WARNING! A PG-14 show!

The Resistance decided to resist the urge of going online for quite a while.

Expected to debut in 2009, they held out instead to launch their resistance as a TV movie first… on the Syfy channel?

It’s not the first web show to go network, but it certainly is the first to go network before going online. As such it then begs the question: is Resistance still a high-quality web show or just another low-budget Syfy TV movie/pilot?

The quality of the show is top notch, but the dystopia story doesn’t seem overly original. We seem to be  looking at a blend of Equilibrium meets Ultra Violet with plenty of 1984 tossed into it and a few additional twists. As a web series format this would probably be hailed as a new trend-setter, but going network it sort of takes the fun out of it, doesn’t it?

The magic of web shows is the ability of truly talented people taking nothing or very little in the ways of budget and crafting great entertainment. If a property goes network and then online or even TV show/feature film, then the magic is gone. The Resistance would thus become just another show with a budget and a network to back it up. Certainly from a producer’s point-of-view its a blessing: any creator dreams of cutting a network deal to develop his or her imagined world in a medium that allows for a wider audience and some money to put food on the table. But it somehow feels like a sell-out from a web series community point-of-view.

But is it any good? The Resistance introduces a style that makes it stand apart: each episode is set-up by motion comic book scenes that establish its obvious comic book inspirations. This gives the show a very unique look but also leads the creators to believe that they can get away with comic book violence in the live-action sequences. Unfortunately that’s where it falls apart: all the blood and gore seem to turn a lot of people away, according to YouTube comments and hits.  Taking a step back, the show chose style over substance. Tightly edited and tightly shot, it has the feel of an indie production crew trying to show off their ability to pack emotions into small frames while at the same time hiding the even smaller budget. Is it well shot? Absolutely.  Don’t let it be said these guys can’t hold a camera, edit or create effective music.  But the dark emo setting isn’t exactly something that makes you want to come back for more episodes, and the characters, also dark and darker, don’t inspire too much realism or a deeper viewer-character connection.

With its roots deeply set in comic books and computer games, The Resistance has something for the more emo members of our society. Semblances can be drawn to Battlestar Galactica or Caprica, but even those shows had some sort of character developments and even humor, while still keeping true to a darker style. The Resistance, with its  dystopian been-there-done-that setting is unfortunately, despite its artistry and budget, easy to resist.

Official Site

Written and conceived by Jonathan Nail SOLO follows the exploits of one Scott Drizahl stuck in space after a canceled reality series about a trip to mars… which sort of reminded me of the canceled TV series Defying Gravity. But that’s where any similarities end.

Pilot episodes are always the toughest to do and this one certainly tries to deliver tone and pacing with a minimum of exposition in the shortest amount of time. SOLO has no qualms about being a slap-stick comedy with plenty of overacting, where the only straight character seems to be the on-board AI computer named… wait for it… PHAL 9000. I know, right? ‘Goofy’ comes to mind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good ‘goofy’.

Having seen all 9 episodes I dare say this show delivers. Although set in space, only about half of the show really is, and the remaining time is evenly distributed among the characters on earth. I won’t say more, but that’s a good thing, as Jonathan Nail set up some very nice storylines that should be fun to explore. The Yakuza looks especially promising. But I said too much already.

The show has plenty of energy and chutzpa, and delivers on situation comedy. Jonathan takes full advantage of the range of storytelling tools available to him, and that includes subtitles, smash-cuts and strategically placed title-cards to underline the comedy. It works. As the show progresses the characters — particularly Drizahl’s — are further fleshed out and become lovable.

Of course it’s easy to love the scrumptious tallness that is Michele Boyd from over yonder The Guild as Drizahl’s long-suffering wife. Her sexuality oozes from the screen in ways it never did on The Guild (frankly, her Guild character scares me) and one wonders if Drizahl is really such a ‘schmuck’ if he managed to bag such a trophy-wife. But it is the various support-characters that really make this work. Melissa Dalton and Amol Shah for example play hapless members of the ground-crew stuck with figuring out a way to bring Drizahl back dirt-sides, and although their characters are painfully stereotype, we love them the way we love the Simpsons sideshow characters.  I wonder how that analogy came about…

But seriously, stereotypes seem to work more often than we give them credit for. In our thirst for the ‘new’ and ‘different’ and ‘fresh’ we sometimes forget that ‘same-old-same-old’ works just as well and gives us a certain comfort zone we need when starting into a new show. They only grow stale when the creator pushes the stereotype-button one too many times: “you know this type of characters and you love it, so here’s some more of it. Because you like it. You MUST like it and thus like my show! You MUST! Yes! More accent! More cowbells!”

Drizahl’s character is slightly over-the-top in a Jim Carrey-ish fashion, but the only one who in any way could steal his thunder in that department is Jay Caputo, who certainly launches himself head-first into his Jack Spratt character, the man responsible for this whole interplanetary mess. While Drizahl is up there circling to mars and back in a space-ship-with-gravity, Caputo is desperately trying to peddle whats left of his show to whoever would take it and make pointless passes at Drizahl’s wife. But the center of the attention is still Drizahl and rightfully so. He carries the show and his antics, though silly they may be, are enjoyable and funny. We lurvs this guy.

Jonathan knows what he wants and where he wants to go with his show. He’s had a lot of time to think about it, and it shows. Spending a year building the space-ship set in his garage has given him that time, and he is trying to establish a comedic balance while still toying with the emotional aspect of a schmuck in space, his desperate wife on the ground and… a sardonic AI that looks the way it’s called. Every show needs some time to gel and settle in its environment and although SOLO is still on its way, I can see a defined style developing.

A few interesting jabs at pop-culture and the newly emerging web series culture are hidden away throughout the show, making a second viewing obligatory. Besides the obvious and I dare say necessary 2001 reference it seems that poor Drizahl has nothing else to do but watch the web’s best web shows and leaf through the Safety Geeks calendar. And have virtual-reality one-on-ones with none less than Brittney Powell (Safety Geeks, Inventions). Doesn’t sound so bad to me. For those with keen eyes, you will even spot Tom Konkle (Safety Geeks, Inventions) in the SOLO command center.

Overall the show is truly funny and enjoyable. It’s humor is borderline decent (but just about) and derives more from the characters than what they actually say, or simply a combination of both. I love it. Please sir, I want more.

Jonathan Nail has the tools, the crew, the production values, the talent and the idea… and he’s got gold in his hands if he can keep it going like this. The only downside so far is that after the first season, the future of SOLO — and by extension Drizahl’s — is still uncertain. Another great show rocketing out of the cesspool of Hollywood, or another cosmic belly-flop heading for the Black Hole of the Internets? SOLO has delivered so far. Let’s hope we get to see more!

Jonathan — like the character of Jack Spratt — is confident he will be able to round up the budget for a second season and deliver more of his goodness. Our advice… just stay away from the Yakuza.

SOLO

So many Ends-of-the-World have been imagined, there is little room left for originality. Time to make fun of it. Woody Tondorf likes to make fun of stuff and he’s shown with his YouTube hit Elevator that he’s got the chops. Thus he sat down to create a pilot and a trailer to an Armageddonish story that seems to run on a serious undertone, is however, as the title implies, a parody. And who best to cast but the renaissance-man-sure-fire-web-series-standard actor Craig Frank and a slew of other web series regulars.

So far there is only the trailer and a pilot and Woody still hopes to find the budget to deliver this show all the way. He’s got the story, he’s got the talents and he’s got the stuff for giving us this End Of The World As We Know It And Make Us Feel Fine.

Let’s just hope he can pull it it of before The End really does come…

What the kids don’t know is that they’re trapped in a video game. Oh, bummer. Jack, Myrna, Steven and their schoolmates suddenly find themselves on an odyssey through vast landscapes where they are forced to complete perilous quests, discover fantastic powers and battle dangerous monsters. But can they work together to win the game and their freedom?

eScape is a new web show specifically geared towards a younger audience. With the flood of adult-only shows it was about time something a bit more family friendly came along. The story is certainly nothing ground-breaking. The trapped-in-a-false-reality storyline is as old as Plato’s allegory of the cave, but it simply refuses to die. Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network are filled with similar tales, which is why it might very well appeal to web surfing kids — if we can get them away from watching that darn Justin Bieber that is.

The eScape project, the brainchild of Mike Feurstein, began as an independent summer video course to give young students experience both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Before he knew it it hand morphed into its own web series, complete with surprisingly advances special effects and a few good kid actors.

We’re certainly not dealing with web series amateurs. eScape is the latest project from Runic Films, which comprises part of the creative team behind the web series Star Trek: Phase II, winner of TV Guide’s Online Video Award for Science Fiction, and nominee for the Hugo and Nebula awards — science fiction’s highest honors.

“Wide release of eScape this summer will introduce viewers to the space- and time-bending world of the show,” said Runic Films producer Ben Alpi. “It’s a world we plan to continue to explore.”

Well allrighty then. Call the kids over, here are the first episodes.

eScape

Three years ago webserials.com was launched, and the world has not been the same since.

One of the first sites to offer fictionalized serial online content, many sites sprang up in its wake, and many online studios tried to emulate its success. But slice it as you may, shows like Cataclysmo and Project X paved the way for what we now know as web series.

Inspired by the old serials, armed with a guerrilla-film-making attitude, lots of talent and ambition, the “serial-gods” as we fans call them managed to create high-quality stories and shows on budgets so low, it leaves most film-makers scratching their heads. Founded and powered by a group of Biola film-school grads (meet the core of them here in this video of a meet-and-greet I had with them), they have had to take a year-long break after shooting two Cataclysmo-serials (24-eps each) back-to-back and launching their show The Black Dawn onto syndicated television.

But the serial-gods are back and set for a come-back with a new twist on an old genre: a 100% improvised sit-com Best Laid Plans, premiering in August.

With their track-record this will no doubt be another sensation in the making. And maybe, finally, for once, the Streamies will recognize this backbone of the web series world…

See their press-release here.

….The SerialGods…

The 30s is that scary time when life begins. To what is a matter of perspective. For guys it can be the moment when that youthful acne and gray hair overlap, while still being in the zone for dating high-school girls and their moms. For girls it may be the moment when The Clock hits high-noon and they look in the mirror and think they spot those tell-tale signs of age. Both sexes are still at an emotional, physical and sexual prime envied by all other demographics, but somehow social norm expects you (unfairly so) to be married by now, well on your way to a family and saving up for retirement. The simple, plain truth is that this is not the case for most people these days.

Jennifer Dawson will be the first to point this out.

A fun, outgoing, quirky divorcee, Jen is an equal opportunity dater who will try anything once. And that also means she’s seen it all and for posterity has written it down. In her words:

“I had to start dating again after the finalization of my divorce.  That wasn’t so bad, as I like to meet new people and share new experiences. But as soon as one of my dates decided to stick his tongue down my throat before the appetizers arrived, I knew I needed to write these stories down. Before I knew it, I had quite a collection of stories,and a rude awakening that I had dated a lot of guys.  These stories which were recorded in my dating diary have evolved into the episodes you watch in Party Girl Plus One the web series.”

Based on her experiences Jen added/subtracted names and circumstances to protect the innocent (as well as the not-so-innocent) and created Party Girl Plus One where she and a slew of talented L.A. actors reenact her past dates.

I am glad to announce that PG+1 delivers on all accounts. Writing, acting and directing are topnotch, as are production values and editing. However, the episodes are ridiculously short — I say ridiculously, because we could do with more of beautiful Jen and her adventures than a 4 minutes average. The dates in each episode range from funny to hilarious and the actors depicting them are perfectly cast. The writing is a narrative with Jen’s voice-overs and there is a sexual overtone to some that don’t go too far… relatively speaking anyway. You can watch episode 1 here, since its content didn’t even make it onto YouTube. You haven been warned. ‘Nuff said. Also look out for a few minor [explicit] drops.

The show has lots of appeal and the quality production makes it a very enjoyable watch. There is little to be said against the show except that we could do with at least two more minutes of this goodness and hopefully an option to download portable versions. This show lends itself perfectly for mobile watching when your own date jumps the shark…

In the spirit of amusement, here is a poem written by Jen in contemplation of her dating history. I thought this alone was worthy a share:

My dates: what’s on your plate?

Lame coffee dates and the cheap skate,

Weird online dates and foreign mates,

a friend’s date and troller hate.

Fortified dates, the scary jail bate,

ugly blind dates and being late.

What’s my fate? A bookstore Nate?

A kosher date and married freight.

One night stands, hey whose your date?

Man-boy weight and booty calls.

Workaholics, sex addicts, vagina lovers,

college prowlers, texters, the older guy,

money bags, actors, stalkers, you know,

you’ve dated them too.

Party Girl Plus One

It’s simple, it’s basic, it’s a glorified home-video that hearkens back to the now classic Long Way Round. It’s being quietly launched on YouTube and Blip.TV and will probably be a modest to small success. And it’s an awesome show for one simple reason:

I’m in it.

That’s right, Rubberside Down is the first Visioweb.TV patronized show to be launched onto the unsuspecting internets.  We currently have 3 shows in the pipeline, the first the nonfiction Rubberside Down, and two fictionalized reality shows, the later our first branded show. More on that later.

Rubberside Down is the brainchild of Mike Dittrich, a late 20something who just wanted to hop on his bike and get away from it all. He asked a few members of his biker club Dustangels to join him, and this is the result. Shot over a period of 10 days, it follows the three friends on their trip through a Third World Country. You can imagine a lot of strange things happened, but we’ll leave that for you to discover. Will they make it? Will they get into Haiti? Will they even return? Will Alec realize him being in this show sporting a nifty American accent will not make it an instant success?

The show will be available on the 1rst of August on a weekly basis, but extras, outtakes and VidBlogs are already available on the show’s site Dustangels.org.

Visioweb.TV invites you to rev your engines and head out on that trip with Mike, Jared and Your’s Truly. After all, after criticizing web shows far and wide it’s time to become a target ourselves, no? Just leave my accent alone. I tried.

It’s been awhile. Okay, it’s been a year — a full year — since we brought you The Black Dawn. And we know the world of web serials has been a bit dry while we’ve been gone. But never fear: we have returned!

It’s been a busy year for us as we’ve been actively working on our latest series, while spreading the reach of our past shows into brand-new, exciting markets. In addition to its web and comic releases,The Black Dawn is now a limited-run TV series airing in more than 50 countries around the world. The feature-film version was also recently completed and some exciting distribution venues are in the works for that. We’ve been thrilled to reach a whole new audience with these new platforms and it’s been a ton of work making the switch from the internet to broadcast television — but to be perfectly honest, we’ve also missed our amazing web fans.

There’s nothing like the immediate and direct feedback the web community offers and we are so excited to be back with a brand-new series exclusively for our WebSerials audience. Next month we will premiere BEST LAID PLANS, a completely improvised sit-com unlike anything you’ve ever seen before — we guarantee it. The show is hilarious, authentic, and totally original. We’ve been hard at work on it for the past year and we are all incredibly thrilled to finally bring it to WebSerials.com.

We’re back — and we hope you’ll tune in for our latest production!

— The WebSerials Team, July 24, 2010