Fire Team Charlie
Fire Team Charlie is a machinima series created by Fire Team Charlie Productions, part of a group called Xbox Ottawa. Although their first 4 films revolve around unrelated single movie stories (the first 2 episodes were stunt showcases), by Episode 5 a plotline and the main characters have been introduced, which for the rest of the series was mostly followed. Episode 3 seems unrelated to the plot but is revealed to be a prequel movie in episode 10. As the plot continues we see how the first few episode all tie together (so far). The basic idea so far is that the characters on the ring (Halo) must defend the universe from invasion by a group of 2-dimensional aliens. Unlike other machinima series, such as Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, Fire Team Charlie makes extensive use of tricks, jumps, hacks and modifications in their storylines, for example, a flying warthog that shoots rockets out of the gun turret.
Characters
- Jonathan- One of the main characters. He is the 'Messiah' chosen by "The Guardians". Although he dies in Episode 9, he is brought back to "correct the imbalance". Although when he returns, he is given supernatural fighting skills. After slaughtering hundreds of androids he is captured by the Moogle, the leader of the 2D army. He belongs to Red Team.
- Squatting Bear- He has a clouded past, no one knows how he got his name, which is of Native American origin. An exceptional fighter, he is almost invincible. When he learns of his team mates betrayal, he searches for Jonathan, who according to his dreams is the only person who can defeat the Moogle. He rescues Red Team when they are caught off guard and unarmed by three Grunts. Red Team's new android knocks him out mistaking him for an enemy and when he regains consciousness he is in a 2D-Android alliance prison. He belongs to Blue Team. His first appearance gives him an accent with a mix between Ringo Starr and the Irish. In one episode, Mr. Smite asks why he is called Squatting Bear. He kills Mr. Smite and says "I'll show you!" and starts Teabagging Mr. Smite's corpse.
- Moogle- Leader of the 2D's, he has captured many flags for Samus of the 2D world. He convinced the Blue Team members (except DigiPad) to betray Squatting Bear. There are rumours at Red Command that he may have aqquired "Weapons of Time Reduction". (He is based on the fictional race from Final Fantasy).
- Commander Travis Kelly- Commander of the Red Team at Blood Gulch canyon. He has been described as an "ugsome, incompetent boob" by his commanding officer: Fleet Admiral Funtz. He was held responsible for the death of Silent Pete and the capture of Jonathan and asked to resign over this. He did not however but is threatened with demotion or discharge if he fails in his rescue mission of Jonathan. He is best friends with Gibson.
- Gibson- The android manufacturer who operates from Mount Hang 'Em High. He also deals in weaponry (especially oversized weapons). He aids Kelly in his search for Jonathan, as he saved both of them from the androids. His brother, Tilo, programmed the first android. He works for Yellow Team.
- Tilo- Mentioned once and is currently believed to be Gibson's brother who built/programmed the first android.
- Silent Pete- A Red Team soldier who is incapable of talking for some unknown reason. He uses various body language to communicate with the other squad members. He is killed by being ordered to run into a fire by 3 Grunts when he, Jonathan and Commander Kelly are held captive by them.
- DigiPad- Squatting Bear's best friend and also a Blue Team member. He sacrifices himself to save his friend Squatting Bear from Clip-Doodle-Bot by blowing up himself and Clip. His grave is under the overshield, in accordance to his last wish: "just bury me under the overshield".
- Clip-Doodle-Bot- Red Teams android, is rather a coward. He is distraught upon seeing Jonathan's death, turning him into a mindless killing machine seeking revenge upon those who killed Jonathan. He fights Squatting Bear (mistaking him for Jonathan's killer).
- The Scheduler- The founder of the 2D-Mecha alliance. He knows all that needs to be known. He is interested in the details of 'The Guardians.
- Fleet Admiral Funtz- Commander of the forces on the ring. He considers Commander Kelly "an ugsome, incompetent boob", but likes Gibson. He enjoys fishing trips.
- Madrewrew- Squatting Bear's Australian mercenary prisionmate.
- The Guardians- A mysterious God-like race who revived Jonathan upon his death.
- Blue Team- 3 Blue soldiers (who are arguably Japanese) who side with Moogle and betray Squatting Bear. They are all killed by Squatting Bear when he learns of their trechery. The subtitles of their dialogue never matches up with what is actually being said.
- Green Team- Uncountable French and British soldiers (because they die so frequently, they have to date lost 15 Commanding Officers KIA, 7 Warthogs and a Battle Tank to the enemy). They are all almost completely useless in battle, and all their scientific special projects have failed miserably. All have very strong French or British accents and are very stereotyped.
- The Pointman- The Green Team pointman is entrusted with the sniper rifle. He is frequently ridiculed by his teammates, and has a strong French accent. He is hit with the turret that the new red team android blew up in episode 12 (Turrets and Healthpacks). After three days, he is still alive, and continues to state his favourite phrase "No-one cares about the pointman!".
- Mr Smite- Mr Smite is the commander of Red Team at Sidewinder. He is killed in episode 6 by Squatting Bear after his team captured all of the Indian's (Blue Team) vehicles. He has a computerized voice similar to the sound made from masking in Xbox live.
- Cobalt- Cobalt is Mr Smite's minion, and he steals Squatting Bear's warthog. He is subsequently shot by Squatting Bear.
Plot
- Episode 5 - Jonathan and the Blood Gulch Conspiracy Jonathan and Clip-Doodle-Bot search the caves near the base. They discover a Green soldier with a 'Super Weapon'. Clip is scared away by a mysterious 2D creature.
- Episode 6 - Squatting Bear 'Mr Smite' sends his minion 'Cobalt' to steal Squatting Bear's Warthog jeep. DigiPad informs Squatting Bear of this, who then takes his bloody revenge slaughtering all of Mr Smites team, and Mr Smite himself.
- Episode 7 - Combat Evolved, Evolved! A stunt/hack showcase that does not follow the chronological events, a team with a flying warthog attacks two red soldiers and take their flag.
- Episode 8 - Super Weapon Jonathan test the 'Super Weapon' and discovering its power, goes to Green Base and forces them to surrender their flag. On his return to Red Base he meets a Blue soldier who trades his flag for Jonathan's captured Green flag. Jonathan lies to Commander Kelly, Clip and Silent Pete about how he acquired the Blue flag.
- Episode 9 - Deception Jonathan vaguely explains what is going on in Blood Gulch to Clip. He is then killed by a falling Warthog, and then the Super Weapon is stolen by Blue Team, making Clip turn into a 'Terminator' killing machine, he mistakes an innocent Squatting Bear for the Blue soldier who killed Jonathan. Meanwhile Kelly gets a call from Green Team who are angry by the stealing of their flag (they believe that Jonathan still has it).
- Episode 10 - FTCX Kelly and Pete discover Jonathan's body, and are heavily attacked by Green Team. A fierce fight rages between Squatting Bear and Clip-Doodle-Bot, resulting in Clips destruction at the cost of DigiPad sacrificing his life to save Squatting Bear. Jonathan is met in 'The Void' by 'The Guardians' who restore his life. He inadvertently kills all of Green Team. At the end of the credits you see the words "10 years later" and the beginning of episode 3 which implies Clip's survival.
- Episode 11 - Mount Hang 'Em High Kelly and Jonathan go to Mount Hang 'Em High to see the android maker Gibson to get a new android.
- Episode 12 - Turrets and Healthpacks Returning to Red Base Kelly and Jonathan discover that everything is safe. They decide to blow up the tank turret that Green Team left behind. They do so, the android is blown into the sky and the turret pierces the pointman of the Green Team (the rock they placed the turret on also killed the rest of Green Team).
- Episode 13 - BigBoy The Red Team are trying to get the android down from the sky, but run into trouble when they are ambushed, unarmed, by 3 Grunts, who kill Silent Pete. Squatting Bear, after killing the Blue Team members for betraying him, saves Kelly and Jonathan from the Grunts, but is knocked out by the android. Upon going to see Gibson, they learn that the androids have rebelled and have taken over Mount Hang 'Em High.
- Episode 13b - Pointman or Picard The other version of episode 13 originally only to be released to members of the Xbox Ottawa website follows a green team field inspector on a mission to see how green team is doing. He questions them on their 15 KIA commanding officers, 7 warthogs and a battle tank lost to the enemy, and the loss of their flag to a single red soldier. He then inspects their current projects which are remotely controlled warthogs, a cloning machine, and a method to prevent soldiers from dying when a warthog is dropped on their heads which is a giant helmet. All but the giant helmet are complete failures, the automatic warthogs go berserk, the clones are unmotivated and get killed by the warthogs. After all the tests the field inspector leaves and ends up trapped in a mysterious room with 2 other green team soldiers.
- Episode 14 - Short and Tall Jonathan fights and wipes out hundreds of androids, but is captured by the 'BigBoy' android.
- Episode 15 - Do not pass go, do not collect 200 GP Squatting Bear wakes to find himself in a 2D-android prison and he has Amnesia. He meets fellow inmate Madrewrew. At Mount Hang 'Em High, Kelly and Gibson look for Jonathan.
- Episode 16 - From Bad to Worse Fleet Admiral Funtz berates Kelly for letting Pete get killed and Jonathan be captured. He and 2 new recruits: Sergeant Rhys and Private Emmamo get in the Warthog to search for Jon, but it crashes, killing the recruits, and getting Kelly stuck in a bumbleberry tree outside Green Base, where he is hit by a rock knocking him unconscious. Jonathan is placed in the cell near Squatting Bear, who has no memory of him. Jonathan meets 'The Scheduler' who is the founder of the 2D-Mecha alliance. He demands to know who the Guardians are.
- Episode 17 - The Worst of Both Worlds Kelly is knocked out of the tree by Green Teams stones. He is on the floor and begs for mercy from Green Team. At that moment he vanishes. He appears in the Guardians Realm with Jonathan, Squatting Bear and Gibson. Jonathan reveals that they are not dead, but have been summoned to the realm because the Guardians have a special task for the four of them. The Guardians then appear to inform them of their task (after they rebuke Jonathan for not doing anything productive). The four of them must return to their home: Earth. Their task is to prevent, by any means necessary, the Moogle acquiring the final component of his Weapon of Time Reduction: 'a big long pointy thing'. However we soon learn that this is Jonathans first movie as director. The scene switches to the Halo 2 multiplayer map Zanzibar, where two actors are playing Jonathan and Squatting Bear. After a brief exchange of views with the real Jonathan (who's directing), the actor playing Squatting Bear quits. Jonathan ends shooting for the day, leaving Kelly and Gibson to end the episode by taking some phone calls.
- Episode 18 - W.E.E The Episode begins with a mysterious figure coming out of a building in a seemingly abandoned city. Suddenly Kelly appears behind him and asks whether he knows where to find a 'big long pointy thing' as per his instructions from the Guardians. Kelly, Gibson and the stranger are drawn into a standoff, but the stranger surrenders and promises to co-operate with them. Kelly and Gibson begin to question the stranger, and ask why there is a lack of people in the city. After the confusion is resolved when the stranger learns that they are from Halo. He informs them that the Covenant began invading Earth 24 hours ago, and that all human forces have been routed, and that the city was evacuated. He tells them that he is going to continue looting, but he knows someone called 'Guy' (a French name, pronounced "Gee" with the hard G sound) who can help them find a 'big long pointy thing', he warns them to avoid the MPs as they will shoot on sight. The scene then changes to Squatting Bear and Jonathan who are still on the Zanzibar map. They have been pinned down by the covenant, but Squatting Bear snipes the Covenant leader while their "technologically advanced weapons" were recharging. Episode 18 was the final official video produced by FTC using the Halo engine. After the completion of 18 the team took a hiatus for several years to pursue other creative projects.
- Episode 1.9 - A Bridge Over Troubled Waters In September 2010 the creator Fire Team Charlie began promoting the revival of FTC in the form of a new machinima series using the Team Fortress 2 engine. The new series called Fort Team Charlie will fuse the Halo 1 timeline and the original concepts and cast of FTC with the 1960s world of TF2. Some images of the upcoming series can be viewed on Facebook.[1]
Awards and nominations
In 2003, Fire Team Charlie's videos were publicly nominated in five of the six categories[2] for the first Annual Rockets On Prisoner Awards. Halo community celebrity judges narrowed the field to five videos per category and FTC3 and FTC4 were both included for Best Cinematography while FTC4 was also included for Best Screenplay.[3] After public voting, neither video won any awards.[4] In 2004, Fire Team Charlie's videos were nominated into all five of the available categories for the 2nd Annual Rockets On Prisoner Awards.[5] After voting, “FTC ran away with 2 of the awards”[6] as FTC13 won for Best Movie and for Best Screenplay. In 2005’s Rockets on Prisoner Awards, Fire Team Charlie had FTC18 nominated in two categories, for Best Action Sequence and for Best Editing, Sound, and FX as well as their overall series nominated for Best Series.[7] None of the entries won awards.[8] Also in 2005, Fire Team Charlie was an Official Selection at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.[9]
Video podcast
On Jan 16, 2006, all 19 episodes of FTC were made available for download from iTunes as part of a Video Podcast. Episodes 1-6 are widescreen and require Widescreen to be enabled.
References
External links