Our ongoing series covering web-based productions in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres. If you have a recommendation for a web original that we should look at, contact us at mail@axiomsedge-scifi.com.
By John J. Joex
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
PASSENGER is a Fantasy/Supernatural web-series about an angel named Michael who roams the Earth in human form (across various time periods) acting as a “hit-man” of sorts for God. He is just a foot soldier taking orders, but he may find that he is actually caught up in an apocalyptic final war between Heaven and Hell. This premise is a pretty tall order for a web-series, but the first four episodes show that creator/writer/director Al Galvez just may have the chops to carry it off. It looks like he will approach this similar to the way The CW’s Supernatural did when they tried to bring us the apocalypse on a budget during that show’s fifth season. If PASSENGER decides to go for an all-out apocalyptic tale, though, we can only hope it will not cut corners like Supernatural did (and Galvez is actively seeking sponsors, certainly with the plans to get more money for future episodes).
Only four episodes of about five minutes each are available for PASSENGER at this point, and they tell a fairly complete story while also setting the stage for future episodes. What impressed me the most on these four installments is the production values, which are quite high for in independently produced web-series. Galvez has some professional acting credits to his name, but he apparently aspires to do more than that and this series reveals his potential. He created the concept, wrote the script, produced and directed the four episodes, and even composed the (excellent) soundtrack. This is definitely a man with talent and I believe that PASSENGER has potential to grow into something big. Fans of shows like Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel will definitely enjoy this one, and pretty much anyone who appreciates a well-produced Fantasy series should like it as well. I’m not quite certain what the status is on new episodes, though. The ones currently available were produced in 2010 and they received some awards and recognition, so I hope that Galvez plans on keeping the ball rolling with the series. I imagine he has been busy with his other acting jobs, though, and will get back to this when time (and money) allow. But I would definitely like to see more episodes of PASSENGER and feel like it is one of the better candidates among the web series that I have viewed thus far to translate to an ongoing television series (in fact, it would pair up quite nicely with Supernatural on The CW’s Friday schedule).
One quick nitpick: The sword the Michael carries has to be one of the worst props I have seen in any production (professional or independent). I would gladly chip in to help Galvez buy a much better blade at the local knife shop in the mall or one of the many Renaissance Festivals to use in future episodes. Not that it really detracts from the overall production that much, but damn it is awful! (And Cassandra Jean is so incredibly hot that she helps counterbalance the cheesiness of that prop!) You can watch the first four episodes and read more about PASSENGER at its website.
And you can read SciFinal‘s interview with Al Galvez at this link.
SciFinal.com – Offering a comprehensive directory of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Web Series with over 200 listings.Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
This is a CGI animated web-series that takes place in a future where humans have colonized the solar system, but have still not found out a way to live together in peace. A revolt on Titan results in devastating consequences to the colonists living there and one reporter witnesses the events of the military intervention. She survives the attack and the government now worries that she may reveal their culpability in the situation.
I have sampled several other animated web-series and found that these have not always worked well because of the cost and technology required for good CGI. The Chronicles of Humanity, though, is the best one I have seen so far, but it still has a few hurdles to overcome. For one, the CGI animation is not great. Those more accustomed to the first-rate CGI we see in productions from Pixar and Dreamworks will have a hard time digesting the animation here. But then it’s not fair to knock this web-series for not having the multi-million dollar budget to produce top-flight CGI. I can definitely live with it, but I believe that the low-tech animation here will be harder for audiences to accept than say the reduced production values of a live action web series. Also, the title of the series seems a bit pretentious and does not really fit too well with the colonist vs. government forces conflict that we see in the only two episodes available at this point. But perhaps this just indicates that the series will continue to broaden its scope and explore the human presence across the entire solar system. Still with the limitations already apparent in its animation, the series should not set its sights too high at this point.
But The Chronicles of Humanity does show promise and I will definitely look forward to future episodes to see how this one progresses. We so rarely see good movies or television shows about human colonization of the solar system, a the premise has a lot of potential. The creators of this series have tapped into that at least to some extent and should run with it. If this one continues to grow and mature with its ensuing episodes, it could turn into a pretty decent space saga. You can watch both episodes of the series and read more information at its website.
