Captain Oblivious

Maybe you should be.

There's a strange phenomenon playing out on "the internets" these days. Seems DC Comics and Warner Brothers decided to make a television show out of a Warren Ellis comic book called Global Frequency. So they filmed a pilot episode. Then there was a change in management and the new boss decided he wasn't really all that interested. So they didn't pick up the show (or they chose not to make more episodes, pick your terminology). So far, so normal, right?

Well, here's where it gets a bit unusual. That pilot? The one nobody was ever going to see? It's out. On the Bittorrent networks. In a big way. And guess what?

People like it. They really, really like it.

Somehow, said pilot episode magically appeared on my computer the other day, despite my best efforts to keep it away. I deleted it immediately, of course (Note for the RIAA/DC/WB: Got that? Ok. You can go now.). But first, I somehow accidentally loaded it into Windows Media Player and hit play. 45 minutes later, I hit play again. And I get the point.

Don't get me wrong. It's got some rough edges. But I'd watch that show. I'd TiVo it. I'd schedule a Season's Pass. And I'd buy the DVDs when they came out.

Wondering what all the fuss is about? After all, this is a show the networks have already decided not to make. Well, go ahead and watch the pilot (I'm sure the Bittorrent gnomes can make it magically appear on your computer, too, if you can just make it a point to deliberately and explicitly not ask them to). Consider yourself warned, though: when it's over, you're gonna want a new ringtone for your phone.

Why bother? Maybe if there's enough positive buzz about the show, DC and Warner Bros will take the hint. As we know, the upcoming movie Serenity was only filmed because of the outrageous success of the DVDs from its parent, the cancelled Firefly TV series. Will it happen? Nope. Probably not. But. The whole premise of Global Frequency is ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. So the idea of Global Frequency itself being brought back to life by lots of random strangers is pretty appealing.