EYES ON SPACE COMMAND REDEMPTION
Captain Kemmer rescues ex-archeologist Vonn O’Dara high above Mars, setting into motion a revolution that will change galactic history in the first installment of the Space Command series, Space Command Redemption.
Space Command is a hopeful vision of the future, a science fiction TV series starring legends of sci-fi and the silver screen such as Doug Jones, Nichelle Nichols, Robert Picardo, the late Mira Furlan, Bill Mumy, Armin Shimerman, Barbara Bain, Christina Moses, J.G. Hertzler, James Hong, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Harney, Ethan McDowell, John Hennigan, Faran Tahir and many more.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Space Command is written, directed, and produced by Marc Scott Zicree and Elaine Zicree. Marc has writing credits on dozens of shows over the past 40 years including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, Sliders, The Real Ghostbusters, Smurfs, He-Man, as well as the bestselling Magic Time trilogy of novels, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and the Twilight Zone Companion.
Marc and Elaine Zicree have written and produced hundreds of hours of series TV, pilots, and feature films for most of the major studios and networks, including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, MGM, Warners, Castle Rock, New Line, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, WB, UPN, Showtime, PBS, Turner, USA Networks, Syfy, Discovery, Nickelodeon, the BBC, Marvel, Scholastic, ITV, and NPR.
Among their credits are classic episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sliders, Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, Friday the 13th-The Series, Smurfs, Super Friends, He-Man, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, The Littles, Forever Knight, Liberty’s Kids, and The Real Ghostbusters, among many others.
Marc and Elaine’s work has been nominated for the Hugo Award, American Book Award, Humanitas Prize, Nebula Award, and Diane Thomas Award, and has won the prestigious Hamptons Prize, TV Guide Award, Rondo and Saturn Awards. In 2014, Marc was named a Writers Guild Diversity Honoree.
ABOUT SPACE COMMAND
This epic series takes place 180 years at a time where humans have colonized the solar system and covers the lives of four families.
Season one will consist of an audio play prequel, six themes split into twelve filmed one-hour chapters, including a special bonus episode. Each 2 chapters forms an episode. Chapters 1 and 2 formed together the pilot episode for the series, Space Command: Redemption.
So far, the audio play, the first three one-hour chapters, and the bonus episode have been shot with the fourth episode currently in production. Each chapter is one hour, divided into two 30-minute sub-chapters. As of date the first season schedule looks as follows:
CHAPTER 1 – SPACE COMMAND: REDEMPTION PART 1
Status: Completed and Released on Digital and Physical media
CHAPTER 2 – SPACE COMMAND: REDEMPTION PART 2
Status: Completed and Released on Digital and Physical media
CHAPTER 3 – SPACE COMMAND: FORGIVENESS PART 1
Status: Work in progress, Rough Cut released YouTube
CHAPTER 4 – SPACE COMMAND: FORGIVENESS PART 2
Status: Work in progress
CHAPTER 5 – SPACE COMMAND: THE GREAT SOLAR WAR PART 1
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 6 – SPACE COMMAND: THE GREAT SOLAR WAR PART 2
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 7 – SPACE COMMAND: EMPIRE PART 1
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 8 – SPACE COMMAND: EMPIRE PART 2
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 9 – SPACE COMMAND: HARVESTER PART 1
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 10 – SPACE COMMAND: HARVESTER PART 2
Status: Coming soon
CHAPTER 11 – SPACE COMMAND BONUS: THE RIPPLE EFFECT PART 1
Status: Work in progress
CHAPTER 12 – SPACE COMMAND BONUS: THE RIPPLE EFFECT PART 2
Status: Work in progress
ABOUT SPACE COMMAND REDEMPTION
Follow the adventures of Captain Jack Kemmer and his stalwart crew aboard a starship vessel called The Paladin in Space Command Redemption.
In the first chapter, we meet Captain Jack Kemmer, played by Ethan McDowell, who makes a decision outside the norm and saves Vonn O’Dara, played by the late Mira Furlan, a former archeologist with a rare condition, and her daughter Jelena, played by Jelena Mrdja, from imminent death.
On the Ceres Mining Colony planet, we meet Yusef Sekander who still keeps his faith close, and Dor Neven who is a synthetic, a AI robot in human form. He was specifically created to serve the rich but was commissioned for mining work instead because of a defect in his programming.
An accident occurred at the mining location. Dor is severely damaged but Yusef decides to repair him. They get to interact with each other for the first time. Yusef gets an unexpected call from his son who lives on Mars.
Vonn shares information with Captain Jack as a way to thank him for saving her life. Somehow Yusef and Dor find themselves with Vonn and Jelena on an alien ship going to an unknown destination.
Captain Jack will make it his personal mission to find them by taking his new crew and ship into an unexpected journey. He surprisingly receives the support of Captain Lora and her crew but will they be able to find Vonn, Jelena, Yusef and Dor?
THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN
Space Command Forgiveness Chapter 4 is the fourth episode/chapter in this epic science fiction adventure series. The objective of the crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign was to help fund the remainder of its shoot at our Space Command Studios.
By the time I decided to back this campaign, I selected the following perks: Redemption DVD, Star Trek Super Fan Digital Bundle, Twilight Zone Super Fan Digital Bundle, 2x Souvenir Pins, Bundle of Rare Twilight Zone Media (Digital), Twilight Zone Companion – Digital Scan, Mira Furlan special edition comic tee, space command Kickstarter backer T-shirt, and Forgiveness DVD.
ABOUT KICKSTARTER
By this time, having backed projects on Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and independent creators’ owned platforms I find Kickstarter to be the most annoying platform to work with so far. They didn’t have the perks picture which makes you go back to the main page to double-check what it is that you are backing.
By now they added pictures to perks but it’s still an annoying process. It’s easy to use if the campaign has only a few perks but when you have campaigns that offer multiple options it gets more complicated, and even when I thought I double-checked everything I still made a mistake.
DIGITAL PERKS
What I have received so far are all the digital perks including Twilight Zone Companion, Bundle of Rare Twilight Zone Media, Star Trek Scrapbook Vol 1 and Vol 2, Star Trek Time Capsule, Space Command digital Comic Book Issue #1, United Planet Animatic WIP.
It seems I may have added the Twilight Zone Bundle twice so in exchange I got the digital Comic Book and the work-in-progress Animatic which includes the full Audio play of the Space Command prequel story, “United Planet” which was awesome.
I received no emails about the delivery of digital perks from Kickstarter. The link to the digital perks was posted on my dashboard but I received no notification so they remained there untouched for a very long time.
PHYSICAL PERKS
I also received most physical perks including a Redemption DVD, 2 Space Command Souvenir Pins, a Mira Furlan special edition comic T-shirt, and a Space Command Kickstarter backer T-shirt. The Forgiveness DVD is the only physical perk pending to be received at this point. An update was provided regarding its status. Like expected the pandemic had its impact on its completion.
Regarding the Redemption DVD received the case mentions that it includes two 2-discs when it only has one disc containing the 2 chapters of “Space Command Redemption” with commentary from the creators and a few actors and the option to select Spanish subtitles. It is missing the disc with deleted scenes, interviews with the cast and creators, and design concept art that were mentioned on the DVD perk.
The plan according to Mr. Zicree is to release the first box set after the completion of the first half of the first season and the second box set will be released after the completion of the second half of the season. I hope they make a great set with a lot of bonus material.
MANAGING AND SHIPPING THE PERKS
The campaign was organized by Marc Zicree and managed by Adam Sartain and the Space Command Fulfillment Team. The physical perks arrived well but they all arrived separately and each time no tracking number was provided.
If they could find a way to share the tracking number via email or on the Kickstarter platform before the product arrives at its destination, that would be very helpful for the customer.
SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT PROJECTS
It is important for those who choose to support films and series through crowdfunding methods to understand that it takes time to complete the project and requires multiple stages of funding.
From development, filming, post-production, editing, and completion of the final product it takes a lot of work. And it needs a lot of support as well taking into consideration that it is independent and doesn’t have the same instruments the big production series have.
Many complain about the many established science fiction series that recently have been affected by bad writing but they rarely give foreign entertainment or independent projects a chance, especially the crowdfunded projects.
It is understandable with foreign cinema and TV because not everybody is wired to be open-minded, willing to learn from other cultures, and accept something different than their own. But independent projects have a better chance to be accepted yet you rarely see any discussion about any indie films or series on the net. If there are alternatives why not support them?
Following the production process through the updates provided, I’m starting to understand how complicated the process is and how incidents such as theft or an unexpected pandemic can influence the planning slowing the completion process which is what happened to episodes 3 and 4. However, the creators managed to work on the bonus episode during this period that was released on Mr. Zicree’s YouTube channel “Mr. SciFi” so there was some progress made.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Space Command Redemption is a great start to a sci-fi series heavily influenced by the science fiction we all love. I enjoyed watching the first two episodes very much and was impressed with what was done with such a limited budget. Visually there are improvements to be made such as the scene where Jack’s father is driving his car but I didn’t mind it as the story kept me invested.
I’m looking forward to watching the Forgiveness storyline and encouraging the continuation of the series. Check it out and consider supporting Space Command.
For those who want to check out Space Command Redemption, the first 2 chapters of the series (a.k.a the 2-hour pilot), you can watch it for free on Mr. Zicree’s YouTube channel Mr. Sci-Fi. If you like it, you can support Space Command by renting or buying the digital version on Amazon.
Unfortunately, the physical media was only available on the Kickstarter campaign which is already closed. Some of the perks offered on the campaign are available for sale at the Space Command series website. Subscribe to Mr. Sci-Fi to receive the updates on the project and to be informed on the next crowdfunding window on Kickstarter.
Interested in more titles? Check them on FILMS &TV under the “EYES ON” series wherein I documented my experience with crowdfunding entertainment and shared my notes on the products I received.
My notes are all set. Let me know what you think.
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