In the name of saving bandwidth, I'll try to get a torrent up sometime tomorrow.

Anusien | April 09, 10:40 CET

The fights are incredibly lame but I like the look and feel of it. Haven't seen enough of the eps to comment on the storyline.Good find paxomen.

Lioness | April 09, 17:59 CET

OK, I've watched up to ep 8. This is actually a really awesome show. Wow, I'm a nerd. Go watch it. The first few are a bit rough, but it's pretty good.

twa_corbies | April 10, 04:12 CET

I'd have to agree, I really started enjoying it later in the series, I think the guy learns more about story-telling and the more technical side of making it, as he makes it, so the last five episodes are a lot better than the first five

paxomen | April 10, 07:36 CET

I don't know, I was waiting for it to get a lot better and it never did. Lots of plot holes and omissions (Sarah's supposed to be a witch, but she never uses magic again) and random characters doing random things for no appearant reason.

Anusien | April 10, 07:53 CET

For those who have yet to see Consanquinity, I've made invisible comments I make below which may be seen as spoilery. For those of you who HAVE already watched the thing, please highlight them so you can see them.

They woulda been able to get to Sarah in time had they not insisted on running in slow motion. Sarah actually used magic once again during a battle somewhere around episode seven or eight. I'm confused by the plot structure though. When the evil watchers used a magic spell to switch Sarah's slayer powers to Sylvia, then Damien turned Sylvia into a vampire, she still maintains the dream ability of a slayer. So now, as opposed to "Vampire Slayer," is Sylvia supposed to be a "Vampire Slayer Vampire"..? Or maybe the proper termination is just "Slayer Vampire"..? Perhaps "Vampire Slayer Slayer"..? Though she doesn't seem to be very good at that by the looks of the next to last episode. She got her clocks cleaned. And Sarah's was a witch but is now a vampire now but she's still a witch? None of them seem very concerned about that pesky evilness that causes them to, y'know, do evil? All four of these people are now vamps and all they're intersted in doing is they're saving the world just so's they can get a bite to eat?

I admire the dedication that's required to pull something like this off, and far be it for me to dispute the furtherance of 'BuffyVerse' storytelling. I admire it. I wish more fans could do this sort of thing. I wish I had the resources and the dedication. However, tho 'inspired' perhaps by Whedon's works, it fails to capture any of its greatness. It's like if some fans of Star Trek were to tell a story about the Klingon Empire. Sure it'd be interesting perhaps, but it wouldn't be Star Trek by a long shot.

It's entertaining. It's worth a view. It's not Whedonesque, and it doesn't pretend to be. Guess I'm just hankerin' fer some real Slayerverse storytelling that captures the essence of what Whedon was doing. I'm also hoping someday soon that a game engine is designed that allows a lot more creativity and mobility for machinima enthusiasts. The creators of Consanguinity are probably content with the Neverwinter Nights game engine for accomplishing their goal, but there's still room for improvement.

ZachsMind | April 10, 09:31 CET

Very true I'd agree it's far from Whedonesque but then it'd be unfair to expect anyone to reach such heights (especially when they are not getting paid a penny).

On a side note I possibly enjoyed it more because I had low expectations (after having seen "Fluffy the English Vampire Slayer").

"Consanquinity" and "Cherub" have given me hope about fan film, though they might struggle to come close to the heights of their inspiration, I believe they can still be enjoyable, and appreciated as a labour of love.

I'm still hungry for a Spike movie though.

paxomen | April 10, 17:08 CET

I liked the idea behind The WaTchers, even though I didn't personally appreciate the direction the writers took the series. The concept of the characters from the end of Buffy picking up the pieces and moving to the next Hellmouth was intriguing. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the series more had they been able to visualize their ideas somehow. If the people behind The WaTchers could take the scripts and stories they're formulating, and actually put them to the test in front of a camera, either through live action or machinima, then I would have better appreciated their approach to our endless dilemma of: "Where Do They Go From Chosen?"

I stopped writing Buffy fanfic personally, or at least put myself on a sort of hiatus, because it seems I can only convey my story ideas for Whedonesque writing through a weak screenplay format. My Xander one was perhaps my most successful from a standpoint of mechanics, but a precious few have actually conveyed enjoying reading my crap. I anticipate it could be as much the delivery method as the content itself that puts people off.

I want to like Consanguinity, but the animation often puts me off. Reminds me more of Thunderbirds than Angel and I don't know why. Perhaps it's because machinima works more like puppetry than animation. If there were a machinima engine finely tuned for Whedonesque story design, that would be great. If the best available to us is what Consanguinity has to offer, we're not quite there. Benson & Golden's Ghosts of Albion is more Whedonesque than Consanguinity or Cherub, and it seems Benson & Golden were consciously trying to be as unWhedony as they could. I mean, no one could accuse Ms. Benson of being a fanfic writer.. would they? *smirk*

...it also seems like the Consanguinity storyline has a lot that's just not on the screen. Much of the backstory is left unresolved, not as if it's something the writer will get to eventually, but more as something that's snarkily for us to know and you to find out. I mean it's like a bunch of injokes, but without punchlines, and the Star Wars geek reference was a dead giveaway. These characters are effectively Mary Sues. Ultimately, it's about "Damien Valentine" inserting himself and three friends into the Whedon's SlayerVerse, vamping themselves, and pitting themselves against a vampire slayer that just happens to be blond with a ponytail. She might even have a penchant for shopping, though we never find that out.

Is this wrong? Not necessarily. Is it entertaining? I guess that's up to you.

[ edited by ZachsMind on 2006-04-10 18:28 ]

ZachsMind | April 10, 20:26 CET

Aaaw, you guys are so serious. I mean, they're just playing around. I can't believe anyone even went to the trouble to animate a story. And, whatever its flaws, it's not real. I mean, it's not a tv show, it's like a game. Or playing dress-up.

twa_corbies | April 10, 21:26 CET