The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2

If you don't own THE GUILD, you need to. But don't get the individual season discs; get this one! It contains the entirety of the wonderful online series. If you haven't see this great online show, you need to understand that that each season is less than an hour in length, with each episode lasting around four to six minutes. But what it lacks in quantity it makes up with in quality. It is not just that the disc collecting both seasons is cheaper, it is more convenient. No switching of discs. And I don't know about you, but my DVD shelves are getting incredibly tight. A single case instead of two is something that I really appreciate.THE GUILD is one of the most successful direct-to-Internet series yet produced. It was created and is written by and stars Felecia Day, who starred, along with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, in what is by far the most successful Internet-first project ever, DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG. The series concerns a group of people who would normally have nothing to do with one another, but have been drawn together by playing World of Warcraft together. For though who have never played WoW (I suppose such individuals exist), one of the things that you can do in WoW is form guilds who quest together. From personal experience I can attest that you end up forming online friendships with people you normally would not spend much time with. If you have played WoW, the show has lots of subtleties that will seem familiar and fun. I've intentionally avoided meeting anyone that I play online with, but these poor souls decide to meet in person. (Though I never join guilds for person reasons. I detest PvP [Player versus Player] and WoW is structured so that if one member of a guild fights a member of another guild, all members of each guild are thereby opposed to one another. Since I could not find a way to be a member of a guild and not PvP, I played solo, which luckily isn't that hard to do in WoW. BTW, I stopped playing WoW after maxing out several characters because of the staggering amount of time that gaming can absorb. Never going to get that book written playing WoW.)The Guild consists of: Codex (her online name), played by Felecia Day; Zaboo, a Hinjew (half Indian/half Jewish) who stalks Codex; Vork, an early middle-aged loser who lives in his dead grandfather's house (he lives off cashing his granddad's social security checks, and who is also a world-class tightwad and the titular head of the guild); Clara, the mother of three toddlers that she neglects to play online; Tinkerballa, a cute Asian girl who is so obsessed with gaming that she plays Gameboy while also playing WoW; and Bladezz, a long-haired teen who is not the most popular character on the show in Season One. This exceedingly odd collection of individuals unhappily linked with one another provides a host of funny moments that shouldn't be missed.Felecia Day has pretty much established herself as the hottest female actress on the Internet. Though many knew her from her Season Seven appearance on BUFFY as one of the Potentials, most of her work has been away from either film or television. DR. HORRIBLE made her on online star, a status that was quickly reinforced by the beginning of THE GUILD. She also starred in the great, though unaired episode of DOLLHOUSE "Epitaph One," which many regard as the best episode of DOLLHOUSE. But again, unless you watch it on DVD, you won't see it at all. Most recently she has become even more popular due to a music video based on THE GUILD "going viral." If you haven't seen "Would You Like to Date My Avatar?" do so immediately. Starring Day and the rest of the cast of THE GUILD, with music written by Jed Whedon (the brother of Joss), it is a delightful send up of online socializing. The song is infectious, the performances delightful, and the lyrics witty. And it completes the whole DR. HORRIBLE-"Epitaph One," and music video trilogy. Jed Whedon co-wrote DR. HORRIBLE and "Epitaph One" with his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, and Maurissa is one of the performing dancers in the music video (she is one of the female dancers who back up Tinkerballa). And Felecia Day starred in all three. She is so adorable that I'd love to see her translate her online and DVD success to film and TV. Until then, we have this delightful online series. Do yourself a favor and get this disc that collects both seasons of THE GUILD.

I. Overview"The Guild" is a comedy web series about online gaming written by Felicia Day, who also stars as the main character, Cyd Sherman/Codex. The title refers to a group of gamers, known in the game as "The Knights of Good," who play an MMORPG together and decide to meet each other in person upon Cyd's suggestion. The remainder of the series follows the Knights of Good and their interactions with each other after, both online and offline. The members of the guild refer to each other by the names of their avatars in the game: Codex (the main character, who plays a priestess), Zaboo (a half-Indian, half-Jewish guy who plays a warlock), Vork (a middle-aged stickler for rules who plays a warrior), Bladezz (a cocky and arrogant teenager who plays a rogue), Clara (a negligent mother who plays a mage), and Tinkerballa (a diva Asian girl who plays a ranger). Other characters are introduced at different points in the series, including a rival guild and several minor characters.II. The ProsSeason I is quite arguably the best season of the entire series. Anyone who has had extensive online gaming experience can relate to the guild and their addictions to the online game they play, which seems to be a fantasy setting similar to that of World of Warcraft (which some members of the cast admit to playing in interviews). Zaboo's infatuation with Codex is amusing and draws sympathy from anyone who has experienced unrequited love. The cast is colorful and there are some truly original moments, as the "boss battle" with Zaboo's mother. All in all, the first season leaves us curious to see what will become of this motley crew of gamers.III. The ConsUnfortunately, subsequent seasons of "The Guild" fail to build upon the great groundwork that is set in the first season. Although there are many directions Felicia Day could have taken to develop her plot, none of the characters experience real growth or change. The result is a stagnant stream of antics where truly amusing moments are few and far between and the underdeveloped characters that surround Codex are little more than one-dimensional caricatures. Zaboo's Steve Urkel-like obsession with Codex borders on nausea, Vork is a hypocrite who professes to do good in the game while committing illegal and unethical acts in reality, Clara makes us wish the police would show up and slap her with cuffs for a disturbingly overt display of child neglect, and Tinkerballa convinces us that the modern woman is a gold-digging, man-eating, potty-mouth lump of vanity.Codex herself turns out to be no more interesting/appealing than the characters with whom she interacts. Supposedly shy and demure, Codex/Cyd: obstinately demoralizes Zaboo, blackmails a fellow guild member, encourages a fight over herself at a party, assumes control of the guild, defeats a rival guild leader, and engages a sexual relationship with a complete stranger. It is not clear whether the inconsistencies in Codex's character - like those of Vork's - are the result of poor acting, poor scripting, or both."The Guild" also projects an overbearing, feminist overtone. Codex openly pursues other relationships with guys while Zaboo grovels for her attention, Zaboo's brief distraction from Codex with a girlfriend ends when she rejects him for another girl, Bladezz is defaced when his mom has a sexual encounter with a rival guild member, Vork is "undateable" and his role as leader is surmounted by Tinkerballa and Clara when they reject his guild hall, and Clara dominates her husband while refusing to interact with the couple's children herself. Clearly, this is a series that lacks any strong male characters. The effect here is an estrogen-saturated view of online gaming that alienates the male audience.Finally, we never see the actual game that is being played until Season IV, and then only briefly. Up until this point, we see interaction between members of the guild only in real-time - typically, with each character sitting at their respective PC, holding conversation through mic and headphones.IV. SummaryAt first glance, "The Guild" appears to be the interesting and untold story of the online gamer's world. Upon deeper inspection, the series does not deliver what it purports to be. Rather, it is a polarized and overreaching attempt to dramatize a popular past-time. Indeed, "The Guild" owes its popularity to online gaming itself, rather than the ingenuity of its script or the quality of its performance.

Besides helping to support the show, there's a lot to be found in this 2-disc DVD set. There are two separate commentaries (cast or crew) for each season, interviews for the cast and crew, gag reels, full episode scripts, and audition footage. You're definitely getting your money's worth and it's an awesome pick-up for fans of the show. The commentary with the cast itself is almost as entertaining as the seasons themselves.

No matter what your taste, you may very well enjoy the quirky humor in these two seasons of The Guild. Made by gamers, about gamers, for gamers. Very short episodes but each one ends leaving you wondering just what is going to happen in the next.

I actually spent about 6 hours or more with this when it came in. As if the show isn't amazing enough, the commentary is even more hilarious. And the easter eggs on season 2 had me in stitches. Definitely a must-own.