I have created and worked on various projects over the years from video essays, to game reviews, to narrative web series, to articles on this very web page, to print.
My first published work was a contribution to Children of Time: The Companions of Doctor Who (kOZMIC Press, 2018), a collection of essays from a multitude of writers detailing and examining 88 of the companions, friends, and associates of the eponymous main character of the long-running BBC science-fiction series, Doctor Who. My essay, “The Darkest of Eyes”, takes the form of a letter written by Molly O’Sullivan, an Irish VAD nurse from World War I who was the unknowing linchpin in a genocidal Dalek plot. I relished this opportunity, as not only was she a companion to my favorite Doctor (Paul McGann), but she was my first companion in the audio adventures from Big Finish.
For years, I had been self-producing web video, most prominently machinima utilizing various games in the Halo franchise. The most noteworthy series under my belt is probably Lost in Reach, which ran from 2010 to 2015 before my personal life began to take greater priority. I do not look back fondly on the first two seasons for a multitude of reasons, most of which stem from having refined my understanding of film making and writing since I was in my teens, but the final few episodes which were produced hold a soft spot in my heart. Episode 18, the final episode produced, in particular is dear to me. I feel it was a brilliant blend of the series’ previous comedic roots and its then-current character- and story-driven direction. The fact that the whole episode was more or less a loving tribute to Doctor Who certainly helps.
Further in the realm of web video, specifically in media analysis and critique, I produced a series of video game reviews entitled The Backlog, with the intent being that I would finish playing every game I owned but had not completed. Earlier episodes were more rudimentary and attempted to capture the essence of earlier web critics such as James Rolfe and Doug Walker, only with less anger driving the comedy. The short-lived Season 2 mostly phased this out in favor of sticking to criticism, with the odd joke here or there if it seemed relevant or contributed to the “feel” of the game.
In the realm of web video, for a time I wrote, recorded, and edited a series of video essays called Second Opinion, the basic premise of which was to present a viewpoint regarding a particular subject matter (usually in regards to entertainment media) which hardly seemed to be vocalized or is otherwise drowned out in binary discord. It was simple in visual design for the sake of quick production, with the focus lying in the analysis of the topic at hand. Of the thirteen episodes produced, one pertained to the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, while others focused on criticisms of the video game industry and film analysis. I am particularly proud of the final episode produced, in which I dissect the narrative and character-based shortcomings of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the probable factors which may have caused them.
Andrew Bluett 