Look at this. Look at this. No, you have not time-traveled back more than a decade; this is actually Dreamland, the CG Doctor Who cartoon that the BBC is going to start airing later this year. This year. Not in 1997, as you might think from such horrible, horrible animation. I've seen better animation on PlayStation game. Hell, I give Re:Boot a lot of hell on TR, but seriously watch this:
...and try and tell me that clip, made around 1998, over a decade ago, under the constraints of a weekly television program, does not feature better character models, better animation and better direction than the 2009 CG cartoon of potentially the BBC's biggest franchise. Horrible. Horrible. (I Heart Chaos)
Comments
Kyolin said:
Dear god, it's giving me flashbacks of the early Nasonex Bee commercials!!!!
Posted 11/04/2009 at 10:48:21 AM
Geoff said:
Hang on, you can't say anything good about Reboot... after all, its storytelling pales in comparison to the genius that is Dragonball Z.
Without going further into Rob's insane admiration of shitty anime: At least the Flash animated Doctor Who episodes knew their own limitations. Plus, the full version of The Infinite Quest was witty enough to put an animated TARDIS into the opening sequence, which was pretty damned funny.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 10:50:54 AM
Now, the models to Who wern't that bad. But the animation, dear lord! Sooo stiff! Put it back in the oven, it's not done yet!
Posted 11/04/2009 at 10:55:25 AM
KaiSen said:
Actually, to nitpick a bit, that ReBoot clip you linked to wasn't from 1998, but rather 2001.
But yeah . . . that Doctor Who clip. Yikes.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:02:02 AM
misterclock said:
I hope the same ppl who did this CGI Dr. Who are NOT the same ppl doing the Warhammer 40K movie.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:17:31 AM
John Hurteau said:
Of all the things to complain about... seriously? Why do animated graphics need to be the latest and greatest? Seems pretty simple. I don't see anything wrong with the models, that is just a stylistic choice. Either you like it or you don't. The animation is pretty bad. They have a budget, either be glad they are making it or just don't watch it.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:20:27 AM
Gasstank said:
They should have stuck with the animation style of Infinite Quest. I rather enjoyed that one.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:20:50 AM
VerbalGurl said:
Bad. Ugh.
And anyway, didn't the blue suit go with Doctor 10.5 to parallel dimension Earth to live happily-ever-after with Ms. Tyler at the end of 'Journey's End'? Just sayin',,,
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:47:23 AM
Invader Toph said:
Wow. That was uncomfortable. BBC has to come better than that. Can't they call up the guys from Pixar for some tips or something?
@Geoff: Top Gear is awesome but it cannot compare to the greatness that is Doctor Who.
And who in the hell said that DBZ was better than ReBoot? Were they high or something?
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:50:22 AM
Arsenal said:
A) Reboot is one of the best cartoons ever made.
B) I was no aware that the good Doctor was a side character in the game Borderlands. It looks exactly the same, well not as polished as borderlands but still.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:56:30 AM
Chief Supreme said:
Wow, I've seen children's programming on the religious channel with higher production value than that.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:58:51 AM
Beppo said:
If Rob wasn't completely clueless about any Doctor Who made before 2005 he would recognize that the foundation of the show is interesting characters and great stories not eye-popping special effects.
Go watch The Ark in Space and tell me I'm wrong. Hell, go watch The Web Planet which has a great, intricate plot and guys dressed up as ants and butterflies.
If you want eye-candy you shouldn't be watching Doctor Who.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 12:04:02 PM
Spudicus said:
That was truly appalling animation but in spite of it I was sucked in. The Doctor's dialog was spot on. I want to see what happens when he goes to Area 51 . I'll definitely watch it.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 12:09:50 PM
Church said:
I see your Reboot and raise you a Roughnecks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbWwx6XPsZs
(That's actually a repackaged minisode, but you get the idea.)
Posted 11/04/2009 at 12:28:17 PM
emerson999 said:
Yes, yes, the foundation of doctor who has always been stories and not effects. But, seriously now. There's nothing subjective here, that was just bad art and animation. The fan made anime thing actually looks better and he's just doing it as a lark with no budget.
I'm sure the story will be fun, and it's cool to see the doctor in america again. But still, damn.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 12:34:02 PM
Wesley Smith said:
Yeah, the story may be great, but the execution is just as important as the content.
Doctor Who novels may have great plots, but if there are typos everywhere, it's not a good book.
The special effects from the original series may have been done on a shoestring, but they were creative and the producers figured out ways to work around the budget constraints.
This just looks cheap and slapped together. The animation is so stiff it's just a couple steps above Dire Straits' "I Want My MTV" video.
The animation and models from Red vs. Blue, a cartoon built on the engine from a video game ten years ago, is better than what we have here.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 01:21:14 PM
Chelsea said:
@Geoff, I agree with you, Top Gear is all kinds of fantastic and I don't even give a shit about cars. I'm one of the few American ladies that god apparently saw fit to bestow the majesty of Jeremy Clarkson upon.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 01:51:57 PM
DekaPrime said:
Rob just a heads up that ReBoot clip is from one of the movies that showed up on CN in 2002. After Mainframe finaly got a budget that wasn't crap. I still see your point but it actualy seems worse now as the ReBoot movie was from less then a decade ago and it still looks better then Dreamland. . . . and that's coming from a big Doctor Who fan
Posted 11/04/2009 at 01:58:10 PM
ninjaclown said:
Ahh, Reboot. Definitely one of the finer cartoons to come out last decade. But that's no reason why this series should look anything like it.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 02:22:51 PM
Abraxas said:
wait, that was reboot? I thought was the latest Avatar trailer. too bad, for just an itty bitty moment I thought Cameron imporved that shit :(
Posted 11/04/2009 at 02:43:57 PM
Lasargo said:
1. Reboot is awesome
2. Any Who is a good Who
3. Top Gear vs. Dr. Who is a tie for me. 2 of the best shows on TV. I am so happy that the US version isn't going to happen.
That is all
Posted 11/04/2009 at 03:34:33 PM
liquidhalcyon said:
Why can't they just draw it. Sometimes I long for some real animation, and this world gives me shit in return. Even if something is drawn well, you can bet money that the story will be shit.
Except for Resolute, that was nice.
Maybe I'll just listen to it, like Doctor Who radio hour.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 03:43:01 PM
Acid Rainbows said:
Nerd fights on an internet thread.
The animation is stiff, and it looks like a college 3d animation project. This isn't relating to the stylistic choice, this has to due with the quality of motion used for the characters, and right now, it's almost looking stop-motion-like. Which would be fine if it was stop motion, but it isn't...
Posted 11/04/2009 at 04:51:22 PM
demoncat said:
seeing that clip i have to wonder if the BBC is trying to finaly kill their beloved dr. who for surely they could have found a way to put up the cash for some better animation though i do like seeing what the dr. looks like animated .
Posted 11/04/2009 at 06:47:06 PM
Bobyn said:
That just makes me sad. The storyline itself seems like it has a fair amount of potential, but I could barely pay attention to it. I was too distracted by that painfully awkward animation. :(
Posted 11/04/2009 at 08:51:33 PM
Celshader said:
Littleloud is doing the animation work:
http://www.littleloud.com/work/doctorwho/
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:06:31 PM
ZeroCorpse said:
Can't be canon. The Doctor has been to Area 51, and "I've always wanted to go there" would be an odd thing to say.
Posted 11/04/2009 at 11:43:47 PM
chudleycannonfodder said:
@Celshader
I went to their website and saw that they did work for Merlin. That explains everything.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 12:15:16 AM
Asat said:
This just goes to prove what I have always said and I always will: DAVID TENNET'S PERIPHERAL VISION IS FOR SHIT!
Also, I am disappointed that this project will not be carried out using puppets, a la those episodes of "Angel" that everyone liked. C'mon, just think of the merchandising possibilities. Not to mention a Homestar Runner crossover.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 03:19:36 AM
Photoboy said:
Wow, that is really terrible. I've always been a Doctor Who fan, but I think the spin-offs are getting way out of control now. It's time to cut back and just focus on Doctor Who and maybe Torchwood (if they can keep the quality uo to "Children of Earth" standards).
Posted 11/05/2009 at 04:55:48 AM
Necronomic Recovery said:
Watched this a couple of days ago and couldn't believe how cheap and nasty the animation was. Truly awful. Couldn't even get into the story because the animation was so distractingly bad.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 08:02:21 AM
infra909 said:
My god, they run like those marionettes from Team America.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 11:10:47 AM
Ceronomus said:
What I cannot get over is that someone, somewhere, was paid to produce that horrible animation.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 11:54:57 AM
Eno said:
"Why can't they just draw it. Sometimes I long for some real animation, and this world gives me shit in return."
I'm really sick of this attitude that for some reason CGI animation is not "real animation", or that there's no effort or love put into it. We still have people who love what they do behind these things and it's still time-consuming, strenuous work; the only things that have changed are the tools being used.
But then, there cheap pieces of crap like this where the people are either not being given the proper facilities or budget or they're simply phoning it in. However it's not like they didn't do this sort of thing with 2D animation either... 3D animation is maybe easier to do, but it's just as hard as 2D animation is to do WELL.
"The animation is stiff, and it looks like a college 3d animation project."
Hey, there's no need to be so insulting... My brother did an animation course and his work was FAR more expressive and engaging than this pigshit.
Posted 11/05/2009 at 12:16:57 PM
Dead Pixel said:
kinda reminds me the Dire Straits' Money for nothing music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1TsgvOoOY
Posted 11/06/2009 at 02:44:12 AM
Kit said:
Well...
I intend to watch it.
YES, it's a bizarre thing to do, and a strange way to make it, but be real: Is any TRUE Doctor Who fan going to miss it?
Really?
Any "Doctor Who fan" who says he's not going to watch it, is just in it for the special effects.
I've been a Doctor Who fan for 30 years. You bet your TARDIS key I'm gonna watch it!
Ta!
Posted 12/02/2009 at 10:51:27 PM
Sofo said:
The CGI is not good, but I've never been a 'graphics whore': meaning a fan obsessing more over graphics than the content.
It actually turned out to be a pretty entertaining episode of Doctor Who.
Posted 12/06/2009 at 12:39:27 AM
'Ryn said:
Jeez, I've still got two and a half years to go on my computer animation degree, and I can already do better than that "professional" studio. The models aren't bad and I don't think the rig is either (other than the facial rig, which is almost non-existent from what I can see), but it's obvious that the animators do NOT know what they're doing. They seem, for the most part, to have forgotten that the hips and shoulders rotate when you walk, there were a couple shots where people's feet were popping off the floor, and others where they were sliding like crazy. I mean, basic, BASIC stuff here. I also seriously suspect that the animators have never heard of vid-ref. Good story, but PAINFUL to watch even when I tried to get into the mindset of laughing at it.
Posted 12/13/2009 at 03:42:20 AM






