Pioneer One is an original series about the lone survivor of a lost Soviet mission to Mars and the Cold War tensions he reignites when he returns to Earth. The first four of six episodes have been downloaded over 7,00,000 times.
In March 2010, writer Josh Bernhard and director Bracey Smith quit their jobs and set out to produce the pilot episode of Pioneer One as a proof-of-concept for how the series could eventually be produced and released. Funds were raised through a Kickstarter campaign, favors were called in, and much sleep was lost. The pilot was shot through the end of April 2010 and was released online on June 15th, 2010 on VODO.net.
Bypassing the traditional network model, Josh Bernhard and Bracey Smith, dedicated themselves to creating a television series that is totally financed on viewer donations — essentially a “tv series, without tv”.
The series has just finished shooting its first season which consists of six full-length episodes.
The Story So Far
Our friends at Geek Crash Course recently brought their viewers up to speed on the first four episodes:
