thumb|300px|right
The Halo: The Master Chief Collection Announcement Trailer was a trailer shown at Microsoft's press briefing before E3 2014. Designed to advertise Halo: The Master Chief Collection, it showed a slight variation on the iconic cutscene at the end of Cairo Station in Halo 2, with an voice over by Thel Vadam which introduced a new character, Agent Locke.
Transcript
Cuts to a view of John-117 from above, dragging an antimatter charge behind him. Little of Cairo Station is visible, as it is very dark.
The camera cuts to a view of the spikes on the bottom of the charge, scraping against the floor for a short time, and then to a window through which John-117 can be seen pulling a lever.
Cut to another view of John-117 dragging to bomb, and then back to the window. John looks out of the window, his helmet close to the glass. The Halo Theme begins to play.
The camera changes to another angle, as John pulls a lever, and braces himself for the depressurisation of the room. Then, it cuts to another angle, showing the blast doors open, and after a short while, John (still holding the bomb) pushes off of what seems to be the camera. The Halo Theme stops with a drum beat. Again, the camera changes to show John floating away from the Cairo, toward the camera itself.
- Thel Vadam - "To find him..."
Camera cuts to a side view of John's descent.
- Thel Vadam - "You have to forget the stories."
The camera changes to the view of John-117, and his target, a CAS-class assault carrier through a targeting reticule. It then soon changes to the video of him being projected onto the side of Agent Locke's helmet.
- Thel Vadam - "Forget the legends."
Screen cuts to John's helmet shaking, during his descent. The screen begins to flicker, showing Locke's visor, but then instantly changes to John's first person view. In this view, a marathon-class heavy cruiser can be seen flying in front.
- Thel Vadam - "You have to do more than walk in his footsteps."
Cuts back to the view of the video projected onto Locke's helmet. The cruiser is shot by a pulse laser turret, and explodes. A side view of John's helmet is shown, as he flys toward the debris field, and then it changes to a view of him flying away from the camera, further into the debris.
The screen flickers, showing Locke's visor, shortly before a cut back to a face on view of John. In this view, the screen flickers even more, showing Locke's helmet for almost a second. The screen after a period of time changes back to the view from behind the SPARTAN, as the debris clears revealing the assault carrier John is attacking. Flickering occurs again, and then the screen unfocuses, blurring the image and Locke fades in, on the right of the screen.
- Thel Vadam - "I tell you this..."
It cuts briefly to the video projected onto Locke's helmet, and then cuts to Locke, watching John's attack on the carrier on a screen. This screen shows the carrier from behind.
- Thel Vadam - "Not because I trust you, Agent Locke."
The camera cuts to a first person view, as John activates the bomb, then to a view of him from the side, as he pushes himself away from it. Quickly after this view, it switches back to one from far behind John. As the charge detonates, explosions ripple through the ship, and John is slowly floating toward it. Agent Locke's hand comes up to shield his eyes as the ship's reactor detonates.
- Thel Vadam - "But because all our lives are at stake."
Cuts to show John floating nearby the explosion, with the image of Locke superimposed in the background. It soon switches to the view of the video projected onto Locke's armour.
The screen then cuts to show Locke facing a hologram, who proceeds to turn toward the camera. Shortly after this act, the camera again cuts, this time to a view from the side of Locke stepping out of what appears to be a very large holotank, and walking toward a window which begins to open, revealing an orange-coloured valley. The camera changes to a view of Locke's visor as he walks forward, in which Thel Vadam himself is reflected.
- Thel Vadam - "Because the seeds of our future..."
Screen cuts to black
- Thel Vadam - "Are sewn in his past..."
A view of John-117's original Mark VI helmet fades in, and shortly after, the words 'Your journey begins' fade into view on top of that.
The helmet fades out, and then individually, crystal-like shards with images representing their respective games begin to fade in; first Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, then Halo 2: Anniversary, then Halo 3 and finally Halo 4. The Master Chief Collection logo fades into the middle. Once all of these fade out, the trailer ends.
Trivia
- The video of John-117 in the trailer was probably propaganda or a recreation, as there were many variations on the actual events.
- These changes include many minor changes to the manner in which John left the Cairo, and the fact that in the trailer he does not actually go into the assault carrier, rather just pushing the bomb toward it from a distance.
- By clicking three secret annotations on the youtube video, a number of backgrounds and avatars can be unlocked for different websites.
- Each of these annotations appears when John-117 pushes a button or uses a lever.
Sources