Our little boys have grown up. Red Versus Blue began as primitive animation with fuzzy voice overs and couldn’t go ten seconds with profanity or explosions. Now that the tenth season has come to a close, we can see that this gang of profane, violent cyborgs have been trying to tell a sweet story about lost love. But with lots of explosions too.
Over the last decade, the production values have steadily increased in quality, but so has the story-telling. The action and juvenile sense of humor are still there (Never more clearly so then when the Freelancers talk about the size of their A.I. holograms), but in the last two seasons this has been augmented with actual drama. Both of these seasons deal with the theme of loss, and how to move on after the death of a loved one.
Yes, Red Versus Blue is all profound ‘n’ stuff now.
Seasons Nine and Ten form a storyline that’s mostly self-contained. It focuses on the “Project Freelancer” backstory, and Season Nine makes a good point for new viewers to jump on. Season Ten can be understood by people who haven’t been watching from the beginning, but it is riddled with Easter Eggs and references to events from earlier in the show.
The final episode of Red Versus Blue Season 10 aired last night, and the whole thing is now available on DVD and Blue Ray. Fans can watch every episode online at the Rooster Teeth website, but the DVD has a few bonuses (“No ads playing on your browser” is one). These DVD bonuses include some outtakes, but the real reason to buy is the commentary track.
The commentary for Season Nine was divided between the machinima team, and the CGI team, with each group commenting on their own work. For this season’s DVD, the whole gang is gathered together throughout. The animation style still switches from full CGI for the “Freelancer” flashbacks, and machinima for the “Present Day” scenes, but everyone comments on everything.
Because this season is filled with callbacks to previous years, the commentary is less technical and more focused on pointing out the significance of characters and events. Maybe not as informative on the process of making movies, but it’s definitely more fun for long-time fans.
With such a crazy story, and so many miniseries, even fans can easily miss a reference, or the significance of a particular line of dialog, so this commentary is definitely worth watching.
Cameo voice work from minor celebrities has happened before in the series, but for Season Ten they managed to get Elijah Wood to do the voice of Sigma, a malevolent A.I. The character has been hinted at previously, but this is the first time that viewers have seen him in action. While there’s lots of good acting in the series, Wood’s presence is a distinct boost as the charismatic villain who has been behind much of the story.
His voice is altered a little to make him sound like a computer program, so there isn’t a “Hey it’s Frodo” moment when he speaks.
Every few seasons the show bookends the story. After Season One, or Five, or Eight, Rooster Teeth could have just stopped the series and the story would have felt complete. Once again, Season Ten ends with the story being brought to a close in many ways.
They could simply call it quits and move on, but the ending also leaves the door wide open for new adventures and even a spin-off series. The commentary track has the team discussing some ideas for the next step for the show, so as Bernie Burns says repeatedly, if people keep watching it, they’ll keep making it.
Red Versus Blue Season Ten is out now for DVD and Blue ray. The complete series 14-disk boxed set RVBX is also available too.
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