View From The Fifth Row 9 - 9

Back with something new at last.

It's somewhat apt that the ninth post in this series of film reviews concerns a lesser known CGI animated science fiction / fantasy that was originally released on the 9th September 2009. It stars the voice talent of a veritable who's who of genre actors, including Elijah Wood, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer. It's name could only be:

It's an alternate world. An unspecified time in the future, a strange rag-doll like creature with the number 9 on it's back wakes up in a laboratory. Clutching an artefact he finds in the lab, 9 ventures out into a landscape devastated by a planet-wide war. A world where creepy bio-mechanical machines stalk the surface - built and controlled by a self-aware computer brain.

Discovering others of his kind, 9 learns that he is one of a series of "Stichpunks"  - each imbued with a portion of the soul of the scientist that created them. 9 must rally his new friends into action and discover why the machines want to destroy them and why the Stitchpunks may just be mankind's last hope...

So far, so predictable you might think. But it's the depth of the themes behind the story, the quality of the animation and the vision of it's first-time director, Shane Acker, that allow this brief film (it's a mere 79 minutes long) to rise above many other bigger-budgeted CGI films.

Originally planning to become an architect, Shane Acker obtained degrees in that subject before realising that his true passion lay in film-making. Joining UCLA's animation workshop, he went on to produce two highly regarding animated shorts - "The Hangnail" and "The Astounding Talent of Mr Grenade", before spending four and a half years (on and off)  writing, directing and co-animating an 11-minute CGI dark fable - the first version of "9".

Released in 2005, it went on to be presented at a number of high-profile film festivals and was nominated for an Academy Award. It also caught the attention of Tim Burton, who was so impressed that together with Timur Bekmambetov (at the that point coming off the successes of "Night Watch" and " Wanted") he decided to produce a full length version with a modest $30 million budget.

So what makes this version of "9" so great? Well, first of all it's just stunningly beautiful to look at. This is not just 'good' CGI, this is some of the best I have ever seen. Seriously, if you want a film to show off your giant TV and Blu-ray player, this should be your first choice. Every single element has been painstakingly realised from the rubble-strewn cityscape to the terrifying bio-mechanical animals to the individual stitches on the bodies of the lead characters. These creatures are actually more expressive and well realised than the humans - they really look like they are made our of sackcloth and thread, not pixels. The film has a bleak, eerie visual style that looks like nothing else. It's breathtaking.

Secondly, although it's an animated film, there is far more going on that with some traditional CGI fare. Each of the nine Stichpunks are embodiments of different aspects of human personality. There are some interesting metaphysical and psychological thoughts running though the narrative about how as humans, interaction with others helps define ourselves. Divided up the other Stitchpunks are somewhat directionless and desire only to exist and not strive for greater understanding - slaves to the pure logical "brain" (the "Fabrication Machine" which is the primary evil of the film). If they are integrated and work together and have compassion for others, do they become a "whole" personality? Is that what their creator intended? Is that what is needed to save the world?

All the great "kids" releases work on multiple levels for multiple audiences and this is no different. If there is a problem, it's that the themes are perhaps buried deeper than usual, so that on first watch the film could come across as a confusing and even simplistic. It's one of those movies that bears out repeated viewings, but I can see how it could divide opinion.

It also sadly didn't set the box office alight on release back in 2009. That could partly be because it's not really suitable for very young children, as the monsters are unique and terrifying and some of the action sequences are pretty intense and scary. Also, maybe it was too difficult for some to see past the surface storyline to the allegories within. "Time Out" magazine described it as "an intriguing failure", but I think that's being extremely unkind.

"9" is not your average kids film. In fact, I'm loathe to call it a kids film at all, as I think it appeals to an older audience looking for something that requires one to stretch the brain cells that little bit more. On top of that, unlike some of the bloated blockbusters of recent years, this is a film that could actually have benefited from a longer running time. I wanted to know much, much more about this world. It's a film full of innovative cutting edge CGI but also mystery and a sense of wonder.

Dark, different  and original. An overlooked and underrated gem. I adore it.

The Doctor Who Show Reviews - Episode 8

I'm slowly edging towards having some other new stuff to post on the blog. No really I mean it this time. In the interim here's the text version of the comics review I recently recorded for episode 8 of the "Doctor Who Show" podcast.

As always a quick spoiler warning -  I will be talking about the story of the issue in question, but avoiding any major plot revelations where possible.

Twelfth Doctor  # 2.7

"The Twist" Part 2. Writer George Mann. Artist: Mariano Laclaustra

Sadly it's going to be a quick one this month as I've only got  one comic to look at. The final issue of the Fourth Doctor mini-series hasn’t been published yet, so the focus is solely on the latest in the Twelfth Doctor ongoing series.

If you recall, last month we had The Doctor indulging in his love for punk music by visiting the huge space station known as "The Twist". Here he met bass player Hattie and Jakob, a man on the run who had been framed for the murder of his best friend. Together the three had began to uncover some kind of government conspiracy, before being pursued by security forces into a park and suddenly confronted by a giant red furred beast...

We pick up immediately where we left off. The Doctor does his usual distracting technique of marvelling at the beauty of the creature and trying to calm the situation - all while Jakob pulls frantically at a metal panel hidden in the grass. As the creature moves in Hattie, desperately wacks it over the head with her beloved bass guitar and the three escape into some kind of service cave under the park.

Jakob has been in these under-tunnels before - this was where he previously encountered the fox creatures during his investigations.The Doctor is keen to find their "warren" and continues to explore, despite the protestations of the others. Following the strangely natural seeming tunnels, they eventually emerge into a gigantic cavern full of all kinds of wildlife. Jakob explains that this is one of two 'oxygen domes' from the original Earth colony ship, which was buried in the rock as the structure of The Twist was bio-mechanically grown around it.

Suddenly the trio are surrounded by more of the creatures, who identify themselves as "The Foxkin". The Doctor tries to reason with them but is quickly pulled away by Hattie before he can be attacked.To escape, he and his companions tumble through a large airlock type portal into the heart of the ship - the "stasis farm" - where the original colonists slept during their long journey through the vast interstellar distances of space.

The problem is, all the stasis pods are full of skeletons - none of the colonists survived the trip. The Doctor confirms this by managing to activate the dormant systems of the stasis farm and interrogate the ship's records. But if that's the case - if everyone is dead - where did the indigenous inhabitants of The Twist come from? 

Eager to find out more, the Doctor does the unexpected. He triggers an alarm, summoning the Foxkin to the stasis farm through other passageways and the humanoids are captured - much to Jakob's disgust. Taken to the second undiscovered oxygen dome - which contains a complete city - they are hauled in front of Canek, the leader of the Foxkin.

There is a much bigger secret here. Canek is apparently known as the "High Sequencer" which means that for the human inhabitants the Foxkin are really….

…and that's where I'm going to stop, as I don’t want to spoil the ending. However it's only a minor saving grace, because you will probably be able to figure it out for yourself before you turn that final page.You see, the real problem here is that this issue is all a bit predictable. The Foxkin are just what they sound like - giant talking foxes - another on the list of anthropomorphised animals as aliens which we have seen a hundred times in Doctor Who. Add the fact that we've seen lost colony ships before. We've seen hidden societies below ground before. I was just hoping for something a bit...cleverer. More surprising.

There are also parts which don’t make logical sense. Would a vast colony ship full of thousands of people really just be abandoned as lost? How has the Foxkin city remained hidden for thousands of years with all those technologically advanced humans up above? Especially as any Tom, Dick or Jakob seems to be able to open the secret doors at will? I'm all for suspension of belief in Doctor Who and science fiction in general but - I don't know, maybe I've just been exposed to too much genre fiction over the years and expect too much. It can't be easy coming up with wildly original ideas month after month. Goodness knows I couldn't do it. Am I being unfair? 

Art wise though the high standard of last issue is maintained, even if the design of the Foxkin is just 'giant foxes in tattered robes'. There is are a couple of particularly lovely images - one of the prehistoric-like bio dome, complete with curled tailed lizard on a stick - and the other the control centre of the stasis farm, which is somewhat reminiscent of the chamber from "Tomb of the Cybermen". The Foxkin city itself is obviously based on images of Roman architecture, with it's squares, amphitheatres and domed palaces.

Looking at the credits though, I do wonder if there were some deadline problems on the art front, because the exotically named Agus Calcagno and Fer Centurion are listed as "art assistants". I can't see any noticeable difference in Mariano's figure work, so maybe the assist was just on backgrounds. It's also worth mentioning the sterling work from the colourist, Carlos Cabrera, which really add to the mood of the strip, especially a superb page where the Doctor discovers the fate of the colonists.

So there we have it. A solid issue -  perhaps let down by an overly-familiar kind of alien threat and a predictable secret.  Looking forward, I hope that George Mann has a couple of tricks up his sleeve to take this in a less obvious direction, but based on this issue I'm not holding out much hope. I still think that there is more to Jakob though. He knows too much and that cybernetic eye still hasn't been explained. I guess it's fingers crossed for part 3 then.

Just time for a quick look at the variant covers and it's a pretty bland bunch to be honest. Alex Ronald usually does moody and evocative paintings, but his image this month is just a standard, if nicely coloured, pose of the Doctor. Nothing that leaps out at you.Will Brooks photo cover is eminently forgettable, so lets skip over that quickly. Simon Myers continues his album cover homages with Clara in place of the waitress on Supertramps's "Breakfast In America" - famous of course for "The Logical Song". I've seen him do much better though. There's also a "Doctor Who Comic Day" cover from Todd Nauck - who's definitely getting a lot of work from Titan at the moment - but it's marred because Mr. Capaldi seems to be thrusting his crotch at the reader. Is it just my bad eyesight?

Best of the bunch is the cartoon-esque cover from Zak Simmonds-Hurn - another artist who has done tons of work for "The Phoenix", plus his own self published series "Monstrosity" which is really most excellent and well worth checking out.

Okay. That's about it for this month. Don't forget about the audio version on the "Doctor Who Show" podcast which you can listen to it at www.dwshow.net or download it to your mobile device via the usual iOS or Android apps. Please subscribe, share and leave five star reviews and support all the effort from my fellow presenters. We really do appreciate all your comments.

You can follow the show on Twitter at @the DWshow or on Facebook at facebook.com/theDWshow. Finally the e-mail address is hello@the DWshow.net

If you have any specific comments about the blog, I'm always happy to chat on Twitter @livewire1221

The Doctor Who Show Reviews - Episode 7

Damn. Sadly there was no time at all for anything to be posted in the last month due to business trips, illness etc, but to start off August in a more positive mood, here's the text version of the Titan comics reviews I recorded for episode 7 of the "Doctor Who Show" podcast.

Just a quick spoiler warning -  I will be talking about the plots of the issues in question, although I won't reveal too much about the cliff-hangers if I can avoid it.

 Twelfth Doctor  # 2.6

"The Twist" Part 1. Writer George Mann. Artist: Mariano Laclaustra

It's worth mentioning that we are now in the post-series nine continuity, so Clara has gone  - at last -  and the Doctor is travelling on his own.

It's also all change on the creator front, as George Mann is back as writer and Rachael Stott is taking a well deserved breather. Instead we have Mariano Laclaustra on art duties. Mariano is no stranger to the 12th doctor comics - in fact he seems to be George Mann's go-to guy when George writes the series - however, it's the first time I've come across his work since I started doing these reviews, so lets see how he does…

The Doctor is visiting "The Twist", a gigantic inhabited Mobius strip in space. He seems to be there to indulge this incarnations fascination with Punk Rock, as that’s where we first encounter him - wearing his hoody and rocking out in the depths of the young crowd. After the gig he works his way backstage and meets Hattie, the bass player. Although he seems to be admiring her guitar, he's actually there to watch as a harassed man runs past, swiftly followed by a troop of armoured policemen in black. As the Doctor give chase, he's still got hold of Hattie's instrument, so she has no choice but to follow on behind.

 Using a different route to the cops, the Doctor gets to the man - known as Jakob -  first, and pulls him into hiding. It turns out that Jakob is being falsely accused of the murder of one of his friends - a local councillor called Idra Panatar. Taking the Doctor and Hattie to the scene of the crime, Jakob explains that he believes it to really be the work of vicious red-furred creatures that hide in the dark places of the colony - and that the authorities are trying to cover up their existence (hence why he is being framed).With the help of his new sonic screwdriver the Doctor uncovers a secret room in the apartment where Idra was collecting evidence about the monsters.There is definitely a conspiracy of some kind going on - and the Doctor is going to find out what it is.

Intending to track the creatures, the trio head for the "Power Park", where artificial trees provide electricity to The Twist. Suddenly those nasty cops reappear. Dodging through the trees the Doctor and his companions crouch done by some roots, only to be confronted by a huge beast with slavering teeth, sharp claws and a red bushy tail...

Okay, so far this seems to be a fairly traditional tale of monsters in the dark, government cover-ups and possible an oppressed second set of inhabitants of the Twist.What makes it stand out are the personalities of the two people the Doctor meets. Hattie is feisty, but a little bewildered as she is caught up in the wake of the Time Lord's investigations. Jakob meanwhile is clearly frightened, but not enough to give up on solving his dear friends murder. There's also something more to him. He seems to have one electronic eye. Whether than is just an artistic design choice to make him seem more alien or part of the plot only time will tell.

Art wise I have to say I'm pretty impressed with Mariano Laclaustra. There is a glowing, luminescent quality about his artwork that I really like - as if someone is shining a light through the back of the page. This may be down to the work of the colourist, Carlos Cabrera, of course but even so it's very striking. Laclaustra's character work is really varied and expressive and he has Peter Capaldi's distinct features down pat. I'll have to see what his creature designs are like when we see more of them in part two.

However in this issue it's in the double page spreads that Laclaustra's design sense really explodes off the page. There is a lovely image of the Twist colony itself at the start - a massive almost impossible structure floating serenely in space. But the real standout is where he uniquely illustrates a chase sequence, not by using multiple panels, but with corner illustrations, coloured arrows and a spectacular aerial view of the cityscape. It's very, very clever and gives a sense of scale, a sense of pace and keeps the plot moving in just one simple sequence.

All in all it’s a solid start for this storyline and hopefully its going to go in an interesting direction. We'll see next month. If there is one niggle, it's that yet again Titan have decided to spoil things by giving away the name of the new monsters in the next issue blurb at the back. That’s what the story is meant to be for! It's really starting to annoy me now.

Sorry. Pet hate.

It wouldn’t be one of my reviews without a quick walk through the variant covers. There are actually five this month. I'll skip past the fairly bland Will Brooks photo cover and the standard pose from "Young Justice" art Todd Nauck. On the third cover we get an absolutely lovely shot of the Doctor leaping in space as he plays an alien looking guitar. This is from artist Steve Pugh, probably most well known for Animal Man and more recently the DC Comics reinvention of The Flintstones. Is it a tribute to Prince? Possibly.

Simon Myers does another album cover homage. This time it’s the classic "Hot Rocks" by the Rolling Stones. Instead of Mick, Keith and the band we get The Doctor, Clara, Missy, a Cyberman and an Ood. I have to say, it's pretty darn good.

My top praise this month goes to anther image from Robert Hack, who I raved about in my review of the Fourth Doctor comic last time. Admittedly it's not moving very far from his wheelhouse - a spooky looking house on an alien moon with his usual orange based colour palette. No, top marks go to Robert for making the Doctor himself look absolutely bloody terrifying as he strides towards the viewer, with a furious look on his face. This is not a Time Lord I'd mess with !

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Fourth Doctor mini-series #4 (of 5):

 "Gaze of the Medusa" Part 4. Writers: Gordon Rennie & Emma Beeby. Artist: Brian Williamson

Last time, we left the Doctor and Athena using the Lamp of Chronos to get back to 500 BC. They're trying to rescue Sarah Jane -  who's now a petrified statue - and the Professor, who isn't but is about as useful as one. We get some lovely banter between the pair as the Doctor chatters on about the invention of ice cream and "hundreds of years to go before you've got anywhere to put a chocolate flake". Athena is interested in the battle of Marathon, but *I* want to hear more about the Great and Terrible Beast Emperor of the Third Crimson Collective. That one practically writes itself  !
 
The Doctor now knows that the caves they are in are a prison for a creature known as a "Medusa", an ancient alien parasite that leeches the life energy from its prey. Those are not statues scattered around - every victim is quantum locked, frozen in a single moment in time so that the Medusa can feast on them over centuries. It’s a hideous fate, accompanied by some stunning - if slightly too green - panels from Brian Williamson.

Of course no mention of quantum locking can go past without name checking the Weeping Angels, so we get a slightly clumsy aside from the Doctor before Athena discovers her father staggering through the rubble. He escaped the Medusa after its gaze transformed Sarah Jane, but slowly he found himself being turned to stone, the monsters taunts echoing after him as he wandered the never ending passageways.

Learning of Sarah Jane's fate - and that she saw herself in stone form in the halls of Lady Carstairs mansion - the Doctor vows to rescue her. Meanwhile back in Victorian London, the evil Lady herself discovers the Doctor and Athena gone and ventures into the TARDIS. She realises that the Doctor has far more power than she credited him with, so she and her Scryclops henchmen step into the Chronos portal after him.
 
Discovering Sarah Jane's transformed body the Doctor talks fondly to her, knowing that right now he can't do anything for her - she is a fixed point in time and has to stay a statue for two and a half thousand years until at least the 19th century. Confronting the Medusa, the Doctor reveals himself to be a Time Lord and that he knows the monster is trapped in 500 BC despite everyone else being able to get in or out. Elsewhere, Athena and her father are faced with Lady Carstairs and a rampaging Scryclops and the failing Professor ends up sacrificing himself to let Athena escape.

Catching up with the Doctor who is still evading the Medusa's gaze thanks to his trusty sonic, the pair flee through the caves, only to be surrounded by a green glow which the Doctor identifies as a transmat beam. They rematerialise in front of…

Oh come on - you didn't think I would give that away did you?

That big twist is the saving grace of the issue, which to be honest is a bit of a run-around to get all the players into their places for the final episode. It looks like Sarah Jane is going to be side-lined for most of this mini-series as an ornament, which is a real shame. Lady Carstairs also seems to be becoming redundant - more plot device than antagonist. It's a shame the Professor has gone, but I've made no secret of the fact that I never warmed to him as a character. He does get to go out on a high though by giving Athena his blessing on her relationship with her "young military man" and in the end being a hero to save his daughter.

On a positive note the Medusa is a lot nastier this issue, slithering around and tripping the Doctor up, with a nice menacing voice. The design hold up pretty well, although its tail does seem to get longer and longer from panel to panel. In fact Brian Williamson does a reasonably good job all round, although the obvious photo reference likenesses are creeping back in and the less said about that single page of the TARDIS console room the better. It’s a bit *too* familiar. I won't miss the interminable cave backgrounds. Hopefully Brian will get something more interesting to draw next issue when….

Ha! No you don't!

We've one more issue to go and I am really intrigued now where this is heading. Lets hope Gordon and Emma can pull off an satisfying conclusion.

So what else do we get with this comic?

Well there are no less than six covers. The usual photo montage from Will Brooks, one by Todd Nauck again which is miles better than his Twelfth Doctor cover earlier. There is a close up of the Medusa by Brian Williamson that’s really quite hypnotic and a Holmesian themed cover from Kelly Yates, who did work on the "Prisoners of Time" maxi-series from IDW a few years back. The fifth is a beautiful painted cover from veteran Mark Wheatley - one of my all time favourite artists.

Top of the pile though goes to the cover / ad for Doctor Who Comics Day 2016 which is a loving Jack Kirby pastiche by Andrew Pepoy. It's aping Fantastic Four #49 from 1966 which featured Galactus, but here we have the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and K-9 being menaced by a giant Cyberman. It's just wonderful; and I'd happily have a print of it hanging on my wall. Forget album covers - I want more 'King' Kirby inspired work!

The Doctor Who Comics Day theme doesn’t end there though, as at the end of the issue there are two one page  teasers to this years bi-weekly five issue event - "Supremacy of the Cybermen" - it being their 50th anniversary and all. The prologues features the Fourth and Eighth Doctors and don’t reveal much except that it looks like the series will be full of surprises. All five issues will be written by George Mann and Cavan Scott with art by Allesandro Vitti and Ivan Rodriguez. Issues 1 and 2 should be out now. Reviews may be forthcoming at a later date.

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That's the reviews for this month. Don't forget about the audio version on the "Doctor Who Show" podcast which you can listen to it at www.dwshow.net or download it to your mobile device via the usual iOS or Android apps. Please subscribe, share and leave five star reviews and support all the quality chat from my fellow presenters. We really do appreciate all your comments.

You can follow the show on Twitter at @the DWshow or on Facebook at facebook.com/theDWshow. Finally the e-mail address is hello@the DWshow.net