Broken Saints

Broken Saints was something of an internet sensation when it was first released online during 2001 to 2003.

The series -- which is in 24 chapters with a total running time of 12 hours (the early episodes are short while the finale hits an hour and a half) -- has been referred to by its creators as a "cinematic novel". Essentially, this means an 'animated comic': in its original version, limited animation (mainly for scene transitions) with speech bubbles instead of voice acting, but still a video with music and sound effects.

Eventually purchased by Fox and released on DVD, the series exists in two (or three, depending how you count it) versions: as well as the original online version, there's the 'DVD version' with spruced-up animation (for parts 1 to 12) and a choice of either the original soundtrack or a fully voice-acted one. It's this last option that I'm choosing to watch. (For the completist, the original Flash-animated versions of the first twelve episodes are included via DVD-ROM.)

It's recently been announced that a long-rumoured live action series is in development (or, "trying to find funding", by the sounds of things), so I decided it was finally time (I've owned the DVD since its UK release) to get round to watching the original.

You can still watch the original version online, for free, here. For more information, check out Wikipedia's good overview; the creator's blog, which includes the November 30th announcement of the live-action series; a live-action trailer (in various qualities); and DVD Times' review of the R2 DVD. (The rest of the official site is currently down.)