DVD RACK: RED VS. BLUE - THE BLOOD GULCH CHRONICLES

Here's some advice for your future reviews, Troy: don't do the "I personally don't get this, so everyone who likes this must be crazy and/or stupid" angle. You're not very good at it.

To be fair, Red Vs. Blue is garbage.

Man, this show sounds - and looks - like a nightmare. I'd never even heard of it before (never really gave two squirts about Halo) but your "The Pitch" part was so perfect I knew exactly what you were talking about from that point on.

The only thing I agree with one of those even more bothersome than usual talkbackers about is that you should treat yourself, Troy... because you've endured so much of this in the line of duty.

It's garbage.

It's not that I don't get it, I just don't care. What saddens me is the splintered fanbase that empowers this garbage. Not everyone that plays Halo will dig this shit, but the people that love it strike my interest.


It's a sparse piece of animation with limited attempts true humor that don't allow for much appreciation from outside viewers. So, you're working with an insular series for a smaller section of a geeky subset. I'm amazed that the series has lasted this long, as it's just fucking terrible.

I'm sure that those of you that have your tongue up Bungie's ass must get a kick out of it. But, tell me why.

Every fan of the series that I've talked to while researching this shit can't actually tell me why they like it. They can appreciate the voice acting or the animation, but they can't tell me what about the story makes them come back to the material.

As far as I can tell from an outsider's perspective, it's juvenile humor existing in a void. You may feel that I'm shitting on a personal favorite, but I'm not. I'm giving you my view from the casual gamer/outsider perspective.

Why should I give a shit that Red vs. Blue exists? What does Red vs. Blue have to offer?

Why should you give a shit that it exists? You don't have to. It's the internet, things exist regardless of caring or apathy.

I watch it because it makes me laugh on occasion and is free on the internet. I enjoy the one-liners and the sendups of gaming conventions. The story is pointless for the most part, and not all the humor hits, but it's free and it costs me only 5 minutes an episode.

The fact that the DVD is in physical big box stores is an odd and ill-advised choice, I will definitely give you that.

Is your issue only with DVD-buyers and site-subscribers, or is it directed to everyone including those who watch it for free on show's web site?

I don't find enough material in the early seasons to warrant a sustained audience. The later seasons do pick up. I've had to cover up to Season 7 or 8 of the material.

It's just that built on such a weak structure, I'm really curious as to why the Red vs. Blue fans stuck with the material.

Am I allowed to be the weird one who kinda hates Halo but enjoys this series? Do I need to have some affection for the tools used to create something in order to enjoy it? Relative ignorance of camera models, for instance, hasn't lessened my enjoyment of cinema. Halo isn't important to my enjoyment of the show's goofiness.

Missing the point, Shmun.

The point is why do you like it? What compels you to keep watching it?

I'll take a shot. I enjoy the jokes. I like the characters. There's not a lot of story to the series, so that's a big problem. But the same can be said of other massively popular (even more so than Red vs. Blue) shows. For example, Family Guy or Robot Chicken. These shows really just exist as a vehicle to deliver jokes, not to relate any sort of cohesive arc. So if you can accept that Red vs. Blue falls into that same general category, the only question left is whether or not you find the jokes funny. I do, so I enjoy the series.

Watching the series on DVD is very different from watching them online. Online, particularly for the first couple of seasons, episodes are only a few minutes long. It's like a bunch of short cartoons. On DVD, the episodes are edited together to make a feature-length presentation. But that's where the story issues become more obvious. For some folks it's a deal breaker. Not for me.

You're really comparing Red vs. Blue to something like Robot Chicken?

In the sense that both shows are really just platforms for jokes? Yes. Humor is subjective and you don't find Red vs. Blue humorous. We get it. You made that clear. But some people do find it funny. I'm one of them. And I'm sure there are shows/films you find hilarious that I don't find funny at all.

I wouldn't give Red vs. Blue a 10/10 or anything like that, but I find the show to be entertaining. It's definitely one of the better Web-based series that I've seen.

Wrong.

Robot Chicken knows that it has a limited time to shoot for and it tries to actually build humor in its shorter installments. Does it always work? Fuck no. But, is there a visible attempt to actually make something funny? Yes.

The attempt to construct story-driven humor isn't there in Red vs. Blue.

Huge Halo Fan.
Huge not fan of RvB.

I never said Robot Chicken doesn't attempt to "build humor." What does that even mean? Or are you saying that Robot Chicken tries to build very short narratives that are also humorous? I can see that with some of their segments, but many of them (if not most) are really vehicles for a quick gag or three. It's not an attempt to tell a story or anything along those lines, so I don't see where that defense invalidates my point.

Most of the story elements for Red vs. Blue came well after the Blood Gulch Chronicles. Personally, I find the later series less entertaining even though they are more narratively-driven than the first series.

I like the jokes and the characters in the series. I've played Halo, but I'm not a huge fan of the series (I don't own all the games, I don't own any of the novels or that other stuff, etc.). You seem to find it perplexing that anyone could enjoy the show. I find your disbelief to be equally perplexing.

I think it comes from having seen the later seasons first, then seeing the first five.

The question that keeps pecking at me is how this series could've built a fanbase on nothing. It's like getting hardcore about Ziggy cartoons.

Ahh, now that I can totally understand. I caught the series shortly after it went live, and the elements that you find ineffective/sloppy/whatever are the ones I actually enjoyed. It started out as a show about characters who were pitted against each other for no known reason. It's pretty obvious that, in those first few seasons, there was no bigger story arc there. And if you were okay with the fact that this was just a bunch of short cartoons about soldiers who were both not good at being soldiers and not at all interested in fighting each other, you might like it (I stress might since humor is so subjective).

For me, the later seasons were less amusing. The storytelling wanders around a bit, though that might be because Rooster Teeth publishes these as short episodes online before editing them together. Each episode needs its own little arc or hook, which in my opinion can make watching a full season as a single narrative tiresome.

Exactly. It's nice to see we can come to a point of agreement.

Loved the first few seasons, but lost track of it.