The Guild (web series)

Infobox Television
show_name = The Guild


caption = "The Knights of Good". (left to right) : Clara, Vork, Bladezz, Codex, Zaboo, Tinkerballa.
show_name_2 =
genre = Comedy
creator = Felicia Day
director = Jane Selle Morgan
Greg Benson
developer =
presenter =
starring = Vincent Caso
Felicia Day
Jeff Lewis
Amy Okuda
Sandeep Parikh
Robin Thorsen
voices =
narrated =
theme_music_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer = Don Schiff
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 10
list_episodes =
executive_producer =
producer = Felicia Day
Kim Evey
Jane Selle Morgan
supervising_producer =
asst_producer =
co-producer =
editor =
story_editor =
location = Los Angeles
camera = Tahlee Booher
Carl Ratajski
runtime = Varies
network = [http://www.youtube.com/watchtheguild YouTube]
picture_format =
audio_format =
first_run =
first_aired = July 24, 2007
last_aired = Present
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website = http://www.watchtheguild.com
imdb_id = 1138475
tv_com_id =

"The Guild" is an award-winning [http://www.newsobserver.com/1566/story/995780.html "The Guild" and "Knock Off" Take Top Honors at the Greenlight Awards,"] "News & Observer", March 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.] online sitcom about the lives of an online guild "The Knights of Good", with each webisode 3-6 minutes long. The series is purposely kept generic to avoid copyright problems and to appeal to a wider audience of MMORPG fans. The first episode was posted July 27, 2007. It is broadcast on The Guild's personal website, on iTunes as a podcast, effinfunny.com and YouTube. The show follows the life of Codex, the healer of The Knights of Good, who attempts to lead a normal life after one of her guildmates shows up on her doorstep. The Guild is written by Felicia Day(who stars as Codex), directed by Jane Selle Morgan and Greg Bensen, and produced by Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey. In March, 2008, the series won the ON Networks/SXSW Greenlight Award for Best Original Production, an inaugural award to recognize promising new digital series, as well as the 2008 Yahoo! Video Award [http://www.yvideoblog.com/blog/2008/03/21/the-yahoo-video-awards-the-results/ The Yahoo! Video Awards: The Results!] , March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21.] and 2007 YouTube Video Award for Best Series.Elana Schor. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/21/usa.youtube?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews "YouTube awards celebrate buffalo battles and bouncing baby,"] "The Guardian" (United Kingdom), March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-22.] [http://www.youtube.com/ytawards07winners Winners, 2007 YouTube Video Awards] , March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21] [http://www.anchorcove.net/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=Ita-s-Official.-The-Guild-is-the-Best-Web-Series..html&Itemid=51 It's Official. The Guild is the Best Web Series] ,March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-26.] .

History

The guild was inspired and written by Day, an avid gamer, who until 2006 had been playing World of Warcraft. After a 2 year gaming addiction Day decided to make something productive from her experiences and wrote the series as a sitcom pilot. Day hoped to show that the stereotype of a man living in his parent's basement is not the only kind of gamer. Due to concerns that a wider (television) audience would not be receptive to the comparatively niche setting, she decided to follow through with it online with Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey. Day already knew Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis from the Empty Stage, a Los Angeles based comedy theatre, and their roles were written for them. The rest of the cast was filled through auditions. [ [http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/20/interview-with-felicia-day-from-the-guild/ Interview with Felicia Day from "The Guild" - WOW Insider ] ] [ [http://girlsdontgame.com/2007/09/13/interview-with-felicia-day-of-the-guild/ Girls Don’t Game » Blog Archive » Interview with Felicia Day of The Guild ] ]

After filming the first 3 episodes in just two and a half days they faced the problem of funding. After putting a donation link to Paypal the 4th and 5th episode were almost solely financed by donations. [ [http://newteevee.com/2007/10/31/the-guild/ NewTeeVee Pick: "The Guild"] ]

Plot

The plot focuses mainly on Codex, with each episode starting off with her vlog talking about how her life is going. The show starts with her attempting to control her online addiction and her therapist hanging up on her since she refuses to make a change in her life. While raiding, the guild realizes that Zaboo, the guild warlock, has not been online in 39 hours. The next moment, Codex's doorbell rings and there's Zaboo. Zaboo, as it turns out, has come to see Codex because he thinks they are dating, to which Codex is extremely surprised. When Codex tells the guild that she has found Zaboo, she finds out that the guild has another issue. Bladezz, the guild rogue, has been banned for 24 hours because of creating a macro and spamming "Fag" into a chat room a few thousand times. Faced with this and Zaboo at her house Codex suggests the guild meet in person since they are a local guild to discuss Bladezz and his behavior problems.

The guild decides to meet at Cheesybeards, a theme restaurant. Once the guild manages to locate each other, they find out that Vork, the guild leader, did not invite Bladezz to the meeting to discuss his insubordinate behavior. While discussing Bladezz, he shows up at the restaurant. Bladezz reminds them that Vork had transferred the entire guild bank to one of his alts the previous week. Thus if Bladezz was kicked out of the guild, they would lose 6 months worth of gear, gold and gathered material.

After the meeting with the guild, Codex tells Zaboo she wants him to leave. Online, Clara's babysitter has quit and she needs a replacement. Vork volunteers since the meeting took a large portion of his savings, but Tink, in an effort to punish him, tries to convince Clara to let her have the kids. Back at Codex's, Zaboo's mother shows up looking for him. After arguing all night, Zaboo's mother convinces him to come home with her. Meanwhile, the guild faces more trouble as Bladezz posts an inappropriate video of the guild on the official forums, depicting their avatars naked. Zaboo says goodbye to Codex, and tries to hang himself, Codex rushes to stop him.

Codex manages to stop Zaboo from hanging himself, where he then reveals that he can't drive because his mother insists on driving him to college every day, she forced him into the ladies room with her until he was fifteen and every time he tries to grow up she has a panic attack, ulcer or a breast polyp which she makes him feel. The only place Zaboo can find refuge from his mother is online. However, the previous week he caught his mother reading 'Internet for Dummies'. If she finishes reading it, he'll have nothing left.

Codex is touched by his plight, however the moment is broken when it is revealed that Codex accidentally left the mike switched on and the rest of the guild has heard his confession, to Clara's sympathy, Tink's amusement and Vork's embarrassment. Tink is surprised to see Clara online, who says she is just about to change for her pole-dancing class. Tink is outraged that she is watching Clara's "Sperm blossoms because she's training to be a stripper" and insists that she collect the kids straight away.

Bladezz suddenly comes online and taunts the other members of the guild about the loss of their guild bank. After Codex yells at him to return the bank and take down the video, he merely responds that he'll instead give some of their gear to random newcomers before signing off.

Zaboo suddenly works out a way to get Bladezz to return the guild bank and take the video down, if Codex helps him escape from his mother. After some hesitation, Codex agrees and tells the guild to meet at Cheesybeards again and for Tink to find a way to get Bladezz to come as well.

Bladezz meets the guild at Cheesybeards and Codex blackmails him with his amateur model photos that Zaboo managed to get hold of, Bladezz unwillingly gives the Guild their bank back and takes out the embarrassing video after leaving. As a part of the deal, Codex then says the Guild will help Zaboo defeat the most powerful and scary boss of all time - his mother.

As Zaboo's mother comes to pick him up, the Guild prepares for the "raid". After a heated argument with her, in which each Guild member assumes the role of their in-game class, they manage to defeat Zaboo's mother with the help of Bladezz, who suddenly appeared in the middle of the fight. Zaboo tries to go back to his mother but she hits him in the eye.

The season ends with the Guild walking out of the bar. Bladezz is welcomed back to the Guild as he says that it's a shame Zaboo's mom didn't drop any loot, the show delivers an open end when Zaboo hugs Codex and says "She left Codex some loot", to which she replies "Oh sh-" just as the final credits kick in.

Characters

*Codex - Real name Cyd Sherman. She is the healer (Priest). Codex was a child prodigy violinist, but now she is older and is at a crossroads in her life. Her father and ex-boyfriend are both gay and she has a tendency not to leave the house for weeks at a time. In the first episode she is trying to control the amount of time she spends online per day but ultimately fails, which leads to her therapist "breaking up" with her. Played by Felicia Day.

*Zaboo - Real name Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg. He is the Gnome Warlock of the guild. Shows up at Codex's house because he thinks they are dating. This turns out to be partially true because Codex has problems with the colon and semicolon when sending smiley faces and tends to type winks instead. Zaboo is a HinJew, a combination of Hindu and Jew. He likes to work with Photoshop and created a picture of Zaboo and Codex with her DMV photo. He also has a tendency to say words with "'d" on the end, such as "photoshopp'd" and "doorstepp'd". Played by Sandeep Parikh.

*Bladezz - Real name Simon. Bladezz is the guild Rogue. Clara describes him as the guild's retarded cousin. He has a tendency to hit on all the female guildmates. He has a little sister and appears to be about high school or college age. Played by Vincent Caso.

*Vork - Real name Herman Holden. He is the guild leader and fighter (Warrior). He enjoys managing the guild and budgeting. He took care of his grandfather full-time until last summer when he died. Vork still receives his grandfather's social security checks in the mail, which is how he supports himself. Played by Jeff Lewis.

*Clara - Real name Clara. She is the guild's Gnome Mage. Clara is a stay-at-home mother of three. Her three children are all young, with the youngest still breastfeeding. Clara is a little scatterbrained and an irresponsible mother, doing things like leaving her children in the car while at the guild meeting. Played by Robin Thorsen.

*Tinkerballa - Real name Tinkerballa (as far as the guild knows). She is the guild's ranger (Hunter). Tink is another young member of the guild, high school or college aged. She distances herself from the guild trying not to let them know anything about her personal life. When asked what she does for a living she gives the plot to Ugly Betty. She is known for her sweet face, and not so sweet mouth, along with her almost constant need to be entertained by video games, playing a Nintendo DS while raiding and at the meeting. Played by Amy Okuda

eason 1

First aired on 27 July, 2007; the guild ran until summer of 2008. The Season consisted of 10 Episodes and two specials (inculding a christmas special). The show was originally the pilot episode for a tv series; although changed in format and script to fit a web-series; the final episodes were not part of the original pilot for the tv series. The DVD is now available for purchase on the show's official web site.

eason 2

The second season of the guild is currently in pre-production and is expected to begin filming late August/ early September; with a roll-out (premiere) set for late September/ Early October.

Reception

The Guild has been greatly viewed by people on YouTube, beating out most other online shows that are featured on the website (in terms of viewership and acclaim). Moreover the show has been critically acclaimed through its variety of awards, along with its growth in popularity with viewers (leading to their win of the 2007 YouTube Awards - For best Series and 2008 Yahoo Award - for Best Series). The Show stands at 8.4/10 on the voting website IMDB.

Awards

* 2008 South by Southwest Greenlight Award – Best Original Digital Series Production [ [http://www.onnetworks.com/greenlight/winners The Greenlight Awards 2008: The Winners] , March 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-16]
* 2008 Yahoo! Video Award – Best Series [http://www.yvideoblog.com/blog/2008/03/21/the-yahoo-video-awards-the-results/ The Yahoo! Video Awards: The Results!] , March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21.]
* 2007 YouTube Award – Best Series [http://www.youtube.com/ytawards07winners Winners, 2007 YouTube Video Awards] , March 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-21.]

References

Links

* [http://www.watchtheguild.com/ The Guild's Homepage]
* [http://youtube.com/user/watchtheguild The Guild's YouTube page]
* [http://www.effinfunny.com/theguild The Guild] on Effinfunny.com
*
* [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/02/worth-watching.html Worth Watching: 'The Guild' mixes dorkdom with humor and cute chicks]