Review: Red vs Blue – Family Shatters “Shatter Squad Needs a Pet”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

One and Raymond pitch to the rest of the team that they should get a dog, but Phase already has a cat.

OUR TAKE

I feel it is worth pointing out that the Rooster Teeth Animation Youtube channel has been reposting Red vs Blue: Zero episodes now that the season has been out for over a year, with the most recent one being Episode 5, AKA the worst one. I wonder if this was timed to show how low the bar is for this new spin-off. Since the next proper season won’t be out until next year, we’re getting these little sitcom-themed shorts staring the characters from Zero, which seem to exist just to give the animators something to do because RT’s animation slate for this year is pretty dry. On the one hand, one of my bigger complaints with Zero as a whole was that the season’s plot was so focused on said plot that the characters didn’t get to be themselves for very long outside of it. So, in theory, these shorts, even if they’re non-canon, could be a good way of showing the strengths in this new cast beyond the cool fights and heavily involved plots. Especially since Torrian Crawford, who led the show last season, has left to work on other things, so we should probably expect that one saving grace to be gone when we get the actual Season 19.

Well, I didn’t expect these shorts to be THIS short. Taking out the sitcom-y opening theme, the first episode barely clocks in at 3 minutes, and I doubt the other nine episodes will be much longer. I’ll double check, but I’m pretty sure not even the earliest Season 1 episodes of Blood Gulch weren’t that short. I’m also unsure whether or not there’s going to be big narrative or a series of self-contained plots, since the plot for this first short SEEMS to be resolved by the end. Raymond and One ask for a dog, West says no, but then Phase (who is on the team in this story, which is non-canon) already has a cat that looks horribly out of place with the rest of the assets, but that seems to be resolve the plot. As much as I have issue with just about everyone and everything in this segment of RVB, I feel like these could stand to be maybe ten minutes long to have at least a bit clearer a beginning, middle, and end. Though I’m open to having my mind changed over the next nine weeks.