By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Halfway into the YouTube animated series Esluna: The First Monolith, Bataar (voiced by local Victoria Fringe Festival favourite Shawn O’Hara) may well have the means to go home. He’s from another world and unless he gains allies to help him, he’s stuck in a strange land populated with robots and ruled by a power-hungry warlord. The way he arrived suggests he’s been spirited away than simply teleported over. An ancient artifact of mystical power called The Monolith brought him here and nobody operated it at the time. When it’s in the hands of Queen Leda (Tara Pratt), who wants to use it for other purposes, returning will not be easy.
Anyone who controls this device holds the fate of Esluna in their hands. Maeve (Grace Chan) knows of what it can do. She’s a relic hunter who will prevent any lost artifact from going to the wrong people. Many years have passed, and the story picks up when Bataar is older. He feels resigned to his fate and eventually hope picks up.
Continue reading “[Web-series] The Quest for Esluna: The First Monolith, A First Look”