Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles
Year: 2003-2007
Created by: Burnie Burns
Starring: Burnie Burns, Joel Heyman, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Gus Sorola & Kathleen Zuelch
Episodes: 100
BBFC: 15
Published: 01/05/24
Created by: Burnie Burns
Starring: Burnie Burns, Joel Heyman, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Gus Sorola & Kathleen Zuelch
Episodes: 100
BBFC: 15
Published: 01/05/24
Although I hadn’t watched any of their content in almost a decade, it came as quite a blow to hear that Rooster Teeth would be closing its doors. A company that I had seen the rise of in the mid-00’s and been a die-hard fan of during my late teens; one that created a wide array of top their web content, and played an instrumental role in shaping the way that online videos are created, produced, and distributed. It’s no exaggeration to say that without Rooster Teeth the internet would be a very different place.
In recent years the studio has been the subject of numerous scandals surrounding toxic workplace culture, and as a fan it’s easy to see in hindsight how the company was very much a boy’s club, and a lot of the humour from not even that long ago just hasn’t aged very well.
Regardless, I wanted to take a trip down memory lane and revisit Rooster Teeth’s flagship web series, Red vs Blue, from the very beginning up to the impending final season, starting with Season’s One through Five, The Blood Gulch Chronicles.
The Red and Blue armies of Blood Gulch, a box canyon with no way in or out, have been waging war for as long as they can remember, with both teams having long forgotten why they are even fighting each other. The Blue team, consisting of newly appointed leader Church (Burnie Burns), obnoxious second in command Tucker (Jason Saldana), the incompetent Caboose (Joel Heyman), and Shiela (Yomary Cruz) the tank, become the recipients of a freelancer, Agent Texas (Kathleen Zuelch). Meanwhile the Red team consist of veteran leader Sarge (Matt Hullum), kiss-ass second in command Simmons (Gus Sorola), the sarcastic slacker Grif (Geoff Ramsey), and their Spanish robot, Lopez (Burnie Burns), receive a new recruit Donut (Dan Goodwin).
The arrival of these new team members sparks a re-ignition of the war, but both teams come to realise that they are pawns in something much bigger, and become targets of the rogue AI, Omega (Matt Hullum).
In recent years the studio has been the subject of numerous scandals surrounding toxic workplace culture, and as a fan it’s easy to see in hindsight how the company was very much a boy’s club, and a lot of the humour from not even that long ago just hasn’t aged very well.
Regardless, I wanted to take a trip down memory lane and revisit Rooster Teeth’s flagship web series, Red vs Blue, from the very beginning up to the impending final season, starting with Season’s One through Five, The Blood Gulch Chronicles.
The Red and Blue armies of Blood Gulch, a box canyon with no way in or out, have been waging war for as long as they can remember, with both teams having long forgotten why they are even fighting each other. The Blue team, consisting of newly appointed leader Church (Burnie Burns), obnoxious second in command Tucker (Jason Saldana), the incompetent Caboose (Joel Heyman), and Shiela (Yomary Cruz) the tank, become the recipients of a freelancer, Agent Texas (Kathleen Zuelch). Meanwhile the Red team consist of veteran leader Sarge (Matt Hullum), kiss-ass second in command Simmons (Gus Sorola), the sarcastic slacker Grif (Geoff Ramsey), and their Spanish robot, Lopez (Burnie Burns), receive a new recruit Donut (Dan Goodwin).
The arrival of these new team members sparks a re-ignition of the war, but both teams come to realise that they are pawns in something much bigger, and become targets of the rogue AI, Omega (Matt Hullum).
As of writing, Red vs Blue has been running for twenty-one years, making it the second longest running web series of all time (behind Homestar Runner), and it is arguably the biggest and most popular machinima animation ever created.
It all started in 2003 when Burns, Sorola, Ramsey, Saldana, Heyman, and Hullum created little scenarios and voice overs whilst playing Halo: Combat Evolved. Seeing the potential in this as a web series, the group founded Rooster Teeth and Red vs. Blue was born. Long before the arrival of YouTube, Rooster Teeth hosted episodes of Red vs. Blue on their own website which had a built-in forum for fans to get together and chat. It was a pioneer in the days before social media, search engines, and web video content being the norm.
The show is incredibly impressive from a technical standpoint. Whilst some of the jokes have aged poorly (particularly those concerning women and homosexuals), what was achieved here is nothing short of brilliance. Created entirely within Halo multiplayer, the whole thing is animated by moving the characters in precise ways, exploiting the game’s mechanics, and the occasional bit of video editing wizardry. It’s incredibly crude at times just how simple it all is, but it adds a lot of charm to the whole thing.
Season One is arguably the best of the five-season story arc, because the rest of the seasons all become a little too complicated or ambitious for their own good. But you can see how in each season the skills of the team improve, particularly in relation to editing and manipulating the game mechanics to present a more filmic quality.
It all started in 2003 when Burns, Sorola, Ramsey, Saldana, Heyman, and Hullum created little scenarios and voice overs whilst playing Halo: Combat Evolved. Seeing the potential in this as a web series, the group founded Rooster Teeth and Red vs. Blue was born. Long before the arrival of YouTube, Rooster Teeth hosted episodes of Red vs. Blue on their own website which had a built-in forum for fans to get together and chat. It was a pioneer in the days before social media, search engines, and web video content being the norm.
The show is incredibly impressive from a technical standpoint. Whilst some of the jokes have aged poorly (particularly those concerning women and homosexuals), what was achieved here is nothing short of brilliance. Created entirely within Halo multiplayer, the whole thing is animated by moving the characters in precise ways, exploiting the game’s mechanics, and the occasional bit of video editing wizardry. It’s incredibly crude at times just how simple it all is, but it adds a lot of charm to the whole thing.
Season One is arguably the best of the five-season story arc, because the rest of the seasons all become a little too complicated or ambitious for their own good. But you can see how in each season the skills of the team improve, particularly in relation to editing and manipulating the game mechanics to present a more filmic quality.
Season Two concerns itself primarily with trying to track down the Omega AI as it jumps from soldier to soldier, as well as introducing Doc (Matt Hullum) to the fray.
The Third and Fourth Seasons make the transition from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 2, as well as introducing time travel paradoxes and aliens into the mix. Season Five starts off as a more back to basics approach but attempts to resolve the Omega storyline in a way that ultimately feels a little unsatisfying considering how much of a tangent the story went on with the whole time travel & aliens thing for two seasons.
Whilst the story can be a mixed back, the comedy does tend to be consistently good. I have already mentioned some of the more problematic elements that haven’t aged as well, but the majority of jokes still work.
Whether it be the iconic opening ‘You ever wonder why we’re here?’ gag, or the awful explanation of how time travel works, Red Vs. Blue is never short of dumb humour to make you giggle like a child.
The first five seasons of Red Vs. Blue aren’t perfect, but for the time they are truly cutting edge. Machinima was nothing new in the early 00’s but the way Rooster Teeth used it to tell a grand sci-fi story that explores some of the genres most iconic tropes in new and uniquely stupid ways makes it stand out.
It’s tough to go back to The Blood Gulch Chronicles once you’ve seen where the show goes next, but there’s something undeniably inspiring about a group of friends making dumb jokes whilst playing a videogame and managing to turn that into one of the most important pieces of internet media of all time. It really does make you question; you ever wonder why we’re here?
The Third and Fourth Seasons make the transition from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 2, as well as introducing time travel paradoxes and aliens into the mix. Season Five starts off as a more back to basics approach but attempts to resolve the Omega storyline in a way that ultimately feels a little unsatisfying considering how much of a tangent the story went on with the whole time travel & aliens thing for two seasons.
Whilst the story can be a mixed back, the comedy does tend to be consistently good. I have already mentioned some of the more problematic elements that haven’t aged as well, but the majority of jokes still work.
Whether it be the iconic opening ‘You ever wonder why we’re here?’ gag, or the awful explanation of how time travel works, Red Vs. Blue is never short of dumb humour to make you giggle like a child.
The first five seasons of Red Vs. Blue aren’t perfect, but for the time they are truly cutting edge. Machinima was nothing new in the early 00’s but the way Rooster Teeth used it to tell a grand sci-fi story that explores some of the genres most iconic tropes in new and uniquely stupid ways makes it stand out.
It’s tough to go back to The Blood Gulch Chronicles once you’ve seen where the show goes next, but there’s something undeniably inspiring about a group of friends making dumb jokes whilst playing a videogame and managing to turn that into one of the most important pieces of internet media of all time. It really does make you question; you ever wonder why we’re here?