Post by Daveym on Jun 4, 2012 12:59:24 GMT 1
American publisher IDW announced some time ago that Doctor Who would finally meet Star Trek (the Next Generation crew that is) in what should be "the book of the year", etc etc. IDW have an impressive enough track record in handling licenced properties like these and their recent Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes series crossover was pretty good, an excellent trial run for Star Trek meets Doctor Who....?
Well, I've now read it, and to be very blunt - I am not very impressed. Yet.
It's a very slow starter, far too light on incident and a lot of wandering around, I'd like to think the Doctor and Company being in ancient egypt will be a plot point, useing the timetravel premise to seed a greater story, but I doubt it. While it is a scene that sort of sums up the Doctors adventures in the modern series and a reasonable way to introduce him to those not familiar, it wastes several precious pages. While the end scenes with them arriving in San Francisco and getting their first glimpse of the TNG crew (in the Holodeck presumably) are a bookend to that egyptian opener the irony falls flat -we want a story!
I think Star Trek audience will be left bemused and dissapointed as this first issue is based solely on introducing the Doctor, to their credit writers Scott and David Tipton capture the Matt Smith Doctors mannersisms and dialogue perfectly and the photorealistic art does emulate the feel of moving television images, it's a canny and brave idea to use this technigue but the finished result seen here doesn't really work in practice, as I'll go into below.
The story's thrust has the cybermen and Borg co-operating together, stomping around trashing Federation worlds but since neither is noted for their conversational skills I do wonder if they were the best choice for antagonists, it would have been better to have perhaps the Klingons and Sontarans for example as you can get some potentially strong interaction from them and see how they differ in attitude and style. Cybermen and Borg though are more effective on the screen than in a static comicbook, both rely on instilling terror by virtue of the director and a cast of skilled actors, a comicbook isn't really the best place place for them.
One inherent truth to this project is that the Star Trek and Doctor Who universes do have a fairly distinct individualilty to them, Star Trek is heavy on political interaction, some conflict and a lot of mediation while Doctor Who tends to be darker, more cruel. I don't think this series is going to go the route of exploring these contrasts alas, which is going to be to the detriment of the series as the clash in styles and methods of operation betwen the two casts should be a substantial part of what drives the narrative. It might yet happen but based on the nature of the licencees this has to please, the tone, and the lack of any 'Star Trek' in the issue I do feel this is going to be strictly by-the-numbers stuff with no attempts to highlight and differentiate the two core franchises approaches to things.
As noted the Art for the series is painted and from J.K Woodward, I celebrate the ingrained willingness to experiment with their books like this from IDW and as someone well used to this painted style thanks reading 2000AD among others I should have been suited with it, but while of a very high standard this is very stiff and lifeless work. More a series of photo references than an example of fluid storytelling. A shame as this combined with the plotting made the finished product a little boring as a book overall, maybe next issue when the TNG crew arrive into the story it will flow better but if Woodward is indeed relying heavily on photo reference it will remain a rather stiff and artificial look.
If this review comes across as light on any real analysis or information on the plot then I'm afraid to say it's not for the want of trying, but there's extraordinarily little to mention or savor with this much anticipated series as yet. I'm Sorry, but I can't yet reccomend it as worthy of your time and money. The next installment will have to really move it up a couple of gears to save it
Well, I've now read it, and to be very blunt - I am not very impressed. Yet.
It's a very slow starter, far too light on incident and a lot of wandering around, I'd like to think the Doctor and Company being in ancient egypt will be a plot point, useing the timetravel premise to seed a greater story, but I doubt it. While it is a scene that sort of sums up the Doctors adventures in the modern series and a reasonable way to introduce him to those not familiar, it wastes several precious pages. While the end scenes with them arriving in San Francisco and getting their first glimpse of the TNG crew (in the Holodeck presumably) are a bookend to that egyptian opener the irony falls flat -we want a story!
I think Star Trek audience will be left bemused and dissapointed as this first issue is based solely on introducing the Doctor, to their credit writers Scott and David Tipton capture the Matt Smith Doctors mannersisms and dialogue perfectly and the photorealistic art does emulate the feel of moving television images, it's a canny and brave idea to use this technigue but the finished result seen here doesn't really work in practice, as I'll go into below.
The story's thrust has the cybermen and Borg co-operating together, stomping around trashing Federation worlds but since neither is noted for their conversational skills I do wonder if they were the best choice for antagonists, it would have been better to have perhaps the Klingons and Sontarans for example as you can get some potentially strong interaction from them and see how they differ in attitude and style. Cybermen and Borg though are more effective on the screen than in a static comicbook, both rely on instilling terror by virtue of the director and a cast of skilled actors, a comicbook isn't really the best place place for them.
One inherent truth to this project is that the Star Trek and Doctor Who universes do have a fairly distinct individualilty to them, Star Trek is heavy on political interaction, some conflict and a lot of mediation while Doctor Who tends to be darker, more cruel. I don't think this series is going to go the route of exploring these contrasts alas, which is going to be to the detriment of the series as the clash in styles and methods of operation betwen the two casts should be a substantial part of what drives the narrative. It might yet happen but based on the nature of the licencees this has to please, the tone, and the lack of any 'Star Trek' in the issue I do feel this is going to be strictly by-the-numbers stuff with no attempts to highlight and differentiate the two core franchises approaches to things.
As noted the Art for the series is painted and from J.K Woodward, I celebrate the ingrained willingness to experiment with their books like this from IDW and as someone well used to this painted style thanks reading 2000AD among others I should have been suited with it, but while of a very high standard this is very stiff and lifeless work. More a series of photo references than an example of fluid storytelling. A shame as this combined with the plotting made the finished product a little boring as a book overall, maybe next issue when the TNG crew arrive into the story it will flow better but if Woodward is indeed relying heavily on photo reference it will remain a rather stiff and artificial look.
If this review comes across as light on any real analysis or information on the plot then I'm afraid to say it's not for the want of trying, but there's extraordinarily little to mention or savor with this much anticipated series as yet. I'm Sorry, but I can't yet reccomend it as worthy of your time and money. The next installment will have to really move it up a couple of gears to save it
