Here’s a little weekend entertainment for you.

Last year director & choreographer Kevin Tancharoen (brother of Maurissa Tancharoen, cowriter of Dollhouse & Dr. Horrible, she’s also married to Joss Whedon’s brother Jed) created an internet short called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as a pitch for the right to create a large work. The insanely cool video featured Michael Jai White (Black Dynamite & Spawn) and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) as Jax & Sonia. The video quickly went viral due to extreme awesomeness.

Less than a year later the first or nine episodes is available for free on YouTube, and a new episode will be posted every Tuesday.

As far as action film is concerned, this really is quality stuff, and so far the story seems like it’s going to gel better than previous Mortal Kombat movies.

I’ve read that some people think that Jeri Ryan is too old to play Sonia, but I rather like a more mature, battle-tested take on the character. I also thought it was good that she freed herself.

Michael Jai White is always believable as an ass-kicker.

Finally, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica & Dollhouse) is a great as Stryker. He’s awesome with stage combat, and he plays that Captain America-type character damn well.

Here’s a glimpse of things to come:

You an catch new episodes on The Machinima YouTube Channel every Tuesday.

I won’t post them here until the series is done, but I will tweet the new episodes @dbspira.

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