Doctor Who: Dreamland

I just finished watching Doctor Who Dreamland animated miniseries, and well i think it was great, it was vibrant, entertaining, and exciting.

The basic story of this little mini series is based on area 51 and its legend of being an alien hot spot in the middle of the 19th century. The basic story of this doctor who animation is an alien invasion type story with several different aliens (greys, etc) and also plays on some of the common myths of area 51 all wrapped up in the story but i don't want to go too much into it but it is true to the Doctor Who fashion and style, even though i prefer the live action doctor who much more this animation was still highly enjoyable.

In spite of the presence of David Tenant, this cartoon fails to come anywhere near the live show. The script feels lazy, as though it was written by people who knew it wasn't going to be seen by as many people as the regular show, and thus didn't want to bother putting too much work into it.

The animation is dreadful, at the very beginning it looks like the animation is good, because the scenery and props look good. But the stiff computer-animated characters are so cheaply and poorly done that it is painful to even look at them.

I'm a big fan of the series, but I am not a big fan of this dreck.

The Doctor comes to 1950's North America for a bowl of chili but finds himself in the middle of a secret intergalactic conflict where the military hidden in Area 51 have joined forces with an alien race to help capture one of their enemies in return for help defeating the Russians. But in a time of war-mongering and fear, who are the real monsters and who can be trusted. With waitress Cassie and her Native American friend Jimmy Stalkingwolf, the Doctor races to defuse the situation and save the earth (again).

I had this recorded for quite some time before I got around to seeing it – so long in fact that David Tennant ceased to be the Doctor as he was replaced by Matt Smith; anyway, as you have probably guessed I did finally watch it and I surprised myself because I quite enjoyed it. The plot is good enough that it could have been strengthened a little and made into a two-episode special for the proper series – I'm not saying it is brilliant, I'm just saying that those used to the plots on the show will find this to be just as good in that regard! It is rather rushed - but this does produce the side-effect of it all being quite exciting and full of constant events, perhaps too full to sit and enjoy as an adult but children will not be bored by it.

Thankfully Tennant himself lends his voice work to this and he is really the core of the film. He is funny and delivers the Doctor in the same way as he did in the real series, again helping this film have an air of legitimacy. The supporting cast are not quite as good – the main players in the aliens and military are good enough but both "assistants" are not particularly good – partly because their dialogue is generally stiff and a bit clunky. Speaking of which, I didn't have a problem with the style of animation but I did have an issue with how it worked. This type of computer animation will always remind me of cheaper cartoons and adverts and the problem I have with it is that the movements of everything is so jerky and slow. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to the characters; they turn slowly, seem unresponsive and have a weirdly unnatural air about them that puts me off. It badly needed more effort in this aspect to help it have its own style and flair instead of the slight feeling of being "good enough".

Overall though Dreamland is a nice enough animated version of the main show. It has plenty going on in the plot and it benefits greatly from Tennant on good form as the Doctor. Some of the supporting dialogue is poor though and the animation is stiff and feels a little heartless and unnatural (like it was not only done by computers but done by a committee of computers – lazy computers at that) and this does rather hurt it. But fans of the main show should mostly enjoy it even if it is only a distraction.

During the semi-hiatus in the Nuwho series between seasons four and five, Russell Davies wrote four episodes for David Tennant and a couple of cartoon serials were produced. In this one, Tennant's Doctor tackles Area 51 in the 1950s, where (when?) they have some real flying saucers and aliens to deal with.

The story is a good Who and it is very pleasant to see the Doctor back in serial format, but while Phil Ford's script is up to standard, the animation is a bit bizarre -- advanced, but a bit caricaturish, and Tennant's voicing seems a bit off for the first two episodes.

I suspect that everyone thought that this one was for the kids and went that way, ignoring the fact that DOCTOR WHO is always for children. Still, the good script and the pleasure of Tennant's Doctor on any terms makes this a very pleasant experience for all fans of the show.