Historically, SCIFI.radio has been all about the works of others. Today, however, we turn the spotlight in a direction we seldom do: on ourselves. We are proud to announce the release of the second episode of Mighty Aphrodite! The Web Series.
Pause the SCIFI.radio stream while you watch. Dueling soundtracks are no fun. Also, the first episode of Mighty Aphrodite! The Web Series is right here on this page after the fold, so you might want to go watch that first, then watch this, so that you get things in the right order.
This episode is called Zeus Pater, and in it, Aphrodite has to explain her new boyfriend to her father Zeus.
Voice actor Mary R. Bergman-Kridler provides the voice of the goddess Aphrodite in the new series.
Mighty Aphrodite! The Web Series stars Mary R. Bergman-Kridler as the Goddess Aphrodite, and Shawn Crosby as her mortal boyfriend Ben. In Zeus Pater, the cast is joined by performance magician and actor David Perry, who plays the role of Zeus.
It’s the first time the Goddess Aphrodite has ever appeared as the main character in pretty much anything since the original stories were created about her more than two thousand years ago. Aphrodite has always been either a bit player in other people’s stories, as in 1988’s The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, or fades to nothing but a cultural reference, as in Woody Alan’s 1995 film, also called Mighty Aphrodite (Aphrodite as a character does not appear in the film at all).
This is Kridler’s first production as a voice actor. Her background in theater has always been her first love, though as she found out, not every actor gets to make a living doing what they love. Her warmth and effervescence brings Aphrodite to life on the screen, and this new role may portend big things in her future.
Shawn Crosby is a veteran television actor and voice actor, and is also our morning DJ with his weekday music show, Good Morning, Tatooine! A multi-talented designer, writer and performer, Crosby performs at more than 160 charity events a year with his custom Star Wars car, dressed as Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Shawn Crosby is the voice of “Ben” in KMG’s new web series “Mighty Aphrodite!” He’s also Shawn “Obi-Shawn” Crosby, who hosts the weekday morning music show here on SCIFI.radio, “Good Morning, Tatooine!”
The idea for the series came about when the show’s creator Gene Turnbow was playing with some fascinating free machinima software called Plotagon, and came up with most of the first episode one sleepless night in March of 2018 while noodling around with the cell phone version of the software at 2 in the morning. He showed the little animation to friends, and the reaction he got was mostly along the lines of “where can I binge-watch this??”. The positive reception of the idea carried over into enthusiasm for the project’s Kickstarter, which funded in a single day.
The new animated series breaks new ground in at least one other regard: the cost of production of each episode is a small fraction of what a traditional animation project would require, thanks in no small part to the use of the Plotagon machinima engine. Blending its output with more conventional 3d animation done in Maya cuts production costs by more than 90%. Still, it has been an intense learning curve for Turnbow, who is also the creator and founder of SCIFI.radio itself, despite his multidisciplinary skill set and a background in theatrical animation production.
Two more episodes are currently in production, Twilight and Go Between, scheduled for release in December of 2018 and January of 2019. Once they’re all released, there will be a second Kickstarter to get more funding for more episodes.
Still haven’t seen the first episode?
Sometimes the best way to get your productions green lit is to green light it yourself.
Stay with us. We hope we’ve hooked you on the new series. The best is yet to come.
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