"Mighty Aphrodite!" - The Return of the Goddess of Love

Mighty Aphrodite! is a new 3d animated romantic comedy web series from Krypton Media Group, the company behind the now world-famous sci-fi radio station Krypton Radio. The new series follows the adventures of the Goddess of Love herself as she returns to the mortal world after a 2,000 year nap and falls in love with the first boy she meets.

The series stars Mary R. Bergman-Kridler (pronounced cry-dler) in the title role, and Krypton Radio's DJ Shawn Crosby in the role of Ben, Aphrodite's new mortal beau. The series was created by KMG's CEO and station manager for Krypton Radio, Gene Turnbow. KMG's board chairman Susan Fox serves as executive producer on the project.

Mighty Aphrodite! consists of short episodes, each four to six minutes in length, all animated using a hybrid of machinema and manually created 3D animation. The production process breaks the normal mold for animated web series. Usually such projects cost upwards of a thousand dollars a minute, making them all but impossible for smaller companies to create. The use of machinema allows episodes to be done very quickly and inexpensively, such that sets of three episodes can be produced for about $1000 per set. 14 episodes are planned for the first "season."

Gene Turnbow draws upon his extensive experience in feature animation for the genesis of the new series. Says Turnbow, "Sometimes it's actually more fun to create within stringent limitations than it is to have an unlimited budget. It gives you a frame of reference as you create. You know what tools you have, and exactly how far you can go with them, and you have to be elegant about it. It's a great creative challenge, and yet we're creating something that shines with hope, with endearing characters and good solid storytelling. "

Susan Fox, executive producer for the project, is an avid historian. The relevance of Aphrodite was what convinced her to green light the project. As she puts it, “Aphrodite was known as The Heavenly, The Merciful, The Smile-Loving … we need Aphrodite in the world today, now more than ever.”

The series breaks new ground. Not only is it the first time the Goddess Aphrodite has been used as the lead character in an animated series, its use of machinema blended with full scale CG animation breaks open the usual animation studio business model.

In the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera was succeeding in the animation business when the other studios around them were all folding. They, however, had figured out some crucial cost saving short-cuts for creating their cartoons. It's the reason all their cartoon characters had collars and ties, even if they didn't have shirts. The seemingly arbitrary clothing accessories allowed the studio to hide the seam between the character's heads and necks, allowing them animate the heads separately from the bodies. Not having to draw the entire body for every frame made the Hanna-Barbera characters much faster and cheaper to draw, and in just a few short years, they were able to develop a stable of characters that could stand toe to toe with those of theatrical animation houses like Disney. It was this innovation that made cartoons on television economically viable.

Mighty Aphrodite! draws its water from the same well. Hybridized animation techniques lower production costs to the point where a small production house like Krypton Media Group to make fully 3D animated characters at a tiny percentage of the cost more traditional production.

The Mighty Aphrodite! kickstarter hit 100% of its initial goal in its first day. Stretch goals are on going, and the crowdfunding of the initial episodes of the series concludes on June 20th. Production begins in July.

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