I mentioned in my review of Red vs. Blue's Season 6 DVD, Reconstruction, that hardcore fans of the long-running machinima series would do well to wait a while for this Recollection collection, which pools together seasons 6, 7, 8.
Recollection is a new saga in the Red vs. Blue universe after the end of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The chronology, and what's contained in this set, goes something like this: (Mini-series) Recovery One, (Season 6) Reconstruction, (Mini-series) Relocated, (Season 7) Recreation and (Season 8) Revelation. Re-read that if you got lost.
Continuing on what I've said about Reconstruction, the episodes included in this set reveals that the company behind this series has some things to prove, with each season experimenting with broadening the possibilities of the format. For starters, the stories in Recollection are decidedly more serious and complex than The Blood Gulch Chronicles. Recovery One started this by introducing a central protagonist, Agent Washington, who in this saga finds himself playing different roles, switching allegiances, and discovering his place in the Halo/Red vs. Blue universe.
The four-episode Relocated bridges seasons 6 and 7, and it's a call back to the lighter, less complicated first season of Blood Gulch Chronicles, featuring the Red and Blue teams just being stupid with one another. Season 7, Recreation, lives up to its name by also continuing the lighter feel. Unlike Relocated, it actually continues the story of Washington, so the plot of the trilogy does keep churning, but it's handled with much more levity than Reconstruction. In the last season of the set, Revelation, which debuted online on earlier this year, they bring back the seriousness to state the stakes. This season wraps up the Recollection storyline and returns the Red vs. Blue dynamic to status quo, so they may begin anew with the next season (yes, there's more Red vs. Blue coming).
Through the course of these seasons, you can see that they're really trying to shake the image of them being a bunch of guys and an X-Box making silly videos in a basement. The audio recording and sound effects have gotten much more elaborate and clean, and the action sequences have grown more ambitious by the season. All culminating in the inevitable: in Revelation, they finally broke through the machinima limitations and used pre-rendered motion-captured animation for many sequences that would be impossible to produce on a Halo game. Whereas in the past, they've had to for the most part write around the possibilities allowed to them, this time they're actually able to make the animation serve the needs of their story, and they look terrific. This time they could really punch up the action scenes, making it a true action-comedy rather than just a comedy series with some shit blowing up.
It's only a matter of time before their scripts get even more flexible and they make more use of pre-rendered stuff. If it stops being mostly machinima, however, does that stop it from being what it is? Or has the appeal of Red vs Blue long surpassed its format, and is now simply about these goofy faceless characters and their misadventures? I know one of the biggest appeals of when it first started is the ability of the creators to control a video game in a way that makes it seem like a cartoon series, so it's hard to say if it's still worth doing if it's basically just Halo: Some Funny Cutscenes.
DVD Bonus Features
Credit has to be given to Rooster Teeth for really giving their fans their money's worth. Every DVD release I've gotten from them are packed to the brim with extras. Bonus videos, jokey PSAs, commentaries, behind-the-scenes docs (the one for Revelation is quite informative, for its in-depth look at how they blended machinima with custom animation). The Revelation disc also contains the 3-episode holiday special mini-series, Holiday Plans, which shows what your favorite characters do for vacation.
It's worth mentioning that the three discs in this collection are basically just reprinted/repackaged discs of the seasons' original individual releases, with the same extras. So if you already have the three seasons, there's no reason to buy this. The folks at Rooster Teeth are even sympathetic enough to offer the case only available for purchase, in case you want to consolidate the space on your DVD shelf.
"Red vs. Blue: The Recollection" is on sale September 14, 2010 and is not rated. Action, Animation, Comedy. Written and directed by Burnie Burns. Starring Burnie Burns, Geoff Fink, Joel Heyman, Shannon McCormick.
