Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Directors:

Burnie Burns
Matt Hullum

Writers:

Burnie Burns (writer)
Matt Hullum (writer)

Release Date:

25 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | War

Tagline:

War is hell

Plot:

In between Halo and Halo 2 there followed a brief period of civil war of Red Vs. Blue.

Plot Keywords:

Halo | Halo 2 | Battle | Online Cartoon | Machinima

Cast

Burnie Burns	...	Pvt. Leonard L. Church / Lopez The Heavy / Vic / Vic Jr. / The Warthog / Leonard / Red Zealot / Phil (voice)
Dan Godwin	...	Pvt. Franklin Delano Donut (voice)
Geoff Fink	...	Pvt. Dexter Grif (voice)
Gustavo Sorola	...	Pvt. Dick Simmons (voice)
Jason Saldaña	...	Pvt. Lavernius Tucker (voice)
Joel Heyman	...	Pvt. Michael J. Caboose / O'Malley (Omega) (voice)
John Ferrell	...	Pvt. Jimmy (voice)
Kathleen Zuelch	...	Freelancer Tex (Alison) (voice)
Lance McKee	...	Pvt. Mickey (voice)
Matt Hullum	...	Sarge / Medical Officer Frank 'Doc' DuFresne / Wyoming / O'Malley (voice)
Randall Glass	...	Vic (Season 1) (voice)
Yomary Cruz	...	Sheila the Tank (voice)
Jordan Burns	...	Lady Donut (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rebecca Frasier	...	Sister (voice)
Gavin Free	...	Red Guard
Ed Robertson	...	Capt. Butch Flowers (voice)
Nathan Zellner	...	Andy The Bomb / The Alien (voice)

Also Known As:

Red vs. Blue (USA) (short title)
Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles - Season One (USA) (DVD box title)
Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles - Season Three (USA) (DVD box title)
Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles - Season Two (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

550 min | 529 min (DVD edition) | New Zealand:6 min (approx.)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

3.15 : 1

Certification:

New Zealand:R13 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Rooster Teeth Productions

Trivia:

In episode 28, Sarge and Simmons attempt to run over Lopez with the Warthog, mistaking him for a Blue soldier and then tried to run over Lopez. Right before this, Lopez rants to Tucker and Caboose about the day being known as the day he shall be victorious. At this moment, and as the Warthog moves toward Lopez later, we see through his eyes. At first, we see a directives screen which in the audio commentary is told to be a RoboCop reference. Lopez's "Prime Objectives" (Hate the Orange One, Fix Everything, and Call Mom More Often) are based on RoboCop's "Prime Directives."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In episode 39, the scene at Battle Creek where the Red Zealot was holding the blue flag before he was mobbed by the Blues. Just as the Red Zealot was being mobbed, you can see his name appear on the top-center for a split second: "Hambone".

Quotes:

Grif: So all we know is that there's gonna be some kind of an upcoming campaign...
Sarge: Possibly.
Grif: And that the Spartans will be involved in it...
Sarge: Those are your words.
Grif: But that we can't know anything...
Sarge: I can't say.
Grif: Including who we're fighting...
Sarge: I have no comment for the subject.
Grif: Or if we're even fighting in it...
Sarge: Sarge: I plead the fifth.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Soundtrack:

A girl named Tex

Easily one of the funniest things out there

Red vs Blue is a fanfiction (I refuse to call it mechanimation or whatever) detailing the goofy exploits between a red and blue base of soldiers from the game "Halo." Made by a bunch of geeks (who happen to have an awesome sense of humor), it definitely shines where other fanmade projects fail.

The show has 9 defineable characters. On the blue side, there's Church, possibly the only sane character on the planet with an attitude problem; Tucker, his "friend" (tentatively speaking) who tends to be bullied a lot by Church; Caboose, the new guy who's blissfully unaware of everything that's happening; and Tex, the mercenary who is hired to assist the Blues.

On the red side, there's Sarge, the gung-ho, Texas-accented stereotypical drill sargaent character who also happens to be severely messed up; Grif, a talkative, somewhat absent-minded guy who's picked on by Sarge a lot; Simmons, possibly the only other sane guy on the planet who also has his nose shoved up Sarge's rear; Donut, the somewhat stupid, but well-meaning new guy; and Lopez, the silent but efficient robot built by Sarge.

Each character is brought to life very aptly by their actors, who manage to make it more believable by adding an effect to the voices that make it sound like they really are communicating through radio headsets. For the most part, the acting is very believable and real, all of the characters are well portrayed, adding to the enjoyment of the show.

Each episode is hilarious for at least a dozen reasons, the story is well thought out, using twists and turns and referring to things that could have easily been discarded as a throwaway joke. The show also has a wit to it that could appeal to a broad range of audiences, though most tends to rely on gay humor that may be offensive, but anyone who's watching a parody of a videogame should be pretty loose when it comes to humor, anyways.

There's not much else to say about the show, it has a solid storyline, highly above average acting, manipulates the graphics of Halo very well, and is generally light hearted and fun. With that, I leave you with these parting words:

Sarge - See these tire hooves? They look kinda like tusks, what kind of animal has tusks? Grif - . . . A walrus. Sarge - What did I just tell you about making up animals?!