Bingeworthy TV: Red vs. Blue

Red vs.Blue (or RvB) is a series created using voice-over enhanced game play videos from the video game Halo*. So it’s kind of like watching a first-person-shooter video game with dialogue added. This doesn't mean you need to have ever played Halo to enjoy the show!

The show was only supposed to run for one season of six to eight webisodes. RvB had an unexpected popularity and went on for sixteen seasons and five mini-series, becoming the longest running episodic web series of all time.

The show centers on two teams of soldiers (you guessed it): red team and blue team. These teams are fighting what is originally assumed to be a civil war. Each team has a base on the least desirable piece of real estate in the known universe: a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. It seems each team's only reason for having a base in this location is that the other team has a base in this location.

Mostly this show consists of the characters (identically armored people in varying shades of red and blue) arguing with each other. Each team has standing orders to defeat the other and capture the other's flag (because isn’t that what war is all about?), but neither team is much motivated to do anything and only does so grudgingly.

I would give this show an R rating for language. It is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. The first time I watched it I had no idea what to think other than, "This show is crazy stupid but also crazy funny." I’m not sure I can think of a show in recent memory that has made me laugh as much or shake my head as often as the first five seasons of Red vs. Blue.

~Becca, Technical Services

*Librarian's note: You can also borrow official Halo novels or watch official Halo live-action TV series or the official Halo anime from Carnegie-Stout Public Library.