Cinder is a retelling of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella set in a future China (which, of course, is a nice homage as the story supposedly originated there.) Our heroine, Cinder Lin, has been recast as a cyborg scraping out a living as a mechanic in the markets of New Beijing. A plague ravages the Commonwealth and war with the Lunar Queen brews on the horizon. The world is rich with such science fictional details as those while still remaining true to the pastoral, fairy tale feel of the original. As you might expect, all the players are there: the evil stepmother, the charming prince, the fairy godmother, the pumpkin-colored chariot…. There are, of course, many new events and surprises, which is the fun of stories like these. Will Cinder lose a shoe at the ball or a cybernetic foot?
I enjoyed the story immensely. Even though, at times, foreknowledge of the fairy tale caused me to yell out, “Get to the ball, already!” There were still plenty of new plot/character twists to keep me guessing. The ending, in fact, is not at all what I would have expected.
The audio addition came with a few technical difficulties. The files I received were labeled like this: 1-01 CD 1a.mp3, 1-02 CD 1b.mp3, etc., which meant that, thanks to that extra space (not marked with a _), my mp3 player organized all the files by the last designation, so I had a jumble of 1a, 2a, 3a, etc. I ended up having to jump around a lot to get the story in order. This was made more complicated by the fact that my mp3 player just wanted to continue on to the next one, so I’d have to guess when a section was over. I’m not sure that would be a problem with all players, however.
Regardless, I found the story worth the hassle. Rebecca Soler does an excellent job reading. I was never thrown out of the story, even though she attempts several accents, including Australian and British, and lowers her voice when reading male lines.
As someone who is a slow reader, I tend to really enjoy the occasional audio book or story podcast. I would definitely recommend this Young Adult novel on audio for those who still enjoy the pleasure of being read to, as is, perhaps, fitting with a fairy tale like this one.
It looks like ABC might have a winner with Once Upon a Time. Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Cameron from House) plays, Emma, the new arrival in Storybrooke. She soon learns that Storybrooke is actually a book of fairy tales from which there is no escape. Not only is she trapped with fairy tale characters that don't know who they once were, but she is told by her young guide, Henry, played by Jared Gilmore, that she is a character in the book herself. Henry is the child Emma gave up years before. He tells her an impossible tale that so intrigues her that she brings him back to Storybrooke to see for herself. Henry has told her that she is the long lost child of Prince Charming (Josh Dallas - CSI and Thor) and Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin).
I don't think any of us outgrows fairy tales. Executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz of Lost fame, deliver an action-packed, intrigue-laced fairy tale filled with the magic and wonder we still crave. You'll recognize Robert Carlyle from Stargate Universe as Rumplestiltskin.
The show airs on ABC this fall on Sundays at 8PM, 7PM Central.
Riese: Kingdom Falling, even though it's steampunk, has a fairy tale feel to it. It put me in mind of the Brothers Grimm in that there is an exiled princess and young innocents – in this case infants – in danger. The narration by Amanda Tapping certainly added to this overall impression. The difference, of course, is that in 2010 the hero is a heroine. The princess doesn't cower in a dungeon waiting for rescue, but fights, defends and rescues.
Another great aspect of the show is that Riese has a wolf companion. I recently learned that all domestic dogs are descended from the white wolf. Fenrir is loyal and fierce. But he has to stay to the shadows as he is also hunted by Amara's new regime.
The cast includes Christine Chatelain as Riese (photo upper left by Adam Blasberg), Sharon Taylor as Amara, Ben Cotton as Herrick, Patrick Gilmore as Trennan , Ryan Robbins (from Sanctuary) as Rand, Emilie Ullerup as Aliza, Alessandro Juliani as Garin and Allison Mack as Marlise.
L to R: Patrick Gilmore as Trennan, Alessandro Juliani as Garin and Sharon Taylor as Amara. All photos by Adam Blasberg.
I interviewed co-creator and Executive Producer Ryan Copple to find out more about this wave of the future.
AW:Can you tell my readers a bit about the spark for this story idea?
RC: The story actually began as an idea for a short, but Kaleena Kiff (the other co-creator) saw the script and said we should develop it into a series. As for the inspiration, we really wanted to tell a story about someone journeying through a bizarre, but hauntingly similar world to our own. Once we decided to turn it into a series, we introduced the royalty background for Riese and other serialized elements.
AW:Is this the first time SyFy has acquired a Web series? Does it have plans to acquire more in the future?
RC: As far as I know. They did a webseries for Battlestar Gallactica, but I think we’re the first original acquisition. They’re definitely looking into doing more online content though. The fun thing about Syfy as well, is that if the programs do well online, there’s the possibility they’ll develop for other mediums.
AW:I have only peeked at one other Web series, but I gather that there is a definite difference in the medium. The episodes are very compressed, rather like a "previously on ____" summary. As a matter of fact, I was just marveling at one of those for Eureka. Putting those summaries together is an art in itself. Like flash film instead of flash fiction. But I digress.My question is, if Riese becomes a TV series, will it have the same look, or will it be more fleshed out, less compressed? Would it still be narrated, or was that a necessary device for the Web medium?
RC: Riese as a television show would be extremely similar aesthetically, but telling a story on the web is much different than telling it on television. We’d definitely want to flesh out the characters, the world, and especially the steampunk elements. When working on the web, you definitely don’t have the same budget that you would for a television show.
I honestly can’t say about whether or not narration would be part of the television series. It was crucial for the webseries, because we needed a way to smoothly introduce much of the backstory for Riese and the other characters. It also served as the glue for our re-edits, allowing us to move scenes around and bring footage from later episodes into earlier ones. If we do have a narrator, I think it’ll serve a much different purpose than it did in the Web series.
AW:What sort of metrics are you using to track its popularity and what can fans do to help?
RC: Views are definitely the most important metric. Syfy is monitoring the traffic for Riese, so the more eyes fans can get on the series, the better. I also recommend watching them more than once.
Syfy’s also watching the online response as well, so the more positive things people say about the series, the more likely they’ll consider it a good fit for their channel.
AW:When might you know if it will make it to TV?
RC:Syfy is going to wait till all 10 episodes air online before discussing the possibility of a television show internally. I’m guessing we won’t know anything either way until the new year.
AW:Will the present cast continue in that event?
RC:They’re all on board verbally, as they love the story and the characters. However, it’ll really depend on their schedules once we start talking television.
AW:What prompted this shift in story acquisition?
RC:Online serials and dramas are becoming increasingly popular, and it’s a medium that everyone’s trying to dig themselves into and find a way to make it work for their specific brand. For someone like Syfy, it’s an affordable way to do a ‘test run’ for a property without shooting a pilot.
AW:Can you speak to the current trends in TV series production (shorter seasons with shared spots, mini-series instead of a full run, influences from and marketing through the Internet and social media) and how this new method of acquisition might improve programming?
RC:With shows now having a mid-season hiatus, the web can really open up opportunities to keep their fans engaged with supplemental content or additional storylines while waiting for the broadcast episodes to return. Social media is also a force to be reckoned with, because now fans can actually become engaged with the people behind their favorite shows, and really do become part of the team. We’ve always said that if Riese were to go to television, we’d still want to embrace the online aspects of the show as much as possible.
