2010’s Pioneer One was short-lived, but it delivered a notable sci fi entry that proved the web series format was a viable alternative for serialized programming.
What Is It?
Pioneer One is a speculative fiction web series that begins when an unidentified spaceship enters Earth’s atmosphere and spreads radiation across hundreds of miles of Montana then crashes in Canada. U.S. officials immediately suspect terrorism and dispatch two Homeland security agents to investigate. They discover that the spaceship is of Russian origin and one person, who survived the crash, is onboard. The investigation reveals that this person, whom they refer to as Yuri, is allegedly the child of two Soviet astronauts sent to Mars on a secretive mission during the 1980’s. He is kept in quarantine as the Homeland Security agents try to get to the bottom of the mysteries surrounding the case, but information has leaked and the Russians demand the return of their citizen and spaceship while the Canadians are clamoring for the quarantine to end.
Aired: VODO, 2010, 1 Season Totaling 6 Episodes
Cast: James David Rich, Alexandra Blatt, Einar Gunn, Jack Haley
Crew: Josh Bernhard (Creator/Writer), Bracy Smith (Creator/Director)
Legacy:
At a time when independent web series were establishing themselves as an alternative to serialized television, Pioneer One supported itself through crowd-funding and delivered a notable science fiction entry.
A Closer Look:
The synopsis provided above gives just a bare-bones description of the series and sets up its basic premise. The story unfolded across six episodes that range in length from thirty to forty five minutes and focused on the investigation run by the two Homeland Security agents as well as the politics and science surrounding the incident. I consider Pioneer One to be a triumph of independent film-making and a clear indication that the web truly offers a range of options for episodic sci fi productions (though sadly that remains unrealized). The series is quite excellent, a rare piece of thought-provoking story-telling, and it definitely hit a nerve with the sci fi community as the show’s producers turned to them for donations to fund the project and they responded with overwhelming generosity.
The production values for the series are excellent considering its budget (I believe the full six episodes cost less than $100 thousand, a fraction of the cost of a single episode of a network or cable production at that same time). Of course the series has little in the way of special effects and it was rougher around the edges early on, but it made significant leaps forward with each episode. It is also quite slow at times, but the same can be said of science fiction classics like The Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I can take slow as long as the story keeps my attention, and Pioneer One delivered a much more satisfying viewing experience than the mediocre sci fi entries the broadcast networks were putting out at that time such as FOX’s mega-dollar misfire Terra Nova.
The cast consists of mostly unknown actors, and few have gone on to any sort of starring roles. But pretty much all involved deliver good performances, and the two leads develop a nice chemistry. The production values do not quite measure up to what the broadcast networks and cable channels were putting out at the time, and definitely count as sub-par compared to the more recent streaming shows. But the cast and crew make the most of what they have and deliver a show that far exceeds the expectations of its budget.
Productions like Pioneer One and Cell: The Web Series (more on that one at this link) represent the pinnacle of what can be achieved with independent genre web series. Neither sets their ambitions beyond their means and both offer thoughtful, intelligent, challenging tales that engage their audience through their story-telling, not through special effects or gimmicks, while also managing to steer clear of cliché. Both of these also avoided many of the rough edges that we saw with other web productions and could have produced multiple seasons if the funding was available. Sadly, the independent web series mostly died out around the mid-2010s, about the time that the streaming services started getting into the scripted programming game. But Pioneer One represents a gem from the height of the brief web series boom (along with Cell: The Web Series), and it is definitely worth seeking out.
Cancelled Too Soon?
This show was never officially cancelled, but it also never continued to a second season, leaving some of its storylines unresolved. It managed to pull in enough funding to produce its six-episode first season, but that involved quite a number of people working for little-to-no pay, and that can only go on for so long. If the production had raised enough money to pay the cast and crew at least scale, perhaps another season or two could have happened. But people will only work for gratis for so long, and that kept this one from continuing into a second year.
Should It be Rebooted?
Seeing as over a decade has passed since the first season was produced, it would be difficult to carry this one on with the original cast. So a reboot might be the way to go, which would give it the opportunity to polish up the production values and to continue into additional seasons. It survived on crowdfunding the first time around and that could be used to jumpstart a reboot. From there, it may be able to generate enough revenue from ads on platforms like YouTube and/or the second tier streaming services to carry it on for several years.
Interesting Facts:
Pioneer One was the first series created for and released on BitTorrent networks and it was downloaded 3.7 million times from 2010 to 2012.
It received a fair amount of acclaim while touring festivals, winning Best Drama Pilot at the 2010 Independent Pilot Competition and the International Academy of Web Television, and it was nominated for Best Drama at the Inaugural IAWTV Awards.
Where Can You Watch It?
The show has not had a release on DVD or Blu-ray, but you can purchase it VOD from Amazon.com. It is also available for streaming on YouTube.
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.
