Dragon Age: Repemption delivered an excellent example of the web series format with a strong cast and decent story, and it could have continued if given the chance.
What Is It?
This web series, based on the Dragon Age video game, delivers a fantasy tale in which the grey giants known as the Qunari and the religious Templars known as the Chantry send agents to reclaim the rogue mage Saarebas. The elf Tallis is sent by the Qunari, and she will have her name and status restored if she succeeds in her quest. The knight Cairn is a member of the Chantry, though he has his own motives for finding the mage. Along the way, a young Elven magic-user and a vicious Reaver join them in hunting down this dangerous warlock.
Aired: 2011, One Season Totaling 6 Episodes
Cast: Felicia Day, Adam Rayner, Doug Jones, Marcia Battise, Masam Holden
Crew: Felicia Day (Writer/Producer), Peter Winther (Director)
Legacy:
This web series, based on the Dragon Age video game, delivered a professional production with a notable cast that explored the game’s lore and showed real potential as an ongoing series.
A Closer Look:
This series was written and produced by Felicia Day and it was a professional production, linked to the popular video game Dragon Age from Bioware. It was also a logical next step for Day, seeing as her other web series The Guild (you can read about that one at this link) is about a group of people addicted to playing a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). Dragon Age: Redemption, though, dispenses with the comedy elements of The Guild and gives us a straight up fantasy tale; and quite a good one at that. This first season of the web series introduces us to Felicia Day’s Elven character while also setting up the world she lives in, and it offers some additional characters who could join her on future adventures.
Some may find it odd that the series lacks any of the dragons of its title, but that’s likely for budgetary reasons, and the story moves along quite well without them. And while you can definitely tell that this was a cost-conscious production, seeming a bit cheesy at times, it holds up quite well as a web series, rising far and above what we have usually seen as far as production values and special effects. The acting is good for the most part (especially Day’s performance) as the show draws upon professional actors to fill the roles. And the story is decent, even if it does resort to cliché and copy-and-paste dialogue at times. But it offers a good set up for additional adventures, and I for one would love to see more of this series. This one would have been perfectly suited to make the jump to a weekly television series and might have been better suited there as it would likely receive a higher budget.
Basically, Dragon Age: Redemption stands as an excellent example of the web series format, showing its full potential. It also delivers a good fantasy series at a time before that genre had exploded on television (it premiered only a few months after Game of Thrones had its bow on HBO). For those taking a survey of web series entries from this era, this is certainly a good place to start. Sadly, the show did not continue beyond its short run, but its first season is definitely worth a look.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Dragon Age: Redemption was designed as a stand alone web series, but it also left open the possibility of continuing to a second season or a television series. At the time, opportunities to monetize web series were not as plentiful, and apparently BioWare (which owns the game) was not interested in funding a second season. If the production had drawn massive viewership, perhaps they would have considered it or tried to shop it around, but I have seen no audience numbers for the series. Felicia Day did get the chance to voice her character again in the Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin game, but not in a continuation of the web series.
Should It Be Rebooted?
An animated film (Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker) and television series (Dragon Age: Absolution) have followed based on the game, but these are not tied to the Dragon Age: Redemption web series. It would certainly be good to see a revival or reboot of the property, especially if Felicia Day was involved. They could pick up fifteen years later from the web series, still following Day’s Elven assassin, and that would probably be the best approach since she is so closely associated with the series. Another option would be an animated series with Day voicing her character. Dragon Age the game has continued to thrive with spin-offs into novels and comics, so another attempt at a series would certainly be welcome.
Interesting Facts:
BioWare approached Felicia Day about creating the web series because of her reputation as an avid gamer and because she had created the series The Guild, according to Day,
The series took home three wins at the recent IAWTV awards in technical categories: Best Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup/Special Effects, Also Nominated for Best Original Music
Where Can You Watch It?
The series has been released on DVD, and you can stream it for free (with ads) on Tubi TV where it has been compiled together as a movie.
Read More About the Show:
If you produced an independent sci fi/fantasy web series during the 2000s and/or 2010s, please contact us at cultscifi.com@gmail.com with the information about the show. Or if you know of productions from that time, please pass along that information as I am working on a project documenting the rise and fall of this format.
