Epiosde 4 Easter Eggs

I thought it would be fun to unravel the headlines from Amercian Morning Report. I'm having issues with the image uploader, so I can't put them in order, but they read:

CHINA TO ATTEMPT FIRST DOCKING WITH TIANGONG 1 SPACE LAB

TROOP LEVELS IN AFGHANISTAN TO REMAIN UNCHANGED FOR FORESEEABLE FUTURE

MC-G RUMORED TO DIRECT 'BLADE RUNNER' PREQUEL

BEAR FACT: GRIZZLY POLAR BEAR HYBRID DISCOVERED

RCMP - AGENTS INVITED TO 'CONSULT' --GREENLEY: "THIS IS IN NO WAY A VIOLATION OF CANADA'S SOVEREIGNTY

BILL DUKE CONSIDERING GUBERNATORIAL BID

UNNAMED SOURCE CLAIM DETAINEES BEING HELD IN CALGARY

WHITE HOUSE CALLS WAR GAMES PROVOCATIVE

KATE HUDSON & ASHTON KUTCHER TO STAR IN REMAKE OF "THE GRADUATE"

CHINA TO BEGIN NAVAL WAR GAMES IN SOUTH C..

NEW UNIVERSAL FLUE VACCINE DISCOVERED

APPLECURRY FRONTMAN KEEGAN CANCELS TOUR CITING 'EXHAUSTION'

I like the way the first news cast didn't have any headlines about the situation in Calgary, but they are now creeping in. I also like the slightly futuristic news.

Bear Fact and Applecurry are both references to Lionshare, Josh and Bracey's previous movie (which I hope to review sometime soon). Nice to see they're in the same universe.

It looks like Tiangong 1 is finished, and there are tensions between the US and China evidently, I wonder if this will come into the plot at all? There's a wink at unnecessary prequels and remakes.

I'm guessing Bill Duke for governor is an Arnie joke as they were both in Predator, but I could be wrong.

Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments.

The epic sweep beginneth

The term 'epic' is much overused these days, but this episode gave us a hint of what the scope of the whole story arc will be, and I'm guessing it will indeed be epic. The creators have often said that the events at Calgary are only one small part of a much larger story, and we see some of these larger pieces put into place in this episode.

The episode is split into three. Plot 'A' predominantly shows events at DHS HQ, and as I said in a previous episode if you'd only seen this episode you'd be forgiven for thinking McLellan was the main character here. I enjoyed the disconnect between that HQ was thinking about Yuri - that they were beginning to believe their own lie that he was a terrorist - and Taylor's gradual realisation that Walzer is correct (or at least appears to be). I also really liked the combative Collins. We've seen a few lines of his head-to-head a while ago in a teaser and it was good to finally see the whole thing.

Something that struck me here is that McLellan and his men are not the good guys here at all, they basically spend the whole episode lying and scheming, but I found myself on their side (a bit like in Silence of the Lambs when Lector is escaping - you're on his side despite the fact he's the bad guy). Also, McLellan seemed to know that the off-stage Miller was about to be sacked. Is there a conspiracy here going all the way to the White House? We also get confirmation that some level of the Russian government knows about the cosmonauts. I thought this was a pretty big reveal as it tells us at least that this was a government backed enterprise (though I suppose everything was in Soviet Russia).

Back on the base story arc B continues to deliver. Yuri and Jane's romance (we can call it that now) continues to run its course. Why didn't Yuri know the word for lonely? Did Jane get it wrong (can anyone confirm?) or has Yuri never heard the word because he's lived in the same Martian tent with his parents all his life? Note also the way he didn't actually say 'Mars', but 'the world', I bet that's going to become important somehow. The big reveal plot-wise however, and one that almost got lost in the mix, is that Yuri can speak English.

The closing scene showed Walzer on the phone, I'm assuming this was a colleague he'd been getting in to help him with something (maybe Dr. Avery Frank?) or was it something more sinister? And moreover, what wasn't 'a good idea'?

One thing I don't get though: on suspecting a leak about Dr. Walzer's presence on the base, surely they would have immediately blamed Clive Anderton, the hired and fired source of another leak from episode 2?

The 'C' arc showed a number of different TV pieces of people opining and arguing on the events from an outside point of view. These were all skilfully done and gave an excellent perspective as the public begin to put the pieces together.

From a production point of view the little ps and qs are also getting slicker. One of the establishing shots of the DHS HQ seemed to pan round the building as if filmed from a helicopter, I've no idea how you do that on a budget of $6000. There also seem to be more extras knocking about in the background.

I'm going to round off this review by saying that there have been four episodes now: enough to get stuck into story properly, and it would be criminal for the creators not be able to make the story they want to because of lack of funds, so please donate. Not only will you be supporting a great TV show but also helping a paradigm shift in entertainment. History remembers those who shift paradigms, not those who tried to prevent them from happening.

Tomorrow is the big day!

Don't forget folks, tomorrow is the big day for episode 4. If you've not already signed up for notifications at Vodo I'd advise you to do the same, but I'll be posting download and streaming links as soon as they become available.

I can guarantee you will enjoy this episode. I suppose one of the good things about having such a restricted budget is that there won't be any filler episodes; each one has gotta count and take things in a new direction, which this episode certainly does.

Feel free to post your comments on the blog if you feel so inclined.

Epiosde 4 Pre-release Review

I have a confession to make. The previous spoiler post was somewhat disingenuous because I have in fact seen episode 4 as a pre-screener. This somewhat gave me a confusing sensation like my parents giving me presents a week before Christmas, but never mind. What follows below is an impressionistic, unstructured spoiler-free review.

As mentioned in the interview, this episode 'Triangular Diplomacy' gives a perspective on the events of the story from the outside world. In fact if this was the first episode you saw you might be forgiven in misunderstanding who the main characters in this are. It's almost a quarter of the way in before we see our friends at Calgary and I think most of the story here takes place off-base. As a result the feel of this episode is much broader and less shut-in than previous couple.

I don't know enough about the technical side of film/tv making, but on an impressionistic level the overall quality of the show is also certainly improving. I don't just mean audio and video quality but things like the framing and the angles seem more developed. As usual the music is spot on. I'm starting to get a feel for the structure of the episodes now; they all have an opening formula.

The final scene also sets up a whole new intriguing plot thread, which of course I shan't tell you here.

Here are some random tidbits:

- There's more unsubtitled Russian.

- Watch for two Lionshare references.

- Watch the clocks.

UPDATE: As per the comments, I realise I didn't actually come right out and say that I really enjoyed this episode. I did really enjoy it. I thought it is an excellent addition to the corpus, which shows a fascinating new angle on the story.

Known Knowns and Known Unknowns

Click here for a spoiler round up for episode 4.

Episode 4 release date confirmed

I have received information that the likeliest date for the episode 4 release date is April 28th or 29th. This is provisional however.

There will be some new posts in the very near future.

EDIT: It has been confirmed that it will be the 28th!

Another update about releases dates

The folks at Pioneer One have just announced that episode 3 will be out by the end of the month (March), and episode 4 about two weeks after that:

http://twitter.com/#!/pioneeronetv/status/44465704543584256

Update on episode 3 and 4 release dates

Just a quick post to say that according to this Tweet the release dates for Episode 3 and 4 will be released in a few days, with plans for 5 and 6!

Exclusive Interview with Josh Bernhard

I'm very pleased to present an interview from Josh Bernhard, co-creator of Pioneer One. The last question contains some mild spoilers.

P1FS: First of all thanks for agreeing to do this interview.

JB: Sure! One of the things we were most looking forward to with doing this show was being able to have a dialogue with our viewers.

P1FS: The show ticks all the boxes for me: mystery, geekiness, retro-technology. Your approach of making the show available for free and funded from various sources is very brave; are you meeting your targets? Have you had to rethink your approach at all?

JB: Thanks, though I'm not sure I'd call it bravery! We wanted to tell this story, took stock of what resources and opportunities we had, and decided this was a way we could make it happen. And we constantly rethinking our approach. Not necessarily from the bottom up, but definitely recalibrating. Six months ago we thought we might be somewhere different by now, and six months before that we thought something else entirely. We've exceeded some of our target goals and fallen short on some others. But after the first two releases we have a much better idea of how to use our resources most effectively, and that's affecting how we're moving forward.

P1FS: I heard in an interview recently that you see more of an affinity with TV shows like the Green Wing [JB: West Wing I think we had mentioned, GW is the hospital show yeah?][P1FS: Yes, I'm going to quote Homer Simpson here: "Doh!"] and I think 24 than with the usual suspects like the X-Files and Fringe. How happy are you with the label of 'Science Fiction', with all the baggage that this brings?

JB: I have absolutely no problem with being labeled science fiction, it's just not the first label I'd slap on the package. And that's not dithering, because I think to do so would create false expectations of what the show is going to be. We just want to make sure that "Mars" and "space" are not all somebody hears before they stop listening, because the premise, while a little high concept, is really more of a launching point for the drama. I'd describe it more as a piece of speculative fiction, but people give me funny looks when I call it that so I decided to shut up!

That said, both Bracey and I have pretty strong credentials in the sci-fi department, and we're making a show that we would want to see ourselves.

P1FS: The pacing of Pioneer One seems to me to be very like a novel. Are there any particular authors or novels that have influenced Pioneer One?

JB: Thanks, that's one of the things I like about it too. Our show has a serial narrative and is more of a slow burn, and it builds to something that I think will be very satisfying.

P1FS: The central concept of the show is a really great one, how did you come by that idea? Did you decide you wanted to make a web series and get the idea, or the other way round?

JB: This is probably the question I'm worst at answering! I can't say for certain, but those who know me well have pointed out my long-standing interest in both the space program and Cold War history, so I guess it was natural that's where my head would end up.

The story came first, and this was the best way to tell it. If I thought it would work better as a one-off, we would have made it as a movie instead.

P1FS: The soundtrack to the show is beautiful. Can you tell us more about it?

JB: Thanks for asking about that! This is really a question for Bracey to answer, since wrote the signature pieces himself and is overseeing the rest of the score. We have a few composers (Felix Bird, Josh Cipolla, and Mike Sweeney) working on different sections but Bracey is very concerned with creating distinct melodies and themes that will recur throughout the show.

P1FS: There are a bunch of other web only TV series, but it seems to me that Pioneer One has been by far the most successful to date. What's your secret?

JB: That's very flattering, what gives you that impression? I guess it depends on by what measure you judge. The only thing I can say is that from the beginning we've thought of the show we're making not as a web show but as a TV show that appears primarily on the web. It might be a semantic distinction, but that's the mindset we're operating with.

The biggest boon for us in terms of exposure has probably been our distribution through VODO and our association with their DISCO Distribution Coalition. Part of what I meant earlier when I said we took stock of our resources was that we knew we had a venue to get the show out there through our relationship with VODO, which started when they distributed a movie I wrote and directed called The Lionshare. [P1FS note: hope to do a post on this in the future.]

P1FS: How are episodes 3 and 4 shaping up? Can you tell us something exclusive about the upcoming episode?

***MILD SPOILER ALERT***

JB: Episodes 3 and 4 are both in stages of near-completion, which is why the gap between these two releases will be short. The next episode is called "Alone in the Night" and we'll be spending a lot of time with Yuri, our supposed Martian cosmonaut. Episode 4 is titled "Triangular Diplomacy" and will give us a perspective on the events of the story from the outside world.

Approximate episode 3 and 4 release dates announced.

The mysterious entity behind the Facebook page for Pioneer One has mentioned in a thread that the release dates of episodes 3 and 4 will be March, exact dates TBA. There are also a ton of pics in their album. You can look at them here, I think you'll need a Facebook account though.

UPDATE: New information has come to light you can see here.