(I'm posting this a bit early because the weekend's busy and then on
Monday I'm going into hospital for another back operation, but I don't
want to risk leaving it for ages between the two reviews of the same
story! Fingers crossed this'll be the penultimate op!)
The Animation
Between writing the previous review and this, I went and read Delta's
review - and was struck in particuar by his observation about the
resemblance between this story and The Dominators. My, it's quite
some parallel, isn't it? Other than the minor detail of the Daleks not
being a bunch of Pathetic Hippy Pacifists (tm), of course - I'm sure
Mssrs. Haisman and Lincoln would consider Yarvelling's creations much
better role models for today's youth.
So, what have AV made of this story? For one thing we've got the best humanoid animation yet (not counting the version of Genesis of Evil
I watched, which was redone towards the end of the series). There are
also some lovely little effects, including the scanner patterns (very
60s) and the night flight, which was wonderfully atmospheric.
In adapting the story for video AV added a great deal of humour and
several references, all of which enhanced the experience for me. There
are two door jokes: in one, the engibrain robots stream through a
doorway in pretty much the same way as the Daleks when they were on
board the DARDIS in The Chase. In the other, there's a doorway
that has a big circular cut-out at the top to allow the Emperor Dalek to
pass through! I bet some of the more irreverent Daleks snigger and make
"I'm not saying the Emperor's got a fat head, but..." comments.
Still, my favourite joke has to be when the Monstrons are scanning for
similar lifeforms. As well as Whoniverse creatures such as Sensorites
and Zarbi we get the Mekon, the creature from the Black Lagoon, and
more.
Which is not to say that it's entirely humourous. The tone is more like
that of the 60s Dalek movies, in which genuine tension is cut with
comedy. Let's face it, we're watching a fan-made animation of a weekly
single-page comic aimed at preteens. Treating it in a po-faced manner
isn't going to give much leeway for the inevitable imperfections, and
the occasional nod-and-a-wink jest really does help. As I say, I'd
rather watch most of these than Dreamland, despite the fact that the latter (presumably) had a much higher budget, and I think this is part of it.
Still, not all of the continuity nods are jokes anyway. We get a shot
showing us the Black Dalek still being rebuilt, which fits this into the
larger ongoing story; and a discussion of the Magnetiser which
protected their city in a previous story plugs a plot hole I hadn't even
noticed! Lastly, the body of water from the panel in the comic where
the surviving Daleks emerge is here named the Lake of Mutations; which,
well, of course it is.
This is the second story in a row where the animation has improved on
the original comic. I'll be interested to see if this trend continues.
Rating:
Animation: 6/10.
VCD Extras
The only extra on the disk is the trailer for the next Dalek Chronicle
animation. I don't know about anyone else, but it certainly excited
me...
Published:
Dates: 2nd September 2005
Next Time:
Eve of War.
DRP
ReplyDelete