The Guild Season 4
DVD / DVD-R (Amazon)
AC3 2.0 Audio
82 Minutes, 12 episodes
With "The Guild" Season 5 now upon us, I felt it time to go back and give a mention to the DVD release of the prior season. If you aren't familiar with "The Guild", let me give you a bit of a rundown: The Guild is a group of online gamers, all members of an online guild (think WoW) who spend their time online gaming, avoiding real life, and getting around as best they can in the real world. For a show that's now 5 seasons in, I often think of it as a real precursor to a show like "The League" though quite a bit funnier, at least for me.
Season 4 brings back some of the issues of Season 3 (Codex, played by Felicia Day, and her "encounter" with online Rival Wil Wheaton)
Video Quality: 3.5/5
It's hard to really put down how you would view a title like The Guild. Originally plotted and planned for Microsoft's XBOX Live Network, the Guild was shot in digital planned at 720P for the season, I believe, and it has a clean very video look to it. This has a tendency to make the DVD release less then it should be. MPEG artifacts are evident, and in some cases, movement doesn't look nearly as good as it did on the XBOX Live Network.
Because this is shot mostly in closed spaces, the filming doesn't really lend itself to cinematography or any real grand planning, but it is effective.
Audio Quality: 3.5/5
The audio is presented in Dobly Digital 2.0, straight stereo DPL. The audio is designed for a comedy that is oriented around dialog first. The dialog is crisp, easy to understand, and I never found myself struggling to get the joke.
Extras: 5 / 5
For such a title, you'd think they'd scrimp on extras. But like a lot of web series, they really put a lot of effort into providing the audience with something that makes ownership worth it. The disc includes numerous audio commentaries, which in part due to their brevity and in part the levity are quick to get through and a blast.
Included also is the online video "Game On", a spoof of the video format.
PDFs of the scripts to the shows themselves, along with some notes. A tableread of episodes. Also included is a (very) humorous fake PSA as managed by Wheaton
Summary: 4.5/5
I had went back and forth about whether I should write up a review of a product like 'The Guild'. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that sometimes a title like The Guild needs the publicity to really highlight the work going on here. Felicia Day and her crew have pulled together an effective, funny, online series that manages to leap above the fray of YouTube video series. Solid production values, real scripts, solid direction, and an obvious love of the plot and concept.
There is something to be said for anything where you feel as though the artists involved really seriously care about the product at hand and take it seriously. The Guild isn't for everyone, but if you're at all in it's audience, I'd recommend picking up the series DVD. It's a great cheap purchase that years from now you can say "I Remember that!".
