• Welcome to the new COTI server. We've moved the Citizens to a new server. Please let us know in the COTI Website issue forum if you find any problems.
  • We, the systems administration staff, apologize for this unexpected outage of the boards. We have resolved the root cause of the problem and there should be no further disruptions.

Spinward Traveller

nats

nats

SOC-12
Last edited:
The creature make-up is bad, the director for the preview is very fond of extreme close-up to the point of not being able to make things out in a scene. The green screen looks too fake, which is sad because 15 years ago it would have been great, but the Star Wars 1-3 set the bar too high for green screen and now it looks laughable.

It could be good if the story is good and is scaled to the budget, and the director was just covering for a lack of budget in his extreme close-ups for the demo and can actually direct.
 
Be that as it may, as soon as I saw Brian Lewis was playing the lead role, I chipped in. I liked this actor in "The Gamers" and "Journeyquest" (which I also supported) and I think he's a good fit for this type of role.
 
As I understand it, the green screen shots shown are only for the demo reel. These scenes will be redone when the project goes ahead.

I'm hoping that that also applies to the creature makeup ... was that supposed to be a Vargr? And if it was then a normal clear voice just doesn't work either.

But meanwhile, I totally agree that the inclusion of Brian Lewis is a reassuring sign.
 
Hemdian said:
I'm hoping that that also applies to the creature makeup ... was that supposed to be a Vargr?
Click to expand...

Unless we have seen different demos, I'm pretty sure it is supposed to be an Aslan, and I agree it needs to be redone professionally.

I also agree w Garyius's comment that the director used too many close-ups.

I hope that a lot of this can be fixed with the Kickstarter money and professional work on the pilot/proposal episode.

Done right, this could be the new Firefly! But that will have to be orders of magnitude better than the demo I saw, which was pretty crappy.

Also, it strikes me as unfortunate that the Kickstarter only runs to July 15. I would like to contribute, but don't expect to have any "spare money" for that until August. I guess I can throw in a token $10 or something, but still, I hope he can pull in enough support in that period of time.
 
nats said:
[Edit: Mods do we need to have a separate section here about this wonderful new show? I really think so!]
Click to expand...

Not a Mod, but I certainly don't think so, at this stage when we are just talking about demos and a Kickstarter. One or two threads would be all I'd expect.

There are plenty of other potential topic subforums that should have higher priority at this time, such as one for 2300AD-ish ATUs (although that might be coming when Aramis has time to set it up; his plate is pretty full right now with his wife in hospital).

Now if Spinward Traveller gets made into a real TV show, then yeah, a subforum for discussion would be cool - I reckon that would be up to Marc Miller, but I can't see why he wouldn't want a discussion subforum here for the show.
 
Tobias said:
Be that as it may, as soon as I saw Brian Lewis was playing the lead role, I chipped in. I liked this actor in "The Gamers" and "Journeyquest" (which I also supported) and I think he's a good fit for this type of role.
Click to expand...
Same here. I wasn't going to back it, until I saw Brian was the lead. I backed it.
 
Figured she was a Aslan, but something just does not look right. Also noticed that it seemed there were way too many female characters for the norm.

If done right it could be another Firefly...but then firefly was supposed to be Traveller like (First episode..as they took off Wash yelled "hold on Travellers"). After all, landing to see what cargo was present and looking for passangers reminded me of most Traveller games.

The bar they have to shoot for is Firefly, it was almost perfect.
 
Problem here is making the product seem like a genuine independent film production effort than what most might assume is a fan-film YouTube upload.

That said, the bar for SF TV and film projects has greatly been reduced by the myriad of D-grade features on the SyFy Channel, so perhaps that's a venue to shop the finished film to.

No intentional disrespect meant to MWM or the cast and production company as a whole but is live-action really the medium to attempt with such a limited treasury ? I think a slick and mature-audience targeted anime feature-series might be a better expenditure of available talent, materials and budget overall.
 
Patron Zero said:
Problem here is making the product seem like a genuine independent film production effort than what most might assume is a fan-film YouTube upload.

That said, the bar for SF TV and film projects has greatly been reduced by the myriad of D-grade features on the SyFy Channel, so perhaps that's a venue to shop the finished film to.

No intentional disrespect meant to MWM or the cast and production company as a whole but is live-action really the medium to attempt with such a limited treasury ? I think a slick and mature-audience targeted anime feature-series might be a better expenditure of available talent, materials and budget overall.
Click to expand...

I think a Youtube indy affair is the way to go. CGI is too expensive except for the most extravagant scenes (ironic, since it was meant to cut down on SFX costs). It looks interesting, but looks like a fan film.
 
The cost of CGI depends how much in-house talent you have and how long you're willing to work on it. Star Wreck shows what is possible despite having next to no budget. (See the 'Making of' section of website for production and post production details.)

But at the end of the day, if the story and characters are interesting and the acting sufficiently competent then for me that's enough. I was a fan of original Doctor Who and Blake's 7 for decades despite wobbly sets and questionable SFX. So this project could work, there's only one way to find out.
 
It would be really great to see this on SyFy or other major media- I'm not sure what the criteria are for having a pilot accepted at that level, but if anyone has a shot, it would be D20E. Ken seems to have experience and enough resources to at least get a kickstarter video in place, which is a new thing for cross-media Traveller content.

Although woefully stalled due to a variety of setbacks I won't go into here, this is one of the reasons I aimed directly for a web series format for Far Trader. As someone with little experience but what I've acquired while working on my project, the production schedule and resource needs seem a little more manageable for someone with my level of experience.

The financial resources aren't the only thing here- since he's got an actual production house he has access to contacts for makeup, practical effects, sound design, and a lot of other personnel resources that someone like me would have to go hunting for or develop those skills myself. Not to mention simply understanding the logistics of doing the actual production.
 
I've had some experience in television production and packaging-developing a television program for syndication-distribution and from that will say the hurdles are higher than most might imagine.

As to CGI, many films and TV series today could not be achieved without such technology but I often seen such processes used in place of dedicated old school ingenuity and jack-of-trades inventiveness.

Just because CGI is readily available and often more convenient doesn't always mean that it's the best solution all around.
 
Yeah, one of the biggest issues with pitching an idea is marketability, and you have to show the producer(s) to whom your pitching that you have your s__t together and that you know what you're doing.

Actual production is all in the pre-planning, and even then you tack on 20% to your estimated budget for uneventualities like your talent dying or getting thrown in jail, or your set burning down (heaven forbid). You need a crew that knows their "stuff", a DP who's talented and fast, a deck operator and script "girl" who know how to log, on screen talent that won't take long to get "in the mood", and a killer script that isn't too smart nor bad all at once.

I see a lot of fan films on Youtube that are, ... well, fan films. And where there's a lot of heart poured into them, and a lot of them look decent enough, it's simply not the caliber needed for broadcast TV (or "narrow" cast cable).

All the best. If anyone's interested, my resume's posted at Cinematography.com
 
My view about the film from what little I have seen is the CGI is rope and they should either improve it a lot or keep it very restricted in the pilot. Even Dr Who, Classic Star Trek and Firefly have better spaceship effects. I certainly would restrict use of the green screen because that doesnt look very good either. I would be happy with a Babylon 5 type approach where characters are everything and the CGI budget is limited to a few short very high quality shots, then use built sets/real locations for everything else, you can do that for a series set on one ship and a couple of planets.

But ok, its a simple feeler for what they are trying to do. I do love the latest clip they put on set in the medbay. I love some of the characters. But the special effects are so far damaging the look of the film. I suppose thats not surprising for a set of cheap samples to get in the money.

So far it looks fascinating and I will be watching proigress with interest. I especially hope that they at least have, as spoken text, the passage from the front of the Classic Black Traveller box: "This is free trader Beowulf, calling anyone...mayday" - that would be mint! Maybe the last spoken dialogue in the pilot???
 
Patron Zero said:
I think a slick and mature-audience targeted anime feature-series might be a better expenditure of available talent, materials and budget overall.
Click to expand...

That would insure that I never bothered to see it.

I'm not a 14-year-old in a 51-year-old body, so I don't watch it.
 
BlackBat242 said:
That would insure that I never bothered to see it.

I'm not a 14-year-old in a 51-year-old body, so I don't watch it.
Click to expand...
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." C.S. Lewis ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mythic Mountains
CT Only: Looking to publish, for free, a retroclone of Classic Traveller
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
kilemall
kilemall
coliver988
Yet Another Traveller World Exlainer
2
Replies
22
Views
1K
Kilgs
K
robject
Traveller Trader/8bit (pre-alpha)
Replies
2
Views
214
robject
robject
Spinward Flow
CT Only: Spinward Yacht
2 3
Replies
56
Views
3K
Spinward Flow
Spinward Flow
G
MayDay! – Celebrating Traveller through Online Roleplaying
Replies
0
Views
2K
gregcaires
G
Back
Top