Web Series Spotlight: Frankenstein M.D.

On August 19, Frankenstein M.D., the latest web series by Pemberley Digital, the folks behind the Emmy Award winning The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved, debuted online.

This multi-platform web series is a modern-day adaptation of the classic 1818 novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, focusing on Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, an obsessive, eccentric prodigy determined to prove herself in the male-dominated fields of science and medicine.

Frankenstein M.D. is presented as an educational web series by medical students (and later doctors) Victoria Frankenstein (Anna Lore) and Iggy DeLacey (Steve Zaragoza) from the fictional Engle State University.

Each episode, which airs on the PBS Digital Studios YouTube Channel, who teamed with Pemberley Digital on this project, runs every Tuesday and Friday, finding Victoria experimenting with cutting-edge medical technologies or theories. She often uses Iggy or her childhood friends Eli Lavenza (Brendan Bradley) and Rory Clerval (Sara Fletcher) as subjects.

Dr. Abraham Waldman (Kevin Rock) serves as an adviser to Victoria, usually acting as a foil and reminding her of the impracticality or perceived impossibility of her experiments and theories.

Partway through the series, the show’s unseen camera operator and editor, Robert Walton, dies from a fall while adventuring in Alaska, where his body is left partially preserved in the snow. Victoria becomes distraught and attempts to revive Walton’s corpse with Iggy’s help in secret, using the medical technologies she had expounded upon earlier in the show.

Here is some insight into the characters in Frankenstein M.D.:

Victoria Frankenstein – She is currently a medical student at Engle State University, who at the start of the web series is weeks away from completing her M.D. She is passionate about pushing the bounds of medical science, however, she has a chip on her shoulder from being constantly undervalued because of her gender, age and radical ideas. Luckily, this only fuels her ambition. She has recently started an educational science show entitled ‘Frankenstein, MD’ along with her classmate Iggy DeLacey and film student Robert Walton. In the show she demonstrate her progressive (and sometimes unethical) experiments, which soon takes a turn for the worst. Leaving her audience to wonder where the line between Misunderstood Genius and Mad Scientist truly lies.

Iggy DeLacey – He is also currently a medical student at Engle State University. Though a little zany at times, he balances out Victoria and brings some lightness to the lab. At the top of his class, like Victoria, Iggy is interested in pursuing emerging medical technologies and experimental methodologies. He has his own vlog, ‘Ask Iggy‘, where he answers the internet’s burning science questions.

Eli

Eli Lavenza – He is a childhood friend of Victoria Frankenstein, who is well-mannered, patient, and takes good care of the people around him. He was raised by a single mother who was largely absent, so he grew up quickly. He fell in love with baseball in high school and found that he enjoyed being part of a team. Now he coaches little league part-time as he goes to school for his teaching credential.

Rory

Rory Clerval – She is Victoria’s college roommate and close friend, who is the type of person who doesn’t let anybody off easy. Her friends love her biting sense of humor, but her enemies fear it. She has recently embraced the hipster aesthetic, but it’s probably not a lifetime commitment. She is a few years out of college and dabbles with the idea of grad school for creative writing (her real dream), but fears that her grades aren’t good enough.

Dr. Waldman

Dr. Abraham Waldman – He is a professor at a prestigious medical school and is Victoria’s advisor and mentor. Distinguished but accessible, he is well-liked by faculty and students. Back in the day, his research was accused of being controversial, so he has a soft spot for some of his more ‘rebellious’ students. He allows Victoria to film her show in his lab.

Frankenstein M.D. is directed by Brett Register and executive produced by Bernie Su; Tracy Bitterolf is the producer while Lon Harris, Frederick Kim, Danielle Evenson and Taylor Brogan are the writers. Register and Harris serve a showrunners.

You can check out the Frankenstein M.D. videos here. You can also follow the web series at Facebook here and you can also follow some of the characters on Twitter @VFrankMD, @IggyDeLacey and @WanderingRory.

The next new webisode of Frankenstein M.D. aired today. Go check it out!