Retrograde

Retrograde
General Information
Series	Season 1
Episode	10
Production
Aired	August 19, 2024
Writer	Syp The Mighty Revoltge
Director	Syp The Mighty
Starring	Intro-Mind Ella Rhee Xanthe Folan Syp The Mighty Blankslate Revoltge TheIdsStudios HezArt1 Corvaeraas CaramelizedChaos
Continuity
Previous	Overture

Retrograde is the tenth and final episode of Season 1, as well as the tenth episode of Guard Duty overall.

Description

The end of the beginning.

Characters

Black Out Guards

• Geff Rodrigo
• Sarah Daws
• Nicole Vega
• June Vega
• Mitchell Miller

HQ

• Brigadier
• Valentine
• Denise Rocko
• Louie Vargas (corpse only)
• Blue (deactivated)
• Pink (deactivated)
• Alana Reynolds (mentioned only)

The Damned

• Corvus
• Riel
• Kazi
• Fazeka

Other

• Emery Eden
• Prim
• Frank Collins

Trivia

• This is the longest episode to date, clocking in at 21 minutes and nearly three times as long as Classic Season 1 overall.
• The music composition while Sarah, Nicole, and June discuss the SPARTAN-IV Program was composed by Cole Vakassian just days before the episode aired.
• Syp The Mighty learned to mod her PC copy of The Master Chief Collection for the shots of Emery's pelican in this episode, editing still images of the pelican for specific shots while using the in-game footage for select shots due to the lack of splitscreen in that game's PC version. This was due to not wanting to compromise on the pelican's presence, feeling it to be integral to the story.
• This episode reveals that Corvus is familiar with Emery by her reaction to his presence.
• Emery steals the chest plate of Louie Vargas, as he had done in WarGames.
• Geff mentions his dad teaching him to cook, an allusion to Sarah mentioning him to be the only one who was able to cook within the outpost during Annoyances.
• Miller's line of questioning about Geff's dad "What else did he do for you, princess? Did he build a pretty little castle just for you? Did he light candles and put little ribbons in your hair too?" only for Geff to say "Well, he DID braid my hair!" is very similar to his question about what June wants him to do about Geff during Annoyances when asking her "And what would you like me to do about it, princess? Build a pretty little castle just for you? Do you want me to light candles and put little ribbons in your hair too?" before June sarcastically asks him if he would braid her hair.
• Geff and Nicole's final lines, in which Geff excitedly states "Well, looks like a quick stop and then Spartanhood!" with Nicole simply responds with a sarcastic "Great.", is in reference to their final lines in Infinity where Geff states "Next stop: the UNSC Infinity!" before Nicole uncertainly says "Great..." in response.
• This episode is a reimagining of Infinity as well as elements of Ambush and Dare.
• There was a scene featuring Molotov and Cocktail that was cut for time during production.
• Another scene featuring the fates of Rico Suave, Dino Jones, and Percy O'Hara was also cut for time during production.
• The episode's title, Retrograde, means to "directed or moving backwards" in reference to Emery straying the guards away from their transfer to Trinity.

Errors

• Syp had intended to show the body of Alana Reynolds as an establishing shot just prior to introducing the Brigadier and Valentine, but had forgotten she hadn't filmed it until the episode was already scheduled to upload. She intends to rectify this for the season's At The Movies re-release.
• The end credits sequence was originally going to appear differently, with more stylized visuals. This was simplified for time, but will be restored for the season's At The Movies re-release.