Slashdot Mirror
Premiere of The Strangerhood
ack154 writes "As previously mentioned here, the guys and girls over at Rooster Teeth Productions (the creators of Red vs Blue) have started a new series based on the Sims 2. As of last night, Episode 1 has officially hit the download servers. Currently available in DivX, WMP, and QuickTime formats, the first episode weighs in at just over 5 minutes. " As a big RvB fan, I'm looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
Awww... come on... why does mine have to be the dupe?
/me puts away the rolled up newspaper
Bad editors! Bad!
The story is just a few items down, too. Is there something about THIS announcement of episode one?
Check the first story for a good mirror link.
What ever happened to them using Bit Torrent? They get burned by the release of their hi-res vids or something? As a slashdot subscriber I couldn't even download the video's during the "Mysterious Future" period.
"I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
I've seen dupes before, but the previous story for this one is still on the front page!/ 1325241&tid=97&tid=10
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/19
Alphanos
std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
"Where am I?" "What am I doing here?" "Who are you?"
Where did I see this plot device before? Oh, yeah! It was in Season 1 of RvB. Seems like the folks at Rooster Teeth need some new blood on their writing staff. Seems they could do a better job of just jumping right into the action with fully developed characters, instead of leading us down familiar territory.
---anactofgod---
"Equal opportunity swindling - *that* is the true test of a sustainable democracy."
Part of the appeal of RvB was the absurdity of seeing a soap opera/sitcom set in a battle ground. Instead of seeing people blow each other up, we watched them deal with real-life issues like personal relationships. The Sims is already a soap opera/sitcom, so what is gained by lipsyncing the characters? My daughters both play Sims2 and they are constantly showing me the world they created, explaining the characters, and forcing me to watch scenes play out. That's what watching Strangerhood felt like.
Now if Rooster Teeth could get those Sims2 characters to load up with gear and go out fragging their neighborhoods they might have a hit.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
RvB was sort of like Mr. Bill, in that the animation (or lack of) WAS the point. The directorial skills, premise and creative cinematography is what made the RvB series. A spontaneous spark that was quirky enough to drive them to make more.
This just looks like they trying to make a computer animated sitcom/series without having to hire animators. Not going to last unless the stories hold up much better than the premiere.
Some people are like slinkys. They're useless, but it puts a smile on your face to push them down the stairs.
The theme music's good, IMHO; I like its use throughout the episode. And the opening (zoom in on keyhole) is cute, and the premise is interesting.
The voices, however, are terrible. Wade comes off sounding like he's trying to be Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, the black guy sounds like he's trying to be Mr. T, the pointing-guy looks like he's gay but sounds like a used car salesman, and the Sonny Bono guy with the burning stove has a very terrible fake accent.
The voice actors for Sam and Wade/Durnt sound like they're talking too close to their microphones. The voice recordings need to be softened a bit. And the quality of the black guy's voice is very different from the quality of everyone else's voice; he's much fainter.
The pacing is all weird, too... it needs to be tightened up. RvB had terrific pacing - it's odd to see it so off in this.