Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Doctor Who - "Dreamland"


The latest not-really-an-episode in the latest not-really-a-season of Doctor Who is a CGI special, "Dreamland." The story takes place at Area 51, which is supposedly commonly referred to as "Dreamland." Has anyone else ever heard of this? I have to admit, I'm not an Area 51/Roswell Conspiracy aficionado, but as often as they've been used in SF stories, you'd think I'd have heard the term before now.

The story is solid-- I'd pick this over "Delta and the Bannermen" or "The Web Planet" any day. The animation is great when dealing with spaceships, aliens, scenery and effects in general, but not so great when it comes to people. But overall, I'd say it's still stronger animation than what we got in "Scream of the Shalka" or the reconstructed episodes of "The Invasion." (I still have yet to watch all of "The Infinite Quest," but from what I saw of it seemed to be by the same studio that did "The Invasion.") And the acting is great from everyone, with David Tennant's usual charm coming through just fine even though his face has to be animated. (Although for some reason Georgia Moffett sounds like Nicola Bryant to me. Maybe it's something in the way British women try to do American accents.)

Overall I think it's a worthy part of the 2009 non-season and a shame that it isn't being included in the "Complete Specials" Box Set.

No comments: