Morganville Web Series: Review of 1st 2 episodes

The first two episodes caught my attention for sure. I like the set up and I connected with Claire since she was vulnerable but she still stood up to bully Monica. She is just a normal girl who is early admission to college, but arrives in town having no idea that there were vampires ruling the town. There are blood taxes and protectors and if you don't have one they call you a free range. Claire ends up at the Glass house looking for a way out of the dorm where Monica has been stealing her clothes and pushed her down the stairs.

It has some funny one liners, and I thought the acting was decent. It is a little on the cheesy side at times, and the dialogue a tad forced at times, but I still kept watching. The first is 8 minutes and 2nd at 11 so they were quick watches and I felt it was worth my time.

I haven't read the books but now my attention is perked.

Trailer:

Morganville: The Series Revitalizes Vampire Genre Just in Time for Halloween

Rachel Caine’s Snarky Vampires Perfect for Geek & Sundry’s October Line-up

Geek & Sundry: Rachel Caine is adapting her Morganville Vampires books – fifteen (15) total – for a hilarious fright fest of a web series. Each episode of the first season is expected to be 8-12 minutes long, bringing the entire season to about an hour and is freely adapted by Rachel from the first novel – Glass Houses. The first season will begin airing on Geek & Sundry October 27^th with a prime schedule planned out… the hope is that the first season finale lands on Halloween day.

Thanks to a passionate fanbase who fully supported the Kickstarter project (and whose funds were then matched by Felicia Day’s Geek & Sundry), Morganville Vampires: Book Series became Morganville: The Series and utilized one of the fastest, most innovative platforms for upcoming shows. Through the expansive reach of Youtube, Rachel’s fans can enjoy the show without the long wait that comes through traditional television and also, reach a worldwide audience faster. All around it made the most sense for a book series of this size and caliber.

Even though web series are seen as non-traditional formats, the casting process and scouting for film locations remains normal. Auditions were held in Dallas, LA, Austin, New Orleans and some digital (to give fans of the books a chance at the spotlight too). Rachel wrote all the character monologues for the auditions. The entire show ended up being filmed on location in Dallas, Texas in four separate venues, including a coffee shop, a turn-of-last-century Victorian home, a hospital, and a university. Nearly every episode ends with Rachel’s infamous cliffhanger endings!

Switching from book to film writing was easier than Rachel expected. The very first thing she did, ended up setting the stage for the adaptation process and made it easier for her to focus on the story she wished to tell. Rachel says, “The first thing I tried to do, since I wrote the book in 2006, was to write down everything I remembered from it without re-reading it. That was fascinating, because what I wrote down was really the core story, and that turned out to be what needed to be told in the show. So while I did go back to the book, I did it for the purposes of review, not inspiration.”

Fans might be wondering how a 10-day- shoot in April 2014 could possibly yield a story they recognize, Rachel is confident the series delivers and explains, “For practical purposes, you can only have so many characters in a show with this running time, so some characters from the novel, while really interesting, ended up not being central to the plot (like Miranda). However, I did think it was important to introduce Myrnin, who is a fan favorite character, into the mix early, so he makes a short appearance this season.”

To find out more, check out these sites for the scoop on Rachel Caine, The Morganville Vampires Books and Morganville: The Series.

http://www.morganvilletheseries.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry

http://www.morganvillevampire.com/

http://www.rachelcaine.com/

Morganville: The Series – The show stars fan favorites Robert Picardo as Oliver (Star Trek: Voyager) and Amber Benson (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) as Amelie, as well as Lindsay Seidel (Claire), Jordan Taylor Farris (Shane), Haileigh Todd (Eve), Ben Easter (Michael), Nikki Donley (Hannah), Afomia Hailemeskel (Monica), Jessi Mechler (Gina), Taylor Murphy (Jennifer), Gregory Connors (Brandon) and Chase Ryan Jeffery (Myrnin). It is directed by Blake Calhoun, known for his award-winning and groundbreaking digital series Pink and Continuum, the show was filmed on location in Texas on a Blackmagic camera.

Rachel Caine –  is a fictional character herself … a pen name of writer Roxanne Conrad. Since 2003, Rachel has written in the adult Urban Fantasy genre (the Weather Warden, Outcast Season, Revivalist and Red Letter Days series) as well as in Young Adult fiction (the Morganville Vampires series and award-winning novel Prince of Shadows). She is the author of more than forty novels and many short stories, and is regularly featured in anthology collections, most recently the Charlaine Harris.



Buy the book:

Audible || B&N || BAM || GoodReads
Google Books || IndieBound

My question to you:
Have you read the series or watched the web series? What do you think?