reformat the planet
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Chiptunes documentary "Reformat the Planet" now available to watch in its entirety on Hulu
You may or may not know that chiptunes have a very special place in our hearts. Regardless, the documentary about the people behind this intriguing genre, Reformat the Planet is an enthralling watch for music fans and nerds alike -- it's a film we seriously really enjoyed. Well, now you can watch it on the internet -- Hulu, to be specific -- where it belongs. In fact, we're so crazy, we've embedded it after the break. Woohoo!
Reformat the Planet DVD arrives at (more) retailers December 7
The DVD version of Reformat the Planet, 2 Player Productions' chiptunes-centric documentary, has been available through some obscure online channels since this past summer. However, folks hoping to receive it as a gift from a not-so-tech-savvy relative should have better luck in a couple of weeks when select retailers, including Amazon, will begin carrying the film starting December 7 -- making it much easier for Uncle Grandma to find the movie, wrap it and place it beneath your chosen holiday's gift-hiding object. The DVD, which includes two discs' worth of bonus features, director's cuts and commentaries, will cost your beloved holiday shopper $25, which seems like a fairly reasonable price to pay for a movie capable of making you dance forever.
'Reformat the Planet' chiptune doc on DVD this month, Laserdisc version slated for 2012
It's no secret that we love chiptunes around here, so we'll just go ahead and say that we're super stoked about Reformat the Planet, an in-depth look at one of the few groups of people we can unequivocally say are geekier than we are: those who make music with Game Boys, NES's, and C64's. 2 Player Productions has combined footage from the insane Blip Festival with up-close-and-personals with some of our favorite retro-gaming musicians -- Nullsleep, Glomag, Tugboat and Bubblyfish -- for a thorough portrait of the rapidly-growing scene. A little art, a little science, a lot of awesome. The 2-disc set is out on August 24th, but for now, you can check the trailer (which includes an introduction to square-wave moshing) after the jump.
Chiptune documentary 'Reformat the Planet' on DVD August 24
Reformat the Planet is a documentary by 2 Player Productions about the 2006 Blip Festival and the artists who helped put it together (and then played a bunch of amazing chip music on stage), including Nullsleep, Glomag, Bit Shifter, Hally, Anamanaguchi, and more. 2PP just announced the date for the long-awaited DVD release: August 24. The two-disc package includes the original movie, as well as a "Reformat the Planet 1.5" featurette that follows up with the next couple of years of the New York chiptune scene (a clip of that can be found after the break). The discs also have music videos and songs from some of the included artists. In addition, 2PP partnered with Fangamer to create some lovely merchandise that can be purchased in bundles with the DVD. If you want to look like a person who knows a lot about music made with Game Boys, you can buy a shirt, square buttons (how is this possible?), a poster, and Blip Festival DVDs and CDs. Then you can watch the movie and actually know a lot about it!
Watch the Blip Festival documentary free for one week
One of the most surprising films in the sort of "Holy crap? What the heck?! This is cool!" vein to come out of SXSW film festival earlier this year was Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet. It's all about chiptune music and the performers, and is beautifully shot. It's hard to imagine Nintendo thinking people would be hacking into their Game Boys in order to create full-fledged concerts, concerts that would one day spark a feature documentary and an entire genre of music.For one week, you can watch the impressive documentary at Pitchfork.tv. It's even broken up into bite-sized chapters for you. Give it a looksee and you'll find yourself toe-tapping along to the addictive 8-bit music throughout the film. It's beaten Wizard Rock as our current favorite geek music of choice.[Thanks, Eliot]
