Krypton Media Group was never meant just to be the parent company of Krypton Radio, the world’s only full time sci-fi geek culture radio station. It was formed because its founders, Susan Fox and Gene Turnbow, and all their friends, like to create wonderful things and share them with everyone.

Krypton Radio has been working out so well that they figured it’s time to try the Next New Thing. And here it is.

Mighty Aphrodite!  – the Web Series

Mighty Aphrodite! is a new animated web series about the Goddess of Love herself who, after being stranded for two thousand years at a borrowed Temple of Hera, finds herself once again able to access the world of mortals. Much to her surprise, she meets an archeologist named Ben and falls in love!

Aphrodite and Ben are voiced by Mary R. Bergman-Kridler and Shawn “Obi-Shawn” Crosby, with episodes initially being written and directed by series creator Gene Turnbow, with KMG / Krypton Radio’s Susan Fox serving in the producer’s role. The new series uses low-cost technology to produce charming three to four minute fully animated episodes for direct release to the internet for everyone to enjoy.

Shawn Crosby, taken at the Scum and Villainy Cantina. Shawn provides the voice of Ben, Aphrodite’s new modern day love interest. Photograph credit: Bryan P. Dechart, Dechart Photography

Voice actor Mary R. Bergman-Kridler provides the voice of the goddess Aphrodite in the new series.

The idea came about as Turnbow was experimenting with a new animation tool and suddenly found himself creating new characters and writing dialog for them.

“It was like eating kettle corn, it was some of the easiest stuff I’d ever written. The episodes just write themselves,” remarked Turnbow.

It’s a contagious idea. Not everything has to be full of angst. How many edgy, gritty remakes have we seen? As producer Susan Fox puts it, “Aphrodite was known as The Heavenly, The Merciful, The Smile-Loving… we need Aphrodite in the world today, now more than ever.”

What makes this project groundbreaking is that while it’s fully animated, it makes use of specialized tools that bring the costs way, way down. It’s not exactly machinema, but it’s not done by hand from scratch either. Typical turnaround from script to finished piece is about two to three weeks, yielding a four to five minute episode each time. A traditional 3D animation studio would require thirty to forty thousand dollars per episode to create something like this. Krypton Media’s team can do it for about $300-$400 per episode, or roughly 1% of the normal cost.

Nor is this a pie-in-the-sky guesstimate, either. The first episode is nearing completion, with all animation accounted for, and the costs were well within budget.

“Rooster Teeth did this fifteen years ago with their breakout series Red vs Blue,”  says Turnbow. “They produced a popular computer animated comedy web series using a similar idea, using the game Halo: Combat Evolved to provide the visuals. What we’re doing goes beyond that, though, and produces much higher quality animation. The characters move well and are visually appealing, and the scenes are fast to produce.”

Crowdfunding begins May 16, 2018, and the initial goal will be set at an astonishingly low $950. Even so, the production costs are such that this will cover the creation of a total of three episodes for the first goal, and all the backer perks, shipping and Kickstarter fees, with the first episode already nearly complete and two more in preproduction.

Krypton Media anticipates at least hitting their first goal early on. The big nailbiter will be how many stretch goals they’ll get to do. Each one will represent another trio of episodes.

Once crowdfunding is successful, production will proceed at the pace of one new episode every couple of weeks as long as stretch goals continue to be met. Once the Kickstarter completes, the campaign will shift over to IndieGogo, where it will continue as an open-ended animation project, and will stay in production as long as people keep wanting to see new episodes.

Though Shawn Crosby is a seasoned actor with experience both on and off-camera, this is Mary Bergman-Kridler’s first experience with this kind of performance despite an extensive theatrical background. In a recent Facebook post, she said she was “so excited to be a part of this project!”

The new series, by the way,  has absolutely nothing to do with the Mira Sorvino / Woody Allen film of 1998. The series title is simply the euphonious extension of the name of the Greek goddess herself. Additionally, given the family-friendly orientation of Krypton Media, it will also be completely safe for both work and kids and contains no nudity or raunchy language, instead relying on romance, humor, charm and endearing characters for its appeal.

Mighty Aphroditeis for people who want to fall in love, who are falling in love, or who fondly remember what it was like.

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SCIFI Radio Staff

SCIFI Radio Staff

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