WoW Moviewatch: Trev and Eroth: Episode 1 - Desperate Measures
by Michael Gray 
Dec 9th 2009 at 12:00PM
I posted last month about the trailer for this movie, so I'm especially happy to present the final release of Trev and Eroth: Episode 1 - Desperate Measures. Created by Giordano, this movie is set sometime between Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm. Troubled times force the peoples of Azeroth to take a hard look at their leadership, and Trev and Eroth are in a place to do something about it.
There's a lot to recommend this movie. Not only is the plot and scripting interesting, the visual effects are wonderful. Giordano has done a lot to raise the bar in this movie, and I'm very curious to see what he might do next. Giordano has really used new software to improve his movies, and my hat is totally off to him for expanding into new territory.
If you have trouble viewing the embed, you can also check it out over on Myndflame.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Skonged Dec 9th 2009 12:22PM
Video board me to tears.
Lornicide Dec 9th 2009 12:27PM
Ok, this is driving me nuts....I was watching a WoW machinima about a month ago (may have been mentioned here, but can't find it) about a Paladin on a quest to kill a dragon. It was something like "The Never Ending Quest".
I didn't finish watching all of the past episoded and now I can't find it anywhere.
Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks
NinthBatter Dec 9th 2009 12:42PM
Chronicle of the Annoying Quest i think is what you're looking for.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Chronicle_of_the_Annoying_Quest
Unexpected EOF Dec 9th 2009 12:43PM
The machinima you are referring to is probably "Chronicle of the Annoying Quest"
Lornicide Dec 9th 2009 12:52PM
That's it. Thanks.
My Google-Fu was failing me...trying different combinations of "Paladin, Endless, Never Ending, Quest, movie, machina" was not producing results. :)
ben Dec 9th 2009 10:18PM
Ninthbatter... hey, are you the guy who makes Nobody like you? i love that show! :D
JLocke Dec 9th 2009 1:12PM
bad voice acting in my opinion, couldn't imitate a dwarf to save his life
FireStar Dec 9th 2009 1:27PM
Unfortunately i agree. a great deal of time was spent to make this movie likely, but it seemed the voice acting was some last minute thing put in as if it was no importance.
Jack Draven Dec 9th 2009 1:32PM
I tried, I really did, but 10 min in and I gave up. It was all very jerky and fuzzy. Seemed rather disjointed with bad transitions between scenes. It's obvious that they've put a lot of thought into their idea but the video itself came off as very rushed, severely lacking polish of any kind. Lots of potential but it fell well short of what it could have been.
DJKissler™ Dec 9th 2009 1:36PM
What's with the horrible interlacing. Progressive scan rendering would have been nice.
shatto.a Dec 9th 2009 1:38PM
Wins for liberal use of The Toasters, otherwise pretty meh.
Neuropox Dec 9th 2009 2:01PM
Has humorous potential, but fails to act on it in the end.
Wildthings Dec 9th 2009 2:10PM
The song "sung" by the band at 8:33 is the most amazing part of this movie, which I sadly had to stop watching at about 9mins. If someone could tell me who that is, many kisses your way! It's not bad as far as these things go, the voice over’s could have been a bit more clear and the transitions a tad more smooth, But all in all not as bad as the rest of you bags are bashing about. I've seen worse. It needs to be a tad shorter and stir up that plot boy's cause a girl's mind wonders a bit if there's no killing =D
Wildthings from Azgalor
Tomatketchup Dec 9th 2009 2:27PM
Aight, here's my opinion:
This movie is just dull. There were 2 good voice actors, it was the orc and one of the reporters that I found good, rest sucked. The humor in this movie just didn't work; All those jokes was just recycled garbage. If you're gonna parody politics then you should at least have sarcastic humor and not humor about a stupid president. It just isn't fitting, and I'm just gonna say like the night elf: Why are you talking about games for? There is no fun in talking about what game is the best! That's like talking about what somebody's favorite mammal is, it just isn't interesting to watch.
Plot was presented bad too. A gnome works on a bank, he gets called in to his boss, and he gets fired. Title screen. Nothing else? That's a dull opening, it doesn't really say anything special. Then his wife comes beating him up. Why she did that for? Sure, the reason is told a time after but when you watch it there it just confuses you and that is not a good thing, you're not supposed to confuse a viewer - not in that kind of way, at least.
While we are at it, scenes goes too fast too. You watch a scene for 15 seconds, literally, then it changes to something else. You don't really get to understand what is going on. The movie also explains too little about the sub-plots. Why did the people of Azeroth vote for a drugged stupid raper instead of somebody who... God knows what, and that is the problem, you don't explain either what's really going on. What did Boosh do wrong that made him so bad? What did that O-guy do to deserve the president job?
Overall, you need to work on the humor, the explaining of the plot and the voice acting. Graphics were great, plot could be worked on a little bit more than just making the whole thing parodying real life events in an unfunny manner. I wish you luck, and don't rush next time.
Also, Trev needs to stop saying "mate" and "bloody hell" every 2 sentances.
Giordano Dec 9th 2009 10:06PM
Well I can't expect everybody to like it, but you got to really think outside the box here.
First of all, the politics and real world parodies wasn't the primary object of the movie, it was just background information needed for the future episodes. It might of been redundant I'll agree, but when explaining something people will always criticize the lack of or the too much of it. I went with the lesser of two evils and decided to make it bigger.
For the wife beating up Eroth, I was just following a chronological timeline of the story. I'm sorry you couldn't wait for an explanation later, but, I wanted to do it that way. I'm more of a blunt guy, but that wouldn't be fitting for this occasion I thought.
Its funny how people always complain that scenes in movies are too long, so I try and shorten them up, BAM, it's too short now. I wanted to make it under 20 minutes so I had to cut out some of the transitions (I am truly sorry) but oh well. As for the O and Boosh thing, you gotta assume. It's okay to assume once in a while. Obviously, United States recently had a president that rhymes with Boosh and wasn't very popular. If you assumed and added stereotypes, its obvious why Boosh didn't win and why O won. You know, "If you elect McCain its going to be another 4 years of Bush" "Hope" "Change" etc. If you're not American I won't hold it to you, but if you are, come on it was obvious. Obvious enough I thought people wouldn't need an explanation.
Again, the only reason why the real world is referenced so much is too explain the later episodes. I just didn't want them to rob a bank with no reason at all.
--
Finally, for all you garbage posters, please do know the difference between useless criticism and constructive criticism. Movie Watch shows a new machinima every weekday, that's like 250 films a year. Not all of them are going to be the best thing besides God. Drop that stupid expectation and maybe you'll understand these movies a bit more.
Knowing how to make machinima would help too. A lot.
mmalsed Dec 10th 2009 2:48AM
I agree with ya, Tomatketchup. Honestly, it was one of the worst machinimas I've seen in a loong time - and just because there are a LOT of them or that they recommend one every day, doesn't mean that WOW needs to recommend bad ones. . . in fact, they don't NEED to do one every day, just do them when there are those to recommend.
Stereotypes? Yeah - O's behavior was far too stereotypical - offensively so.
Plot? Bud, if you want to keep anyone for further episodes, GRAB us in the first cause we ain't gonna watch the next (at least I'm not watchin. . . and I think T ain't either. . .)
Pace? T said it best.
Voice acting? Slow down the friggin dwarf, give the gnome some life (I know he's depressed, but on screen enunciation is KEY) . . .
and "There's a lot to recommend this movie. Not only is the plot and scripting interesting, the visual effects are wonderful. Giordano has done a lot to raise the bar in this movie, and I'm very curious to see what he might do next. Giordano has really used new software to improve his movies, and my hat is totally off to him for expanding into new territory." -
WHAAAA?
Tomatketchup Dec 11th 2009 12:32PM
Thanks for the comment Giordano. Scenes can be hard to make, but you made them far to short, and I mean faaar. I've never seen something so short before. Shorter than a gnome.
It maybe is that O and Boosh are obvious parodies in America, but here in Sweden where I live, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. If you want only americans to watch your machinima that's okay with me, but foreigners will not understand, thus your focusing your audience inside the box.
Still find the gnome-beating scene kind of rushed. Still think it should've been explained or just simply been longer to make the viewer understanding what was going on.
Can't agree with mmalsed on one point though: I will be watching your future episodes. When I've made stories (I don't make machinima but novels) it's always hardest at the start, so I can accept that your first episode was kinda rushed, but then you got to promise me not to make the machinima as rushed in the future! ;)
Rataar Dec 9th 2009 2:59PM
I thought the movie wasn't half bad. Of course, there were some technical issues and for the first couple minutes I was a tad confused, but as the ball started rolling it was easy to catch on.
I liked the whole political satire, and the obvious jabs at our current social issues. The comedy wasn't awful, although it could have been a tad more easy to follow. The only real thing that lost me is the inclusion of the Horde. I know that eventually their story will flesh out but for now they seem like a black sheep in the story, since nothing ever actually happens Hordeside.
The voice acting wasn't bad, it just wasn't all strictly "WoW" voices. What they did accomplish was making sure that everyone's voice was distinct from the other characters. All in all, though, it wasn't half bad.
I've gotta say this was pretty good, as far as machinima go. Of course, there are more high quality machinima out there, but there are also TONS of bad ones as well. Overall, I'd say 7/10.
mooseofmystery Dec 9th 2009 4:24PM
Lacking... Not terrible but its lacking. Voice acting can be improved, plot could be better linked together. There was potential in this movie the recession thing could have worked but it was very badly implemented, song in the middle was excellent though. Also, if you want to do a "homie" accent, you need to get someone who can do it or it will come out badly.
5.6/10 for me. But it can be improved certainly.
Slaytanic Dec 9th 2009 5:24PM
Wow, whole lotta QQ'ing. Like to see you guys do better.
I liked it, personally. Now the the intros of all the characters are out of the way, I'm looking forward to p2 , which should be a better pace.
And like Rataar pointed out, there was a lot of political satire which, if you don't pay attention to anything going on outside the game, really won't mean much to you, and yes, I could see why it would be considered boring. But I understood it all, making it very amusing.