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Venus Rises To An Interesting Place On The Internet
By: Dennis Rayburn
11/08/2009
Fan made films are not new on the Internet. You can find dozens of them with one search, with a lot of those being fan films on Star Trek, Star Wars, or some other popular genre. It is the rare ones that set out in a totally original direction all of it's own.
Such is the case of the web show, Venus Rises. This new show focuses on a possible future for our planet, where the ecology has become totally out of control and the planet has been rendered uninhabitable. The wealth and higher echelon people are moved to Mars, with the working class moved to Venus, where the folks on Mars can continue to live as they did on Earth.
There are currently two shows available on the Venus Rises site. The first is Venus Rises: Crossroads which is Part 1 of that show. The other is called Innerspace: Ikarus, which is set, according to the website, before the events of Crossroads.
Ikarus is set on a mining ship which is traveling, mining the moon and asteroids. In the first episode, we meet three members of the crew and watch as they encounter an asteroid, capture it, and as we leave the episode, we are left wondering if someone got shot.
Crossroads is set on an space refueling station orbiting around the Earth. We watch the crew deal with incoming ships, equipment trouble, hearing reports of a revolution starting on Venus, and the arrival of a mystery ship.
Both shows are written by J. G. Birdsall. Because of the shortness of each episode, plot development is explained in the opening of the show, and things happen very fast. The shows are fast paced, well written, and as I said at the first, are totally original. Now, don't get me wrong, I love fan films based on established genres, but a good original show is hard to beat and I believe this show could develop into something major as time goes by.
It's very early to give an informed opinion of the show overall, but in this writer's opinion, this is a show that science fiction fans should check out by visiting the website. As more episodes come out, I'll revisit this show and discuss more about it.
See you next time!
Photos: VenusRises.tv
Author: Dennis Rayburn
Dennis Rayburn is a columnist for Roddenberry.com. His column, "Two Strips of Latinum" appears every Sunday through Thursday.
Contact: drayburn@roddenberry.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/drayburn
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4 Responses
Checked it out and like what I saw can not wait to see more.
KTaj
11/10/2009
I checked out Venus Rises web site, and am liking what I've seen so far! Cant wait to see more of it!
Staregeek99
11/10/2009
GREAT NEWS - I was also captured by the title, and then the graphics.
However, based on your review, I am bothered by the settings/concept. The rich moving to Mars I can 'see' [better gravity and atmosphere and water situation], but any adaptation on Venus for humans would be MUCH harder than fixing anything we have done to our planet. Leaving the 'poor' behind on Earth, and their colonizing the Moon, asteroids, and such, would have been a much better concept and far more believable.
But I WILL try watching the show; a good story can trump a lot of other problems. Thanks for the 'heads up'.
Realist1953
11/10/2009
Dear Dennis:
Great bulletins! The "mini-space plane" was very interesting, but what drew me in was "Venus Rising." Being close to having a B.S. in Digital Film, independent Sci-Fi shows are one of my hobbies and interests.
Thanks again, for the excellent articles and hope more are coming in the near-future!
Sincerely,
Trekwebmaster
www.trekwebmaster.com
Trekwebmaster
11/09/2009
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