Space Hospital S02E05 “The Return of Omacron” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Is Nurse Barbara a nurse again or is just hanging around?”

What a great episode of Space Hospital, even though it more of a bridge episode with a cliffhanger (actually two of them) than a self contained story.

It’s a long one, but a lot happens. And it’s awesome slash hilarious stuff – from the Space Hospital running afoul of a nebula monster, to the whole break room scene that leads to Omicron’s Return, this episode lives up to the wackiness that has been series two of Space Hospital – and some great retro-y special effects.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Proper conduct in the breakroom…

Youtube Summary: Hot Nurse with Alien Fetish punks Nerdy Coworker

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Space Hospital S02E04 “Zombies of Morgue Zero” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“The Centrality does not negotiate with zombies! Or patients, for that matter.”

Another hilarious but somewhat rough episode of Space Hospital. In one scene, you can clearly see the boom mic at the bottom of the frame. I mean, it is not peeking in or “pushing” the edge of the frame, as boom ops say. It is full on in the shot and waving around… twice!

But for all its rough edges, Space Hospital is constantly funny. While it might not be for people who don’t already love science fiction, it is just so out and out enjoyable that I kinda don’t care about things like the occasional boom in the shot. Of course, the whole retro sci-fi look and feel makes it easier to accept production slips.

This episode has some of the funniest one liners of the series, and it pays off a bunch of set-ups from previous episodes, including the guns. The zombies are a lot of fun, too. I like the opening teaser that includes an ad for “Zombie Hospital” featuring free de-braining. Just before the zombie fight breaks out, Dr. Larry dramatically orders the computer to engage the fight music. Not the very best episode from Space Hospital, maybe, but one of the funniest.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Transacting with Space Zombies, Pros and Cons of…

Veem Aknar rejoins the Space Hospital crew to lend a skillful hand, as shaky un-dead relations culminate in a zombie showdown with explosive consequences.

Youtube summary: Sexy Retro Space Vixen Blasts Zombies with Atomic Raygun (Ray Gun)

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Tyranny Ep.9 “The Man From Atlantis” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

“HAARP. Mind Control. Beaming images from Alaska. Bouncing them off the ionosphere into our brains. Using microwaves.”

A nice, tense little episode that delivers a fair bit of exposition without feeling like it does.

This episode really highlights the beautiful rich art direction and cinematography. The sound and music is expertly done, too. What really sells this episode is the mood - everything works together to create a mood that both ominous and fun.

I really like the secondary characters in this series. Quite often in a web series, even if your main guys are strong performers, the day player type actors are noticeably less experienced. Here every actor and actress feels both well cast and talented (and charismatic) enough to carry their own series. Even this bookstore guy - his mostly expository lines are delivered with just the right blend of jaded passion; exactly like so many of people I know from that sort of world.

Let’s go back to the lighting and camera for a moment. After you’ve watched this episode (you are watching, aren’t you?) click on any frame at random while Daniel is in that bookstore - each frame would make a remarkable photograph. It is just lit and shot beautifully. Some D.P.’s are afraid to let things go too bright or too dark, but this image uses the whole range, and the shooter, Silas Funk, is willing to let a face go dark, as long as it looks natural and aesthetically pleasing.

From YouTube Description:

Episode 9 of Tyranny the Web Series:
“Man from Atlantis”
Taking his friend Kurt’s advice, Daniel ventures to Atlantis Books in downtown San Francisco, where he meets an unusual book store owner who decides to educate Daniel on various conspiracies.

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Space Hospital S02E03 “Nebulous!” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Turning dead patients into new patients could be a big boost in profits to Space Hospital if we could just figure out who to bill.”

There’s a whole heck of a lot going on in this episode - Space Hospital always could pack in the story - but man is it funny!

It feels like their pieces missing, a couple of times the plot jumps around and I’m not sure what the character’s are talking about, exactly. I’m also not 100% sure who the zombie guy at the end is supposed to be. Am I supposed to recognize him? Is it supposed to be a mystery? I’m really not sure.

There’s a lot of great bits. The gun having a communicator function. Nurse Radknee’s reaction to Draco’s transformation. Sneed trying to interrupt the zombie from snitching on him. All hilarious.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Intergalactic Battle Fatigue, Effects of…

Re: Unauthorized Early Retirement of Nurses, Policy Regarding…

Youtube Summary: Futuristic Jekyll and Hyde Lizard Monster seduces Hot Nurse.

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Tyranny Ep.8 “Note to Self” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Looks like sacred geometry to me.”

So here we are on episode 8 of Tyranny, a cool episode where Daniel, at his lowest point, gets a clue about what happened to him.

I started talking a bit with John Beck Hofman, the star and creator of Tyranny, through YouTube, and he had some interesting stuff to say. So I thought it wold be fun to have him do a little write up to episode 8. So here’s a “guest review” from John.

The webseries thing is really still at the experimental stages. It’s still in its infancy and I think its safe to say at this point that a webisode is not a short movie nor is it a short TV episode. It is it’s own being and for the most part, I believe, doesn’t know how to “be” yet. Formula is a big problem — is an episode 31 seconds, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 10 minutes, 20? Maybe this year we’ll be figuring that out and maybe next year there will be a winning formula for episode length and story arc. Maybe comedy will have one length and drama will have another and sci-fi/thrillers yet another.

I think the most difficult thing is to try and fit something meaningful, impactful, suspenseful and engaging in roughly 4 minutes or so and then do that every week. Television and movies don’t even have to endure that kind of pressure — except for maybe “24″ -which is probably the only show that could pull off a webseries, as something very big seems to always happen every 4-5 minutes.

But as much as I loved the show “Lost”, I think it would completely fail as a “thriller” web series, as so much of the show was about the personal journeys of not one or two people but 20 or so individuals and how they connected to each other. Yes the ongoing cliff-hanging plot was there every hour, but certainly not every 4 minutes.

Which brings me to Tyranny episode 8. I have difficulty at times with this episode when I see it in the list, because I know many people will find it slow or boring when it stands there on it’s own. But then when I watch it along with the other episodes I’m reminded of why I put it there. In fact, every time I watch it I notice something I like more about it. But it isn’t something that keeps you grasping at your armchairs. Its one of those that works best when your alone — maybe even depressed as we’ve all been there.

I feel this episode is important because Daniel has really lost everything meaningful in his life up to this point: his girlfriend Alex dumped him for someone else, his art show was basically a flop, the new girl Isabelle was something hopeful, but her date showing up made him feel that much more the loser of the evening… and to top it off, he’s had an “episode” — his brain has malfunctioned and he may have lost his mind as well. Now he’s coming home alone, drunk, and watching films of a happy childhood and we don’t even know if they’re films of his childhood.

For me, I needed this episode in the mix. I needed to see Daniel completely emptied of everything that was important to him before we start filling him up with all the “mission to fight the global conspiracy” stuff. We know from the first episode that in the future he’s supposedly leading a revolution, so at this earlier stage in his life I wanted him to look like the last person who could ever achieve that super hero-like position. I wanted a real person with a troubled past to build upon- a failure basically - a character that I personally could relate to emotionally as my own life had been riddled with all kinds of failings to get beyond.

Is this the kind of territory a sci-fi/thriller webseries should get into? The web is either the best place to explore this or the worst. I haven’t decided yet. And as I said earlier, at this stage, it’s all an experiment. The winning formula hasn’t been found. How much struggle, how much relationship building, how much is too much, how little is too little.

There was a bit of difficulty in shooting this one — mainly because we really only got one shot at destroying the room so we had to make it work the first time. I actually really liked that the film reels hit the camera and Garret Baquet, who was shooting this episode, just kept rolling with it.

BTW, I found it so funny that the last review of episode 7 mentioned a couple times that they were waiting for the shoe to drop as this one was all about the shoe being dropped…or thrown rather. Maybe not exactly what they were hoping for… but if this week didn’t work, next week’s episode will. That’s the real beauty of the web series I think. If it didn’t work this week, it didn’t cost much to make, and it certainly didn’t cost the viewer anything, except for maybe 4-5 minutes of their attention.

Some good details about he show and some very thoughtful stuff!

Thanks, John, for agreeing to share your thoughts with us! We’ll be watching Tyranny as long as your willing to make it!

From YouTube Description:

Episode 8 of Tyranny the Web Series:
“Note to Self”
Returning home late from his art exhibit, Daniel McCarthy finds himself in the midst of an emotional breakdown. The next morning however brings him a surprise clue as to what happened to him the week he disappeared.

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Overturn Ep.2 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-fi Conspiracy Web Series

1 Swirlies

“Stay away from me. Stay off my couch! Who are you?”

Wha!?

I gotta say, I don’t like things that are deliberately oblique I like to think I’m a pretty smart guy, but I have only the faintest idea of what this series is about. The two episodes don’t even seem to belong to the same series.

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be intrigued and then head over to the website to “solve the puzzle.” And look, I’m really sorry to the people involved with this series for being hard on you. This is merely my opinion, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who love this show. I wish I could recommend it more, because the reason I do this blog is not to hold up things to ridicule them like 90% of the internet does, but to help introduce people to series they may not other wise get a chance to see - to make it easier to watch and follow web series in general.

I like stories that force you to rise up to their level, that ask you to trust them and learn as you go. Something like Radiance is like that - I had no idea going in what it was going to be about, but I found myself liking the characters and wanting to be around for the ride. I didn’t feel like the creators were deliberately withholding information that I needed to know to understand the story. I just felt like I didn’t have all the information yet, but as each episode goes by I’m getting more and more context.

Yes, this is only the second episode of Overturn, and I’m sure if I watched to the end all would be revealed. But here’s where they lose me - the whole foundation of the story is designed to be a mystery to be solved. What’s it about? Go to the forum and tell us your best guess. What’s going on? Join us on Facebook and discuss it with other fans. This not a story meant to be watched and enjoyed - it is meant to be figured out with very little clues and context. And I’m sure they’ll get to the episode where you find that you have been deliberately misled in order to keep you guessing.

I get why you’d want to design a web series this way. On the face of it, it seems like it will be good for community building. Watching the show isn’t enough you have to become involved. But first and foremost - entertain me. I don’t want to feel like I’m being given a quiz. “Quick, name three objects in the room you just saw.” “Was it really a dream or is he lying?” Can’t I just eat my burrito and watch your show?

This is what Lost has brought us to. To me, Lost was never about the mystery. Lost was about the characters. I found Lost entertaining, and I spent very little time trying to puzzle it out. To solve it. Where I stopped caring about Lost was when it began pandering to the “I want answers” crowd. All of a sudden, characters took a back seat to connecting all the dots. To giving people answers so that they could know if they got more things right than the other people in the forums.

And now the “I want answers” crowd, to whom Lost was something that you could win at, are making web series.

So where does that leave us with Overturn? I’m probably not going to keep posting it - it will be the first series that I have deliberately abandoned since starting The Watch List. But I can’t cover every web series out there, so by choosing to continue posting this one, I’m not posting any other show. I hope that there are people out there who discover this show through The Watch List and enjoy it. Just because I don’t like doesn’t mean you have to not like it. Just head over to YouTube, or the link to the website is below.

From YouTube Description:

Overturn - international sci-fi mystery web series - Episode Two
http://www.overturnseries.com Solve the puzzle.

Also check out this:
http://www.webseriesnetwork.com/profile/OverturnSeries
http://overturn.blip.tv

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Space Hospital S02E02.5 “Curse of the Draco” [Part 2] | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

5 Swirlies

“Dr. Drake is the new chief of staff… and the father of my baby.”

I didn’t realize the last episode was a two parter.

This season seems much more focused on the long arc than the individual episodes, but at the same time the episodes are still strong each on their own.

Part two of Curse of the Draco has a lot of nice gags and a really amazing space battle scene, with some of the best visual effects that this series has done. Very impressive.

It ends on a darker note - but still funny. I’m eager to see where they’re going with this. I also like how they are continuing to build on the mythology of the first season.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Intergalactic Battle Fatigue, Effects of…

Newly appointed Dr. Drake must navigate the murky recesses of Dr. Goode’s mind just as Space Hospital attempts to navigate the murky outskirts of the dark nebula while bombarded by the relentless Dracos. Now reunited with her half-robot offspring, Nurse Ratknee reveals a further truth with frighteningly technological implications for a troubled and confused Yeoman Lindsay Long.

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Space Hospital S02E02 “Curse of the Draco”

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

5 Swirlies

“Why this old thing? It’s a baby.”

I love that Lovable Robot gets more screen time in this season.

Nurse Ratknee discovers that she has a son/daughter in this episode that builds on Space Hospital mythology. Hilarious as always. The first half, dealing with the return of Nurse B. Arbabra, the addition of Dr. Draco and the ongoing attack on Space Hospital, was the purely funniest, and the second half reveals the back story behind the new character for this season, the eye patch wearing Lyndsay Long.

I’m constantly blown away by the set. Not only is it awesome retro-future awesomeness, but it must be giant! There’s a wonderful shot where the camera dollies through a wall from one room into another. I wonder where it was built? Was it a large basement? I would be very surprised to hear they rented a studio for the build, because then they’d have to store it and rebuild it for season two - a little known fact of production is that it costs almost as much to store a set between seasons as it does to build it in the first place.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Evolution: Fact or Fancy?…

Re: Proper work attire for gender-ambiguous androids…

Love revisits Space Hospital with a vengeance, dark and ominous. Nurse Ratknee’s old rival returns with a new suitor and a poorly kept secret. Yeoman Long reveals the true circumstance of her recent engagement as newest crewmember, and is unexpectedly reunited with an (emotionally) distant relative. Meanwhile, the ship is left vulnerable to attacking Draconoid forces while drifting all too close to an ominous dark nebula.

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Tyranny Ep.6 “Missing The X” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

“If there’s one thing I know about you, you never forget anything.”

The first half of this episode is a little frustrating, because if you have been following along at all with the series and episode descriptions, you know what’s going on way before the character does. But the second half, where he starts to figure things out, moves past that, and while that’s pretty much the whole episode it is still very well done, and by the end of it I was right there in the emotional zone where the creators wanted me - largely through the score and the sheer presence of the main actor, who is at his best when all he has to do is emote. And I don’t mean that in a Keanu Reeves sort of way, where his acting is ruined when he opens his mouth, but the best moments are when Daniel is just reacting to the moment.

I do wish the series would pick up the pace a little bit. It ain’t no 31: The Series, but I do feel that episode 6 doesn’t add a whole heck of a lot to episode 5, at least the last half of it. Compare that to the episode of Aidan5 I posted yesterday, where between that episode and the previous one, the clone equivalent of a race riot had broken out. I love Tyranny, but we’re closing in on the half way mark. I really don’t want a repeat of The Vatala, where I kept going through the series because I thought it was leading somewhere, only to find it was all a set up to the real story, which was starting in season two. I felt betrayed. I guess maybe that’s how people felt about Lost?

I do think this show continues to be very well shot, and the acting is of high quality, especially from a web series. The music is particularly good. Oh yeah, that reminds me. In the last review I saw the web site for this show had an online soundtrack you could listen to. I guess I’m not the only one who likes the music.

This series is on my new “once a week” track, so we’ll be discussing it for the next 8 weeks. Wanna join in? Leave a comment!

From YouTube Description:

Episode 6 of Tyranny the Web Series:
“Missing the X”
Daniel’s ex-girlfriend, Alex, makes a surprise visit to Daniel’s studio to confront him about his lack of social-ness.

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Aidan5 Ep.5 “In Sheep’s Clothing” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

5 Swirlies

“There’s a storm raging through this city.”

The creators have really stepped this one up. The pencil sketch backgrounds are constantly moving, and there’s a tight integration with the performers.

The stakes are raised, too. The storyline has taken on an epic feeling as people have rioted against the clones, and Aidan serves a warrant against the main cloning corporation.

This episode has a lot of info, and while it didn’t feel like it, it is all kinda leading up to the end. And what an end it is - a nice twist that I didn’t see coming.

I feel like the creators behind this series are constantly striving to find the exact right tone and story, and to push their production quality with every episode. A little tough here, a tweak there. I could be wrong, but I kinda feel like they increased the contrast on the live action actors to blend them in a little more with the background.

I hate to say this sort of stuff, but the place where the show could use the most improvement is the acting. I know it is hard to work against a green screen, reacting to things that aren’t there. And it is hard to be natural when the style that the show is made in means most of your dialogue will be in the master angle, but the choices the actors sometimes make in the little moments don’t seem to always gel with the big picture. I think maybe the writing may be to blame, as well, for some of that.

Still, it is easily one of the best made web series out there right now.

From YouTube Description:

Aidan and Riley serve Infinity Cloning Corporation with a warrant, invoking some unintended consequences.

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