With all the TV and offline media properties making the jump to the Web, it is reassuring to see that this can sometimes be a two way street now that the Icebox site's star web-served cartoon series Starship Regulars is making the leap to the googlebox (that's TV to you). Not only as a cartoon, mind, but as real actor-driven series. This web-based cartoon was created by one Rob LaZebnik, and features the soap-like lives of the ordinary grunts who don't make it onto the command deck - the sewage engineers, chefs, and deck cleaners. Less you think this is some web-only hack work, it should be pointed out that Rob LaZebnik is listed as a producer on the Simpsons Toon. It is a little ironic given that the Simpsons got is break as two minute teasers on the Tracy Ullman Show, and South Park's start as a digital Xmas cards. Basically, the series is a piss-take (read : satire, for our more sophisticated viewers) in the same mould as GalaxyQuest. In the 24th century, one starship's Captain and his officers struggle to prevent inter-galactic war. This is not their story. This is the adventure of the ship's grunt soldiers and overworked crew - the Starship Regulars. The current episode is called War (running time 3 minutes). Any Starship crew can handle shots from neutron torpedoes. Shots of Quartec, an alien whiskey, are another matter entirely. You'll need the Flash 4.0 plug-in installed to watch this baby. You can see Starship Regulars over here. |