Travis Richey brings us Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time

Who knew when NBC’s cult favorite Community began a recurring joke about a legendary TV series called Inspector Spacetime, which was a parody of the long-running BBC series Doctor Who, it would spawn its own cult following?

Actor/writer Travis Richey, who recurred on the Peacock Network’s show as the Inspector, clearly saw potential in expanding the concept (along with a host of other people, who created an entire history of the show via online bulletin boards, Tumblr, and a TVTropes page), so he and his writing partner Eric Loya decided to write a 6-epsiode web series called Inspector Spacetime and offered it up to NBC. But when the network gave no response to their pitch, they turned to Kickstarter.com to get fans to help fund a non-profit production.

That’s when Sony intervened. Since the studio owns the name and likeness to Inspector Spacetime, he was told he could not use the title or the look that appears on Community. But like many clever writers, Richey and Loya, altered the title and the appearance of the main character and came up with Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time. And because all other aspects of their original idea about Inspector Spacetime they pitched to NBC were inventions of himself, Loya and legions of fans that help create an elaborate back-story for the character, Richey can continue to use them.

Richey’s Siv-Art Productions have announced that Fallout: Nuka Break director Vince Talenti will helm the first season of what now is a parody of a parody. Talenti is best known as one half of the comedy production house Wayside Creations and recently premiered a six-episode web series based on the video game Fallout. The series and the short film that preceded it have racked up over 3.5 million views on YouTube, in addition to the various behind-the-scenes videos the crew shot for fans.

In a press release, Richey said, ‘I am so thrilled to have Vince aboard to make this series.  He has a special skill for making a show look as good as possible, including great special effects and action, while still ensuring that the comedy shines through.  Which is exactly what The Inspector needs.”

“I’ve been a fan of Travis’s work for some time,” commented Talenti, “The sheer volume of content that he has created over the last few years on no budget is amazing.  I’m so excited that we have a chance to bring one of his projects to life with the budget it deserves.”  He added, “I think that Travis is doing this for the right reason, because it’s a passion project, which I completely understand.  It’s the reason I did Fallout with Zack,” referring to Zack Finfrock, the other half behind Wayside Creations.  Finfrock will also be involved with the project, as a producer, as well as lending his artistic talents behind the scenes.

Richey himself had previously achieved international acclaim as the creator of several web series, including Robot, Ninja & Gay Guy, 2 Hot Guys In The Shower, Smiley Town, and an award-winning series of “Mac vs PC” spoofs.  His videos -featured on CNN, Comedy Central’s website, The Huffington Post, The UK Telegraph, PerezHilton.com and many other blogs and websites- have garnered over 2 million views on Youtube.  While not  performing regularly at ACME Comedy Hollywood, Richey can be seen in the Season 2 Finale of Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family.

The fundraising  on Kickstarter.com ends on April 1. And while they’ve raised the $20,000 needed to fund the project, any additional money fans can give them until then is welcome, as it just assures additional post-production funding. The team hopes to begin premiering the series in May 2012.