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The Guild (web series)

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This article is about the sitcom. For the video game, see Europa 1400: The Guild.
The Guild
GenreComedy
Created byFelicia Day
Written byFelicia Day
Directed byJane Selle Morgan
Greg Benson
Sean Becker
StarringFelicia Day
Vincent Caso
Jeff Lewis
Amy Okuda
Sandeep Parikh
Robin Thorsen
ComposerDon Schiff
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes36 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducersFelicia Day
Kim Evey
Jane Selle Morgan
Production locationsLos Angeles, California
Running time3–8 minutes
Original release
NetworkYouTube
MSN Video
Xbox Live Marketplace
Zune Marketplace
ReleaseJuly 27, 2007 (2007-07-27) –
present

The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Codex. It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007.[1] Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on the official Guild website, YouTube, and iTunes.[2]

The show revolves around the lives of online guild "The Knights of Good" who play countless hours of an unspecified MMORPG video game. The story focuses on Codex, the Priestess who attempts to lead a normal life after one of her guild-mates, Warlock Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), shows up on her doorstep.

Joss Whedon credits The Guild as one of the inspirations for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which also starred Day.[3]

History

The Guild was inspired and written by Felicia Day, an avid gamer, who plays World of Warcraft in between acting roles in several American television shows and movies.[4] After two years of video game addiction, Day decided to make something productive from her experiences and wrote the series as a sitcom television pilot. The series was purposely kept generic to avoid copyright problems and to appeal to a wider audience of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) fans. Day also hoped to show that the stereotypical man living in his parents' basement is not the only kind of gamer. Believing the niche setting wouldn't appeal to television marketing wonks,[2] she decided to produce the series online with Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey. Day already knew Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis from Empty Stage, a Los Angeles-based comedy theatre, and their roles were written for them. The rest of the cast was filled through auditions.[5][6] After filming the first three episodes in two and a half days, they ran out of money. After donations were invited through PayPal, the fourth and fifth episodes were almost solely financed by donations.[7][8]

On March 24, 2010, the first issue of the comic book limited series based on the show was released from Dark Horse Comics. It acts as a prequel to the show, and was written by Felicia Day and illustrated by Jim Rugg.[9] The second issue was released on April 23, 2010, and the third and final issue was released on May 26, 2010.

Reception

The Guild currently has over 43 million upload views on YouTube, beating out most other online shows that are featured on the website in terms of viewership, popularity and critical acclaim. The series has won several awards since its launch, and in February 2009, Rolling Stone named it one of "The Net's Best Serial Shows".[10] The Guild has inspired many fan efforts, including the tribute song I Wanna Be In Your Guild.[11]

Awards

Format

Each episode opens with Codex (Felicia Day) recapping the previous events in the story in the form of a video blog. Usually it gives the audience a recap of the previous episode as well as share Codex's feelings on the subject, and is used for comedic relief. The video blogs appear to be outside the time line as she is usually wearing a different outfit (typically her pajamas) than in the actual episode itself.

Plot

See also: List of The Guild episodes

Season 1 (2007–2008)

Cyd Sherman struggles to limit her time online, where she games as her alter ego Codex, a member of the Knights of Good. After the guild realize that Zaboo has been offline for 39 hours, he appears on Codex's door step. Zaboo misunderstood Codex's in-game chats as flirting, and became a stalker living in the same apartment.

On the in-game side, troubles also arises when Bladezz is banned from the game for foul language in the trade house. Codex uses this as an excuse to have the guild help her with her Zaboo problem. The guild (sans Bladezz) reluctantly meet up at Cheesybeards, a local restaurant, only to find out that Vork had transferred all of their in-game valuables to Bladezz's account as part of a team building strategy. If they decided to kick out Bladezz, they would lose everything.

Things get worse when Bladezz begins to slander the Knights of Good by showing inappropriate videos with the members' characters, and Codex is no closer to getting Zaboo to go home. Then, Zaboo's home comes to him in the form of his overbearing mother. Zaboo confesses that his mother controls every aspect of his life besides the internet, which she is beginning to read about. He saw this as his only escape.

Codex comes up with a plan to bring Bladezz down, using Zaboo's stalking skills. Zaboo finds out about his modeling career and blackmails him into giving the gold and equipment back to the Guild. The Guild then fights off Zaboo's mom, and Bladezz redeems himself by landing the final blow. Codex soon realizes that she got Zaboo's mother's loot... Zaboo.

Season 2 (2008–2009)

Zaboo's mother takes revenge for losing Zaboo, by having Codex evicted. Codex and Zaboo move into a new apartment, where Codex meets a new love interest: Wade (Fernando Chien), a stunt man. Codex tries to get Zaboo to move out by telling him that he needs to level up before they can be together. She arranges for him to live with Vork, who will take in-game gold as rent, something Zaboo is really good at farming. Codex focuses on trying to get Wade interested in her.

The Guild finds an orb that adds a side quest as well as makes a character's appearance editable. Clara and Tink fight over which one should get it, but after Vork lets it go up for bid, Clara has trouble offline and Tink wins it. Clara vows revenge on Vork for giving it to Tink and sets out an entire weekend of betraying Vork by corpse camping him on an alternate account as well as searching for her own orb.

Bladezz believes Tink is into him and begins to max out his mother's credit cards to buy her stuff, while Tink uses him to get what she wants. Vork is annoyed with Zaboo's lack of logic. Codex finds out that the stunt-man has a "stupid tall hot girlfriend", Riley.

The Game announces that the online play will be shut down for maintenance for 4 hours, during which Vork plans a strategy lecture for Zaboo and Bladezz, while Codex plans a quiet party with Clara and Tink. Bladezz coerces Vork to abandon the lecture in favor of a poker game (offline), hoping to make up some of what he spent on Tink. Clara advertises Codex's party and it becomes a crowded kegger.

Among Clara's random invitees, Wade and Riley (Michele Boyd) come to the party. After finding out that Riley is Wade's roommate and Wade is single, Tink and Clara try to hook Codex up with him. Zaboo, learning of this, persuades Vork and Bladezz to go to Codex's party to try to stop it. Vork confronts Clara, Bladezz confronts Tink, and Zaboo confronts Wade.

Season 3 (2009)

Codex was able to recover from the party by the announcement of the new expansion pack for the game. The Knights of Good are first in line at GameStop until a rival guild, the Axis of Anarchy, cuts in front of them. After the Axis of Anarchy tricks a GameStop worker into sending the Knights of Good to the back of line, Vork, still not over the events of the party, resigns as Guild Leader. Codex is elected as his successor, causing Tink to leave the Knights and join the Axis.

Most of the Knights are too busy with life to explore the expansion pack. Vork goes on a self discovery journey, Zaboo is preoccupied by the domineering Riley, Clara's husband finds photos of her kissing the stunt-man, and Bladezz's sister keeps bothering him. The expansion also requires at least six members in a party, and without Tink they have only five.

Clara's husband demands that she spend more time with him, so Clara adds the new inexperienced Mr. Wiggly to the guild. Riley forces Zaboo to choose between her and the Guild. Bladezz begins to be targeted by Tink and the Axis of Anarchy, who expose his modeling alias to his school and plant weapons in his locker; later, a member of the Anarchists is intimate with his mom.

Vork returns as guild leader, deciding enough is enough he collects each guild member to challenge the Axis of Anarchy at the Internet Cafe where they planned to have a group raid. Each member of the Knights of Good have to overcome their own hardships, Clara discussing things with her husband, Bladezz and Tink apologizing to each other, Zaboo breaking up with Riley, and Vork realizing that the other members' hatred towards him is what holds the guild together.

In the challenge match, five of the Knights and four of the Axis are quickly killed, leaving Codex facing Tink and Axis leader Fawkes (Wil Wheaton). Tink decides that the Axis of Anarchy members are even bigger jerks than she can stand, and lets Codex kill her in-game. Codex, in a hallucinatory conversation with her game character, musters the courage to defeat Fawkes. The Knights welcome Tink back into the guild. Zaboo dumps Riley, and she turns to Venom, a member of the Axis. Clara announces that she is pregnant. Bladezz and Tink reluctantly apologize to each other. Bladezz makes tentative peace with the Axis member who seduced his mother. Fawkes invites Codex for drinks; she initially refuses but, in a twist ending, wakes up beside him.

Characters and cast

Knights of Good

  • Codex (real name Cyd Sherman) is the Cleric. Codex is shy and non-confrontational, tending to panic under stress. Outside the game she is a concert violinist (and former child prodigy), unemployed after setting fire to her boyfriend's cello. She is an addicted gamer who tries at first to control the time she spends online, but fails. For this reason, her therapist drops her. Codex is portrayed by creator Felicia Day.
  • Zaboo (real name Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg) is the Warlock. Zaboo describes himself as a "HinJew", having a Hindu mother and Jewish father. He shows great skill with computers; for example, his stalking of Codex included obtaining (presumably through the Internet) the floor plan of her apartment and all her past residences. His obsessive attitude toward Codex reflects his mother's smothering. When talking, Zaboo often uses "-'d" after some key word or expression, self-commenting on what he just said (eg. bladder'd, testosterone'd). Zaboo is portrayed by Sandeep Parikh, Indian-American writer, director, actor and producer of comedy and founder of www.effinfunny.com.
  • Vork (real name Herman Holden) is the guild leader and Fighter. He enjoys managing the guild and budgeting, and believes only in rules and logic. He lives frugally (and illegally) on his late grandfather's Social Security checks. When he became Guild Leader he "cut the fats of life" including electric power; he steals his senile neighbor's wifi (and shed), and keeps his food cold by buying ice with food stamps. In the last episode of season 3 he reveals that he can speak fluent Korean. Vork believes that shared hatred of him is what keeps the guild together. Vork is portrayed by Jeff Lewis, an accomplished character actor and comedian.[16]
  • Bladezz (real name Simon) is the Rogue. A high school student who spends most of his time outside of school in his basement playing the Game. He is rude to the other male guild members, and hits on the female guild members, and makes lewd sexual jokes and comments. He is worried about being sent to military school, and to save up for college his mom forced him into modeling; he uses the name "Finn Smulders" to keep it a secret from everyone. Bladezz is portrayed by Vincent Caso.
  • Clara (real name Clara Beane) is the Mage. Clara is a stay-at-home wife and mother, college partier, and ex-cheerleader. Her three children are all young, with the youngest still breastfeeding, and she is shown to be an irresponsible mother; though proud of her children, she tends to put gaming before her family, and sometimes tries to mix the two, such as by recruiting her husband Mr. Wiggly to the guild. She uses her real name as her avatar name because her kids saw her old name Mom-inatrix. She comes off as ditsy, scatter brained, and eccentric. Clara is portrayed by Robin Thorsen.
  • Tinkerballa is the Ranger. Tink is a pre-med student, and distances herself from the guild, trying not to let them know anything about her personal life. She is shown to have a huge video game addiction, always having an alternate game in hand when not playing the guild's game, even when raiding. She is cold and manipulative, and uses men to get what she wants. When Vork resigns as leader and Tink is not elected his successor, she leaves the Knights of Good and joins the Axis of Anarchy, but later finds them too "douchey" even for her. Tink is portrayed by Amy Okuda.

Temporary members

  • Mr. Wiggly (real name George Beane) is a hunter. He is Clara's husband, nominated by Clara to replace Tink; Codex hastily accepts him in order to prevent Zaboo from recruiting Riley. He is clearly inexperienced in gaming, mentioning that the last game he played was Pong. Mr. Wiggly wants to spend time with Clara, but is at his wits' end with her distraction and infidelity. Mr. Wiggly is played by Brett Sheridan.

Axis of Anarchy

  • Fawkes is the leader of the Axis of Anarchy. He always wears a black kilt and a black Axis of Anarchy t-shirt. In person he speaks with a cool, calm, almost polite tone, though he is prone to angered outbursts when online. He seems to be quite educated as well, as he is constantly quoting philosophers, authors, or figures of history. He often demonstrates that he does not believe in following rules, unless it benefits him. Because of their top ranking, he expects constant perfection from his guild. He is also quite full of himself and manipulative, convincing people they are into him. Fawkes is played by Wil Wheaton.
  • Venom is the only female in her guild, until Tink joins. She is in a wheelchair, but seems to have no problem exploiting her handicap for personal gain. She has a violent attitude and seems to dislike her guildmates. On at least two occasions she threatens suicide to get her way. She briefly works as a substitute art teacher at Bladezz's high school. Played by Teal Sherer.
  • Bruiser is the guild's healer, and a police officer. Bruiser is probably the largest, loudest, and most vulgar of the Axis of Anarchy members. He had sex with Bladezz's mother to torment Bladezz. Played by J. Teddy Garces.
  • Kwan is a champion StarCraft player and earns millions playing in South Korea. He only speaks Korean, and has a female assistant named Nik who massages his hands and translates for him. He seems to be able to understand some English, and it's possible that Fawkes can understand some of what he says (as his translator does not translate what Kwan says into English). Played by Alexander Yi.
  • Valkyrie is the attempted joker of the guild, though his jokes seem to be funny only to himself. Based on dialogue with his off-screen boss, he works for some form of design or decorating firm - he claimed to be dealing with a client whose damask came in the wrong color. He also has web skills, claiming to be the one who created FinnSmulders.com. He also plays two girl characters because he claims to like looking at girls, although it is strongly implied he might be a closet homosexual. Played by Mike Rose.

Other characters

  • Riley is Wade's roommate and friend with benefits. Codex, initially believing her to be Wade's girlfriend, jealously refers to her as "Stupid Tall Hot Girl". She is an FPS girl and a ranked Halo player. Riley is partial to underdogs; her treatment of Zaboo reveals that this is because she can dominate them. She also is bisexual, displaying attraction to both Codex and Venom. She appears to engage in BDSM: she makes Zaboo wear a maid's outfit, whips him with a mouse cord, shoots him point-blank with a paintball gun, and ties him up. At first she was thrilled to meet Codex, another girl gamer, until she learned that Codex was an MMORPG player. This parodies the normal relationship between MOG and MMORPG players. Riley is played by Michele Boyd.
  • Zaboo's mother epitomizes the over-controlling mother. She had Zaboo microchipped to keep track of his movements, punches Codex for (in her belief) trying to take her son away from her, manipulates him through a series of probably false ailments, and gets Codex evicted for helping him break free of her. She is played by Viji Nathan.
  • Wade Wei is Codex's attractive neighbor and brief love interest. Not a gamer himself, Wade works as a martial arts stunt double; on first meeting Codex, he bumps into her and falls down some stairs, practicing a new stunt. He's fond of showing off his moves and flirting with Codex, making her extremely nervous. Having a queasy stomach, Codex vomits on him upon seeing him in makeup from a zombie movie he is playing in. He harbors a revulsion for gamers, expressing his desire to punch them. Ironically, he describes Codex's gaming-derived knowledge of weaponry as "sexy." Wade is played by Fernando Chien.
  • Dena is Bladezz' precocious little sister. She is first seen when she arrives at the table at Cheesybeards, just after Bladezz has informed the Guildies that he is in control of all the Guild gold and equipment, ruining his big exit. Dena often practices playing bass guitar in Bladezz' basement, to his annoyance. Dena is played by Tara Caso, the sister of Vincent Caso who plays Bladezz.

Production notes

Season 1

The Guild was originally intended to be a pilot episode for a TV series, but Felicia Day was advised that it would be much more suited for a web series. The show changed its format and script to fit a web series. The first episode "Wake-Up Call" premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. After the first three episodes, the group ran out of money; but a link to Day's PayPal brought enough donations to fund "Cheesybeards" and "Rather Be Raiding". The first season ended on May 15, 2008, consisting of 10 episodes and two specials (including the Christmas special, "Christmas Raid Carol").

The Guild season 1 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009. For Canadian audiences it was bundled with season 2, released on September 29, 2009, also available on Amazon.com.

Season 2

Filming for season 2 began in August 2008. "Link the Loot" premiered on Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video on November 25, 2008. Season 2 ended with "Fight!" on February 17, 2009 and featured "Love During Wartime" by the Main Drag, as well as visual effects by Doug Luberts.

On November 24, 2008, Microsoft announced an exclusive distribution deal with Guild creator Felicia Day. All twelve episodes of season 2 premiered on Xbox 360, Zune, and MSN, with a four-week delay for release on The Guild's official website. The Microsoft releases will be free, but supported by Sprint advertisements and product placements.[17][18] Creator Felicia Day retains the IP rights to the series, with Microsoft paying an "unspecified" license fee upfront.[19] Sometime in late February 2009, when all episodes of season two had been released, Day and her team were free to sign a new nonexclusive distribution deal should they choose to do so.[20]

The Guild season 2 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009. It contains commentary tracks, gag reels, a "Play All" function, audition footage, "behind the scenes" documentary, and more. It was also released for the Canadian audience along with season 1 on Amazon.com.

Season 2 was nominated for eleven Streamy Awards and won three: Best Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day).

Season 3

On August 17, 2009, a music video – "(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar" by Felicia Day – was released on Xbox Live to promote season 3, which would premiere on August 25, 2009 on Xbox Live for members with Gold Accounts first. Later it was announced that it would be released for members with Silver Accounts, as well as Zune and MSN Video users, on September 1, 2009.[21] The season premiered with "Expansion Time" on August 25, 2009 and ended on November 24, 2009 with "Hero". The season featured guest star Wil Wheaton as the leader of a rival guild out to destroy the Knights of Good.

Season 4

In April 2010, The Guild's official website announced the show was renewed by Microsoft for a fourth season.[22] On June 9, 2010, the official recap of season 3 was posted on Bing; the video included a message that season 4 would begin on July 13, 2010

References

  1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grCTXGW3sxQ The Guild: The Guild - Episode 1: Wake-Up Call
  2. ^ a b Felicia Day Talks New Season of The Guild, Xbox Deal, Wired Magazine
  3. ^ Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: An Oral History, Entertainment Weekly
  4. ^ Staff (N.D.). "Felicia Day". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-01-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Holisky, Adam (August 20, 2007). "Interview with Felicia Day from "The Guild"". WOW Insider. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  6. ^ Girls Don’t Game » Interview with Felicia Day of The Guild
  7. ^ Wagner, James Au (October 31, 2007). "NewTeeVee Pick: The Guild". NewTeeVee. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  8. ^ All smiles as web shows come of age, The Observer
  9. ^ "The Guild #1 (Georges Jeanty Cover)". March 31, 2010.
  10. ^ The Net's Best Serial Shows[dead link], Rolling Stone Magazine
  11. ^ http://www.watchtheguild.com/fans/first-guild-tribute-song/
  12. ^ "2007 YouTube Video Awards: Winners". YouTube. March 21, 2008.
  13. ^ "The Guild And "Knock Off" Take Top Honors At The Greenlight Awards". ON Networks. March 11, 2008.
  14. ^ Kent (March 21, 2008). "The Yahoo! Video Awards: The Results!". Y! Video Blog. Yahoo!.
  15. ^ Hustvedt, Marc (March 29, 2009). "The Streamy Awards: A Night Full of Winners". Tubefilter News.
  16. ^ Staff (N.D.). "Jeff Lewis (IX)". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-01-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Lindsey, Brendon (2008-11-24). "Microsoft Signs Exclusivity Deal to Distribute "The Guild"". News. GameCyte. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  18. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (2008-11-24). "Triple "Guild" play for Microsoft". Article. Reuters. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  19. ^ Brophy-Warren, Jamin (August 25, 2009). "How the Web Series 'The Guild' Stays Successful". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  20. ^ Hustvedt, Marc (2008-11-24). "'The Guild' Lands Microsoft and Sprint In Exclusive Deal"". News. Tubefilter News. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  21. ^ Day, Felicia (2009-08-25). "The Guild Season 3 Premiere on Xbox! The Guild Season 3 Premiere on Xbox!".
  22. ^ "The Guild Season 4". 2010-04-14.
Further reading

Streaming webisodes

In-universe websites

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