A while back, you may have seen my post about Afterworld, a science fiction project that combined online storytelling, CGI animation and an interactive website that furthered the characters and plot with a forum, virtual journal, and Wordwall.
Well, the story has reached the end of its first season, with 130 episodes in all spanning the protagonist’s journey from New York to Seattle. The setting? A world in which no AC/DC-based technology works anymore, and 99% of the population disappeared overnight in a mysterious event.
Russell Shoemaker is the hero of the story, and in his quest to return home and discover the fate of his wife and child, he encounters numerous mini-societies rebuilding themselves after the fall of civilization. Along the way, he also gets drawn into the mystery and conspiracy behind the fall, experiencing strange, potentially supernatural phenomena, and eventually becoming a central figure in determining the path this post-singularity world will take.
I found the story incredibly engaging. The producers do a great job of ending each episode with some sort of hook to make you want to watch the next one. And since each episode is just a few minutes long, it’s like eating Pringles. You can’t stop with one, and before you know it, you’re moving on to the next location, the next mystery.
They also do a great job of introducing unique characters for Russell to interact with along the way, including a homeless man who acts as something of a guardian angel, a potentially psychic young boy, and an addled professor who believes the world is merging with the reality of several science fiction novels he once wrote.
For the sake of time, the story does sometimes gloss over key points that might leave you wondering exactly how the characters got out of a predicament so quickly, or whether a certain person would experience such a quick change of heart, but overall, Afterworld is a unique storytelling project that is worth watching. The ending also promises another journey to follow, with even more adventure and higher stakes.
I see that smile.