Red vs. Blue

I'm not fond of the XBox/PC game Halo by any means. I consider it a very average and unremarkable shooter, save for its use of vehicles. But even with that said, the satirical machinima series Red vs. Blue will always occupy a place in my heart.

The show is shot entirely using the XBox version of Halo, albeit with the game's HUD cropped out. (The aiming reticule is still there, and although it can be a bit distracting at first, you get used to it, and it's part of RVB's "independent film" appeal.) Other than some visual touch-ups, everything there is real and can be duplicated. Also, all of the characters look alike, so they are differentiated via the colors of their armor.

So what's it about? The series lampoons numerous things, including shooters, military life, sci-fi culture, and Halo itself (Church: "These arms aren't that flexible!"). It's set in the rather plain box canyon known as Blood Gulch (a multiplayer map in Halo) during the period between Halo and Halo 2. At one end is the base of the Blue Team; at the other, the Red Team base. Both sides are caught in a fierce deadlock during a capture-the-flag game. In reality, both teams are incredibly inept and would rather spend their time bickering, finding ways to kill time (such as tossing rocks through a teleporter), or just sort of spying on the other team.

On the Blue Team is Church, the sarcastic, impatient leader; Tucker, his somewhat serious-minded partner; and Caboose, the scatterbrained rookie who is often the origin of RVB's many famous quotes.

The Red Team is not much better, though. There's Sarge, a sergeant (duh) with an outlandish Southern American accent; Grif, the soldier who is the butt of most of Sarge's criticism; Simmons, a soldier who gets respect from Sarge and is accused by Grif of being a kiss-ass; Donut, a weird newbie in pink/lightish red armor (even though he's a guy); and Lopez, a robot whose speech unit shorts out later in the series, allowing him to only speak Spanish.

The teams don't stay put, though, and before long, all sorts of weird things happen. The Reds receive a Warthog-class jeep, leaving the Blues to compare it with their own tank in terms of attracting girls. Caboose inadvertently kills Church by blasting him with the tank. Church, now a ghost, possesses Sarge's body and makes him spit inside his own helmet. And that's just the first 19-episode season. But what really makes RVB shine is its great writing, scripting, and voice work.

I had heard about the "Red Vs. Blue" thing from G4 a few times. They use a process called machinema where you use prerendered game engines for the movie. These people did Halo, and placed it in Gulch, a multi-player map in Halo. They recorded all this stuff and stuck it together into these short web shorts that would eventually make a season, which is more like a feature length movie, about and hour 1/2.

I have dial-up so it took forever to get the first few videos and for me it wasn't worth it. So whenever it came out as a movie on DVD at gamestop, I had to go get it! I was blessed ten fold from what I expected! It is hilarious! Most of the jokes are really funny and some try to be funny, fail, and are still funny! It does have many Insiders so I might advise watching the commentary after you've watched the original movie.

Everything has character and personality. Its not what you would expect a Halo movie to be about. It does have a little combat but just a little. Its all about the funny in this movie. Itis about these two groups of Spartans, one is Red and the other Blue (hence the name) and somehow they are in this civil war in the middle of a canyon fighting for flags. OK the fighting for flags is awesome for multi player games, but not for a story line. The awesome thing is they admit it! When asked why they needed the flag and why it was important they didn't have an answer! They just stuttered and said something like its the flag! We've gotta have it! So if you are out looking for a gift for the Halo fanatic in your family or just anyone ready for a good laugh, pick this one up. Caution, it cusses...a lot...but its still funny :D

this series is great. I am not too familiar with comedys done using games (and I know there are some), but I suppose this one is the the best. Its obvious that those guys know how to write funny scripts, and combined with the totally off-the-hook engine of halo, this becomes something great. First, there are loads of great quotable lines, like "Why are there 6 pedals if there are only 4 directions ?" "I always wanted to tell him that he is my son. - Oh, is he ? - No, I just wanted to p*** him off one last time." "Bumpmapping, yeah ? I have some bumps you can map right here !", "Why didnt you bury me ? - With what ? we only have rifles ! what do you want us to do ? shoot you a grave ?"

Secondly, its great that they use the limitations of the game Halo itself for some great effects, like the one where the warthog flips on top of the red (?) base, or the blue sticky grenade sticking on the neck of one of the guys.

Really, this is awesome, and I know I will miss it when its over.

When I first started watching this show, I thought it was going to be simple minded, cheap laughs, and poor plot. Red Vs Blue is none of those things.

The characters of this show are lovable. Even the villains of it are interesting and have seasons worth of backstory that makes you devoted to them. They actually build up characters better than most shows on TV.

The show has a lot of very funny adventures that are fillers BUT the plot to this show is actually amazing. You wouldn't expect a show on youtube with a video game being the main foundation to how it is filmed to be that complex of a show, but it is. It tackles subjects like identity, love, and tragedy in such a beautiful manner that I am surprised the show is not more widely known.

I never expected Red Vs Blue to be gripping but I was pleasantly surprised.

I love it. These guys are hilarious, and even though a lot of it is basically dumb humor, that's what makes it so funny. Even if you've never played Halo, you'll enjoy these, since they often are playing off some of the elements in games that don't make the most sense - example- "A dry creek bed in a box canyon, no discernable way in or out" and the deal with the flags (capture the flag)...it's all great. The characters are all awesome, even the vehicles - the warthog and the tank, have character, believe it or not. And it's quotable, they have some great quotes...."That is not how you were trained to do that!"

RedVsBlue is great. I'm a mondo Halo fan, and this is the best short webshow I've seen in ages.