Friday 23 June 2017

TV21 18-24: The Amaryll Challenge

Spoilers from the start.

The Comic
Finally, the Daleks make it into space! The first instalment of this serial is a bit like a teaser trailer, concentrating on the Dalek space program. You almost get a sense of the heroism of the early Dalek pioneers sacrificing their lives for a worthy cause.

And this is what makes me think hard about my reaction to these stories. The Daleks are evil empire-mongers, and yet they are undoubtedly the heroes of the comic; which gives me a kind of double vision. I've never understood the attraction of programs like Dexter or Hannibal, where the audience is meant to be, in some sense, attracted to utterly horrible serial killers; and yet, here I am rooting for the Daleks to get into space! Maybe I'm not so different from the fans of those shows after all. My approach to superhero and spy fiction is similar: in real life I would abhor the actions of violent vigilantes and government agencies who put ordinary people's lives at risk, but I can put that to one side and enjoy them on their own terms.

This way of reading is certainly put to the test in the rest of the comic. First we get the thrilling spectacle of Daleks fighting sentient vegetation (no joke - it is thrilling, and my moral sentiments are nowhere to be seen as I enjoy the sight of Daleks being killed in a variety of inventive ways); then the Daleks cause the destruction of the entire planet. I guess spectacle is what it's all about rather than black and white hats, but whatever; it works brilliantly. The only thing that makes it inferior to the previous story is that there is no characterisation on display at all.

Rating:
Comic: 9/10.

Published:
Dates: 22nd May to 3rd July 1965

The Animation
It may be because it was a long time since I last watched one of these, but it felt as if this was a step up. The sound recording quality is still a little subpar, but in general Altered Vistas continue to push against the limitations of what they can achieve. I noted last time how a 'making of' documentary explained why they had to use still shots when Daleks spoke; here, we actually get some shots with speech and character motion, and even the static shots are less noticeable. This is partly due to careful direction, with motion that comes to a natural halt just before the static section; and partly because for some shots they use a scrolling backdrop - an advantage of the Daleks having made it into space.

Speaking of which, the first episode of the comic is expanded to a ten-minute sequence. Again the additional material is mixed. The Emperor's speech at the end is perfectly in keeping with the source material - in fact, it's quite chilling, just as, later, on the speech about "one Dalek is still an army, one Dalek is still an invasion force", set in a beautifully-lit cavern, is a brilliant addition; but the meetings where the Emperor bangs on about how the Daleks are failing seem out of character.

Once we reach the planet, I was pleased to discover that mobile vegetation and lizard-worms don't give the makers as much of a problem as humanoids. Again, the care and attention that has gone into this really shows.

Overall it's nicely done, but rather slow-paced (there was no room for any extra material this time). I would have preferred it if it were five or ten minutes shorter overall, but I still feel getting the whole set of these was a worthwhile investment (especially since it only cost me blank disks, postage, and a little printer ink).

Of course, it's a long time since I've posted one of these reviews as well; so I should point out that I don't make conscious allowances for this being an amateur production. I think there might be an unconscious bias, and the subect matter certainly helps, but even allowing for that they're really not doing bad! For comparison, I rated the BBC productions Dreamland 1.5 and The Infinite Quest 3.5...

Rating:
Animation: 4.5/10.

Next Time:
The Penta Ray Factor.

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