User:ChromiumCurium/this spartan life trials

{{infobox machinima |show_name=This Spartan Life |image=. He never speaks, yet he has defended Damian on several occasions. In the first episode he is referred to as Doctor Octobit, but by the second episode his name was changed to DJ Octobit.

Fyb3roptik[edit]

Damian's assistant of sorts, he always seems to be shooting at Damian, sometimes without reason. He is Damian's comedic foil and he therefore always seems to be doing things Damian does not like; this running gag is a fan favorite. He usually carries a sniper rifle.

Solid Gold Elite Dancers[edit]

The squad of Solid Gold Elite Dancers are the show's equivalent of a talent segment; they usually dance to music by Glomag, and a segment in the show is reserved for them. Their dances are usually excellently choreographed, as their characters move in near perfect synchronization. They are also the point of several jokes including they not getting paid.

Peaches and Sherry[edit]

These two operate the virtual cameras used in This Spartan Life, but are also characters in their own right, sometimes commenting on the action.

Gamers[edit]

While not characters, the gamers serve a role in their own right. They act as the backdrop to the show, highlighting the lunacy of having a talk show in the middle of a battleground. They usually exhibit stereotypical "new player" or in gamer terms "noob" behavior. The players also serve as the basis for a great number of the show's jokes, which originate on Xbox Live.

History[edit]

This Spartan Life was first started around the year 2004, when Halo 2 was released. The creator, Chris Burke, wanted to create a sort of social environment for interaction that was nonviolent, but he had little success, mainly because "very few people were willing to stop shooting"^[1]. After discovering the true potential to hold an intelligent conversation in the game, he was inspired to create a talk show, originally to be called The Spartan 117 Dialogs,^[2] the name of which would have come from the official code for the Master Chief, protagonist of the Halo video game series. However, some time before episode one was released the name was changed to "This Spartan Life", and all releases have been under that name. The show, while fairly popular, did not see its current popularity until its fifth blog, which centered on net neutrality. That episode became widespread and was shown to the United States Congress.^[3] This Spartan Life experienced a surge in media attention, as shown by This Spartan Life's press page^[4].

Production[edit]

This Spartan Life videos are released on the site, in both QuickTime and Windows Media Video formats. As is common in Halo machinima, the show is made on Xbox Live or using interconnected Xboxes, and the final footage is edited in Final Cut Pro.^[5] Most shows are made, at least in part, on Xbox Live; however, not all of the show segments can be filmed exclusively on Xbox Live, due to issues of in-game latency ("lag"), which would otherwise prevent the coordination seen in the Solid Gold Elite Dancers. However, on the online segments, gamers from the This Spartan Life community are used instead of experienced actors. The cameras are created using the "gun-drop glitch", which causes them to lose their weapons, thus providing a less obstructed screen^[6]. The guests for the show are usually interviewed in Burke's sound booth^[7].

Reception[edit]

This Spartan Life has been mentioned by the likes of Attack of the Show!^[8], Wired Magazine</ref>Wired Magazine. [10]</ref>, and Google Current^[9], to name a few. The strange nature of the show has garnered many positive reviews; the show even won an award at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival for Best Machinima Series. This Spartan Life was even featured at Festival Nemo in France. ^[10] The show, while still relatively obscure when compared to the likes of Red Vs Blue, has gathered a large online community of both new media advocates and gamers^[11].

References[edit]

^ Katandu, May 22 2006 [1].
^ Katandu, May 22 2006 [2].
^ This Spartan Life Home, May 10 2006 [3].
^ Official Press page
^ HappyNews, August 19 2005 [4].
^ Attack of the Show. [5]
^ Publish.com article, August 26 2005 [6]
^ Archived Attack of the Show! segment. [7]
^ Google Current on Google Video [8]
^ Isabelle Arvers interview, 2006. [9]
^ Episode 3, Module 4.

External links[edit]

Category:Machinima based on Halo (franchise)

This Spartan Life has a full cast of characters, each with their own unique qualities, which serve to move the show along. As is typical in machinima, the characters have very strong personalities and are heavily characterized in order to make up for the weakness of machinima: the inability to act. The host, Damian Lacedaemion, is a personable soldier in grey with a smiley face emblem adorning his armor. He leads the show with his carefree manner, and when his guests come under fire, he often has to fall back on his soldiering skills to save them. He tries to rise to a "higher level of discourse" ^[1] and is the center of the civil nature of the show. Damian has a shotgun, named Phil, which can talk, and prefers to be used exclusively by Damian and will fight anyone attempting to use him without authorization^[2] The show's DJ, DJ Octobit, is named in a reference to the 8-bit music he plays in the show. He creates the music for the show on his DJ console, which looks like a strange round pedestal. He never speaks, yet he has defended Damian on several occasions. In the first episode he is referred to as Doctor Octobit, but later his name was changed to DJ Octobit. The show also features the Solid Gold Elite Dancers, who are the show's equivalent of a talent segment; they usually dance to music by Glomag, the alias of Chris Burke, and a segment in the show is reserved for them. Their dances are usually excellently choreographed, as their characters move in near perfect synchronization. The show also has a number of less frequently appearing characters. Damian's assistant, Fyb3roptik, has only appeared in the last episode, but has an interesting habit of shooting at Damian every time he appears. The running gag is usually a fan favorite, hence its continued appearances. Also included is Gunnery Sergeant Spillane, voiced by John Keith, who also writes the show. He has only appeared once, to run the bodyguard competition. Peaches and Sherry, the camera operators, occasionally comment on what is going on, but otherwise have a small role in the show. The gamers of Xbox Live are also a rather important part of the show, as they appear in every episode and provide the chaotic backdrop for the show.

Damian Lacedaemion[edit]

A personable soldier in grey with a smiley face emblem adorning his armor, he leads the show along with his unique style of interviewing and, when things get tough, he can always fall back on his soldiering skills to save his guests - hopefully.

Phil[edit]

Damian's trusty sidekick shotgun that is almost always by his side, and Phil has a preference to be used by only Damian, and will fight anyone else that attempts to use him.

DJ Octobit[edit]

The second character introduced, DJ Octobit