Scanlyze

Riese: A Girl and her Wolf

Riese: A Girl and her Wolf

Riese and Fenrir

I recently ran across a new web-only action/adventure production called Riese. The eponymous main character, played by Christine Chatelain, is fleeing from a tyrannical regime in the steampunk kingdom of Elysia. I like the Mad Max look of the costumes and the Dr. Horrible like semi-pro abandon with which the series is being edited and shot. The general premise, good kingdom overtaken by evil cult; heir(ess) on the run… is as old as the stories of Theseus and Oedipus. The show has an appealing during/post apocalypse sense which puts one in mind of A Boy and His Dog, Mad Max, especially the third installment, Beyond Thunderdome, V for Vendetta, Children of Men, The Handmaid’s Tale and many others. However it is a nice place from which to explore good versus evil, individual versus society and such tropes. The heroine has at least one supernatural seeming ability: to keep her eyeliner and eyeshadow lipstick and foundation pristine and unsmeared despite being pursued through the woods while wearing goggles and bleeding from a side wound and then engaging in a rather clumsy knife fight with several Mad-Maxian attackers.

I am generally happy with people taking their vision directly to web rather than letting it be ground up and homogenized by the “entertainment” industry.

Whether it be “Star Trek Phase II”, Star Wars Revelations, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, lonelygirl15, or the semi-professional docu-humor of Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock, such efforts can be good even if writing/acting/scripting/editing are not all that they could be because they are fun and true and come from the heart.

So bon chance to Riese. Here’s hoping it is not too horrible.

Copyright © 2009 Henry Edward Hardy

3 November, 2009 Posted by scanlyze | Christine Chatelain, independent production, internet, media, scanlyze, science fiction, steampunk, television, TV, video, web, wolf | Christine Chatelain, dystopia, independent production, internet, news, Riese, science fiction, steampunk, television, TV, video, web | Leave a comment