Students of brand-building would do well to look to Rooster Teeth Productions, who dutifully continue their most famous creation, Red vs. Blue. Originally an absurd machinima production that poked fun at two color-coded teams questioning their motives for fighting one another, Red vs. Blue moved into parodying the head-scratching contradictions of warfare in later seasons but stayed true to its characters and what little storyline there was. For the uninitiated, Season 9 is a good place to start - a DVD stacked with extras, solid presentation and a halfway decent storyline.
The problem is one Rooster Teeth may not have anticipated - half of Season 9 is rendered via the Halo: Reach engine and half via CGI that looks significantly more impressive.The charm of faceless soldiers nodding their heads up and down is still there but the prequel portion of S9, featuring terrific action choreography and an involving storyline, overshadows the humor with ease. Delving into the Freelancer program, the prequel opens with an assault on a base by North and South Dakota, top-notch infiltrators with a few tricks up their sleeve. Gone is the dialogue-heavy humor and suddenly, you don't miss it one bit - certainly the action can't replace the peculiar charm of Red vs. Blue, but for a moment, it easily overshadows it.
The plot is thin but supplicated by high stakes scenes of dazzling choreography. Every time that we jump back into the earthquake-ridden landmass where Epsilon Church (co-creator Burnie Burns) attempts to...well, frankly, I'm somewhat at a loss - Church is aware he's in a unreal construct of some sort and is attempting to find a way out, or he's already dead, or something of the like. Luckily, Wikipedia was able to help me find my way through some of the tougher plot conundrums - familiarity with the series as a whole is not required, but certainly helpful, but then again, the plot is not what you're here for.
That said, this season continues the proud tradition of stupidity the series holds so dear. The cast is largely back, and though I haven't kept up with the show in a while, they are exactly as I remember. Maybe that would be a detriment to some viewers that nine seasons in, personalities rest on quirks and one-liners, but then again, remember the show you're watching - it's not exactly HBO-material, nor does it strive to be. What we do get a good amount of are discussions, one-liners thrown around. Shame about the lack of subtitles really, since occasionally the dialogue gets fast and furious.
Season 9 looks excellent, especially in the CGI portions but the sound offered is strangely Dolby Stereo 2.0 - a home release could have used an upgrade in terms of sound quality and a 5.1 mix might have served the action scenes significantly better. Still, considering the amount of material here, maybe it was a necessary sacrifice. Maybe.
DVD Bonus Features
Terrific. Where to begin? First off, since the episodes have been combined snugly together into a feature (that still feels every bit episodic), we get a full commentary from Burns and Matt Hullum. It's good stuff, since these guys are not content to rest on their laurels and share a wealth of information - they are also funny, which is no surprise. Three minutes of outtakes follow, as do three minutes of deleted scenes. A couple of specials and PSAs are included, clocking in at 18 minutes, but these are mostly run-of-the-mill. Last but not least, a making off coming in just under a half is included, and it is exactly what you'd want, keeping the commercial fluff to a minimum and focusing on the creation of the best-looking season of Red Vs. Blue to date. Finally, lengthy (3 - 5 minute) trailers are featured, for past seasons as well as other Rooster Teeth works. That, my friends, is industrious advertising.
"Red vs. Blue Season 9" is on sale November 15, 2011 and is not rated. Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi. Written and directed by Burnie Burns. Starring Burnie Burns, Joel Heyman, Matt Mullins, Jen Brown, Dan Godwin, Jack Pattillo, Geoff Lazer Ramsey.
