Reference Overview
Rick Retro’s Reference Rundown #1: Reference Overview
Rick Retro’s Reference Rundown #1: Reference Overview
Retro Reviews Reference
Every Retro Review will begin with two blocks of information and end with three more blocks, including symbols and emojis, to give you a lot of info packed into a minimum amount of space.
Block 1 is the Header Block.
Line 1 is the Title Line, which includes the title of the work reviewed, with the year of initial release in parentheses. In some cases when necessary, a version portion of the Title Line will be included which indicates a different non-standard version of the work is being reviewed. The year of release of this version is also given in parentheses. The subtitle of the review follows in italics.
Line 2 is the Primary Information Line, recording type of work, type of video if applicable, foreign origin if applicable, year of initial release, length of work, and if applicable, an emoji indicating a work that stands alone with no prequels, sequels, remakes or otherwise related works of the same media type.
Review-at-a-Glance
Next in the Header Block you will find a Review-at-a-Glance section that includes key information given later in the first lines of other blocks: the Grade Line, the Family Suitability Line, and the Judeo-Christian Values Line.
Here’s an example of the Review-at-a-Glance section from The Sound of Music (1965):
A+^
Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | G
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent
After the Review-at-a-Glance section, the Header Block includes a representative image. Here you will typically see an original movie poster for a feature film or the first edition cover of a published novel. Some credits may be included in the caption of the images, such as the producers, screenplay authors and directors of films.
Following the representative image there may be Secondary Information Lines, mainly indicating story origination information. These lines will only be used when relevant.
Also after the representative image and the Secondary Information Lines, if they were used, there may be Franchise/Series Lines, indicating a work’s position in a franchise or series of works. These lines will also be used only if relevant.
A ⭐ emoji used in the Header Block indicates that a Retro Roundup including the reviewed work is intended for future publication, and will serve as a linked list of related works. If a Retro Roundup has already been created, the relevant term(s) that describe the related works will be linked to the Retro Roundup.
Block 2 is the Opinion Block.
Line 1 is the Grade Line where I report my overall grade (or GPA for some types of works), and the number of Hall of Fame points earned.
Line 2 is the Entertainment Quality Line where I report my grades for different aspects of the work.
Line 3 is the Dark Whimsy Line giving the Dark Whimsy score, and the two associated scale readings.
Line 4 is the POPCAP Line, still under development, which will have percentile scores that reflect public opinion and the creative achievements of the work, including opinions of the industry and critics.
Line 5 is the Left-Right Line, still under development, which will have percentile scores showing how the film is graded by critics from four different perspectives on the left-right viewpoint spectrum.
Block 3 is the Footer Block, which follows the body of the review.
All the lines in this block except the last are Review Lines. The first has information on when I most recently experienced the reviewed work, how many times I’ve experienced it, if more than once, and how I experienced it, compared to its original aspect ratio and sound mix. If I’ve experienced the work more than once, extra lines are inserted following the first, and give the info about when and how I first experienced it, or how I experienced it before writing an earlier, possibly different review.
The last line of the Footer Block is the Genre Line composed of genre emojis.
Block 4 is the Content Block.
Line 1 is the Family Suitability Line with the overall content rating, followed by the official public rating.
Line 2 is the Content Detail Line with five areas of content rated.
Block 5 is the Viewpoint Block. It summarizes viewpoints, opinions and messages promoted or disparaged by the reviewed work.
Line 1 is the Judeo-Christian Values Line that evaluates the viewpoints promoted or disparaged by the work compared to Judeo-Christian values. It aggregates the findings of Lines 2-4 of the Viewpoint Block.
Line 2 is the Christian Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Christian values.
Line 3 is the Biblical Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Biblical values.
Line 4 is the Political Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Judeo-Christian political values.
Retro Reviews Reference Pages:
Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line
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