventures. Some may find it odd that the series lacks any of the dragons of its title, but that’s likely for budgetary reasons, and the story moves along quite well without them. And while you can definitely tell that the series had an economical budget, seeming a bit cheesy at times, it holds up quite well as a web series, rising far and above what we usually see as far as production values and special effects. The acting is good for the most part (especially Day’s performance) as the show draws upon professional actors to fill the roles. And the story is decent, even if it does resort to cliché and copy-and-paste dialogue at times. But it offers a good set up for additional adventures, and I for one would love to see more of this series. This one would be perfectly suited to make the jump to a weekly television series and might be better suited there as it would likely receive a higher budget. Whether that is currently a consideration, I can’t say.

The series took home three wins at the recent IAWTV awards in technical categories (see above), and I believe it also warranted a nomination for Best Female Performance for Day and possibly a Best Writing nod as well. Still, it deserves the recognition it received and this will hopefully lead to more seasons of this series. The first season ran for six episodes of around seven to ten minutes each (without the opening and closing credits) and all six totaled about 45 minutes. And it just received its DVD release this week. For sword and sorcery fans, a genre sadly under-represented on television and in film, this one is a must see. And because of its professional production, this is a good starting point for those new to web series.

Links/More Information: The series does not appear to have an official website from what I can see, but you can watch all six episodes on YouTube. And as I mentioned above, you can now get it on DVD. And you can read more about the worlds of the Dragon Age video game at their wiki site.

Watch Dragon Age: Redemption starting from Episode 1 on YouTube at this link
Buy Dragon Age: Redemption from Amazon.com at this link
Visit the Dargon Age Wiki at this link

Buy the Dragon Age: Redemption DVD and Dragon Age Video Games from Amazon.com:

Web Series Review: RCVR

Status: One Season of Six Episodes Completed
Credits: David Van Eyssen – Creator/Director, Daniel Bonjour (Weber), Lexi DiBenedetto (Charlene)
Winner IAWTV Awards: Best Drama Web Series, Best Male Performance (Drama), Best Cinematography.  Also Nominated for Best Writing (Drama), Best Directing (Drama), Best Design (Art Direction/Production), Best Makeup/Special Effects, Best Visual Effects (Digital), Best Editing, Best Web Site Design

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Taking place in 1974, a mysterious organization known as SIGMA investigates UFO sightings and alien contact and tries to convince people who have had these experiences that extraterrestrial beings are not involved. The agents of this organization, though, are actually looking for people known as RCVRs, humans who receive knowledge from alien intelligence that results in huge leaps in the human race’s technical skills.

Commentary: This 2011 web series snagged the Best Drama Web Series category at the recent IAWTV Awards, and I can see why as it has first rate production values (it also won Best Cinematography), decent special effects, and good acting as well (picking up the Best Male Performance Drama award). Think of it as somewhat of a retro-X-Files, but with Mulder and Scully demonstrating a more sinister intent (at least based on what we saw from the first season). The six episodes from Season 1 (which average about seven to eight minutes each) set up the premise and establish the main characters and the central mystery driving the story. And Van Eyssen’s very professional directing helps propel the series forward so that it never wanders or goes astray. It does fall a bit short of fully exploring its potential during its first season, but that effectively just leaves the viewer eager for the story to continue with a second set of episodes.

RCVR is an ambitious, transmedia property that also offers a conspiracy-laden Twitter account and blog (lings below) where the fictional Alvin J. Peters is tracking the government cover-up of the people who have had contact with alien beings. And Van Eyssen has visions of this branching out to a TV series and possibly a movie as well. And currently the web series has something that few other similar productions can boast: a corporate sponsor in Motorola. I’m not certain how much they contributed to the funding of the project, but they can definitely help this one get some good exposure, and with the show grabbing some big wins (and a ton of nominations) at the IAWTV Awards, a second season seems almost assured.

RCVR shows the potential of the web series format and it makes good use of supplemental content on the web to help build up its mythology. It is definitely worth checking out for all sci fi fans whether they are new to web series or well-seasoned with the format.

Links/More Information:
You can begin watching the series from episode 1 on YouTube at this link.
You can watch the entire first season in one video (46 min) on YouTube at this link.
Browse through the Sigma Agency mock website at this link.
Visit the ProjectRCVR website where Alvin J. Peters provides more info on the government conspiracy at this link.
Follow Alvin J. Peters’ Twitter site at this link.
Read an interview with series creator David Van Eyssen at AssignmentX.com at this link.
Trailer for RCVR:

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Why Were They Cancelled? 
The Plight of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television in the Face of the Unforgiving Nielsens and Networks

Ever wondered why your favorite science fiction and/or fantasy show disappeared from the television schedule, never to deliver anymore new episodes? The reason why, most likely, is that it was cancelled because its ratings were low. And this book looks at those many cancelled sci fi/fantasy shows as well as the Neilsen ratings and television networks that dictate their fates. Available now for only $2.99 on Kindle from Amazon.com.

Web Series Review: Fresh Hell

Status: Two Seasons Completed Totaling 10 Episodes
Credits: Brent Spiner (Himself), Kat Steel (Dakota), Christopher Ellis (Director), Harry Hannigan (Writer)

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: This series follows Brent Spiner playing a fictional version of himself trying to get his career back on track after being typecast as Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation and also after “the incident” which tarnished his image and dropped him out of favor with the entertainment industry. Spiner frequently dreams about being on the Jolinda Show, a celebrity talk show, which would represent him breaking out of his rut and being accepted once again as an actor. He lives next door to aspiring porn actress Dakota (Kat Steel), who is quite naïve but has the best of intentions and wants to help Spiner to revive his career which involves such misguided turns as consulting a psychic and also trying to teach serious acting to aspiring porn stars.

Review/Commentary: Like Felicia Day’s The Guild, this web series is not science fiction or fantasy per se, but it will have immense appeal to genre fans because of the presence of Spiner and the many references to his past career as Data. It is a project that Spiner and several collaborators have put together in the hopes that it might get picked up by one of the networks as a television series, and currently they are working on it between other projects. And it’s definitely a lot of fun and a good chance for Spiner to demonstrate his acting chops and show that he has much more than just one character to offer. Watching this really makes me wonder just why he hasn’t had much in the way of featured acting jobs since his fifteen year stint as Data (he has kept busy with guest star appearances, though, and just recently took up the mantle of the Joker from Mark Hamill for the Young Justice animated series).

As for the Fresh Hell series itself, it can be fun and it does deliver a fair amount of chuckles, though very little in the way of laugh-out-loud moments. Considering the rich history of Spiner’s genre career, you would think they might mine that for a few more laughs (though maybe that’s exactly what he’s distancing himself from here). And the scripts do seem to lack the sharp wit we might expect from a series poking fun at the entertainment industry in general. It has mostly professional production values, though, even if it does seem a bit cheesy at times and some of the ancillary actors leave something to be desired. But for a fun little web series cobbled together by a group of professionals in their spare time, it succeeds more often than not. And they even throw in a few surprise guest star appearances throughout the series including Spiner’s former TNG co-star LeVar Burton stopping by (playing himself) as well as The Guild’s Jeff Lewis showing up in a hilarious scene where he plays a wannabe porn star.

Viewers should note that while this is ostensibly based on Spiner’s career, it has plenty of fictional elements thrown in, most notable the nebulous “incident”. This gimmick (we have yet to learn the specifics of it) was created for the web series to give a reason for the severe down turn of Spiner’s luck and is not based on any actual incident.

Links/More Information: You can watch Seasons 1 and 2 of Fresh Hell at the show’s YouTube channel at this link. Episode 5 of Season 2 seems to suggest that another episode is on the way, but I believe it is actually just teasing Season 3. It could be several months to a year, though, before we see that because the cast and crew have to work filming this series between their paying projects. You can also read an interview with Spiner where he talks about the Fresh Hell series at this link.

Watch Fresh Hell on YouTube At This Link

The Sci Fi Web: The Guild

Status: Five Seasons Completed Totaling 58 Episodes  
Credits: Felicia Day (Creator/Writer/Star – Codex), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), Jeff Lewis (Vork), Vincent Caso (Bladezz), Robin Thorsen (Clara), Amy Okuda (Tinkerballa), Wil Wheaton (Fawkes)
Winner IAWTV Awards: Best Comedy Web Series, Best Writing (Comedy), Best Directing (Comedy), Best Female Performance (Comedy), Best Web Site Design. Also Nominated for Best Male Performance (Comedy), Best Costume Design, Best Makeup/Special Effects

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Felicia Day plays Cyd Sherman who is a concert violinist (and former child prodigy) and also a rather introverted, socially stunted young woman who has few close friends and who rarely ventures from her apartment. She is also an addicted gamer who spends the majority of her time playing an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) as a member of the online guild called the “Knights of Good”. The series follows their gaming antics online as well as their awkward (and hilarious) interactions both in person and through online chats.

Review/Commentary: This series is not sci fi/fantasy per se, but like the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, it has immense appeal to genre fans because we can easily identify with the characters and situations. The Guild will have the highest appeal to online gamers, especially those wrapped up in the many MMORPG s out there, but old D&D veterans (like myself) and anybody who has spent a fair amount of their spare time gaming will definitely appreciate it. And apart from the show’s genre ties, it’s just a funny romp with its dysfunctional characters trying to overcome their own (many-faceted) character flaws and learn how to work together for the common cause: killing other people and creatures in the game and gaining loot.

Felicia Day, herself a confessed online gaming addict, originally conceived of the series as a sitcom, but it was later suggested that the concept would work better as a web-series. She decided to go that route with it, and The Guild first appeared online in 2007. It has since turned into an online phenomena running for five seasons (with more potentially on the way) and is now available on Hulu, Xbox Live, Zune, Netflix and more. The entire series through Season 5 has been released on DVD and has also had a comic book spin-off from Dark Horse and the cast even put together a promotional music video for the series.

I have watched it through Season 3 thus far (and plan on watching the next two seasons soon), and have found it to be great fun, especially once Wil Wheaton comes onboard in its third season as the leader of a rival gaming guild, the “Axis of Anarchy”. The series, deservedly, walked away with five wins at the recent IAWTV awards and had four more nominations beyond that (two in the Best Male Performance Comedy category for Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis). And it would not surprise me if this one were to take the leap from web-series to sitcom at some point, though I think its web format suits it better and it might run out of steam rather quickly on television. In any case, this is a great place to get started with web series as it has a professional feel to it and great acting (highlighted by the incomparable Felicia Day), and it’s just plain fun.

Links/More Information: The show’s main website has more information on the series as well as links to its blog and a forum where you can join in on discussions with other fans. Also, you can watch all five seasons of the show from the website. If you have the Netflix streaming service, you can also watch all five seasons there with each season combined together without the opening and closing segments between  episodes. This is a more streamlined way of watching the seasons and they run from 45 minutes to about an hour and a half. There is also a YouTube Channel for the show, though it only has up to the first episode of Season 4 available for viewing. And over on Hulu, you can currently watch up through the end of Season 4.

The Guild’s Main Web Page: www.watchtheguild.com

The Guild’s YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/watchtheguild

The Guild at Hulu.com: www.hulu.com/the-guild
 
Buy The Guild on DVD from Amazon.com:

Web Series Review: Ark

Status: One Season Completed Totaling 9 Episodes
Credits: Robbie Thompson (Creator/Writer), Trey Stokes (Director), Renée O’Connor (Connie), Adam Cardon (Daryl)
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars

Synopsis: Single mother and third grade teacher Connie (Renée O’Connor ) wakes up to find herself on a large spaceship traveling far away from Earth. There, she meets up with one other person who claims to be an astronaut from the 1950’s (Connie is from the present day). They begin to explore the ship when they meet another woman who appears to be an injured crewmember, but they do not know for certain because she speaks a foreign language that neither understands. She needs them to help her with an urgent task, but they do not understand what she wants because of the language barrier. And things only get stranger from there as Connie and her new companions face more mysteries about their unexplained situation and the seemingly abandoned ship they have found themselves imprisoned upon.

Review/Commentary: Ark is a web series created and written by Robbie Thompson (who has writing credits on genre shows such as Supernatural, The Cape, Human Target, and Jericho) and directed by Trey Stokes (who has professional visual effects experience and who is also known for his Star Wars parody Pink Five). And it also stars former Xena: Warrior Princess co-lead Renee O’ Connor. The series was produced by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah in conjunction with 60Frames Studio (a company that his since gone under) on a budget of around $50k (actually quite a hefty amount for a web series) with the hopes that it would continue as an online serial or that it might make the jump to television like Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary.

All of this amounts to a rather enjoyable and at times impressive sci fi web series that might best be described as Lost meets The Starlost (a short-lived 70’s Canadian TV series created by Harlan Ellison).  Its special effects and sets give it an authentic feel (some of the scenes on the Ark are filmed on a set previously used on the Firefly series). It uses some green screen effects like those found in the Sanctuary web series and television show, and while these look a bit cheesy at times, they do not detract too much from overall the production. The acting is quite good, though I had some difficulty believing that the astronaut character was really from the 50’s. His mannerisms and colloquialisms seemed a bit too modern day, but then that may also be part of the mystery they are developing. In addition, Connie is way too bad-ass for a third grade teacher, but then as the series progresses we get the suggestion that there may be more to her than what we see. All of the nit-picking aside, though, the series has a professional look and feel to it and it gets off to a very promising start.

The first season runs nine episodes of varying lengths from three minutes to nine. It sets up the premise, but provides little resolution as it ends on a major cliffhanger. Unfortunately, nothing more has followed since completing the initial episodes in 2009. As mentioned above, 60Frames has bowed out, but Sachs/Judah Productions still owns the property and as of an interview given back in 2010 they were hoping to continue the series either on the web or on television. I’m sure they would like to see this one follow the same path as Sanctuary which jumped from web series to a TV show that ran for four years on Syfy. And it appears that Ark has an interesting enough story that could carry it through multiple seasons. It would theoretically be a good fit for Syfy except for the fact that they now seem to prefer their “sci fi lite” shows such as Warehouse 13, Haven, and Being Human. It would also be a good one for Netflix to pick up, seeing as they want to expand on their original programming. And while $50k may be a lot for a web series that runs around 45 minutes total, that’s nothing for a television episode of the same length. Whether they could stay in that budget is questionable, but this one could still probably be produced on an economical basis. And it’s definitely a production that sci fi fans should check out and lend their support to in hopes that it could at least get a second season as a web series.

Links: The entire first season of Ark is available for viewing on Hulu.com at this link.  It appears that the series is exclusive to Hulu at this point and it also apparently does not have any sort of official website that I can find.  The producers should probably think about putting together something along those lines and perhaps try to engage sci fi fandom through the various online forums and social sites or a Kickstarter campaign.  That has proved quite fruitful for webs series like Pioneer One and L5 and can help develop some support for Ark and possibly lead to a continuation of the series. Because I for one would like to see this story continue.

Watch Ark Season 1 on Hulu.com

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Web Series Review: L5

Status: One Episode Completed
Credits: Stanley Von Medvey (Creator/Director), Tom Ptasinski (Creator/Writer/Producer), Will Finson (Cmdr. Richard Adams), Chad Burns (Rodney Lewis)

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

Synopsis: This hard science fiction mini-series follows a deep space expedition that returns to a dying Earth two hundred later than its scheduled return date after exploring Barnard’s Star in hopes of finding a new home for the human race. Once the ship is back in Earth’s orbit, though, the crew can see no signs of life on the planet and they receive no radio communication. They encounter a large O’neill cylinder-colony in orbit known as L5 that appears equally lifeless, and two members of the expedition head there to try and find some answers.

Review/Commentary:  L5 is an ambitious, space-based, sfx-heavy web series that has turned to the sci fi fan community for donations to fund its production costs. Their campaign to raise money for the first episode was a success and now we see the results of those efforts. And what magnificent results they are!

I have seen many rumblings across fandom over the past year or so that there is a dearth of space-based, hard sci fi available, and this independent production nicely fills that void. The first episode runs about thirty minutes and introduces us to the crew of the Argo (particularly Commander Richard Adams and the ship’s doctor Rodney Lewis) as they return to Earth from their extended mission and find that much more time has passed than they expected and something seems to have happened to the people of Earth. This episode sets up the bigger tale that will follow, but it does so without dragging out or bogging itself down with expository details. It is a grand tale that L5 seeks to deliver, but in the first episode it unfolds with a cramped, almost claustrophobic feel to it (by necessity due to the budget limitations). But this actually lends to the atmosphere of the show and sets up a good direction for the series to follow.

L5 was definitely made on a budget and that shows at times, but then it never feels cheap. In fact, compared to other web series, this one blows them away with its production values and it can nearly stand toe-to-toe with some of the professionally produced series on the broadcast and cable channels. The directing is tight and well-paced, and the acting is quite good. And the series manages to deliver a little of the spectacle that sci fi fans crave, yet on an economical budget. This is definitely one to keep an eye on as new episodes roll out and one that could be a trailblazer among independent web productions. We often complain that there is too little in the way of quality sci fi out there, but L5 and other web series like Pioneer One and Cell are delivering just that, so it is up to us to support them.

Links/More Information: The first episode can be downloaded for free via bitorrent at this link: vodo.net/L5. You can also stream the episode, if you prefer, for a small contribution (I paid the $5 and it was definitely worth it). That same link will direct you to the streaming option. You can also follow the progress of the show at its production blog and its Facebook page.

Download or stream the first episode of L5 at this link

Follow the series at its production blog at this link

Like the series at its Facebook page at this link

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