Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind
Encyclopedia
Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind is an action-based 2006
video miniseries
produced by Rooster Teeth Productions
and distributed via the Xbox Live Marketplace
and the Internet
. Spun off from the main Red vs. Blue
series, Out of Mind chronicles the adventures of the character between her disappearance in and her re-appearance in . The miniseries is produced using the machinima
technique of synchronizing video footage to dialogue and other audio. Video footage is from Bungie Studios' first person shooter video game Halo 2
.
Part Two initiates a flashback
to a training facility several years before, Tex's ex-boyfriend — in standard-issue rookie blue armor instead of his cobalt armor from the main series — approaches Tex. He is concerned about the experiments being performed on multiple soldiers, including Tex, who has been told they each have a "unique ability". As Tex warns that Church should not even be talking to her, Wyoming appears and encourages him to leave. In narration, Tex reminisces about the experiments and the results: after the soldiers were given artificial intelligence
(AI) to boost their combat skills, the test subjects grew progressively insane. Thus, an attempt was made to remove the AIs. Tex's AI, (aka "O'Malley"), was one of the "difficult ones"; he forced Tex to escape from the facility before he could be removed from her head. Becoming aware of Tex's intent to destroy him, Omega soon learned how to transmit himself from person to person via radio signals, as he did to and in Red vs. Blue and respectively. After this flashback ends, Tex observes Omega's fortress as seen in , and decides that she needs help to destroy him.
In Part Three, Tex finds , a former infiltration specialist from the same experimental facility, now reduced to breaking into a shop in a commercial district. A hologram appears and introduces itself as Delta, York's analytical AI. Explaining the situation, Tex asks York whether he will help her break into Omega's lair to destroy him and face Wyoming, mentioning a past incident involving injury to York's eye in an attempt to inspire vengeance. After querying Delta over the risks of the mission, York agrees.
Part Four returns to Omega's base. Tex and York decide to enter after days without signs of anyone inhabiting the fortress. Delta informs York of concerns over Tex's elevated vital statistics, to which York explains that she is just tense, a part of being human. While York attempts to break a holographic lock in order to access a teleporter transmitting onto the base, Delta continues, and admits confusion towards York's motive for the mission. York explains that his eye was "broken" in an attempt to defeat Tex and Omega in the first place, which Delta understands to mean York is doing this for pride. As they are talking, it is revealed to the viewer that Wyoming is on top of the base, listening to their conversation.
As Part Five begins, the two enter and exit the teleporter, they are abruptly thrust into a firefight; in the chaos, Wyoming's subordinates are promptly dispatched. As the two attempt to kill Wyoming, Tex's gun jams, and York is shot, falling unconscious. When Delta diagnoses the wounds as fatal, Tex tells Delta to enter her armor to avoid being shut down by York's armor — a system designed to prevent AIs falling into enemy hands. Delta refuses, wishing to stay with York. Delta then makes himself a holographic vision of Tex to distract Wyoming, as the real Tex sneaks up on him and holds him at gunpoint. As Delta reveals himself, he tells Tex he can no longer help her, bids both Tex and Wyoming good luck and fades away. Wyoming reveals that Omega has left for Blood Gulch, after Wyoming told him that Tex had returned there. As a bounty hunter, Wyoming had been given a contract to kill anyone who knew of a . Explaining that he had purposely misled Omega to go search for Tex at Blood Gulch, Wyoming had hoped that the AI would do the work for him. He then mentions that Omega has transferred from Doc to a new host, and as Tex presses the matter, Wyoming refuses to disclose the identity. To retrieve the information, Tex threatens to beat him, remove his helmet and scan his communication logs; however, when Wyoming decides to reveal the identity to avoid the beating, she explains "Nah, I like my way better." She attacks him as the episode ends, the closing titles stating the story will continue in Red vs. Blue season 5.
, Microsoft
asked Rooster Teeth to create exclusive content for the Xbox Live Marketplace, and they decided to use the opportunity to tell a new storyline tangential to that of the main series. Out of Mind episodes were initially distributed on the Marketplace service, and then on the Rooster Teeth website. Six episodes were planned and slated to be released weekly. However, Part Two of the series was released six weeks after the first. When announcing the simultaneous release of Part One on their website and Part Two on the Marketplace, Burns restated the promise that videos would be released weekly, and noted the miniseries was shortened to five installments. However, Part Three was released the following day on the Marketplace rather than a week as promised, and this remains unexplained by any official sources.
Out of Mind Part One also marked the first Rooster Teeth video to be filmed, edited and released in 720p
high-definition video
. Along with this came Red vs. Blues change into being released in true widescreen
video (as opposed to the previous pseudo-widescreen format), an idea Burns had earlier stated was impractical, as it would not create smaller video file sizes as some fans believed. The widescreen format remained for season 5.
premiered on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This mini series picks up the Out of Mind storyline where it left off at Omega's base. In addition, the sequel to this, Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction
premiered in May 2008.
2006 in machinima
The following is a list of notable machinima-related events in the year 2006. These include several new machinima productions, season finales, and the 2006 Machinima Festival.-Events:...
video miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
produced by Rooster Teeth Productions
Rooster Teeth Productions
Rooster Teeth Productions is a production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of live action shorts, animated peices and machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. The name Rooster Teeth is a euphemism for Cockbite, an...
and distributed via the Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Spun off from the main Red vs. Blue
Red vs. Blue
Red vs. Blue, often abbreviated as RvB, is a set of related comic science fiction video series created by Rooster Teeth Productions and distributed through the Internet and on DVD...
series, Out of Mind chronicles the adventures of the character between her disappearance in and her re-appearance in . The miniseries is produced using the machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
technique of synchronizing video footage to dialogue and other audio. Video footage is from Bungie Studios' first person shooter video game Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
.
Synopsis
The Out of Mind miniseries picks up in the middle of season 4, and continues on into the events of season 5. Although multiple characters of Red vs. Blue make small appearances, the series focuses on major character and former Freelancer partner in pursuit after the mercenary .Plot
Following the events of Red vs. Blue , Wyoming has reappeared for the first time since an apocalyptic explosion propelled the Red vs. Blue characters into the future (see ). Part One begins when Tex, in pursuit, follows Wyoming to the back of the temple at which he appeared, where he escapes into a large doorway guarded by two soldiers. After defeating them, Tex is almost run over as Wyoming emerges from the doorway driving a jeep. Demanding to know the location of Wyoming's boss, Tex plants a homing device on his vehicle when he begins to drive away, intending to follow him to his superior. As Wyoming drives away, a voice asks him via radio whether Tex has taken "the bait".Part Two initiates a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to a training facility several years before, Tex's ex-boyfriend — in standard-issue rookie blue armor instead of his cobalt armor from the main series — approaches Tex. He is concerned about the experiments being performed on multiple soldiers, including Tex, who has been told they each have a "unique ability". As Tex warns that Church should not even be talking to her, Wyoming appears and encourages him to leave. In narration, Tex reminisces about the experiments and the results: after the soldiers were given artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
(AI) to boost their combat skills, the test subjects grew progressively insane. Thus, an attempt was made to remove the AIs. Tex's AI, (aka "O'Malley"), was one of the "difficult ones"; he forced Tex to escape from the facility before he could be removed from her head. Becoming aware of Tex's intent to destroy him, Omega soon learned how to transmit himself from person to person via radio signals, as he did to and in Red vs. Blue and respectively. After this flashback ends, Tex observes Omega's fortress as seen in , and decides that she needs help to destroy him.
In Part Three, Tex finds , a former infiltration specialist from the same experimental facility, now reduced to breaking into a shop in a commercial district. A hologram appears and introduces itself as Delta, York's analytical AI. Explaining the situation, Tex asks York whether he will help her break into Omega's lair to destroy him and face Wyoming, mentioning a past incident involving injury to York's eye in an attempt to inspire vengeance. After querying Delta over the risks of the mission, York agrees.
Part Four returns to Omega's base. Tex and York decide to enter after days without signs of anyone inhabiting the fortress. Delta informs York of concerns over Tex's elevated vital statistics, to which York explains that she is just tense, a part of being human. While York attempts to break a holographic lock in order to access a teleporter transmitting onto the base, Delta continues, and admits confusion towards York's motive for the mission. York explains that his eye was "broken" in an attempt to defeat Tex and Omega in the first place, which Delta understands to mean York is doing this for pride. As they are talking, it is revealed to the viewer that Wyoming is on top of the base, listening to their conversation.
As Part Five begins, the two enter and exit the teleporter, they are abruptly thrust into a firefight; in the chaos, Wyoming's subordinates are promptly dispatched. As the two attempt to kill Wyoming, Tex's gun jams, and York is shot, falling unconscious. When Delta diagnoses the wounds as fatal, Tex tells Delta to enter her armor to avoid being shut down by York's armor — a system designed to prevent AIs falling into enemy hands. Delta refuses, wishing to stay with York. Delta then makes himself a holographic vision of Tex to distract Wyoming, as the real Tex sneaks up on him and holds him at gunpoint. As Delta reveals himself, he tells Tex he can no longer help her, bids both Tex and Wyoming good luck and fades away. Wyoming reveals that Omega has left for Blood Gulch, after Wyoming told him that Tex had returned there. As a bounty hunter, Wyoming had been given a contract to kill anyone who knew of a . Explaining that he had purposely misled Omega to go search for Tex at Blood Gulch, Wyoming had hoped that the AI would do the work for him. He then mentions that Omega has transferred from Doc to a new host, and as Tex presses the matter, Wyoming refuses to disclose the identity. To retrieve the information, Tex threatens to beat him, remove his helmet and scan his communication logs; however, when Wyoming decides to reveal the identity to avoid the beating, she explains "Nah, I like my way better." She attacks him as the episode ends, the closing titles stating the story will continue in Red vs. Blue season 5.
Background
According to series creator Burnie BurnsBurnie Burns
Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns is an independent filmmaker living in Texas. His best known contributions have been in machinima, although he has also worked with live-action. In April 2003, Burns, along with several of his friends, created the Internet machinima series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
asked Rooster Teeth to create exclusive content for the Xbox Live Marketplace, and they decided to use the opportunity to tell a new storyline tangential to that of the main series. Out of Mind episodes were initially distributed on the Marketplace service, and then on the Rooster Teeth website. Six episodes were planned and slated to be released weekly. However, Part Two of the series was released six weeks after the first. When announcing the simultaneous release of Part One on their website and Part Two on the Marketplace, Burns restated the promise that videos would be released weekly, and noted the miniseries was shortened to five installments. However, Part Three was released the following day on the Marketplace rather than a week as promised, and this remains unexplained by any official sources.
Out of Mind Part One also marked the first Rooster Teeth video to be filmed, edited and released in 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
high-definition video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
. Along with this came Red vs. Blues change into being released in true widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
video (as opposed to the previous pseudo-widescreen format), an idea Burns had earlier stated was impractical, as it would not create smaller video file sizes as some fans believed. The widescreen format remained for season 5.
Episode list
| # | |Website release | 1 | June 16, 2006 | August 1, 2006 | 2' 39" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | August 1, 2006 | August 10, 2006 | 2' 21" | ||
| 3 | August 2, 2006 | August 15, 2006 | 3' 18" | ||
| 4 | August 22, 2006 | August 22, 2006 | 2' 35" | ||
| 5 | October 2, 2006 | September 2, 2006 | 3' 44" |
Sequel
On October 28, 2007 Red vs. Blue: Recovery OneRed vs. Blue: Recovery One
Red vs. Blue: Recovery One is an action-based 2007 machinima miniseries produced by Rooster Teeth Productions and distributed via the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Red vs. Blue website. A sequel to the Red vs. Blue series, Red vs Blue: Recovery One picks up where the Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind...
premiered on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This mini series picks up the Out of Mind storyline where it left off at Omega's base. In addition, the sequel to this, Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction
Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction
Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction is a 2008 action-comedy machinima series produced by Rooster Teeth Productions and distributed via the Rooster Teeth website. A sequel to Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, Red vs Blue: Reconstruction picks up where the Red vs. Blue: Recovery One miniseries left...
premiered in May 2008.