After an excruciating wait, MachinimaPrime has released the first episode of their new webseries: Halo: Forward Unto Dawn.
The series represents the biggest official, live-action Halo projects to date, with substantial backing from Microsoft. Per a Variety Magazine article, Microsoft executives were quoted as saying the film was “the largest investment” by Microsoft in any life-action Halo project. The series was originally announced at the San Diego Comic-Con this year.
The series focuses on several UNSC cadets and takes place just before the upcoming Halo 4 video game. In particular, the series focuses on Cadet Thomas Lasky, a young cadet with a deep ambivalence about the military in general and trouble following orders.
The first episode was largely exposition, but was fast-paced enough to keep the viewer’s attention. While several references to previous games in the Halo franchise pepper the first episode, the series requires no background knowledge of the Halo universe to understand the plot. According to Matt McCloskey, the business manager of 343 industries, the goal was to make the universe of Halo more accessible.
In the Variety interview, McCloskey stated that part of the goal of the series (and Halo 4) was “to make ‘Halo’ accessible for people who haven’t played the games.”
Halo 4 is the first Halo project to come out since the franchise was taken over from Bungie by 343 Studios.
Previously, Microsoft has funded other live-action Halo projects, including various promotional shorts, and the abandoned Peter Jackson/Neill Blomkamp Halo film project.
Four further episodes will come out every Friday, leading up to the release of Halo 4 on 06NOV12.
Robert is a science geek with a passion for science fiction. He has a BS in general biology and currently works in an occupational health lab at The University of Arizona. Additionally, Boumis has published three short stories, all science fiction, and does costuming in his spare time. His interests include classic science fiction novels, sci-fi films, filmmaking, UFOs, and video games. Follow his Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-J-Boumis/142544852462290?ref=ts
