Welcome to another star-filled episode of… The IndieNet and Beyond! It’s news and web series episodes. Plus, this time we chat with Clancy Bundy: writer, production designer, actor and doer of “a lot of other stuff” in the scifi-spoof series Transolar Galactica.

Transolar Galactica, which just finished their first season, is a little different than your typical scifi web series. With a low budget, Bundy and the rest of the crew and cast based out of Spokane, Washington have turned a one-time sketch episode into a funny scifi series unlike any you’ve seen before. Despite the name, it parodies more Star Trek than Battlestar Galactica, but it also targets far more that just scifi TV.

“Transolar Galactica is a send up to basically everything scifi, from video games to movies to popular culture. We just, like, pick apart everything we can and have fun with the scifi genre in general… kind of dismantle a lot of the clichés we see all the time in that kind of content.”

One recurring spoof involves excessive lens flares a la J.J. Abrams.

Isaac Joslin, Adam Harum, Jade Warpenburg, and Clancy Bundy all went to film school together at Eastern Washington University. They had a great time working on projects in school, but faced the typical post-grad challenge: finding film projects. So, they decided to start up a project on the side. Originally, Transolar Galactica was going to be just one skit in a series of skits crossing all genres.

“But we decided to stick with that one, because it was fun to write and incredibly easy to do at that point. The first three episodes were just filmed in our living room with a green screen and rudimentary lights,” said Bundy. “We have a good time on set. We are a good group of friends outside of the show. So when we are on the show, there is a lot of ribbing and a lot of ripping on… we keep it fresh, keep it fun, and keep the energy up by destroying each others’ confidence on set.”

Bundy estimated that season one caused less than $150. They saved money with the green screen backgrounds and their ad hoc approach to costumes and props. Some examples include guns that are actually Nerf guns and a paint can opener used as a grenade pin.

“We plan on doing a Kickstarter for season two after convention season. [Season two] is when we’ll have a lot more fun to explore making practical props,” said Bundy.

The ensemble cast brings to life an eclectic crew. “Captain Trigger (Isaac Joslin) is brash, cocksure, can-do attitude—a little blunt, a little stupid, and probably shouldn’t be flying a ship. He doesn’t really listen to suggestions. It’s his way or the highway. Ensign Yasaki (Jade Warpenburg) is actually the pilot. I don’t know why he is the ensign, that is just something Trigger calls him. Reggie Murdock, which is the character I play, [is] the chief security officer. Has a bit of a split personality disorder. Constantly has a different accent. We did that joke in the first episode and decided to keep rolling with it until it goes stale,” said Bundy. “And then Samson (Adam Harum), we don’t really know who he is yet. He is the communications officer but that is simply because we don’t know what to do with him. It’s interesting. He is kind of developing a psychic power for some reason. That gets explained in season two and it’s pretty fun.”

The cast also doubles as the crew, and one of the many tasks that Bundy does is designing the environments on the green screens. Each background takes him no more than four hours on average.

“We can really craft the world behind them. I do a lot of the backgrounds for the show in Photoshop. It’s just really fun to make…,” explained Bundy. “The disadvantages are it really amps up the post side of things. Also, our cinematographer can’t wait for us to move away from that, because he is a real cinematographer and he went to school for that. You’ll notice… in episode 9, we take a lot of time and have fun lighting and making a dramatic look with our practical locations. We hope to do a lot more of that in season two.”

Transolar Galactica is Bundy’s first web series and has opened a door to a whole new world of indie entertainment for him.

“I think there is a bright future for web series in general. It is a new market and it is evolving every day. I didn’t even know there was a web series awards event [IAWTV] until I saw the amazing success that Aidan 5 had,” said Bundy. “It seems like not necessarily a cheaper way to make content and make things people can enjoy, but the accessibility is amazing on the Internet. Your buck goes a lot further, I think, as far as producing them. You can make a really decent web series for nothing almost and you can get a huge exposure rate. I’m excited to be a part of it.”

The show has it’s own website, but can also be found on the Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) site with other quality shows like JourneyQuest, Aidan 5, Standard Action, Reality On Demand (See how I cleverly worked a reference to my own show?), and many more. The Transolar Galactica cast will be joining ZOE during convention season and has even done a crossover episode with Rude Mechanical.

Below is the trailer and episode 1 of Transolar Galactica . You can learn more about this show at: http://www.transolargalactica.com

Elsewhere On The Web

So Reality On Demand, the web series I co-wrote and directed, has finished season one!

Check the series out and let us know what you think.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Interwebz… Did you catch the Indie Intertube awards? Click here for the list of winners: http://indieintertube.tv/static/2011-2nd-annual-indie-intertube-award-winners/#axzz1ov0Iatmv

Congrats to all of the winners and nominees!

Attack Of The Trailers!

Drifter: Broken Road – Trailer

“Five years after a brutal second civil war, a figure known as Drifter befriends the owners of a trading post on her trail to revenge.”

Shadow Free: Trailer

Shadow Free is a horror drama web-series that explores the underground magical self-help community in New York City, and the lengths people will go to become their ideal selves.

Sync – Teaser

“In the year 2025, mankind has created the first computerized human, and he is a bad ass.”

That’s A Wrap

Got a web series, web comic, web… whatever? Then I want to know about it. Contact me at: marxpyle@scifipulse.net

That’s a wrap for now. Join me next time for more news and interviews coming to a website near you. Take care my virtual friends. Until next time… marX out.

You can follow Marx on Twitter @MrMarx

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Related Posts You Might Enjoy:

• The IndieNet and Beyond – Top Ten Web Series of 2011
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• IndieNet and Beyond Goes On A ‘JourneyQuest’ With ZOE
• IndieNet and Beyond Quests To Gen Con
• IndieNet and Beyond Tunes Into ‘BlackBoxTV’
• ‘Aidan 5? Clones The IndieNet and Beyond

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Written By

Marx H. Pyle is a writer, martial artist and American independent filmmaker. A graduate of Vancouver Film School, he has worked on a number of projects including the short film he wrote and directed, Silence of the Belle. He is the executive producer/director of the scifi web series Reality On Demand.

Edited By

Julie Seaton Pyle was born and raised in Indiana, where she attended the University of Southern Indiana. She majored in Print Journalism/Computer Publishing, while also dabbling in creative writing, literature and languages. This is also where she met Marx, the man with whom she would take the plunge into marriage and, years later, into another passion: filmmaking. She is co-producer, co-writer, and lead actress in the scifi web series Reality On Demand.