Riese: Kingdom Falling
| Riese: Kingdom Falling | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction Fantasy Steampunk[1] |
| Created by | Ryan Copple Kaleena Kiff |
| Starring | Christine Chatelain Sharon Taylor Ben Cotton Patrick Gilmore Allison Mack Alessandro Juliani Emilie Ullerup Ryan Robbins |
| Narrated by | Amanda Tapping |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Galen Fletcher Nicholas Humphries |
| Location(s) | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Running time | 6–11 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Syfy.com |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Riese: Kingdom Falling is a science fiction-fantasy series which debuted online on November 2, 2009.[2] The series is about a traveller named Riese, a wanderer, who flees across the wartorn lands of Eleysia with her wolf, Fenrir. Hunted by a terrifying religious group, The Sect, Riese must evade the assassins that have been sent to kill her and discover their true objective.
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[edit] Production
Riese is co-created by Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff, and produced by Galen Fletcher and Nicholas Humphries. Production of the first five episodes was completed on Sept. 2, 2009.[3] The first chapter went online during the fall of 2009 and was very successful, so that a second chapter was developed. This drew Syfy's attention: Syfy digital owned by NBC Universal decided to buy the broadcasting rights.
The cast of Riese includes actors and actresses from other notable science fiction and fantasy television series, such as Sanctuary's Amanda Tapping, Ryan Robbins and Emilie Ullerup; Stargate Universe's Patrick Gilmore and Peter Kelamis; Stargate Atlantis's Ben Cotton; Battlestar Galactica's Alessandro Juliani and Smallville's Allison Mack.
Syfy started airing Riese on October 26, 2010 with a new name: Riese: Kingdom Falling.[4]
On November 30, 2010, Space announced[5] that Riese will start airing on spacecast.com early in 2011, making Canada the first country after the United States to air the complete webseries.
Riese has been noted for its usage of the RED One.[6] It is also one of the first live action sci-fi web series to feature the steampunk genre. Production-value wise, it has been compared to the web efforts of Sanctuary[7] and features a cast of top Sci-Fi actors from a variety of shows.[8] It is also one of the first dramatic web series to incorporate animals as one of their cast ensemble.[9]
[edit] Characters & organizations
- Riese (Christine Chatelain) - daughter of Empress Kara and King Ulric of Eleysia, a fugitive since Amara's coup.
- Fenrir (Tundra) - Riese's companion, a wolf, formerly of the royal bodyguard.
- The Narrator (Amanda Tapping, Riese: Kingdom Falling only)
- Empress Amara (Sharon Taylor) - cousin of the late queen. She was a baroness until she aided the Sect in slaughtering members of the royal family, thus establishing herself as the Empress of Eleysia.
- Magister Herrick (Ben Cotton) - senior magister of the Sect, he leads the hunt for Riese.
- Trennan (Patrick Gilmore) - a mid-ranking Sect member, liaison between Empress Amara and the Sect. Though Trennan must assist Herrick, he finds his methods unnecessarily cruel.
- Rand (Ryan Robbins) - leader of the Resistance.
- Garin (Alessandro Juliani) - tactical commander of the Resistance.
- Aliza (Emilie Ullerup) - Rand's second in command, and the de facto general of the Resistance army. She plans to use the Resistance army to establish a people's government.
- Marlise (Allison Mack) - an ambitious, sadistic and manipulative member of the Sect.
- Ritter - Original founder of the Sect, supposedly chosen by Goddess Sonne herself. He was the first to have the holy artifacts of the Sect fused to his body. Is said to have perished centuries ago.
- Kara - Previous Empress of Eleysia. Was killed in the coup that was organized by her cousin, Amara, and the Sect.
- Ulric - Previous King of Eleysia. Was killed in the coup that was organized by his wife's cousin, Amara, and the Sect.
- The Sect - This enigmatic group, now the official religion of Eleysia, is as powerful as it is merciless. Worshipping the Goddess Sonne, they believe the end of the world is coming, and the only path to salvation is eliminating all those who refuse to follow their path.
They orchestrated the coup against the previous rulers of Eleysia to place the Anointed One on the throne, using Amara as a puppet to act temporarily as empress.
Sect members are infamous for the strange relics that are affixed to both their clothing and skin. According to their lore, these holy artifacts bring them closer to their Goddess, Sonne. - The Resistance - a group whose goal is to reverse Amara's conquest of Eleysia and its surrounding countries.
[edit] Webisodes (2009)
The original Riese web series ("Riese: The Series") was divided into two chapters, with a total of six episodes. It was broadcast on the creators' website and made available on YouTube, beginning November 2, 2009.
- Chapter 1: Helmkin:
- 1 - The Hunt (09:03 minutes)
- 2 - Fragments (09:09 minutes)
- 3 - Bind (08:58 minutes)
- 4 - Spares (08:41 minutes)
- 5 - Dawn (10:20 minutes)
- Chapter 2: Vidar:
- 1 - Beast (11:34 minutes)
Shortly after releasing Beast, the producers withdrew all online episodes, due to the deal with Syfy, who purchased the broadcast rights.
[edit] Season 1 (2010)
The first (SyFy) season of Riese: Kingdom Falling consists of ten episodes, was broadcast beginning October 26, 2010[10] by Syfy, and is available to view on their website and Hulu.
Episodes were recut, rearranged and renamed for the Syfy broadcast, and new footage was added introducing Amanda Tapping as narrator.
| # | Title | Director | Writers | Original air date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Hunt" | Kaleena Kiff | Ryan Copple, Kaleena Kiff, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Alyssa Ciccarelli | 26 October 2010 | 9:44 |
| Riese and her wolf fight off a hunters the Sect has sent to capture her. She is wounded and seeks help in the village of Helmkin. | |||||
| 2 | "Bind" | Kaleena Kiff | Ryan Copple, Kaleena Kiff, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Alyssa Ciccarelli | 27 October 2010 | 9:05 |
| Riese is treated in a hospital, and discovers a secret ward full of newborn babies. The empress assigns Herrick to track her down. | |||||
| 3 | "Fragments" | Kaleena Kiff | Ryan Copple, Kaleena Kiff, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Alyssa Ciccarelli | 2 November 2010 | 9:15 |
| Riese finds the babies in a warehouse, ready to be shipped away. | |||||
| 4 | "Spares" | Kaleena Kiff | Ryan Copple, Kaleena Kiff, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Alyssa Ciccarelli | 3 November 2010 | 8:24 |
| Riese finds a ledger documenting the Sect's baby shipments and escapes from Helmkin. | |||||
| 5 | "Dawn" | Kaleena Kiff | Ryan Copple, Kaleena Kiff, Miguel Valdez Lopez, Alyssa Ciccarelli | 8 November 2010 | 7:26 |
| 6 | "Beast" | Nicholas Humphries | Ryan Copple, Alyssa Ciccarelli, Kaleena Kiff | 1 February 2011 | 6:22 |
| 7 | "Prey" | Nicholas Humphries | Ryan Copple, Alyssa Ciccarelli, Kaleena Kiff | 15 February 2011 | 8:45 |
| 8 | "Indoctrination" | Nicholas Humphries | Ryan Copple, Alyssa Ciccarelli, Kaleena Kiff | 1 March 2011 | 9:20 |
| 9 | "Retribution" | Nicholas Humphries | Ryan Copple, Alyssa Ciccarelli, Kaleena Kiff | 15 March 2011 | 8:17 |
| 10 | "Reunion" | Nicholas Humphries | Ryan Copple, Alyssa Ciccarelli, Kaleena Kiff | 29 March 2011 | 11:18 |
[edit] The Sect is Here - Alternate Reality Game
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This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references (September 2009) |
On September 20, 2009, an Alternate Reality Game was begun at The Sect is Here, the companion site for Riese the Series. The game centers around The Sect, the villainous religious cult from Riese, existing in our world. Players must solve numerous online and location-specific puzzles in order to unravel the true objectives of the Sect.[11]
- Puzzle 1 - This is Not the Path - When visiting The Sect is Here, numerous letters would occasionally flicker. Put together they spelled out a website - This is Not the Path. A message at this site, encoded in Base64, informed players that the "line was not secure" and a new message would arrive September 25, 2009.[12]
- Puzzle 2 - Seigfried - September 25, 2009, This is Not the Path updated with a morse code message. The message spelled out 'mynameisseigfried', or My name is Seigfried. The title of the homepage was '/name/'. Going to www.thisisnotthepath.com/seigfried/ led to a voice message from Seigfried, urging those not willing to help take down the Sect to stop the message. If you continued to listen, he welcomed you to the team and said he'd be in touch shortly.[12].
- Puzzle 3 - Reality - A mysterious board entitled 'Reality' appeared on The Riese Forums with the message 'Reality is hidden within what you see'. This clued players to check out thisisnotthepath.com/reality. An abstract image was located on the page entitled 'whatyousee.png'. It also had a strange root directory - /9/17/15/1/26/13, which decoded spelled IQOAZM. This descrambled to Mozaiq, which led people to Mozaiq, an online site for encrypting/decrypting images. Decrypting the image revealed the word 'illusion', which was the password for the forum. Inside was a message from Seigfried. In addition, players were able to interact with Seigfried momentarily.[12]
[edit] References
- ^ Bill Gorman (2010-10-13). "Syfy.com Will Premiere ‘Riese: Kingdom Falling’, Steampunk Digital Series, Beginning Oct 26". TVbytheNumbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/13/syfy-com-will-premiere-riese-kingdom-falling-steampunk-digital-series-beginning-oct-26. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- ^ "'Riese' ARG Lures In Steampunkers Before Series Launch". Tubefilter. September 23, 2009. http://news.tubefilter.tv/2009/09/23/riese-arg-lures-in-steampunkers-before-series-launch/. Retrieved Sept. 29, 2009.
- ^ Twitter / Riesetheseries: And that's a wrap..., Riese the Series' Twitter
- ^ Syfy's Riese gets a premiere date (and Amanda Tapping, too!), Riese on Blastr
- ^ Riese: The Hunt Begins 2011 on SPACECAST.com, Riese on Spacecast.com
- ^ LG15 Today: Introducing Riese the Series, Riese shot on RED One camera
- ^ VFS Blog on Riese, Interview with creator Ryan Copple
- ^ Riese on IMDB, Coverage of Riese on IMDb
- ^ Riese the Series : Fenrir, Fenrir : Profile
- ^ http://wormholeriders.com/blog/?p=19306
- ^ Riese the Series: Delivering Transmedia with a Side of Steampunk, ARGNet discusses Riese's ARG
- ^ a b c This is not the path ARG companion site
