Fire Team Charlie (machinima)

Fire Team Charlie is a machinima created by Fire Team Charlie Productions, distributed by xboxottowa.com. It currently spans 18 episodes. Its first few episodes had no relevance to the plot, but by the fifth episode characters were introduced and a story was installed. In Fire team Charlie (FTC), a team of soldiers tries to stop an army of 2 dimensional beings from taking over the world.

Episode 1: "The Rocket Toss"

 * Released: June 20 2003
 * Runtime: 1 minute, 51 seconds

A lone Red Spartan drives across the ice on Sidewinder, slips into the Blue Teams base and steals their flag, then exits by warthog. Three unknown Blue Team members appear to discuss the situation (there are no voices) before one soldier “sends” another a rocket launcher. The warthog is destroyed and the Red soldier killed.

Episode 2: "The Tunnel Trap"

 * Released: July 3 2003
 * Runtime: 1 minute, 51 seconds

A lone Red team member sneaks into Blue teams base on Sidewinder and steals their flag. He runs through the tunnels and slips through the gate and appears to be safe. Back at Blue base two soldiers complain that their commander let him escape, but he assures them everything is fine. In the tunnels the Red Spartan hears a loud gong, and then a warthog falls from the sky and crushes him to death.

Episode 3: "The Terminator"

 * Released: July 11 2003
 * Runtime: 3 minutes, 32 seconds

A Spartan in black armour runs over midfield in Bloodgulch while The Terminator theme plays. He is spotted by a Blue team member perched in a tree who offers to shoot him, but another Blue member, Austin, offers to kill the Black Spartan with his rocket launcher. After many direct hits from rockets, then grenades and a full clip from Austin’s pistol the Black soldier still advances as if superhuman, then kills Austin. The Blue soldier in the tree, Uncle Harry, and Eddie run for ghosts and flee the terminator. They “jump out” of Bloodgulch and continue fleeing across many levels until they arrive at what they believe to be a mirror universe. They then witness themselves being killed by the Terminator.

Episode 4: "Special Operations"

 * Released: July 19 2003
 * Runtime: 3 minute, 38 seconds

A Blue soldiers approaches another in a warthog and asks to “tag along”. His commander refuses so he returns to his peers behind the base where they complain together, then turn on music and dance. Meanwhile a warthog with two Red team members approaches the Blue base and one Red soldier launches off the hog directly into the top of Blue base. He steals their flag but is spotted by the dancing Blues when he attempts to exit the rear and a chase ensues. By chance, the Red soldier escapes with the flag and warps and appears to be away. Suddenly, the Blue commander drives off the top of Bloodgulch in his warthog and crashes directly on the Red soldier, killing him. The remaining Blue soldiers return the flag.

Episode 5: "Jonathan and the Blood Gulch Conspiracy"

 * Released: July 27 2003
 * Runtime: 3 minutes, 36 seconds

Three Red Spartans approach the caves in Bloodgulch in a warthog. Jonathan, who appears to be in charge, and Clip-Doodle-Bot, an android, enter to search the caves while Silent Pete stays and guards the warthog. Clip is slightly hesitant, but Jonathan convinces him it's entirely safe, and that they don’t need their commander’s approval. Inside they discover a deceased Green soldier with a 'Super Weapon'. Jonathan collects the weapon and as he is showing Clip, Clip runs away scared. Jonathan turns to see a mysterious 2D creature, gasps, and backs out of the cave slowly.

Episode 6: "FTC6: Squatting Bear"

 * Released: August 4 2003
 * Runtime: 5 minutes, 55 seconds

The episode begins with a Red soldier, Cobalt, returning to Red Base on Sidewinder in a warthog and parks it in a long line of vehicles. He enters the Red base passed a dozen or more soldiers arming and reloading. He informs his master, Mr. Smite, that he has “stolen the Indian’s last warthog”. The scene switches to Blue base where DigiPad is searching for Squatting Bear, who is meditating above Sidewinder. Digipad hurriedly informs Squatting Bear that his warthog has been stolen, who intern instructs Digipad to remain at the Blue base while he “settle(s) this matter”. Squatting Bear uses a sniper rifle to kill a few Red soldiers, thus persuading Mr. Smite to send his entire team to kill Squatting Bear. Squatting Bear handles the Red Team easily and even scares one Red soldier into committing suicide by ‘quitting’. Squatting Bear enters the Red base, confronts Mr. Smite and finds his warthog. After killing Mr. Smite he drives the warthog out of the top of the base.

Episode 7: "Combat Evolved, Evolved!"

 * Released: September 6 200
 * Runtime: 2 minutes, 15 seconds

Two Red Team soldiers stand on top of their base in Bloodgulch while one lectures the other about the impossibility of cheating. While talking, the senior soldier believes he hears a warthog, but a scan of the surrounding terrain clearly shows no vehicle. Then they see the warthog, it is flying towards them and lambasting the base with rockets. After killing the senior Red soldier and forcing the other to cower in the base, a Blue soldier drops out of the hovering warthog directly onto the Red flag, then leaps an extraordinary height back into the warthog as it flies away, leaving the Red soldier in disbelief. The junior Red solder then begins to trash talk FTC, and as if they can hear him, slam on their brakes and turn around to kill him by running him over.

Episode 8: "Super Weapon"

 * Released: September 18 2003
 * Runtime: 4 minutes, 59 seconds

Jonathan exits the cave behind Clip-Doodle-Bot and expresses his excitement to Silent Pete over what had just occurred in the caves. He proceeds to test the 'Super Weapon' and discovering its awesome power, covertly advances to Green Base without his teammates. Jonathan advises Green Team to throw down their weapons and forces them to surrender their flag after destroying a warthog and killing many men with the 'Super Weapon'. The following scene shows Jonathan meeting a Blue soldier above Bloodgulch who trades his Blue flag for Jonathan’s captured Green flag. Jonathan then returns to Red Base and tries to explain to his superior, Commander Kelly, and Clip and Silent Pete why he has a Blue flag. He is very vague in his explanation; he does not mention a Blue soldier and lies directly about the fate of the 'Super Weapon'.

Episode 9: "FTC9: Deception"

 * Released: November 24 2003
 * Runtime: 5 minutes, 4 seconds

The three Blue Japanese soldiers, Yoshi and his subordinates, are in the Bloodgulch caves with Moogle and Green teams flag. They are discussing how to acquire the ‘Super Weapon’. Meanwhile, Clip-Doodle-Bot confronts Jonathan and asks him to explain why he is lying to their commander. Jonathan vaguely explains what is going on in Blood Gulch to Clip and how he fears an invasion by 2D creatures. He states that he is going to prevent this from happening when he is crushed and killed by a falling Warthog. As Clip runs to Jonathan in astonishment one of the Japanese wise men approaches from the other side, grabs the ‘Super Weapon’ and returns to the caves under fire from Clip. The shock and horror of Jonathan’s death overloads Clip and he changes into a 'Terminator' killing machine. As the Terminator he chases after the Blue’s and when they warp from the caves the Terminator follows. He then re-appears in the Blue base on Sidewinder where he encounters a Blue soldier, Squatting Bear. He mistakes the innocent Squatting Bear for the Blue soldier who killed Jonathan and vows to kill him. Meanwhile Kelly gets a call from Green Team who are angry about the theft of their flag (they believe that Jonathan still has it).

Episode 10: "FTCX"

 * Released: January 19 2004
 * Runtime: 11 minutes, 29 seconds

Commander Kelly and Silent Pete discover Jonathan’s body crushed badly under the warthog when Kelly thinks Jon is napping. Green Team then approaches on multiple warthogs and demands their flag back, which the Reds don’t have. Kelly believes that Green team killed Jon because he stole their flag and refuses to co-operate. He throws a grenade at the Green’s and with Pete he flees to the hills behind the base where Green Team traps them under heavy fire. At the same time on Sidewinder a fierce battle rages between Squatting Bear and the Terminator, where both appear to be indestructible. As the scene changes we find a confused Jonathan in the void of space and is then met by 'The Guardians'. They instruct him to correct things on Halo, restore his life and send him back to the ring. On Sidewinder, as the two combatants degrade to simply hitting each other, Squatting Bear’s sidekick Digipad arrives with a giant rocket launcher. DigiPad sacrifices his own life to save Squatting Bear’s and blows the Terminator and himself to pieces. Back in Bloodgulch Green team has maneuvered a tank into place and is preparing to kill Kelly and Pete when Jonathan, falling from the sky, lands on the tank and inadvertently kills all of Green Team. At the end of the credits the scene skips to "10 years later" and the opening scene from episode 3 which implies the Terminator’s survival.

Episode 11: "Mount Hang Em' High"

 * Released: March 4 2004
 * Runtime: 6 minutes, 55 seconds

Commander Kelly and Silent Pete descend from the hills to find Jonathan, who explains that the Guardians sent him back. Kelly asks if Jon received any special powers as a new Messiah and Jonathan warns him that the Blue flag is actually a bomb. Unsure what happened to Clip-Doodle-Bot but assuming he deserted, Kelly decides that he and Jonathan should go to Mount Hang 'Em High to see the android maker Gibson and acquire a new one. At Sidewinder we see Squatting Bear mourning over Digipad’s grave. He throws down his weapon and returns to his base where he is too torn up to speak with his roommates, the Japanese wise men. At Mount Hang 'Em High we meet Gibson, of Yellow team, and his army of androids who manufacture oversized weapons. Kelly gets one android, it is painted red and leaves with Jon and Kelly.

Episode 12: "Turrets and Healthpacks"

 * Released: May 24 2004
 * Runtime: 6 minutes, 57 seconds

Returning to Red base with their new android Commander Kelly and Jonathan discover that Silent Pete is missing. In place of the healthpack Pete was supposed to be guarding is a pool of blood. They spot Pete running along the ledge with the Red flag in his hands as he is being chased by a Green soldier. Without notice the android fires a rocket and kills the Green soldier. Pete returns the flag and shows Commander Kelly that the healthpack is safe. For no apparent reason the Red team decides to blow up the tank that Green Team left behind. They assemble a large pile of grenades and instruct their new android to hold his flame thrower on them to ignite the pile. When the pile explodes a shockwave fills the canyon and a large rock goes flying, landing on three members of Green team. Red team notices that the turret is missing as well and it is shown to have impaled the fourth Green soldier, the Pointman. The android is shown flying around the canyon.

Episode 13: "Bigboy"

 * Released: July 9 2004
 * Runtime: 21 minutes, 14 seconds

The episode begins with the Moogle warping out of Damnation into the 2-Dimensional realm. The Moogle gives Samus the green flag, adding it to her collection of flags, but Samus indicates that she would rather have something else, precisely what that is goes unknown. Meanwhile, the Red team is driving around Bloodgulch in their turret-less tank trying to get the android down from the sky. Jonathan believes he sees the android descend however it is actually an escape pod. Jon and Pete inspect the pod and find three Grunts, who appear unarmed but in fact have rocket launchers. Red team surrenders and Silent Pete is killed when he is forced to walk into the burning wreckage of the pod. In the Blue base on Sidewinder Squatting Bear overhears the three Japanese wise men laughing about Digipad’s death. He confronts his roommates and explains calmly how he will kill them. Under heavy rocket fire Squatting Bear runs across the ice and when about to be hit by three rockets somehow stops them in mid air. He kills the three Japanese wise men, two with his trademark sniper rifle and the third, presumably Yoshi, by pulling Digipad’s tombstone from the ground and smashing Yoshi in the face with it, then impaling him with it. Just then he hears the Moogle steal his warthog, presumably on Samus’ orders. He decides to seek out his unknown brother. By this point the Grunts are about to kill another member of the Red team when Squatting Bear appears and saves Jon and Kelly. As he is explaining what he knows of the 2D alliance the android finally descends and kills Squatting Bear from behind. Kelly kills the android and heads of to Hang ‘Em High with Jon to collect a refund from Gibson. As they run through Chiron they encounter Gibson who is scared, ranting of some ‘Bigboy’. Jon and Kelly convince him to show them the way to Hang ‘Em High so they can see for themselves. When they arrive they find a large number of angry androids and prepare to fight.

Episode 13(b): "Pointman or Picard"

 * Released: September 6 2004
 * Runtime: 8 minutes, 16 seconds

The episode follows a Green team field inspector, Brian Linden, on a mission to establish Green teams progress for a report to Green team shareholders. He questions them on their fifteen KIA commanding officers, 7 warthogs and a battle tank lost to the enemy, and the loss of their flag to a single red soldier. He then inspects their current projects which include remote controlled warthogs, a cloning machine, and a giant helmet to prevent soldiers from being crushed from falling warthogs. All but the giant helmet are complete failures; the automatic warthogs go berserk, the clones are unmotivated and are then killed by the uncontrollable warthogs. After the demonstration and a pep talk Linden leaves and ends up trapped in a mysterious room with two other Green team soldiers who appear to have been there a great while.

Episode 14: "Short and Tall"

 * Released: September 26 2004
 * Runtime: 6 minutes, 3 seconds

Jonathan, as always, refuses to listen to Commander Kelly and instead instigates a battle with the entire android army. Gibson and Kelly run and take shelter. Jon rampages and wipes out hundreds of androids, while appearing to take no injuries, much like Squatting Bear or the Terminator. Jonathan appears to be winning but is captured by the 'BigBoy' android.

Episode 15: "Do not pass go, do not collect 200 GP"

 * Released: November 2 2004
 * Runtime: 9 minutes, 10 seconds

The episode starts in what appears to be a dream. Squatting Bear is running from Jonathan as Jonathan fires a rifle at him. Squatting Bear wakes to find himself in a 2D-android prison and apparently has amnesia. He meets fellow inmate Madrewrew who informs him that two Tetris blocks brought him in earlier and that the rumor is they are to be integrated into the 2D’s. He tries to recall his name but can’t and emphatically explains that he has done no wrong. Madrewrew takes Squatting Bear for food where they apparently have the “world’s fastest chef”, E. Honda, while other 2D’s work around them such as Mario, Scorpion and Duke Nukem. Back at Mount Hang 'Em High, Kelly and Gibson search for Jonathan without results and also can’t find Gibson’s brother Tilo.

Episode 16: "From Bad to Worse"

 * Released: December 19 2004
 * Runtime: 13 minutes, 50 seconds

The episode begins with what appears to be a flash forward; Jonathan and Squatting Bear are on Earth and Jonathan is tracking an Elite. He kills the Elite and Squatting Bear sighs. Back in the present, Kelly and Gibson return to Red base on Bloodgulch to find a holographic transmission waiting. Fleet Admiral Funtz berates Kelly for letting Silent Pete’s death and Jonathan’s capture. He tells Kelly there can be no more screw ups since Moogle has “Weapons of Time Reduction” and sends two new recruits to help; Sergeant Reese and Private Emmamo who are flown in by dropship. In the 2D-android prison we see the Moogle escorting Jonathan to 'The Scheduler' who is the founder of the 2D-Mecha Alliance. He demands Jonathan tell him who the Guardians are. Squatting Bear recognizes Jonathan but can’t recall his name or why he knows him. Back in Bloodgulch Commander Kelly is lying to the new recruits about the battle with the androids at Hang ‘Em High and then proceeds to leave to fin Jonathan without telling Gibson, who wasn’t finished fixing the vehicle. Consequently it crashes, killing the recruits, and Kelly gets stuck in a bumbleberry tree outside Green Base. Green team begins throwing rocks at Kelly who is defenseless in the tree.

Episode 17: "The Worst of Both Worlds"

 * Released: January 21 2005
 * Runtime: 12 minutes, 15 seconds

Kelly is knocked out of the tree by Green Team’s stones. He falls on the ground and begs for mercy as Green team approaches but suddenly vanishes, leaving the dim-witted Green’s confused as always. He appears in the Guardians Realm with Jonathan, Squatting Bear and Gibson who are laughing at Kelly’s cowardly attitude. Jonathan reveals that they are not dead, but have been summoned to the realm because the Guardians have a special task for the four of them. The Guardians appear to inform them of their task after rebuking Jonathan for not doing anything productive. The four soldiers are instructed to return to their home: Earth. Their task is to prevent, by any means necessary, the Moogle from acquiring the final component of his Weapon of Time Reduction: 'a big long pointy thing'. As the four Spartans are being sent to Earth the “fourth wall” is broken and we learn that this is Jonathan’s first movie as director. The scene switches to the Halo 2 multiplayer map Zanzibar, where two actors are playing Jonathan and Squatting Bear. After a brief exchange of comments between the real Jonathan (who's directing) and the actors, the actor playing Squatting Bear quits. Jonathan ends shooting for the day, leaving Kelly and Gibson to conclude the episode by taking some phone calls.

Episode 18: "W.E.E."

 * Released: March 21 2005
 * Runtime: 7 minutes, 35

The Episode begins with a mysterious figure coming out of a building in a seemingly abandoned city. He appears to be cutting into a crate with a laser. Suddenly Kelly appears behind him and asks whether he knows where to find a 'big long pointy thing' as per his instructions from the Guardians. This causes the expected misunderstanding and Kelly, Gibson and the stranger are drawn into a standoff. The confusion is explained and the stranger promises to co-operate with them when he discovers that they are not Military Police, but have just arrived from Halo. Kelly and Gibson question the stranger and inquire to the lack of people in the city. He informs them that the Covenant began invading Earth twenty four hours previous, and that all human forces have been routed, and the city was evacuated. He tells them that he is going to continue looting elsewhere, but he knows someone called 'Guy' (a French name, pronounced "Gee" with the hard G sound) who can help them find a 'big long pointy thing', he warns them to avoid the MP's as they will shoot on sight. The scene changes to Squatting Bear and Jonathan on the beaches of Zanzibar. They have been pinned down by The Covenant, but Jonathan instructs Squatting Bear to assassinate the Covenant leader while their "technologically advanced weapons" recharge. Squatting Bear fires and kills the Elite.

Jonathan
Jonathan is the protagonist of FTC. He was first introduced in episode 5, when he and Clip Doodle Bot enter a cave, where they find Moogle, leader of the 2-Ds. Jonathan finds a plasma pistol that fires god-like plasma bolts, and uses it to take the green flag. He was killed in episode 9 by the Japanese blue team members, and was resurrected by the guardians "to correct the imbalance". He was given super human fighting powers when resurrected by the guardians.

Clip Doodle Bot
Clip Doodle Bot is an android manufactured by Gibson in Yellow Team's Mount Hang 'Em High. He was with Jonathan when he went into the cave. He ran out, scared when he saw Moogle, not seeing Jonathan find the super pistol. When Jonathan was killed in episode 9, he becomes corrupted and turns into the Terminator. His armor turns black, and he becomes incredibly powerful. He begins to hunt the blue team mercilessly, until he got into a fight with Squatting Bear and was killed.

Silent Pete
Silent Pete is a member of red team who, for an unexplained reason, cannot speak. He is usually the member of the team left behind, like in episode 12 he was left to guard the red team's health pack. He is also a competent fighter, as he is able to hold off the green team when they attacked.

Commander Kelly
Commander Kelly is the commanding officer of the red team. He wields the deleted gravity rifle in all of the Halo CE episodes, showing that FTC uses many cheats and hacks in it.

Squatting Bear
Squatting Bear is the main character of the blue team, and the best fighter in the series. He is nearly invincible, and he is also Jonathan's brother, as revealed by the guardians. He is the sole surviving member of the blue team.

Digi-pad
Digipad is Squatting Bear's blue team companion and best friend. He informs Squatting Bear that his Warthog had been stolen. After Squatting Bear got into a fight with Clip Doodle Bot, he showed up with an oversized Rocket Launcher (presumably bought from Gibson) and killed Clip/Terminator and himself to save Squatting Bear. He was buried by Squatting Bear next to a Sniper Rifle.

The Japanese Guys
Three Japanese members of the blue team, who help Moogle in his conquest of the 3-D world. They are eventually killed by Squatting Bear. The only name mentioned is Yoshi, who has the ability to make Warthogs fall out of the sky to crush/splatter enemies

Random Members
The members of green team, who change quite often due their frequent deaths.

The Point Man
The Point Man is the only green member to last. He uses a sniper rifle. In episode 12, the tank turret hits him in the gut, he is stuck in the ground for three days, until he is eaten by mice looking for cheese in his pocket.

The Inspector
The Inspector is checking on Green Team's progress on behalf of their investors. He finds out about the green's immense failure, and is subsequently sent through the teleporter, trapping him in a room with the two previous inspectors.

Gibson
Gibson is the android maker on Mount Hang Em High. He is Kelly's best (And most likely only) friend. He is one of Four Main Characters to go to Earth (the other three were Jonathan,Commander Kelly, and Squatting Bear) in episode 16.