by Stuart Davis on November 3rd, 2009
The Sect has been here for over a month now, creeping its way into our ARG begotten lives, but the first episode of Riese the series premiered late Sunday night on Koldcast TV. That’s right, when the rest of us were busy attending parties dressed as favorite childhood storybook characters turned bloated Hollywood movie franchise and OD-ing on fun size versions of our favorite candy treats, Koldcast’s CEO David Samuels was “[closing] on distribution for RIESE”, according to an email from who was definitely excited for the team-up, closing out the email with a simple yet telling exclamation, “What a series!”
While “the [distribution] deal is non-exclusive” according to series co-creator and executive producer Ryan Copple. He says isn’t ruling out other distribution for his Steampunk opus, “We’re very happy to have teamed up with Koldcast, and hope that it’ll end up being a mutually beneficial joining.”
In the opening episode, Hunt, a wounded Riese (Christine Chatelain) is running for her life from a group of ne’er-do-wells through the forests of the troubled land Eleysia (also known as Vancouver, BC). In between scattered, grainy flashbacks of her past she fights the baddies off with the help of her sole-companion and bodyguard, a wolf named Fenrir.
Neither of the creators had worked with animals on any of their prior productions but co-producer Bonnie Judd’s “preparation and work with Tundra made him very easy to shoot with. Plus, despite his size he’s incredibly friendly and sociable,” said Copple.
by Stuart Davis on September 28th, 2009
That’s right, True Believers, you no longer have to wait for the next Marvel movie walk-on to get your Stan Lee fix. The man that created such beloved comic book characters as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and The Hulk, has come to the Internet. In partnership with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, beloved self-promoter, Stan Lee, has created the motion comic series Time Jumper.
The series, which first launched this summer at Comic-Con, is the story of Terry Dixon, a twenty-year-old college student, who is recruited by H.U.N.T. (Heroes United, Noble and True) corporation. With his older brother’s mysterious disappearance and his father’s untimely death, Terry’s the only person able to operate the Articulus, a time travel device––that resembles a circa 90’s era Game Boy, more than anything else––invented by Terry’s father Arthur and keyed to the Dixon family genetic code. This and the dastardly attempts of Charity Vyle, the diabolical leader of the criminal anagram C.U.L.T. (Council of Unstoppable, Lethal Terrorists) who has somehow managed to hack Terry’s DNA and ride his signal through time, to disrupt history thrust Terry into the role of the reluctant hero while, in typical Stan Lee fashion, trying to juggle the tropes of life as an average college student.
Time Jumper is written by Omar Ponce with illustrations by Anthony Diecidue and features the voices of Natasha Henstridge as Charity Vyle and Stan Lee, himself, as the head of H.U.N.T., Lee Excelsior.
by Stuart Davis on September 23rd, 2009
The ARG (alternate reality game) for Riese the Series has begun, you still have time to join the winning side. But first some info on what you have to look forward to when the series kicks off in late October/early November.
Riese is a steampunk-inspired (think steam-engines and goggles) series from co-creators Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff, who also co-executive produce and direct the series respectively, that seems closer to something airing on the Syfy network, as-opposed-to the web, based off of the production value and sci-fi standout cast—Christine Chatelain (SyFy’s Sanctuary), Ben Cotton (Harper’s Island), Sharon Taylor (Stargate: Atlantis) and Patrick Gilmore (Battlestar Galactica). Chad Krowchuk is handling the production design and taking full advantage of the picture quality of the Red One camera system with lush, yet post-apocalyptic settings and the costumes look impressively intricate.
