Reconstruction is the sixth season of the perseveringly long-running web series Red vs. Blue, the machinima sitcom based on the popular Halo video game franchise. It was released online in 2008 and consists of 19 short episodes (5 to 8 minutes, with the exception of the longer 10-minute finale) depicting the further chronicles of gamers' favorite buffoons cum space marines.
My feelings on the Red vs Blue concept as a whole was already stated on my review for the Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles box set, which contained all of the first 100 episodes—or five seasons—of the series. It's pretty much more of the same here, although the creators from Rooster Teeth have obviously grown an ambition or two. Though set within the same universe, Reconstruction is not a direct continuation of the stories told in the first five seasons, not really, but rather the beginning of a new saga in Red vs. Blue history. It's the first season in a trilogy dubbed the Recollections saga (which also has a miniseries in-between called Relocated—this show, if anything, can be pretty confusing to keep track of its chronology). The whole Recollections trilogy is coming out on a box set soon, so you could wait for that instead of buying this one.
I noted in my previous review that as Red vs. Blue continued to develop, both its style of humor and narrative ability shifted slightly. What began as just a bunch of guys making funny voices over multi-colored Halo avatars running around on a multiplayer map has turned into an actual storyline and includes action elements that gives it the kick Clerks-style chatter cannot. Reconstruction continues that even further, using the pretense of a mystery-thriller plot that explores not-too-shabby science-fiction concepts and even has a couple of decent plot twists.
It's not just the writing, either. The camera angles and set-ups have gotten more elaborate and the presentation, on a whole, moves further away from the image of a bunch of guys in their dorm room using their X-Box controllers to move their guys in sync with pre-recorded voices; even though that's exactly what it still is, for the most part.
The Blood Gulch Chronicles set included an off-shoot, four-episode miniseries called Recovery One that was originally distributed on X-Box Live, which I'd never seen before reviewing said boxset. That mini was the one that introduced fans to Agent Washington, a freelancer (mercenary not involved with the red or blue team) whose job is to recover the AI of fallen freelancers, and the villain Meta, a rogue agent who hunts down and murders freelancers in order to become more powerful. Reconstruction is the full series that follows this plotline, again centered on Washington, though some old characters from Blood Gulch Chronicles return.
Recovery One, by the way, is also included in this set as a bonus.
While still full of inane, offbeat dialogue that provides the signature laughs of the series, it mostly follows a continuing plot. My main complaint about Blood Gulch Chronicles was its presentation on DVD, which feels like a series of sketches played one after another, inciting machinima fatigue. Reconstruction runs a bit more like a fractured—but nonetheless connected—movie, which makes a DVD viewing less of a chore.
At this juncture, I'm mostly impressed that the Rooster Teeth guys can still keep this thing going even though they are clearly drawing from a very limited well. It feels entirely too familiar a little too often, but their shuffling in more ideas helps to keep some interest up. I'm just curious how much longer that'll work.
DVD Bonus Features
As with the Blood Gulch Chronicles box set, the DVD is loaded with features to satisfy paying fans. There are some shorts and PSAs from around Reconstruction's release two years ago, included for completion's sake, as well as deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.
One helpful feature is a six-minute trailer/recap of Blood Gulch Chronicles, basically a montage of the first five seasons' best lines and moments. It's doubtful that you can gleam any information from this if you've never seen the show. It's more of a handy reminder for fans just to get them get into the groove of the humor, without having to rewatch Chronicles.
The best inclusion, for my money, is a short (too short!) cartoon, very much in Red vs. Blue' style, but using 2D animation rather than the machinima technique. As a result, the characters can actually be more expressive and have movements. This of course brings to mind the recent Halo Legends DVD (even though this short came out first), which had several Japanese anime studios animating shorts set in the Halo universe. This one feels like it could belong on either—it's either an alternatively styled Red vs. Blue short, or a humorous Halo Legends short. Either way, it's pretty cool.
"Red vs. Blue: Season 6 - Reconstruction" is on sale July 27, 2010 and is not rated. Action, Animation, Comedy. Written and directed by Burnie Burns. Starring Burnie Burns, Geoff Fink, Joel Heyman, Shannon McCormick.
