BitTorrent debuting second installment of Pioneer One, the made-for-torrent sci-fi drama

Alright sci-fi fans, it's that time again -- it's been a month since we last heard from the folks behind Pioneer One, and the word then was that come mid-December, there'd be a second episode. Well, it's now officially the middle of December, so let's get campy.

Support from the P2P community hasn't waned in the months since the show's premiere, and may even be stronger than before. BitTorrent -- the actual company, not the file type -- has thrown its full support behind the project, and the newest episode is currently available via the App Studio, which you can access in either BitTorrent or µTorrent. The show is also accessible by a plethora of other means, including regular torrents, Bitlet, direct downloads, and streaming video -- so if you've got an Internet connection and a will, then there's a way. Links to those methods can be found on the show's page at VODO.

This show hasn't been BitTorrent's only foray into the limelight, either. The company helped release Four Eyed Monsters last month in conjunction with its launch of the App Studio in µTorrent. Also part of the App Studio push is their Featured Artist Program, which aims to give new artists a chance at a huge audience by putting them directly in front of the P2P community and bypassing the middle-man. It's a good initiative, but it's not quite weighty enough to sway the greater public toward the light. People tend to like more singular points of focus, and that's where something like a drama series really shines.

Which is why projects like Pioneer One are quickly becoming one of the best methods for companies like BitTorrent to push file-sharing into the realm of legitimacy -- something that's sorely needed after so many years of bad press. It must be a difficult task for a tiny company that's chosen to keep its name unchanged, despite the fact that it's become synonymous with a scary pirate word.

Pioneer One is a donation-funded indie-sci-fi-drama series, which, though a mouthful, is also a breath of fresh air. It doesn't get its funding from a Sprint in return for devoting an entire scene to showing off Qik Video Chat 2-way camera calling (cough... Fringe...). It gets funded by people who simply want to watch a sci-fi show, and it's a pleasant feeling to lose the commercialism for a bit. It's also nice to see torrents used to distribute media that was meant to be distributed that way.

Tags: bittorrent, file-sharing, indie, media, movies, p2p, peer to peer, PeerToPeer, pioneer one, PioneerOne, sci-fi, torrent, utorrent, video, vodo