The Moviewatch 2009 Highlight Reel
by Michael Gray 
Jan 1st 2010 at 12:00PM
2009 was a pretty good year for machinima. We saw some new work, new artists, and new ideas hit the WoW movie scene. We even saw the resurgence of some friendly old faces, as well as the completion of a few legendary projects. This was a transformative year in many ways, and I'm excited to see what might come around as a result in 2010.
What follows behind the cut are about 10 memorable movies from 2009. They are in no particular order. Since so much is in the eye of the beholder, I didn't even try and consider a "best of" list for 2009 machinima. There's no doubt important movies that aren't on the list, so I'm not even saying these are the 10 most important. These are just 10 movies (and creators) who have stood out in the minds of WoW.com's team of crack journalists.
1. Cloud 9 by Zimtower
Still one of the most beautiful movies I've seen this year, Cloud 9 by ZImtower is a breath-taking display of skill and acumen. I'm still amazed, nearly a year later, at the amazing graphics and fantastic pairing of video and audio. Cloud 9 establishes without any doubt why Zimtower can be hailed as one of machinima's true masters.
2. Ulduar - Defiance
Atraira's trilogy of footage from the raid instance Ulduar went through a couple name changes this year. It started off as Ulduar: Defiance, and eventually seemed to morph into Ulduar: The Movie. Outside a bit of name confusion, however, no machinima cements the power and imagination of Ulduar's story like Artraira's series. I regularly encourage anyone interested in the lore of Ulduar to check out this video, especially if you didn't get to do the raid yourself. It's an astounding piece of work, and does a great job chronicling that epic instance.
3. Cruel, Cruel Moon
No discussion of the year's machinima could be complete without Cruel, Cruel Moon. First, obviously, Spiff's ongoing dedication to bringing the music and comedy of Jonathan Coulton has produced several fantasic movies. Secondly, with Cataclysm lurking around the edges of the forest, now's a great time to be producing material about Worgen.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Casper Jan 1st 2010 12:23PM
Cruel cruel moon is awesome
Mike Jan 1st 2010 12:24PM
No mention of 'Don't make me get my main'?
Falcon6 Jan 1st 2010 1:15PM
I'm thinking they were trying to minimalize multiple artists' works. Seeing as how Cranius is already in the list with Ulduar, they didn't want to add him twice. You know, give everyone a fair shake.
Javic Jan 1st 2010 12:42PM
Blind was the best movie of the year.
ROB13 Jan 1st 2010 1:36PM
Blind was released in December of 2008. It was Reposted by WoW.com in 2009 because it was some of the best Machinima we have ever seen. If it were to go on the list, it would be there, but since this is 2009, it won't be on there.
Transit Jan 1st 2010 12:43PM
Maybe I missed it on the list, but I would have added "Blind" by Percula.
http://www.wow.com/2009/07/17/wow-moviewatch-craft-of-war-blind/
Zeplar Jan 1st 2010 12:58PM
I think it was an oversight... although they did decide that Blind was not machinima, because of the editing program he used or something.
Khremloc Jan 1st 2010 1:29PM
I'm positive BLIND was released in 2008. At least that's when it appeared on YouTube.
Transit Jan 1st 2010 1:34PM
Oh!
First I heard of it was when Wow.com posted it this summer. I thought it was made this year.
Sorry about that.
Khremloc Jan 1st 2010 1:36PM
No worries, I think wow.com has featured it multiple times just because it's that good. :D
Randomrestodruid Jan 1st 2010 1:11PM
"Warrior's Dream" and "Dream an Emerald Dream" should be on that list, best machinima this year.
ROB13 Jan 1st 2010 1:39PM
What? No "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like This Raid Isn't Going To Happen" It was Oxhorn's best work this year!
qoa Jan 1st 2010 4:39PM
Counting down the best overly filtered with after effects bloom fueled videos of people running through scenery, it's wowinsider.
wowcrendor Jan 1st 2010 6:03PM
I try to balance it out :)
Coldbear Jan 1st 2010 11:42PM
amen to that
NinthBatter Jan 2nd 2010 12:39AM
I take offense! I'll have you know that I have never used after effects!
And if there is a effects ringer to be had here it's wowcrendor. His last movie was made with a team from Industrial Light & Magic and the music score was by Danny Elfman. And did you know that Billy from WoW 101 was voiced by none other than Keith David!
Seriously though, you're complaining that people put time and effort into making a fan-made film that had probably taken the good part of a month to make? Because all I've seen from this list or any movie watch is people who truly love the game. Nobody does it for the money cause there isn't any.
I personally do it for the ladies. I mean let's face it, nothing is a quiet a turn on as a guy who make films about warcraft.
JC_Icefox Jan 2nd 2010 4:00AM
You never watched BLIND. Your argument is invalid, and you are not a nice person.
Rage on the internets rawrawrawr.
qoa Jan 3rd 2010 6:32PM
I actually watch all of these, so long as the first minute isn't all titles and characters walking through forests with harsh effects and bad techno. So I watch a couple of them.
baronsoosdon Jan 1st 2010 5:01PM
No 'Never Stay Tuned 4'?
Coldbear Jan 1st 2010 11:47PM
Made my Best of WoW *EVER* list, not that I'm bigtime or anything.
http://coldbear.wordpress.com/best-of-wow/
And yeah, this list is music and machinima only, so not's like it's representative of WoW-movies in general of the past year, but hey - he selects the stuff he likes with no regard for the playerbase at large.