bad-osity that much harder to ignore.
The bad-osity isn't entirely because of the low to subzero production values. In fact, a few -- like the classic, ever-clever The Guild and the lesser-known but pretty damn funny I am NOT Infected! take advantage of the "Hey, we're on the interwebs!" aspect or the non-existent budgets (though The Guild has gotten pretty fancy-schmancy in the last series) as parts of the story itself. Others are totally obsessed wtih the capabilties of ridiculously inexpensive CGI or the specific sub-sub-subgenre they're part of or spoofing, and some are just plain obscure on purpose (does anybody understand Circle of 8? Really?)
And then there's Riese, that falls somewhere in between.
Riese (and no, I don't know how to pronounce it. In the three episodes that have been released so far, no one had said it out loud) is a gorgeous wanderer, a mysterious warrior-woman in a damp and misty forest-world that looks slightly sword-and-sorceresque and a little post-apocalyptic. (The medical facilities, for instance, look much like a modern-day health center; the weaponry is pure Society for Creative Anachronism). She's running from the oppressive religious government run by "The Sect," and they clearly want to get her, too. Oh, and she pals around with a big, beautiful wolf. Yeah: a wolf.
Riese has production values as high as anything you'll see online, even stuff from the big boys like Paramount Digital and Joss Whedon. And it's not quite as impossible to follow as some of its kin. But the pacing? Slooooowwwwww ... and after three episodes, each about 9 minues in length, we STILL don't know anyhing more a out the main chraacter, really, or the "Sect" that seems to control this mildewy medieval world.(It has that same damp deep-north-forest look that all Canadian series shot out-of-doors has; it owes more to Jeremiah than to Mad Max.
The costumes are great, the production design in general -- especially the matte painting -- is lovely. But come ON, people, STEP IT UP SOME, willya? A little less of the ominous and portentous, and a little bit more kickin' ass and telling us who's doing what to whom. Not to mention how to pronounce "Riese" and why all the women are dressed like extras from that bad Flash Gordon remake froma couple years back. And if y'all can learn the basic idea of the set-up and the pay-off, the teaser and the cliff-hanger ... well, these nine-minute episodes would seem a whole lot shorter, and we'd be much more inclined to continue.
In oh so many of these web series, you can tell in the first two minutes whether or not the show is worth your time. Riese definitley is. Probably. Potentially. But pretty soon now, it's going to have to be something other than just pretty to look at. It's going to have to do something, too.
In oh so many of these web series, you can tell in the first two minutes whether or not the show is worth your time. Riese definitley is. Probably. Potentially. But pretty soon now, it's going to have to be something other than just pretty to look at. It's going to have to do something, too.
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