Space Rover logo

Space Rover

The Space Rover and MWM logos are under the GNU Free Documentation License


Premise

Space Commonwealth logo

The year is 2143 CE, over thirty years since the Great Unification of humankind. After being kicked out of the Space Commonwealth transport fleet on disputed charges of gross incompetence, one Captain James seeks out a new life by purchasing a cheap refurbished spacecraft on Pluto, the titular Rover. He is soon also lumbered with a free android "inducement" - the peculiarly named Peter Gans Lee - and by the arrival of a rogue hologram worker, little do any of them realize what their new life is going to bring them in a hostile, and deeply absurd, universe...

MWM seeks to pave new ground for free culture by creating a full series of low-budget productions within a consistent and expansive fictional universe; all released under free licenses and primarily inspired by classic science fiction franchises The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Red Dwarf, as well as Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Farscape. To that end, we began work on the series in August 2008, developing the ideas before production finally began in the summer of 2012, carrying into audio creation at the start of 2013.



Cast and Crew


Logos and Graphics

The following are various graphics and logos visualizing organizations and concepts within the series' universe. Released on December 24, 2015 and made in Inkscape 0.91.


Download:
PNG
SVG

Drawn by Malcolm Wilson.


Concept Art

Colourize: Side 1: Side 2: High Contrast: Accessories: Emitter: 40 Arms:
PNG PNG PNG Side 1 PNG PNG PNG
SVG JPEG JPEG Side 2 SVG SVG SVG

The first conceptual pieces describe the external appearance of the Rover.

Drawn by Laura Warman. Finalizing details by Malcolm Wilson. Released on December 1, 2016. Scanned on an HP Officejet 4630 series using XSane version 0.999 with HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) version 3.16.11 [device manager version 15.0(Qt4)]. Editing and export done in GNU Image Manipulation Program version 2.8.18. Vector editing and colourization done in Inkscape version 0.91. All running on Fedora 23 Linux kernel version 4.8.10-100.fc23.x86_64.

The accessories conceptual piece explores possible additions to the Rover, such as continuous tracks.

Released on December 27, 2019 made in Inkscape 0.92.4 on Fedora 30 Linux kernel version 5.3.11-200.fc30.x86_64.

The emitter conceptual piece describes the visual appearance of Hologram's Portable Holographic Emitter Unit.

Released on December 21, 2022 made in Inkscape 1.2.2 (b0a8486541, 2022-12-01) on Arch Linux, kernel version 6.0.12-arch1-1.

The 40 Arms conceptual piece describes Hologram with forty arms in episode III.

Released on December 24, 2023 made in Inkscape 1.3.2 (091e20ef0f, 2023-11-25, custom) on Arch Linux, kernel version 6.6.8-arch1-1.


Pilot Episode: Undocumented Features

Pluto Rag-&-Bone Refurbishing

Our first full release for the project, presenting our pilot script as an audio production, initially recorded on the evening of February 16, 2013 based on a final February 1 audio script draft, with pick-ups on May 11, 2013. Production work ensued following both the original and pick-up recordings, finally exhibiting a completed version on May 26, 2013. Recorded with a Sennheiser e 825-S Dynamic microphone, on a Lenovo 3000 N200 laptop running Fedora 18 using Audacity. Released under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 and/or the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license, with the following usage attributions.

Premise: Discharged from his cushy job as an official transport captain, James heads to Pluto to buy a cheap refurbished spaceship, plus android assistant, ignorant as to what is lurking within the Rover's computer system...


Download:

First released on May 31, 2013

Outtakes first released on December 25, 2018

Source first released on March 30, 2021

Audio: Script: Streams & Mirrors: Highlights of Outtakes:
FLAC Open Document YouTube Ogg Vorbis
Ogg Vorbis Text Internet Archive FLAC
WebM PDF FictionPress Transcript
Source Audacity Project File

Series I: A Man And His Machines

In addition to the completed pilot script, drafts for episodes 2-6 are already extant, comprising a full series in proper Britcom tradition. Both audio and video incarnations are planned. A complete novelization of the first series is also concieved, adding in more backstory. Audio, video and novel incarnations are said to exist in closely joined but separate dimensions, allowing for a general amount of continuity between them. The series also already begins a plotted overarchng story thread to be played out as the series progresses. The download links will be filled in as episodes are produced.

1. Undocumented Features

The final version to be adapted from the pilot release.


Download:

N/A (see Pilot Episode)


2. Ne Humanis Crede

Attempting to raid a derelict, the crew discover the reason the ship was abandoned, when a experimental upgrade stalls the Rover and makes Hologram turn inexplicably homicidal.


Download:

First released on May 31, 2014 (usage attributions)

Outtakes first released on December 25, 2018

Source first released on March 30, 2021

Audio: Script: Streams & Mirrors: Highlights of Outtakes:
FLAC Open Document YouTube Ogg Vorbis
Ogg Vorbis Text Internet Archive FLAC
WebM PDF FictionPress Transcript
Source Audacity Project File

3. Ananke Ascertainment

Having been hired to find out why a colony on one of Jupiter's lesser known moons failed, the Captain is faced with a choice between restarting an ecological disaster or resigning his commission.


Download:

First released on December 30, 2017 (usage attributions)

Outtakes first released on December 25, 2018

Source first released on March 30, 2021

Audio: Script: Streams & Mirrors: Highlights of Outtakes:
FLAC Open Document YouTube Ogg Vorbis
Ogg Vorbis Text Internet Archive FLAC
WebM PDF FictionPress Transcript
Source Audacity Project File

4. Rewinding the Watch

As temporal holes start to open up, the crew find out that to secure the flow of time they must fulfil a paradox and actually create the universe themselves.


Download:

First released on December 28, 2020 (usage attributions)

Script released on March 20, 2021 (sorry...)

Source first released on March 30, 2021

Outtakes first released on December 25, 2021

Audio: Script: Streams & Mirrors: Highlights of Outtakes:
FLAC Open Document YouTube Ogg Vorbis
Ogg Vorbis Text Internet Archive FLAC
WebM PDF FictionPress
Source Audacity Project File

5. Clean, Clean, Clean

Peter sets about fully repairing Hologram, but why does his program seem to be degrading? And is it spreading?


Download:

N/A

6. War

A far-off colony declares independence from the Space Commonwealth, and the government simply re-drafts the Captain into the Fleet to deal with it, expecting little more than a useful distraction.


Download:

N/A