The video quality here is pretty embarrassing -- but I figured it was still worth posting.

Back when I was a student at Bowling Green State University, much of my time was devoted to two particular pursuits:  (1) training for a career in video production, and (2) developing a personal connection with God and Christian community, through a student church called h2o.  "The Roving Paramedics" is where the two of these intersected.  Even though my video skills were still very raw and developing (I had not even graduated from the old-school A/B roll editing equipment, still back in the analog days!), I cooked up a video story-line with some friends from the church about a pair of blundering super-heroes called the Roving Paramedics:

Once promising physical therapy students, Chad and Jonas decided to leave their life of endless studying and experimental cadaver dissection. Why? They discovered a higher calling: to seek out those in distress, to come to the aid of the suffering, to save the world as THE ROVING PARAMEDICS! 

With the support of the church leadership (which is quite remarkable, actually, as the videos had absolutely nothing to do with faith or spirituality), my friends and I produced three episodes of this mini-series for "broadcast" at our weekly "Thursday Night Live" gatherings.  And against all odds, they became something of a sensation (albeit very localized).  It's probably one of those situations where "you had to be there" in order to truly appreciate the humor and action of the Roving Paramedics videos -- but I still look back on those videos with a great deal of fondness.

So I finally decided that I needed to figure out a way to digitize these old "classics" -- considering the fact that the only surviving copies were on a single old (deteriorating) VHS tape.  Someday, I might get around to sending the tapes into a proper video transfer/duplication house, to retain as much video quality as possible -- but even before I could feel comfortable (temporarily) parting with that sole copy of all my college memories, I decided that I needed to try a crude "digitization" process of my own:  thus, the current version now uploaded to YouTube (as seen embedded above).

Again, I apologize for the video quality.  Part of the issues relate to the original technology involved in producing the video (a Super-8 mini-camcorder, a Wal-Mart microphone, and an old BGSU A/B roll editing suite)... part is the inevitable degradation of magnetic particles on the old VHS tape itself... part is the way that I made my digital transfer (direct-line audio, but video that is nothing more than a digital camcorder set up in a dark room, with a television screen playing the old tape)... part is American (NTSC) and European (PAL) video standards conflicting with each other, causing the horizontal banding that can be seen in the video... And, last but not least, part of the problem is the inexperience reflected in the work itself (yes, the audio, camera-work, editing, and acting really were that bad!).

But with that said, I hereby present to the world the first episode of "The Roving Paramedics!"  In the next week or two, I hope to post the other two episodes (plus the "Bloopers and Outtakes" video that was also originally shared at another one of the Thursday Night Live gatherings.  But for now, I'm sure that this is all you can handle. :-)