From Tubefilter.tv: "With the fall of some of the early web content studios like maniaTV, 60Frames and ABC/Disney’s Stage 9, there were some web series projects that went down with their ships that we thought might never see the light of day. Trenches, a sci-fi action series from creator Shane Felux was one such project. Our last check in with Felux was in August of 2008, when Stage 9 had released its pricey comedy series Squeegees to mixed results. A few months later ABC shuttered its nascent digital studio, leaving Trenches in distribution purgatory.

Now the series has found a new home, with Sony Pictures Television buying licensing the project from ABC to be released starting February 16, 2010 on Crackle. Set in the future on a a distant war torn planet, the story centers around two groups of opposing soldiers fighting against each other only to realize that the real enemy is something else. The 10-episode series, each one being about 5 to 7 minutes, will roll out with three on the first day and then continue steadily through March 5.

Shane Felux still describes himself as “a little indie guy making films in my basement.” He first popped onto the map of online fans—and ABC’s digital execs—with his breakout Star Wars Revelations fan film and follow-up, Pitching Lucas, which in 2006 won both the George Lucas Selects Award and the Audience Choice Award at the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards at Comic-Con. When ABC execs called him up he ended up pitching what would become Trenches over the phone, using a mocked up web site that he built to walk them through the concept."

Ok hold up. On Facebook fans of the forthcoming series are praising Felux as an indie producer, fighting against all odds and showing the resourceful determination of a microcinema filmmaker. Don't get me wrong, his work here is impressive and I wish the best for him, but microcinema? This thing was being backed by DISNEY. Sony Pictures is on board now. The only thing micro about this project is the screen size it'll be viewed on. To be honest I'm not even sure if this qualifies as independent!

The trailer, albeit a tad cliche at moments, is very slick. Shane has made something which will likely be very cool. Sure it looks like Starship Troopers with the performances to match but it'll be a good ride. I just think that to parade this as a low-budget indie effort is the wrong approach. Probably the only reason this on the web and not running as a television pilot is that it was created for what is now a defunct web production company that saw the writing on the wall.

Cool looking, yes. Entertaining, most likely. Indie? Hell no.