Halo: The Fall of Reach

Halo: The Fall of Reach – The Animated Series is an animated series adapted from the novel of the same name by Eric Nylund. The series was created by Sequence in conjunction with 343 Industries. Comprising three acts, the series is featured in the Limited Edition and Limited Collector's Edition of Halo 5: Guardians. It was made available in its entirety upon the game's release (as opposed to having weekly airing dates like Halo: Nightfall).
The film begins with Blue Team visiting the glassed remnants of Reach, where they recall their friendship with deceased Spartan Samuel-034. The scene then shifts to Jacob Keyes and Catherine Halsey traveling through slipspace to Eridanus II to search for candidates viable for a new super soldier program known as the SPARTAN-II program. They soon find one of the candidates, John, the future Master Chief. John is playing king of the hill, dominating several other boys. Halsey approaches John and shows him a coin, telling him he can keep it if he correctly guesses which side it will land on, which he does. John is subsequently kidnapped by ONI operatives and replaced with a flash clone. This process is repeated with all the other cadets. The parents of Kelly-087, Frederic-104, and Linda-058 are shown, trying to wake the unresponsive flash clones of their children. Halsey's narration expresses regret that she couldn't have just used the flash clones, but they would not stay alive long enough. Halsey debriefs the children and explains that they have begun their new lives as soldiers in the UNSC.
John has nightmares about his mother before being rudely awoken by an instructor. Multiple instructors go about waking all the cadets. One rudely wakes up Jorge-052, pronouncing his name "Hor-hay". Jorge tries to tell the instructor that his name is pronounced "George", but the instructor hits him with a Humbler stun device for "back-talking". Their trainer, Franklin Mendez, leads them in physical exercises. One day, he tells them it is time to do a training exercise called Ring the Bell. When John asks what the prize is for winning, Mendez says that the losing team will go without dinner. John races ahead to the bell, not stopping to help his teammates, Sam, Kelly, and Fred, much to their anger. Mendez explains that although John reached the bell first, his team came in last, and so they will not eat. In the mess hall, John apologizes to his teammates and offers them some crackers which he stole several days before, cementing their bond.
Two years later, Chief Petty Officer Mendez and all of the cadets are aboard an Albatross dropship. Mendez tells them that they will all be dropped off in different areas of the Reach Military Wilderness Training Preserve. Their objective is to find each other, and then find another Albatross dropship to extract. Each cadet will receive a small piece of the map needed to find the dropship; the last cadet on the dropship will be left behind and have to walk back.
John is deployed first, and quickly reunites with the rest of his team, using a river they had spotted from the dropship as a rallying point. John carves Blue Team's insignia on a tree as a memento. Soon, all the cadets converge, and they determine the location of the dropship. When they reach the dropship, however, they see two UNSC soldiers waiting near it. As they are not in uniform, the Spartans identify the hostiles, lure them into a trap and knock them out with rocks. All of the cadets return in the dropship. John is debriefed by Mendez and Halsey. Though he expects to be punished for stealing the Albatross and refusing to leave anyone behind, they instead promote him to squad leader.
Six years later, all the Spartans undergo their augmentations. While observing the operations, Halsey receives a message from Admiral Ysionris Jeromi, expressing his reservations about testing the procedures on apes due the high fatality rate, while subtly implying that he is aware that intends to use them on humans. At that same moment, a female Spartan dies from the augmentations, with several of her orifices bleeding. Overall, during the augmentation process, twenty-seven of the Spartans, thirty-six percent of the cadets, die.
After recovery, the surviving Spartans attend a funeral service for their fallen comrades onboard the UNSC Atlas. After the ceremony, John notices several of the Spartans being wheeled off on wheelchairs, and asks Mendez what will happen to them. Mendez says that they will be taken care of and put to work in other less-physical duties. Mendez explains that a leader like John must be willing to send soldiers to their deaths. After that conversation, Sam invites John to visit the shooting range with him. John declines and heads to the gym. While working out in the gym, John engages in a brawl with several ODST's, beating them easily and severely injuring them.
Later that year, John, Sam, Kelly, Fred, and Linda are sent on a mission to kidnap Robert Watts, a leader of the insurrection in the Eridanus system whose hideout is located in an asteroid belt. They infiltrate the base by stowing away on a freighter, the Laden, which is delivering supplies to the hideout. Sam finds out that there is a supply crate filled with cigars, steaks, and chocolates, correctly deducing that the crate of luxury items is for Robert Watts, and tracks it. The Spartans fight their way to Robert Watts's office, then force him into a crate before escaping. During the fight, John knocks Sam out of an insurrectionist's field of fire, taking the bullet himself. Kelly is able to seal the wound with Biofoam.
After completing their mission, the Spartans are summoned aboard the UNSC Pioneer. There they are greeted by Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth, who debriefs them on a new alien threat called the Covenant.