The Macra Terror's backgrounds were hand painted as well. My friend Graham did a lot of them and it was great to see the original paintings at his house. Thanks Josh.
out of the first 34 Patrick Troughton episodes; only 7 remain. its such a shame that we miss out on so much of his early work. the first complete story is Tomb Of The Cybermen… meaning we don’t have a single Ben & Polly story in its entirety.
@@JoshSnares blast, because my word a literal 17 outshone them... And they were flying solo. Dinopuff is destined for greatness. Of this I am sure. Thank you for everything you do Josh. 🥰
i really adore what they're going for stylistically but before that Celestial Toymaker trailer was released i was also young and naïve, thinking Peter Purves' face wouldn't be gerrymandered, but such is life
Jodie Whittaker’s TARDIS had the alcove for entry with no additional doors to the console room. I figured the classic console room had doors that went with the alcove giving the console room an extra layer of protection from the outside. Davies and Moffet did away with the alcove and doors leaving only the external doors figuring the second set of doors and alcove were not needed probably. Chibnal put the alcove in at least.
Rob and I collaborated many years ago on a few Doctor Who South Park animations, where I did the character designs. It was a hoot to see them moving! Shout out to Rob if he sees this!
personally I think they should go back to just animating the missing episodes from a story instead of all of them, for example if the wheel in space was animated they could skip out on animating parts 3 and 6 and use the money saved to improve the rest of the episodes
Speaking of Stephen, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Tales of the Tardis episode with The Time Meddler. I found it a very sincere and pleasant tribute to Hartnell and his era, and finally gave some closure to two often-overlooked companions.
Glad you're back! I semi recently started watching Classic Who for the first time and a big part of that was because your videos kept popping up on my recommended. Glad to be here for a new video :)
Good point. The popularity and hype of the animations has died and I did wonder if it’s because the inconsistent quality. Also, how on earth did you get Underwater Menace already down here?! Can’t find it anywhere! Nor Collection S20 for that matter.
Legit, the Michael Craze character design for these animations has been a pet peeve of mine. Two main things that are less of a time crunch for the teams doing these animations. Sun & Moon Studios, the team behind The Macra Terror animation, apparently struggled with the short deadline and unfortunately dropped continuing doing these Animations (PLEASE COME BACK FOR THE MYTH MAKERS, PLEAAAAASE), and with The Evil of the Daleks animation, the deadline went from 12 months to 18 months. Both Sun & Moon Studios and the BBC Studios team did a marvellous job with their respective releases, but having a longer timeframe to work with helps with everything. Another would be getting a team together to assist Rob. I love Rob's work, both before and during these animations, but the crushing workload and demand definitely needs to be eased if we ever want to see Rob do another one of these animations. If he knows anyone that he trusts with the animation, set designing, modelling, texturing, you name it, get them and get them to find others to trust as well.
I’m one who has always been indifferent to the animated reconstructions of missing episodes cause I can see their attempt to give us the episodes back in some way but I’m one who likes seeing it as it aired that’s why I started with Jon Pertwee when I started my classic era rewatch cause all of his run going forward is available to watch cause I just love watching the show in general even though Matt is my favorite doctor I can still get enjoyment out of all the doctors and jumping around from animation style to animation style may not have been a good thing in hindsight a more uniform style may have a better decision not that any of the animators are bad but having a more uniform style even it it different for each doctor it would’ve helped with consistency and I thank u for discussing the classic era cause most whotubers don’t discuss it it’s why to me your the keeper of the classic era in a good way
“Welcome Back Josh - All Is Forgiven!” As a designer I totally agree about the importance of lighting! Think I’m the only person that loves Toymaker - the imagery haunted me as a kid. I’m still excited to see Master Plan animated one day… Hopefully well! Until then I’ll just carry on mooching round my local Mormon church 😉
How wonderful to have you back again!! I thought you made many valid points both for and against what we have had. I was fine with the Underwater Menace one. It was nicely done and didn't seem too egregious to me. The Celestial Toymaker one is a potential worry as I really did dislike Web 3. But the odd 3D style might work for the whackiness of the story. I guess we shall see!
I personally think the should go back to the macra terror design, I feel really invested because it feels 3d, is there a reason that was just a one off?
Ngl the animation style for the celestial toymaker is growing on me. Like you said the original can be a snoozefest at times (probably because of the lack of visuals and that serial relies HEAVILY on visual storytelling). Also dinopuffs recreation of episode 1 is incredible. Really hope he keeps doing more animations like that.
I love these animations. But I feel like you are right. They range in quality range WILDY. I want more but I personally like the black and white (unprofitable) ones more. I don't mind the color ones but I feels like the quality went down when they added color (with a few notable acceptions). Give the teams working on these 15% more time and money. And they might all be as good as Power of the Daleks.
Great to have a new vid, missed them soooo much! They should all be 3D, and as realistic as it can be, whilst I’m a purist at heart,you’re quite right that it could never replicate the original, so some artistic license should be allowed to make the story as good as it could have been if the BBC had movie budgets of the time. We all know that sometimes, some stories lack pace, compared to todays, so maybe they should be allowed to alter the length slightly, much akin to the colourised Daleks story (I would love to see your thoughts on it Josh!).
It's an introduction. I will say that. But it is scant replacement for the real thing. The thing I miss most is seeing that early stuff for the first time. Being old and irascible enough to recall 'The Five Faces of...' - It was like a glimpse into some mysterious TV history. The same feeling I still get from those Quatermass recordings. And when 'Lost in Time' came out (played on a disc drive in my tower - watched on a CRT) I made the contents last literally weeks. I couldn't let go of it. Perhaps it's an age thing. Let's face it, my brother dimly recalls the back end of Season 6. He also needs a hip replacement....
Which is ridiculous in a way in that the BBC should never have used those tapes and erased or threw out DW at all! I mean we still have shows from the 1950s and 60s, lost time? Not so much but different, yes. Thank God the US never did that kind of stuff and we still have STAR TREK, LOST IN SPACE, LAND OF THE GIANTS and hundreds of others.
@@charlesmento5968 They did with Johnny Carson’s Tonight show apparently. NBC erasing most of Carson’s content led to him having more control of the show for the remainder of his tenure.
You made a really strong case for keeping 3D backgrounds, but to make the case for 2D backgrounds: it's more immediately believable to me that these 2D characters exist within that space. The composting on previous animations usually avoided issues with this though, and the impressiveness of that can't be undersold. I really loved The Underwater Menace's animation, it gave me a newfound appreciation for the story but I agree with your criticisms, though I'm not sure much could recapture the sheer excitement of sitting down for The Evil of the Daleks' animation for the first time and how impressive that felt. I really hope that the next animation this team take on is The Myth Makers, my head tells me it'll probably be The Highlanders, but Vicki is my favourite companion and I find the story a lot of fun. I wish they kept her on longer but I'd love to have a shiny new version of Vicki's departure.
I did backgrounds and character designs on The Reign of Terror, Tenth Planet and Moonbase animations many many years ago for Planet 55. It was one of the most fun projects I've ever been involved in and everyone in the studio was having a great time, with Gary's obsession with getting the exact placement of the plastic tennis balls right on the Cybermen, and people throwing themselves around the office so we could rotoscope them for Cyberman death scenes. Obviously the strange head rigging on Reign was quite bizarre and if I was supreme ruler everything would have been fully 2D animated all the time with no shots ever reused, but the time just wasn't there, sadly. And if I was in charge it would never have come out on time anyway and the studio would have died within a month! I haven't watched many of the recent animated recreations but some of the ones you showed in this video look shocking..!
I've been checked out of Doctor Who since 2020. Without a way to access the new episodes, I have no way to (legally) watch them, and, with them now throwing their lot in with a company I do my best not to support, who have already ruined one franchise I love (Disney and Star Wars), I don't see a relationship between me and Doctor Who any more. With that being said. It still pleases me to see the animations continue. I have high hopes for the range. I hope they're successful. I hope they're so successful, in fact, that we get original animations. Like Dreamland, but for Classic Who, or even older New Who. Who wouldn't love more Nine and Rose? But this is me wishing success on those creating the animation, not those in charge. I hope the animators get the budget they deserve, like you said.
Because I just want to see the missing stories available in *any* format and for them to thus be commercially available to a wider audience, I don’t have strong opinions on the different styles of the animated episodes (though I agree with you that “Evil of the Daleks” was the high point). What I do feel strongly about is I wish the choice of which stories to animate would be rooted in how they are gauged by the fans. “The Daleks’ Master Plan” and “Marco Polo” have always ranked near the top of surveys of Hartnell’s best stories, and in my opinion, the writing in “The Massacre” rivals any historical drama ever made for UK TV. But none of these stories have animated episodes, and while “Marco Polo” isn’t a favorite of mine, just imagine the possibilities - those vast outdoors sets, the colorful costumes, fight scenes, all just crying out for animation. Yet, many of the stories selected for animation have consistently ranked as weak entries, e.g. “Galaxy 4,” “The Underwater Menace,” and, Lord help us, “The Celestial Toymaker.” The time and money spent to animate these three are a real head scratcher to me, when there are much stronger stories that remain untouched.
I have to agree. In some cases in my DW marathon I've watched telesnap recons over the recons as I've felt at least you're seeing what was transmitted.
The animation has been all over the place with all of them but at least they all have a similar vibe- 2D, flash looking animations. There are definitely some “this guy stinks” bits but they’re all part of a goofy family. The 3D ones irks me solely because it tanks the matchy matchy vibe, but that’s just me being picky For me it’s a constant war between “be grateful for what you get considering the animated shows get .02 budget and focus and it’s for just classic who people” and “but shouldn’t you be allowed to push for more from such a big company and iconic franchise?”
I am a big fan of 60s Who, particularly the Troughton era. I love the animations, but I have been put off by some of the artistic choices made. I agree that they should just expand on the sets, etc rather than make significant changes. I'm old enough to remember the BBCi flash animations for Death Comes to Time so obviously even the worst animations are more sophisticated than that but when I saw the clips from the Celestial Toymaker I did experience a flash, joke intended, of nostalgia for those days. The artwork at least looked like the characters and it had a simple charm. Not entirely serious but I think they should try and make the animations look as close to the episodes as time and money will allow.
Great Video! Personally I think it's hard to say how the Animation range can improve in its current form, I must say I do miss the lightning from releases of evil and so on, if they ever do daleks masterplan (chances are they might do it as two releases, which honestly, I am fine with) I think a story like this really needs the lightning from previous Releases back. Besides, it all stories we have left are historicals or some of the rather less liked sci-fi ones (space pirates, wheel in space) or some which most people are meh on. Some may say the approach behind the 2010 Animation should have been followed up. I personally disagree, while I think it benefits any of the stories which is almost complete (like Web, like Underwater), I think for the rest going with the approach we have seen since 2016 is the way to go. Although I do wish we had one style instead of multiple different ones, I am very curious how this range continues, especially since some harder ones are left to do, I think an animation can only improve middle stories like Space Pirates or Wheel. Meanwhile, stories like the massacre or the highlanders may need to be some of the last ones, since I do think they probably will do a lot of the historicals as 3D Animations rather than 2D and that style really needs some work, then again that team might also just do something else. What ever the future holds I am very curious to see it, hopefully we get more Season 3 Animations and the last few Throughton Stories
I haven't minded having more than one production company working on the releases. It means we can get releases more often. I just wish they spent more time on the likenesses. I don't enjoy them if I can't see the actor they are meant to be.
I didnt mind Underwater Menace, but those quibbles are valid. I do hope they improve the lighting for the next project. I'll be really curious to see how Celestial Toymaker turns out. Ir looks miles and miles above Web of Fear thats for sure
I know most people compared the Toymaker animation to the TellTale games, but personally, I think it fits. The story is very imaginative and abstract, and I think the animation lends itself to that style perfectly. I get what the team were trying to do with the Web of Fear, but I feel they've learned their lesson there. The animations, in my opinion, should find a balance between what was originally broadcast (from what little we have) and the team's art style. Expound on what came before and make it feel fresh. Experiment and find the best way to convey the original story for a modern audience. That is what I hope they'll do with future reconstructions.
Love TellTale Games! Sam and Max and Back to the Future the Game are my go-to games from that company. And that's a great way to put it in terms of how the missing episode animations should be made. Having that balance between trying to stick with the original source material and expanding on it creatively. Animation is a art form after all and experimenting with it can lead to some pretty fantastic results.
Another great video, Josh. Evil is my favourite as well, its really a good watch, with Faceless a close 2nd. Following Web & Galaxy, sorry these really put me off from future animations.
@JoshSnares I've always enjoyed Faceless and I found the lighting of the animation quite moody (IMO). I've also Fan Edited Evil to a 90min omnibus but also have the full eps as well as on my Plex server. Contemplating doing same for Faceless.
As usual, Josh has hit the nail on the head. The remaining animations need a sufficient budget and some consistent design protocols. They also need to churn them out at a rate faster than the current glacial speed. I am afraid that this will not happen unless and until the classic Who fans make their presence and their buying power well known to the BBC and Disney+. Nothing is going to happen without some pressure and noise.
I'm a Web 3 defender lol... and I hope I'll like Celestial Toymaker too (I like the stuff they're doing with the Toymaker's realm, and hope they go all the way, doing stuff that just wasn't possible in the 60's)
@@JoshSnares Yea, I mean, I do _get_ the criticisms, and agree to some extent, but they're things that I can personally look past. Celestial Toymaker definitely looks to be an improvement. It's nice to have respectful disagreements about experiences of media, and I respect that you always have that upfront with your videos :)
While I don't mind the different styles of animations as much as other people, I do understand that some people like consistency. I think if the animations were done by one studio, under one main vision, direction, and with a increased budget, this wouldn't be an issue. Remember, the animations bounce a bit between companies, so you can't really get enough consistency between each production and animation.
Of course I would like to see CGI reconstructions based on the telesnaps and surviving footage. I would also like the Beeb to pay for bounty hunters to find the "collectors" who have the missing tapes. I am happy with whatever we get for me, it's better than nothing. Watching the Evil of the Daleks animation made me realize how relatively subdued Patrick Troughton's performance was in that story. I wonder if the director told him to tone it down a bit or if he was having a bad week or something.
Watching The Invasion with the missing episodes completed with animation by Cosgrove Hall that perfectly complemented the style of the original was perfect. Seeing a complete story in a jarring style isn’t quite the same
For me, I’m just glad we’re getting the animations. These have enabled me to rediscover Patrick Troughton’s Doctor. The only other stories I need to get are The Dominators, The Mind Robber, and The Krotons. The War Games will take a while as the DVD is over $100 on Amazon and eBay. The Highlanders, The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates are the only stories that don’t have any animations at all. So I will look forward to seeing them should they come. Then I can have Patrick Troughton’s entire run, and enjoy it.
I would like the Space Pirates or the Highlanders to be animated next, I know that they may not be a well liked episode and that we have had loads of Troughton episodes animated but then we can get a Season 6/4 Blue ray collection box set. I know we still need the Smugglers for Season 4 but there was that news of it being animated alongside the underwater menace if that is still happening considering the Celestial Toymaker is being animated next and not the Smugglers
Animations mildly scare me man, it’s just constant uncanny valley, far too frightening. But I have picked up evil of the daleks because that’s one that didn’t look absolutely terrifying and actually rather lovely. Great video as always man!
There's always the option to listen to just the soundtrack like fans have been doing for years, so anything we get given is usually welcome for me, simply because it gives us a new release in the DVD/Blu-ray range, which has consistently been of very high quality regarding additional features.
I TOTALLY agree about Michael Craze!! Having only come to Classic Who about 6 years ago, I was devastated when I found out how few live episodes featuring that gorgeous man still existed. 😪
Michael Craze did have that quintessential boy (or should I say lad) next-door quality. I almost forget about him salivating over Frasier Hines' Jamie... _"Nothing beats a great pair of Leggs!"_ I was taken aback by how Ben was presented in _"The Power of The Daleks."_ They actually made him look older and mainly angry. 😲
Another great video, thanks Josh. The Macra Terror and Menace animations made me reappraise my low opinion about both stories and I really enjoyed both of them, especially Menace. Still can’t see past those awful arms on Fury though, so disappointing and something very basic to get right in my most sought after re-release. Good points too about the lighting and scene composition in the better animations, but I did not notice them missing from Menace too much. Hope someone will do The Highlanders properly now.
I agree 100% with everything you have to say! macra and evil of the daleks were fantastic animations and I feel like they should stick to that type of style
I think even the weakest animations we've had are still worth it, they're still something and they're generally more accessible than the reconstructions. Of course that doesn't negate criticism though cause I'd still rather them be the best possible quality we can get from them. For example I absolutely agree that the big issue with the Celestial Toymaker is facial animation. But personally I don't think I'll ever be over them as long as there are still missing stories left to be animated.
I enjoyed the animation of Celestial Toymaker that a fan did of the complete episode 1. It used computer animation, but was very engaging. I’m surprised they didn’t use him for this new release as it was presumably cheap, but very effective.
The nice thing is that, with how much technology continues to advance, it won't be long before fanmade animations will be able to reach a similar level of quality to the current official ones.
Well, in spite of less stellar animation lately, I'm just glad that these releases are still happening, especially since it seemed for a hot minute that we weren't getting any more. I don't want to say that I don't care about the quality of the animation but I'll take what I can get. I honestly don't know how they can improve this without a larger budget. But we must expect that the budget will most likely never increase by much. Still, uniformity in style would be nice(if the style is really cool) but seems unlikely. I'm not getting any younger, so I just want to be able to add all the remaining stories to my video collection while I can.
Great vid josh! I sorta hate the 3d animation of the celestial toymaker it’s putrid imo, I don’t think they should keep doing 3d until they get a larger budget
Sadly, I couldn’t get in to the animated episodes, it just feels very janky. I love the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who, but seeing Power of the Daleks in a cartoon form really took me out of it. Damn you BBC for deleting the actual footage
The new approach on Underwater Menace looks like Hanna-Barbera, and that isn't good, but The Celestial Toymaker looks like a PS1 game. I really wish they just did them all in Evil of the Daleks style.
I've seen a couple of them; they're okay in order to see the stories but the animation is kind of uncanny to me. I've seen loads of cartoons in my life so I know it's possible for it to work really well. The Star Trek cartoon in the 70s managed to look like a really good replica of the TV show on a shoestring budget - so I don't get why the Dr Who ones look so weird!
You're right the animation on Toymaker is looking better! I think they're going with a style due to the type of story it's telling. it COULD work but we shall see. I'll give it a chance
I still think the best approach to official animations, and to get the budget/audience is to treat them like their own series, broadcast on BBC channels, add to Iplayer like the normal series and treat them as a spinoff. Having them straight to DVD doesn't alert many fans that they are even being made, or easy to access without splashing out £20 to buy it. Also use the Evil/Macra approach, with animation style and closeness to the originals, anything after evil seems a little too far away from original design lol
I actually liked the more intense lighting, because my eyes are... bad. Although I only watch the black and white version, and only the missed episodes. For the 1st episode I prefer your recon, it will live forever in my archives.
Another great review Josh ! Totally agree ! Bring back rob Richie !! The Animations are going down hill Badly ! I didn’t bother buying underwater menace or celestial Toymaker 😢
I would love to see “ the Daleks master plan “ done by studio ghibli. I think that studio is able to tell great stories with animation. There work is beautiful and brings the audience in. My second choice is the team that did “your name.” The art there is phenomenal.
Great review vid👍🏻👌🏻😄👏🏻, I completely understand the profitability aspect 🤑 but, for myself, I still preffered the old Reign of Terror / Moonbase & Tenth Planet animations. Don't get me wrong, I 💕 the guys making the new animations, the large scale sets (although I do think they should keep the original as close as possible to surviving episodes & not be given Carte' Blanche or you get epic failures like the ugly/lazy Rill ship interior of Galaxy Four & Underwater Menace Sea Temple, but if no episides exist then they should be given Carte' Blanche) & I'll take anything just to see these wonderful (& sadly lost in 'time & space, literally) episodes reanimated from the beyond... BUT‼️ I still wish that the moody old animations such as The Invasion where upgraded / funded moreso as I think that, by now, they would be far superior. I didn't even bother buying the Web of Fear & sadly The Celestial Toymaker looks like something similar but regardless I shall still buy it.... 🤷🏻♂️ On a personal note... Please, please, please do a review on The Daleks in Colour when it's released later in February 2024 🙏🏻😄🙏🏻
I watched the Season 4 animations on the Iplayer and I think they look good honestly. I like the style they go for, especially Macra and Faceless Enemies. The cartoony style they go for really fits the format and I like how the hair has more shape to it than Evil of Daleks. Sometimes I could tell that assets weren’t rendered in the highest of quality so my main request would be to try to keep everything in 4k without pixelating if possible. Also sometimes the more simple movements can be a little stiff like walking for example but that’s more so a nitpick than criticism. I just like having the stories available to watch, really made me grow to love the second doctor a lot more thanks to actually having his stuff to watch (The reconstructions are unwatchable in my opinion) I’m really excited for the Highlanders whenever they get around to it.
I watch them all in Black and White, so the lighting/atmosphere is less of a big issue for me (I think the spooky moments look better in black and white anyway) but I agree this is a misstep for the colour versions.
To be honest, I don't mind the animation as seen on the trailer of The Celestial Toymaker, it seems like they got most of the characters right (apart from Steven) this time around. It does seem rather stilted in movement at times, but it's alright. I will buy the animations still so I can have something that does somewhat resemble the episodes, the only one I haven't bought is the Web of Fear because I'm noping that animation. Telesnap is fine enough for me.
The animations do seem to be in a tricky spot right now. On one hand, I will be grateful to get any continuation of the range (especially with the period we briefly thought they were done). On the other, it does seem like for whatever reason (money, interest) the quality is a little lower for these last 2. I’m a little more okay with it for Toymaker and Menace, but it’s hard to imagine it would go down well with Marco, Myth Makers, or Dalek Masterplan. Big respect though to all those putting in so many hours!
13:33 Ben (Michael Craze) is the hottest companion for me. I do adore my sailor boy! I also puzzle at why his animated interpretations don't do him justice!
i wish they had used the same animation style for the classic who ones they used on either scream of the shalka or the infinite quest featuring 10 and martha on a side note i want more doctor who media featuring the version of the doctor wfrom scream of the shalka i really enjoyed that doctor's attitude throughout i saw parts of 10's now your going to pay attitude and parts of 12's stubbornness
I like the animations, they create a new way to enjoy these missing stories. The lost episodes on CD are worth a listen too, they offer something else a little different. But it does get a little concerning at how many times I’ve purchased the same episodes in differing formats. Still, I’ve only myself to blame!
Crazy for Michael Craze too, he was gorgeous and sure surpasses any feeble animations so far. In this age of AI can we not abandon this old technique for something way better?
For me the animations are a way to experience these stories not re-creations of the original episodes. Like novelizations they are a re-interpretation of the story. And I think that leads directly to a major issue - some of these stories aren't that great as stories to begin with. Celestial Toymaker as you say is a "snoozefest" and Underwater Menace is uneven. I actually think they should have leant into the wackiness of the story more and made it like a hallucinatory fever dream - but that's probably just me :). Anyway, putting amazing (read:expensive) visuals against a so-so story is always going to be a hard sell to the people who set the budgets. You could do an incredible job and it's still only going to be something I put on occasionally. I also really love Fury From the Deep but that's because I think it's a strong story. My favourite is probably Power of the Daleks which I know lots of people hate the design but I think the story's great. You could take this argument too far of course. A great story done with stick figures wouldn't be a great animation. But I guess I'm saying I'd like them to focus on the better stories first. Did they choose CT to tie in with the 60th and then it over-ran? That's why I think they should so The Space Pirates next ;)
The Macra Terror's backgrounds were hand painted as well. My friend Graham did a lot of them and it was great to see the original paintings at his house. Thanks Josh.
Graham did an incredible job!
Graham Bleathman's Thunderbirds paintings and cutaways have left an indelible impression on me since childhood
My personal favorite was whatever was used for the moonbase, like it's so good
out of the first 34 Patrick Troughton episodes; only 7 remain. its such a shame that we miss out on so much of his early work. the first complete story is Tomb Of The Cybermen… meaning we don’t have a single Ben & Polly story in its entirety.
“This guy stinks” is engrained in my mind forever now.
It’s iconic
Made me turn the video off after about 10 minutes to be honest and I was kind of enjoying it otherwise. So awful when overused to that extent.
Toymaker and web of fear are bad but i dont see whats wrong with the others
@@JoshSnaresit’s an annoying earwig now
Less than 20 seconds in and I’m already smiling - that Nyssa wallpaper is awesome!
My biggest issue with the Celestial Toymaker is why didn't they get Dinopuff to just do it? Their version of Part 1 was perfection.
They were working on the official release WAY before Dinopuff posted any of their Celestial Toymaker
@@JoshSnares blast, because my word a literal 17 outshone them... And they were flying solo.
Dinopuff is destined for greatness. Of this I am sure.
Thank you for everything you do Josh. 🥰
@JoshSnares @@ThatRandomFastingGuy Have you seen Mel's A Meeting on the Common animation? It's utterly terrific, of course (but I might be biased).
Dinopuff's version is amazing.
@@ThatRandomFastingGuy i mean if he contacts them they might work with him to do a more favorable release
Wake up babe, new Josh Snares video
Let’s goooooo
-just dropped 😂
@@JoshSnares it could make more sense for these animations to not be released individually maybe apart the collection release that they’re doing
i really adore what they're going for stylistically but before that Celestial Toymaker trailer was released i was also young and naïve, thinking Peter Purves' face wouldn't be gerrymandered, but such is life
We can never win 😞
I could never watch anything that did _that_ to Peter Purves's face. Sacrilege.
I always felt there there was a walk through alcove linking the outer doors to the inner doors of the Tardis that was just never seen …🤔🤷♂️
I just thought they're not the same doors. They both just mark the location of two sides of the portal.
There are some episodes (like The Daleks) where you can see the inner doors leading straight to the outside
Jodie Whittaker’s TARDIS had the alcove for entry with no additional doors to the console room. I figured the classic console room had doors that went with the alcove giving the console room an extra layer of protection from the outside.
Davies and Moffet did away with the alcove and doors leaving only the external doors figuring the second set of doors and alcove were not needed probably. Chibnal put the alcove in at least.
Rob and I collaborated many years ago on a few Doctor Who South Park animations, where I did the character designs. It was a hoot to see them moving! Shout out to Rob if he sees this!
Also, Doccy Who Michael Craze Appreciation Society needs to happen.
Feel like it would get inappropriate FAST 😅
@@JoshSnares yeah to being real inappropriate with Mr Craze!
Please don't call it "Doccy Who".
@@johnnymain777 😂 you’re kidding, right?
*sad Elliot Chapman noises*
Good to have you back! Are you planning on doing anymore of your big finish animations? Those are amazing!
Maybe but not anytime soon lol, they take a lot of time
@@JoshSnares or why not recreate some 60s missing episodes?
I love Josh. It gives me joy to see him revel in his passion for Dr Who.
personally I think they should go back to just animating the missing episodes from a story instead of all of them, for example if the wheel in space was animated they could skip out on animating parts 3 and 6 and use the money saved to improve the rest of the episodes
Yeah, I'd prefer that - but they have to release them to a wider audience than just us!
Speaking of Stephen, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Tales of the Tardis episode with The Time Meddler. I found it a very sincere and pleasant tribute to Hartnell and his era, and finally gave some closure to two often-overlooked companions.
Loved, loved, LOVED Tales of the TARDIS. I really need to get around to making a video about it...
Doctor Who fandom is rough and gnarly, but Josh Snares is the exception. I don't think Josh realises how much people love them. Simply the best. ✨
that is very sweet, thank you!
Glad you're back! I semi recently started watching Classic Who for the first time and a big part of that was because your videos kept popping up on my recommended. Glad to be here for a new video :)
Oh thank you!
U should watch Josh’s 3 part documentary on the missing episodes it’s fantastic and felt well researched if u like behind the scenes information
Josh Snares is Back with another video!!! Rejoice!!! Looking forward to watching this! :D
😎😎
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The animations being made specifically for Josh would explain a lot 😂❤
Everything is about ME
Good point. The popularity and hype of the animations has died and I did wonder if it’s because the inconsistent quality.
Also, how on earth did you get Underwater Menace already down here?! Can’t find it anywhere! Nor Collection S20 for that matter.
Imported it from the UK, babes!
Legit, the Michael Craze character design for these animations has been a pet peeve of mine.
Two main things that are less of a time crunch for the teams doing these animations. Sun & Moon Studios, the team behind The Macra Terror animation, apparently struggled with the short deadline and unfortunately dropped continuing doing these Animations (PLEASE COME BACK FOR THE MYTH MAKERS, PLEAAAAASE), and with The Evil of the Daleks animation, the deadline went from 12 months to 18 months. Both Sun & Moon Studios and the BBC Studios team did a marvellous job with their respective releases, but having a longer timeframe to work with helps with everything.
Another would be getting a team together to assist Rob. I love Rob's work, both before and during these animations, but the crushing workload and demand definitely needs to be eased if we ever want to see Rob do another one of these animations. If he knows anyone that he trusts with the animation, set designing, modelling, texturing, you name it, get them and get them to find others to trust as well.
I’m one who has always been indifferent to the animated reconstructions of missing episodes cause I can see their attempt to give us the episodes back in some way but I’m one who likes seeing it as it aired that’s why I started with Jon Pertwee when I started my classic era rewatch cause all of his run going forward is available to watch cause I just love watching the show in general even though Matt is my favorite doctor I can still get enjoyment out of all the doctors and jumping around from animation style to animation style may not have been a good thing in hindsight a more uniform style may have a better decision not that any of the animators are bad but having a more uniform style even it it different for each doctor it would’ve helped with consistency and I thank u for discussing the classic era cause most whotubers don’t discuss it it’s why to me your the keeper of the classic era in a good way
The invasion was one of the best animations
“Welcome Back Josh - All Is Forgiven!” As a designer I totally agree about the importance of lighting!
Think I’m the only person that loves Toymaker - the imagery haunted me as a kid.
I’m still excited to see Master Plan animated one day… Hopefully well! Until then I’ll just carry on mooching round my local Mormon church 😉
How wonderful to have you back again!! I thought you made many valid points both for and against what we have had. I was fine with the Underwater Menace one. It was nicely done and didn't seem too egregious to me. The Celestial Toymaker one is a potential worry as I really did dislike Web 3. But the odd 3D style might work for the whackiness of the story. I guess we shall see!
A very interesting a well-made video as always. I personally am not a fan of the direction they've taken the animations in either. Keep it up!
Thank you :)
it’s joshy time
😎
I think that the original Macra prop, if you made it more organic, but chunky, would be a lot more terrifying as a 3D animated model.
I personally think the should go back to the macra terror design, I feel really invested because it feels 3d, is there a reason that was just a one off?
Sun and Moon did the character animation for that, and they just had a different approach. I preferred their style too!
Ngl the animation style for the celestial toymaker is growing on me. Like you said the original can be a snoozefest at times (probably because of the lack of visuals and that serial relies HEAVILY on visual storytelling).
Also dinopuffs recreation of episode 1 is incredible. Really hope he keeps doing more animations like that.
I love these animations. But I feel like you are right. They range in quality range WILDY. I want more but I personally like the black and white (unprofitable) ones more. I don't mind the color ones but I feels like the quality went down when they added color (with a few notable acceptions). Give the teams working on these 15% more time and money. And they might all be as good as Power of the Daleks.
Great to have a new vid, missed them soooo much!
They should all be 3D, and as realistic as it can be, whilst I’m a purist at heart,you’re quite right that it could never replicate the original, so some artistic license should be allowed to make the story as good as it could have been if the BBC had movie budgets of the time.
We all know that sometimes, some stories lack pace, compared to todays, so maybe they should be allowed to alter the length slightly, much akin to the colourised Daleks story (I would love to see your thoughts on it Josh!).
It's an introduction. I will say that. But it is scant replacement for the real thing. The thing I miss most is seeing that early stuff for the first time. Being old and irascible enough to recall 'The Five Faces of...' - It was like a glimpse into some mysterious TV history. The same feeling I still get from those Quatermass recordings. And when 'Lost in Time' came out (played on a disc drive in my tower - watched on a CRT) I made the contents last literally weeks. I couldn't let go of it. Perhaps it's an age thing. Let's face it, my brother dimly recalls the back end of Season 6. He also needs a hip replacement....
Which is ridiculous in a way in that the BBC should never have used those tapes and erased or threw out DW at all! I mean we still have shows from the 1950s and 60s, lost time? Not so much but different, yes. Thank God the US never did that kind of stuff and we still have STAR TREK, LOST IN SPACE, LAND OF THE GIANTS and hundreds of others.
@@charlesmento5968 They did with Johnny Carson’s Tonight show apparently. NBC erasing most of Carson’s content led to him having more control of the show for the remainder of his tenure.
You made a really strong case for keeping 3D backgrounds, but to make the case for 2D backgrounds: it's more immediately believable to me that these 2D characters exist within that space. The composting on previous animations usually avoided issues with this though, and the impressiveness of that can't be undersold. I really loved The Underwater Menace's animation, it gave me a newfound appreciation for the story but I agree with your criticisms, though I'm not sure much could recapture the sheer excitement of sitting down for The Evil of the Daleks' animation for the first time and how impressive that felt.
I really hope that the next animation this team take on is The Myth Makers, my head tells me it'll probably be The Highlanders, but Vicki is my favourite companion and I find the story a lot of fun. I wish they kept her on longer but I'd love to have a shiny new version of Vicki's departure.
I did backgrounds and character designs on The Reign of Terror, Tenth Planet and Moonbase animations many many years ago for Planet 55. It was one of the most fun projects I've ever been involved in and everyone in the studio was having a great time, with Gary's obsession with getting the exact placement of the plastic tennis balls right on the Cybermen, and people throwing themselves around the office so we could rotoscope them for Cyberman death scenes. Obviously the strange head rigging on Reign was quite bizarre and if I was supreme ruler everything would have been fully 2D animated all the time with no shots ever reused, but the time just wasn't there, sadly. And if I was in charge it would never have come out on time anyway and the studio would have died within a month!
I haven't watched many of the recent animated recreations but some of the ones you showed in this video look shocking..!
Love, love, love your work! The detail you added was just beautiful. Great to hear your insight!! 💕
I've been checked out of Doctor Who since 2020. Without a way to access the new episodes, I have no way to (legally) watch them, and, with them now throwing their lot in with a company I do my best not to support, who have already ruined one franchise I love (Disney and Star Wars), I don't see a relationship between me and Doctor Who any more.
With that being said. It still pleases me to see the animations continue. I have high hopes for the range. I hope they're successful. I hope they're so successful, in fact, that we get original animations. Like Dreamland, but for Classic Who, or even older New Who.
Who wouldn't love more Nine and Rose?
But this is me wishing success on those creating the animation, not those in charge. I hope the animators get the budget they deserve, like you said.
Because I just want to see the missing stories available in *any* format and for them to thus be commercially available to a wider audience, I don’t have strong opinions on the different styles of the animated episodes (though I agree with you that “Evil of the Daleks” was the high point). What I do feel strongly about is I wish the choice of which stories to animate would be rooted in how they are gauged by the fans. “The Daleks’ Master Plan” and “Marco Polo” have always ranked near the top of surveys of Hartnell’s best stories, and in my opinion, the writing in “The Massacre” rivals any historical drama ever made for UK TV. But none of these stories have animated episodes, and while “Marco Polo” isn’t a favorite of mine, just imagine the possibilities - those vast outdoors sets, the colorful costumes, fight scenes, all just crying out for animation. Yet, many of the stories selected for animation have consistently ranked as weak entries, e.g. “Galaxy 4,” “The Underwater Menace,” and, Lord help us, “The Celestial Toymaker.” The time and money spent to animate these three are a real head scratcher to me, when there are much stronger stories that remain untouched.
I have to agree. In some cases in my DW marathon I've watched telesnap recons over the recons as I've felt at least you're seeing what was transmitted.
The animation has been all over the place with all of them but at least they all have a similar vibe- 2D, flash looking animations. There are definitely some “this guy stinks” bits but they’re all part of a goofy family. The 3D ones irks me solely because it tanks the matchy matchy vibe, but that’s just me being picky
For me it’s a constant war between “be grateful for what you get considering the animated shows get .02 budget and focus and it’s for just classic who people” and “but shouldn’t you be allowed to push for more from such a big company and iconic franchise?”
I am a big fan of 60s Who, particularly the Troughton era.
I love the animations, but I have been put off by some of the artistic choices made.
I agree that they should just expand on the sets, etc rather than make significant changes.
I'm old enough to remember the BBCi flash animations for Death Comes to Time so obviously even the worst animations are more sophisticated than that but when I saw the clips from the Celestial Toymaker I did experience a flash, joke intended, of nostalgia for those days. The artwork at least looked like the characters and it had a simple charm.
Not entirely serious but I think they should try and make the animations look as close to the episodes as time and money will allow.
You are such a pedantic, nit-picking overly critical geek, and this is why I love you,
omg you got me in the first half
hahaha sorry, I just REALLY love your stuff@@JoshSnares
Great Video! Personally I think it's hard to say how the Animation range can improve in its current form, I must say I do miss the lightning from releases of evil and so on, if they ever do daleks masterplan (chances are they might do it as two releases, which honestly, I am fine with) I think a story like this really needs the lightning from previous Releases back. Besides, it all stories we have left are historicals or some of the rather less liked sci-fi ones (space pirates, wheel in space) or some which most people are meh on. Some may say the approach behind the 2010 Animation should have been followed up. I personally disagree, while I think it benefits any of the stories which is almost complete (like Web, like Underwater), I think for the rest going with the approach we have seen since 2016 is the way to go. Although I do wish we had one style instead of multiple different ones, I am very curious how this range continues, especially since some harder ones are left to do, I think an animation can only improve middle stories like Space Pirates or Wheel. Meanwhile, stories like the massacre or the highlanders may need to be some of the last ones, since I do think they probably will do a lot of the historicals as 3D Animations rather than 2D and that style really needs some work, then again that team might also just do something else. What ever the future holds I am very curious to see it, hopefully we get more Season 3 Animations and the last few Throughton Stories
a lot of people forget about the Savages - brilliant story to animate.
@@darrenhale2351 Oh yeah true! I think it might be one of the next hartnell animations, at least I am guessing!
I haven't minded having more than one production company working on the releases. It means we can get releases more often. I just wish they spent more time on the likenesses. I don't enjoy them if I can't see the actor they are meant to be.
I didnt mind Underwater Menace, but those quibbles are valid. I do hope they improve the lighting for the next project.
I'll be really curious to see how Celestial Toymaker turns out. Ir looks miles and miles above Web of Fear thats for sure
I say this every time Josh and I hope you don’t get tired of hearing it but great job as always!
"If we want to make that change, we need to justify it." Great quote. I only wish that Chibnall and now RTD thought that way.
I know most people compared the Toymaker animation to the TellTale games, but personally, I think it fits. The story is very imaginative and abstract, and I think the animation lends itself to that style perfectly. I get what the team were trying to do with the Web of Fear, but I feel they've learned their lesson there. The animations, in my opinion, should find a balance between what was originally broadcast (from what little we have) and the team's art style. Expound on what came before and make it feel fresh. Experiment and find the best way to convey the original story for a modern audience. That is what I hope they'll do with future reconstructions.
Love TellTale Games! Sam and Max and Back to the Future the Game are my go-to games from that company. And that's a great way to put it in terms of how the missing episode animations should be made. Having that balance between trying to stick with the original source material and expanding on it creatively. Animation is a art form after all and experimenting with it can lead to some pretty fantastic results.
this is absolute cope
I for one would totally be in favour of a Telltale style Doctor Who game though
@@TokuWaffle Me Too! In fact, the Adventure Games proved Doctor Who can work in the Point and Click Game format.
Another great video, Josh. Evil is my favourite as well, its really a good watch, with Faceless a close 2nd. Following Web & Galaxy, sorry these really put me off from future animations.
Faceless! I haven’t seen anyone rate that one so highly, love to see it get love
@JoshSnares I've always enjoyed Faceless and I found the lighting of the animation quite moody (IMO). I've also Fan Edited Evil to a 90min omnibus but also have the full eps as well as on my Plex server. Contemplating doing same for Faceless.
As usual, Josh has hit the nail on the head. The remaining animations need a sufficient budget and some consistent design protocols. They also need to churn them out at a rate faster than the current glacial speed. I am afraid that this will not happen unless and until the classic Who fans make their presence and their buying power well known to the BBC and Disney+. Nothing is going to happen without some pressure and noise.
I'm a Web 3 defender lol... and I hope I'll like Celestial Toymaker too (I like the stuff they're doing with the Toymaker's realm, and hope they go all the way, doing stuff that just wasn't possible in the 60's)
SOMEONE has to like Web of Fear, and I'm happy people do! :)
@@JoshSnares Yea, I mean, I do _get_ the criticisms, and agree to some extent, but they're things that I can personally look past. Celestial Toymaker definitely looks to be an improvement. It's nice to have respectful disagreements about experiences of media, and I respect that you always have that upfront with your videos :)
Josh Snares time
Yeah baby!!!!
While I don't mind the different styles of animations as much as other people, I do understand that some people like consistency. I think if the animations were done by one studio, under one main vision, direction, and with a increased budget, this wouldn't be an issue. Remember, the animations bounce a bit between companies, so you can't really get enough consistency between each production and animation.
Of course I would like to see CGI reconstructions based on the telesnaps and surviving footage. I would also like the Beeb to pay for bounty hunters to find the "collectors" who have the missing tapes. I am happy with whatever we get for me, it's better than nothing. Watching the Evil of the Daleks animation made me realize how relatively subdued Patrick Troughton's performance was in that story. I wonder if the director told him to tone it down a bit or if he was having a bad week or something.
Watching The Invasion with the missing episodes completed with animation by Cosgrove Hall that perfectly complemented the style of the original was perfect. Seeing a complete story in a jarring style isn’t quite the same
Thank you Josh. Another great Video. Happy New Year by the way.
Love Nyssa in the background!
For me, I’m just glad we’re getting the animations. These have enabled me to rediscover Patrick Troughton’s Doctor. The only other stories I need to get are The Dominators, The Mind Robber, and The Krotons.
The War Games will take a while as the DVD is over $100 on Amazon and eBay.
The Highlanders, The Wheel in Space and The Space Pirates are the only stories that don’t have any animations at all. So I will look forward to seeing them should they come. Then I can have Patrick Troughton’s entire run, and enjoy it.
I would like the Space Pirates or the Highlanders to be animated next, I know that they may not be a well liked episode and that we have had loads of Troughton episodes animated but then we can get a Season 6/4 Blue ray collection box set. I know we still need the Smugglers for Season 4 but there was that news of it being animated alongside the underwater menace if that is still happening considering the Celestial Toymaker is being animated next and not the Smugglers
Highlanders. Highlanders.
Animations mildly scare me man, it’s just constant uncanny valley, far too frightening. But I have picked up evil of the daleks because that’s one that didn’t look absolutely terrifying and actually rather lovely. Great video as always man!
There's always the option to listen to just the soundtrack like fans have been doing for years, so anything we get given is usually welcome for me, simply because it gives us a new release in the DVD/Blu-ray range, which has consistently been of very high quality regarding additional features.
100%
I TOTALLY agree about Michael Craze!! Having only come to Classic Who about 6 years ago, I was devastated when I found out how few live episodes featuring that gorgeous man still existed. 😪
Michael Craze did have that quintessential boy (or should I say lad) next-door quality. I almost forget about him salivating over Frasier Hines' Jamie... _"Nothing beats a great pair of Leggs!"_
I was taken aback by how Ben was presented in _"The Power of The Daleks."_ They actually made him look older and mainly angry. 😲
I seem to remember their was an interview with Rob Ritchie which I believe hinted at some kind of falling out with the BBC team
Yeah that was my interview with him! 😂
Another great video, thanks Josh. The Macra Terror and Menace animations made me reappraise my low opinion about both stories and I really enjoyed both of them, especially Menace. Still can’t see past those awful arms on Fury though, so disappointing and something very basic to get right in my most sought after re-release. Good points too about the lighting and scene composition in the better animations, but I did not notice them missing from Menace too much. Hope someone will do The Highlanders properly now.
I agree 100% with everything you have to say! macra and evil of the daleks were fantastic animations and I feel like they should stick to that type of style
jack you're always right 💕
ESPECIALLY when you agree with me haha
Totally with you re Michael Craze.
I think even the weakest animations we've had are still worth it, they're still something and they're generally more accessible than the reconstructions. Of course that doesn't negate criticism though cause I'd still rather them be the best possible quality we can get from them. For example I absolutely agree that the big issue with the Celestial Toymaker is facial animation. But personally I don't think I'll ever be over them as long as there are still missing stories left to be animated.
agree 100%
I enjoyed the animation of Celestial Toymaker that a fan did of the complete episode 1. It used computer animation, but was very engaging. I’m surprised they didn’t use him for this new release as it was presumably cheap, but very effective.
Woof! I haven't gotten the Underwater Menace up here in the US yet, but it looks like 70s Scooby Doo quality from those stills you've shown! 😂
The nice thing is that, with how much technology continues to advance, it won't be long before fanmade animations will be able to reach a similar level of quality to the current official ones.
Hopefully! Not many people end up finishing their projects, because it's a lot for just one person..
Well, in spite of less stellar animation lately, I'm just glad that these releases are still happening, especially since it seemed for a hot minute that we weren't getting any more. I don't want to say that I don't care about the quality of the animation but I'll take what I can get. I honestly don't know how they can improve this without a larger budget. But we must expect that the budget will most likely never increase by much. Still, uniformity in style would be nice(if the style is really cool) but seems unlikely. I'm not getting any younger, so I just want to be able to add all the remaining stories to my video collection while I can.
Great vid josh! I sorta hate the 3d animation of the celestial toymaker it’s putrid imo, I don’t think they should keep doing 3d until they get a larger budget
Sadly, I couldn’t get in to the animated episodes, it just feels very janky. I love the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who, but seeing Power of the Daleks in a cartoon form really took me out of it. Damn you BBC for deleting the actual footage
The new approach on Underwater Menace looks like Hanna-Barbera, and that isn't good, but The Celestial Toymaker looks like a PS1 game. I really wish they just did them all in Evil of the Daleks style.
13:43 What about the Macra Terror?
Great video. A uniformed style would be great and a slightly bigger budget. But I’m just grateful we get them at all.
Agree with everything you've said Josh, especially Michael Craze.
I've seen a couple of them; they're okay in order to see the stories but the animation is kind of uncanny to me. I've seen loads of cartoons in my life so I know it's possible for it to work really well. The Star Trek cartoon in the 70s managed to look like a really good replica of the TV show on a shoestring budget - so I don't get why the Dr Who ones look so weird!
You're right the animation on Toymaker is looking better! I think they're going with a style due to the type of story it's telling. it COULD work but we shall see. I'll give it a chance
It annoyed me they got Jamie's costume wrong- should have been the double tartan jobbie
I still think the best approach to official animations, and to get the budget/audience is to treat them like their own series, broadcast on BBC channels, add to Iplayer like the normal series and treat them as a spinoff. Having them straight to DVD doesn't alert many fans that they are even being made, or easy to access without splashing out £20 to buy it. Also use the Evil/Macra approach, with animation style and closeness to the originals, anything after evil seems a little too far away from original design lol
Reconstructions are the way to go. No missing scenes from missing episodes as the cleaning in the MACRA TERROR.
I actually liked the more intense lighting, because my eyes are... bad.
Although I only watch the black and white version, and only the missed episodes.
For the 1st episode I prefer your recon, it will live forever in my archives.
Another great review Josh ! Totally agree ! Bring back rob Richie !! The Animations are going down hill Badly ! I didn’t bother buying underwater menace or celestial Toymaker 😢
I would love to see “ the Daleks master plan “ done by studio ghibli. I think that studio is able to tell great stories with animation. There work is beautiful and brings the audience in. My second choice is the team that did “your name.” The art there is phenomenal.
Great review vid👍🏻👌🏻😄👏🏻, I completely understand the profitability aspect 🤑 but, for myself, I still preffered the old Reign of Terror / Moonbase & Tenth Planet animations. Don't get me wrong, I 💕 the guys making the new animations, the large scale sets (although I do think they should keep the original as close as possible to surviving episodes & not be given Carte' Blanche or you get epic failures like the ugly/lazy Rill ship interior of Galaxy Four & Underwater Menace Sea Temple, but if no episides exist then they should be given Carte' Blanche) & I'll take anything just to see these wonderful (& sadly lost in 'time & space, literally) episodes reanimated from the beyond... BUT‼️ I still wish that the moody old animations such as The Invasion where upgraded / funded moreso as I think that, by now, they would be far superior. I didn't even bother buying the Web of Fear & sadly The Celestial Toymaker looks like something similar but regardless I shall still buy it.... 🤷🏻♂️ On a personal note... Please, please, please do a review on The Daleks in Colour when it's released later in February 2024 🙏🏻😄🙏🏻
Abominable- think of it as “a bomb in a bull”
1:42 9:00 9:12 9:44 10:00 10:05 That Line Never Gets Old and it makes me laugh 😂😂😂
I watched the Season 4 animations on the Iplayer and I think they look good honestly. I like the style they go for, especially Macra and Faceless Enemies. The cartoony style they go for really fits the format and I like how the hair has more shape to it than Evil of Daleks. Sometimes I could tell that assets weren’t rendered in the highest of quality so my main request would be to try to keep everything in 4k without pixelating if possible. Also sometimes the more simple movements can be a little stiff like walking for example but that’s more so a nitpick than criticism.
I just like having the stories available to watch, really made me grow to love the second doctor a lot more thanks to actually having his stuff to watch (The reconstructions are unwatchable in my opinion) I’m really excited for the Highlanders whenever they get around to it.
so much happier to have them, in any state, than not. So much more accessible than telesnap recons or just the audio!
“THIS GUY STINKS!!!!!”
I watch them all in Black and White, so the lighting/atmosphere is less of a big issue for me (I think the spooky moments look better in black and white anyway) but I agree this is a misstep for the colour versions.
To be honest, I don't mind the animation as seen on the trailer of The Celestial Toymaker, it seems like they got most of the characters right (apart from Steven) this time around. It does seem rather stilted in movement at times, but it's alright. I will buy the animations still so I can have something that does somewhat resemble the episodes, the only one I haven't bought is the Web of Fear because I'm noping that animation. Telesnap is fine enough for me.
He’s back 🎉
Mayhaps
Thanks for a nuanced review of the ups and downs of these animations!
The animations do seem to be in a tricky spot right now. On one hand, I will be grateful to get any continuation of the range (especially with the period we briefly thought they were done). On the other, it does seem like for whatever reason (money, interest) the quality is a little lower for these last 2. I’m a little more okay with it for Toymaker and Menace, but it’s hard to imagine it would go down well with Marco, Myth Makers, or Dalek Masterplan. Big respect though to all those putting in so many hours!
13:33 Ben (Michael Craze) is the hottest companion for me. I do adore my sailor boy! I also puzzle at why his animated interpretations don't do him justice!
i wish they had used the same animation style for the classic who ones they used on either scream of the shalka or the infinite quest featuring 10 and martha on a side note i want more doctor who media featuring the version of the doctor wfrom scream of the shalka i really enjoyed that doctor's attitude throughout i saw parts of 10's now your going to pay attitude and parts of 12's stubbornness
I have to agree with your thoughts on this.
I like the animations, they create a new way to enjoy these missing stories. The lost episodes on CD are worth a listen too, they offer something else a little different. But it does get a little concerning at how many times I’ve purchased the same episodes in differing formats. Still, I’ve only myself to blame!
Crazy for Michael Craze too, he was gorgeous and sure surpasses any feeble animations so far.
In this age of AI can we not abandon this old technique for something way better?
For me the animations are a way to experience these stories not re-creations of the original episodes. Like novelizations they are a re-interpretation of the story. And I think that leads directly to a major issue - some of these stories aren't that great as stories to begin with. Celestial Toymaker as you say is a "snoozefest" and Underwater Menace is uneven. I actually think they should have leant into the wackiness of the story more and made it like a hallucinatory fever dream - but that's probably just me :). Anyway, putting amazing (read:expensive) visuals against a so-so story is always going to be a hard sell to the people who set the budgets. You could do an incredible job and it's still only going to be something I put on occasionally. I also really love Fury From the Deep but that's because I think it's a strong story. My favourite is probably Power of the Daleks which I know lots of people hate the design but I think the story's great.
You could take this argument too far of course. A great story done with stick figures wouldn't be a great animation. But I guess I'm saying I'd like them to focus on the better stories first. Did they choose CT to tie in with the 60th and then it over-ran? That's why I think they should so The Space Pirates next ;)