There have been a few iterations of the series over this specified span of time. The thread that most people are probably familiar with, and undoubtedly the one that made them “web famous” is “The Blood Gulch Chronicles.” This story line ran for five seasons and features all of the “original characters” like Church, Caboose, Tucker, Sarge, Grif, Simmons, and so on. This was in the show’s more “primitive” stage that relied on comedy (and little else) for it’s addictive nature. The season one commentary with series founder Burnie Burns reveals some of the tricks they would use to make some pretty inventive shots. Such as placing the “camera” multiplayer character on the barrel of a Scorpion tank to create the upward craning angle that is used in the first seconds of “Why Are We Here?” As the initial five outings progress, we saw more characters come into the picture (O’Malley, Doc, Flowers, ect.) that added intrigue, as well as avenues to keep the story going as more installments of Halo hit store shelves. Mini-series like “Recovery One” gave needed segues into expanded narratives, and helps to attain a sense of cohesion within all the shuffling.
Most recently, we were given the “Project Freelancer” line of episodes. These two sets showcase just how far both them, and the games have come. Forge mode in the Xbox 360 releases has made the machinima portions much easier to shoot, and affords the crew expanded opportunities for advanced techniques like intricate character blocking and prop placement. But much more evolutionary than that is the full on CGI and mo-cap studios that have really ramped up the production and story telling abilities. The two season/two thread crossover could be considered full fledged sci-fi. During the “traditional” episodes, displaced Freelancers Carolina and Washington share the stage with the Blood Gulch regulars while attempting to piece together the events from the prequel-esqe second stage that is done with the aforementioned animation studios. Here we get the background for all the Freelancers (from Tex to Wyoming), their AIs, and insight into the nefarious Meta. Strong continuity exists within the ten seasons and most of the mini excursions. So a watch of all the seasons in order is needed to completely understand and enjoy this ever enveloping Internet sensation.
Even as good as the show itself is, it actually might be the lowest part of this whole set. Simply put, this is a fantastically put together collection. I’m usually not one to comment on the packaging for discs (as their all pretty much the same). But effectively housing 14 Blu-rays is not a simple proposition. The folks at New Video handled the situation greatly, and came up with an easy to access, compact, and attractive box. It folds out from the middle and has “pages” that hold two discs on either side. The first time you press the “release” button for one of the discs feels a bit sketchy, but it never resulted in any problems and the mechanism becomes much more smooth after the first press.
The presentation for each season and mini-series is at least good, and sometimes great. As I kind of touched on earlier, the first few seasons of the show were captured by utilizing a LAN character in the multiplayer section of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. The “camera guy” would be holding the Magnum pistol (perceivably because it has the most discrete reticle within the original weapons). There would also be some un-proportional letter boxing to hide all the HUD info like shields, ammo, grenade count, ect. to attempt the least distracting viewpoint possible. In this set, however, all of that inventive, but not-so awesome, stuff has been re-shot to full widescreen and better resolution. At first I thought it was just an incredible HD transfer, but then I started noticing variations in the way some characters would move in certain scenes, and realized this was different from the original stock (I’ve watched the first couple of season a lot). So all of this stuff looks sweet. I will say, though, that the 5.1 remaster didn’t come across as effective. I could tell the SFX were more crisp and robust, but it was far from an actual surround experience. Of course, time mends these issues, and by season 10 we’re offered great 1080p visuals and a true six speaker symphony.
By in large, the paramount reason to purchase this set, particularly if you have been incrementally collecting the individual releases, is for the Special Features. Each season disc has it’s own section related to that particular stint of chapters. So expect commentary, deleted scenes, and the always great P.S.As spanning the 12 “show” portions (ten seasons and two for the Grifball stories). The other two are dedicated to just extras. After the “Chronicles,” there is an entry that covers a bunch of small works like ads for G4 and spots for MTV. It also houses the “Recovery One” episodes. This disc is cool because of the seemingly endless amount of choices that sort of act as this off-the-wall time capsule for the 2000s. But the most impressive is the 14th one. This is the RvBx exclusive section that has interviews with the prominent members of the RvB initiative about how the whole deal got started and traces the climb to where the company is now.
“How Did We Get Here” talks with Burns, Matt Hullum, Gus Sorola, Joel Heyman, Kathleen Zuelch, Jason Saldana, Geoff Ramsey, and other founders about the humble roots of the project and the ways in which initial expectation far under minded the manner of just how big the series has become, and how surprisingly quick that rise in popularity happened. “Evolution of Story” has them attempting to justify why there are so many characters and challenges the writing team to give a quick synopsis. “Famous Faces” lists some of the more notable RvB alums, like Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies fame and actor Elijah Wood. “Showing Off to the World” displays how the group’s involvement with expos has changed over time, even to them throwing one of their own. “From Fans to Staff” is a cool few minutes in which Burns explains the hiring practices within the Rooster Teeth walls, and tells the unlikely success stories of employees like Barbara Dunkelman and Michael Jones. The most intimate feature is “10 Year Retrospective.” Once again, the founders share stories “from the road” that has led them to where they are a decade later, and really reveals the personalities of the group and their invested emotions into the work they do and each other. Really revealing and worthwhile selection. The rest of the features on this entry are dedicated to the latest season, and details the expanded production that now goes in to making Red vs. Blue, like visual effects and story boarding. My personal favorite is “RvB Table Read.” Burnie illustrates how they prepared the full script for season 10, and had all the cast members fly out to Austin, Texas to give a full read through of the script together, in one sitting. The hope was that when the recording actually happened, and the voice actors all recorded in their home towns, they would be able to imagine their scene partners and offer more verbose and engaging VOs. And if you ask me, it shows.