Had you told me 20 years ago as I sat at a computer and played “Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego” that one day I would be able to talk to people face to face on that computer, I’d probably have laughed at you. The fact that I can video chat with one sister in Louisiana one minute and then video chat with my other sister in Israel moments later is just stunning. There are times I have to stop myself and think “holy shit, I can’t believe this is even possible”.

I get the same feeling when it comes to things like Google Hangout. I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial with the chick showing her friends she got engaged or (I think) the one with the baby walking for the first time. Basically it is a group video chat and while that sounds so simple, it’s amazing at the same time. I’ve had the opportunity to use Google Hangouts quite often with friends of mine and it’s somewhat awe-inspiring when I sit back and think how cool it is that people from New York and Washington (state) and California and Georgia are all able to see and talk to each other at the same time. Not to mention, Google has actually built a rather good program here.

I’ve used Skype and Tango quite a bit in the last few years and don’t get me wrong, they are great, but somehow Google takes what they have done and makes it that much better. I’ve found that the picture is clearer and the sound quality is light years better. Long story short, if you aren’t using Google Hangouts, you should be.

What does all this have to do with H+, The Digital Series?

Well, they decided to hold a Google Hangout themselves.

They aren’t the first to do this, as the cast and crew of The Guild have done quite a few as have various other people and groups. It makes sense for a show like H+ to jump on board given their topic and premise of their series.

If you aren’t familiar with H+ The Digital Series, you can read this review from a couple of months ago to brush up. Quite a bit has happened since I wrote that initial review and I’m happy to say, it’s all been good. I’m not going to give any details because I really do hope people will go and watch the series.

As for the Hangout, it was moderated by Fraser Cain of universetoday.com and was attended by writer/creator’s John Cabrera & Cosimo de Tommaso, producers Jason Taylor and Bryan Singer (yes that Bryan Singer), and director Stewart Hendler.

If you watch the hangout yourself (which I would recommend because it’s rather interesting) you’ll see that they don’t really talk about the plot lines of the show that much which I found to be nice because I’m a few “episodes” behind and didn’t really want to be spoiled. They talk quite a bit about how the show came to be, the steps they took in taking it from concept to a television pitch to then ultimately a web series.

The parts that I found to be most interesting was when they talked about filming the series in its entirety in 29 days. There are going to be 48 episodes and they are all about 6-8  minutes long which ends up being about 5 hours of finished product. To get the amount of material to end up with 5 hours of finished product in only 29 days is remarkable. I don’t know about anyone else, but it makes me appreciate the series all the more. Also, I would have never guessed that they filmed solely in Santiago, Chile. That means they made Santiago look like California, Oregon, The Republic of Congo, Ireland, England, Finland, Italy, and India. That’s impressive.

It was quite cool to see a director/producer of Bryan Singer’s caliber just sitting in a living room chatting on the computer. He talked quite a bit about finding Steward Hendler as director of the series and how the project had originally been planned for TV. Really it seems like this is John Cabrera’s baby. When he talks about the show you can just see how much he cares for it and hopes for its success. He touched on something I had wondered watching the show, which were the subtitles. Given that it does take place in so many different places, there is quite a bit of subtitling. However, not everything is subtitled. While talking in the Hangout, Cabrera says that they did it on purpose. Their hope was that people who might speak that language would come to the aid of those who didn’t and it would just be one more way for the viewers to come together. That’s exactly what has happened. There’s been numerous times I’ve scrolled through YouTube comments and seen where someone has provided a translation.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of the conversation was the news that while WB had not yet ordered season/Chapter 2, the script is being worked on. With 6.6 million views on YouTube so far and 104K subscribers, I’m clearly not the only one wanting Chapter 2 to happen. If nothing else, it is exciting to be a part of a new medium come into its own. Here’s hoping that H+ The Digital Series is just another part of a massive wave of internet based content in the near future.

In the meantime, catch up on H+over on YouTube, and why not follow Grizzly Bomb on Google+ as well? [Ed.Note: I approve this shameful plug]