Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 30, 2018

It’s evidently time for another Blu-ray release of Red vs. Blue, and, yes, that is possibly my worst pun ever (and/or yet) since The Shisno Paradox gets into the wild and wooly world of time travel. Red vs. Blue is probably an acquired taste to begin with, and for those not already conversant with this rather odd “franchise”, I refer you to my now long ago Red vs. Blue: RVBX: Ten Years of Red vs. Blue Blu-ray review, which has at least a little contextualizing information in it. As is documented in some of the (rather brief) supplementary featurettes included on this Blu-ray, the folks at Rooster Teeth have moved beyond “mere” machinima, and in fact the kind of cheeky vignette that opens this season was evidently all original animation, if I’m understanding the kind of chaotic commentary track correctly. In fact that opening few seconds (where two medieval seeming knights basically revisit long ago musings from the early days of Red vs. Blue, albeit in ridiculously flowery language) would indicate that Rooster Teeth might want to devote even more time to “traditional” CGI animation. The rendering in the opening scene is decidedly different and to my eyes at least considerably better detailed and/or rendered than Rooster Teeth’s quasi-anime RWBY, and suggests that if Rooster Teeth ever wants to really start exploring new avenues of animation, they already have the tools and the talented staff to make that happen.

Considering just how gonzo not just the mere idea of Red vs. Blue is, but also its realization, it might be easy to come to the conclusion that some of the creative staff may partake in a bit of “herbal enhancement” now and then, which in turn may more easily explicate why the entire time travel element of The Shinso Paradox is intertwined with a “pizza quest”. A predicament involving Donut (mmm. . . Donut) starts the whole time travel predicament, but kind of sweetly, the Reds and Blues have banded together (for a while, at least) in order to procure some munchies. This entire season is wrapped up in comedic treatments of time travel paradoxes, all of it evidently observed by two sentient light orbs who (shades of “mmm. . .donut”) might be thought of as analogs to The Simpsons’ Kang and Kodos.

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm and Rooster Teeth with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. If you've seen any previous seasons of Red vs. Blue, you'll know pretty much what to expect here. While overall texturing and detail levels are decent, this follows some previous seasons' appearances by having fairly noticeable stairstepping on edges, as well as intermittent aliasing that tends to show up on fine lines. The palette is rather nicely suffused, and this season integrates some live action elements that are rather nicely interwoven into the proceedings.

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One noticeable upgrade on this release vs. (sorry) some of the previous seasons' Blu-ray outings is the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio. There's rather forceful LFE throughout this season, and some good directionality in terms of the many sound effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and the entire season benefits from rather wide dynamic range.

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Designing Sound for RvB (1080p; 00:52) features writer/director Joe Nicolosi.


• Machinimating RvB (1080p; 1:07) features a couple of very brief interviews and frankly in my estimation is interesting enough that it could have warranted a longer, more in depth, featurette.


• Behind the Animation (1080p; 00:52) is another pretty brief piece looking at some of the technical aspects of the animating process.


• Behind the Scenes with Joe and Minni (1080p; 00:55) features Joe Nicolosi and Minni Clark, Animation Coordinator.


• Behind the Scenes with Sister and Tucker (1080p; 1:52) features Becca Frasier, the voice of Sister, and Jason Saldana, the voice of Tucker.


• The Cyclops (1080i; 1:32) has some fun green screen material showing how things were composited.


• Bloopers (1080i; 5:46)


• Commentary features a glut of the production crew and is accessible under the Setup Menu.

Red vs. Blue: The Shisno Paradox Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I openly admit I'm not a huge fan of Red vs. Blue, though I enjoy its more lunatic elements. I've spoken to friends who are fans of this franchise who thought The Shisno Paradox was something of a letdown. Perhaps because I'm not so heavily invested, I actually found this season rather goofily enjoyable. The writing is often juvenile, and so expectations should probably be tempered, but it's kind of fun to see the "teams" sent reeling through space and time. Technical merits are okay (video) to very good (audio) for those considering a purchase.