Thursday 9 November 2017

AV07: The Menace of the Monstrons

(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.

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