Please review this production! Please send all reviews to the usual address: empire639@msn.com.

Last update: December 2010

 Steve Herbert writes:

Emissaries of Jevo sure packs a punch and possibly is Stuart’s best yet. Well, we say that every release and for good reason, because every time Stuart takes it on himself to bring all these stories alive, he achieves this a hundred percent every time.

As in Star Tigers, the animation and the lip sync are better than ever. And there are so many wonderful moments; the movement of Daleks, spaceships amd Jevo's emissaries are outstanding. My favourite moment is one of real impact, which just shows how far Stuart has improved his trade over the years. Stuart always adds something extra to the productions, little nods to other Sci Fi favourites - well there’s one more of those moments here, so look out for it.

Also yet again there’s extras galore. There’s an excellent look at Earls Court's Doctor Who Exhibition, some great extraordinary samples of Ron Turner’s incredible artwork in comic books over the years, a fitting tribute to a true Legend. Another short animated funny from Stuart in The Littlest Dalek, you’ll love it, it’s cute and wickedly funny! And finally, Frazer Hines stellar single from 1968 Who's Doctor Who.

Now sit down, relax. load the CD and sit back and enjoy another treat from the legendary Stuart Palmer.

 Kevin Turner writes:

This story is one of the better stories, in my opinion. It has the Daleks in true form. The animation is superb, as is the acting from the voice actors. Loved the part where the Daleks were checking through their data banks for known spaceships - nice touch with a certain ship. This has to be the best production so far, good story and great animation. It’s one of those that really flows and is ultra enjoyable.

The extras are, as per usual, very entertaining. The Earls Court exhibition is most interesting to me as, since I now live in the USA, I cannot get to see these, so thanks for making that possible. Well filmed. I think Roger filmed it, if so thanks Roger. The Ron Turner special brought back fond memories of my youth and actually reading those comics. The Littlest Dalek is incredible. My wife doesn't always get to see these discs but she really enjoyed this one and burst out laughing at the final outcome of the Littlest Dalek. Finally, Who's Doctor Who. At first I thought it was Herman's Hermits singing this one, I had forgotten about Frazer’s rendition. Really glad you put this on the disc.

All in all, this is a splendid release. This year has seen a whole lot of releases from Altered Vistas, so keep up the good work and my thanks, congratulations and blessings to all your team.

Thanks again.

 Trevor Sproston writes:

I’ve just had the privilege of watching AV’s latest offering, The Emissaries of Jevo.  I actually made notes during it!  Here they are.

The Emissaries of Jevo

Nice expository opening sets the scene well.

Loved the humour when the Daleks try to identify the Jevan/Jevonian ship - all sorts of sci-fi classic vessels appear. Good fun.

Some lovely sweeping viewpoint panning.

The rendering on the Emperor is beautiful, giving real depth.

The magnetrap capture sequence is very dramatically presented – lovely to look at!

Dramatic viewpoint angles on the human characters – very cinematic.

The rendering and lip synch on the human characters is first rate.  Expressions are much more convincing.

When Captain Kirid is surrounded by Daleks during his interrogation – very menacing.  Good dramatic tension.

Emperor’s ship design well chosen, as it reflects the design of the ship used by the Starmaker characters for their escape in The Road to Conflict – nice continuity.

Nicely dramatic chase sequence on Arides, but would have liked to see the frame where Ron Turner has the damaged ship attacking the Daleks.  This would have added more poignancy, and made the ending more dramatic. Why not use the “Death of Heroes” frame as the inspiration?  The end of the chase lost some of its impact there.

Would have preferred the Emperor’s final speech to have been presented as his thoughts, rather than spoken out loud. In the original, the Daleks at the controls look round to the Emperor, obviously rejoicing at their victory. The Emperor, though, to me seems more circumspect, as if harbouring a doubt.

All in all, a short story, given an epic treatment.

Thank you Stuart et al.

Earl’s Court 2008 feature.

A nice impressionistic tour of this event, very comprehensive.  Were it not for the low definition, I don’t think I could have gained much by actually going to  it.  Thank you Roger Smith.

The Art of Ron Turner

This is a delightful presentation of Ron Turner’s artwork. For me, he’s the Dalek artist par excellence, even if he did play with stylistic consistency. It shows his versatility in covers for practical magazines (both for technical accuracy and when he needed to ‘sex up’ the editorial content to sell the magazine), and his sci-fi mag covers, that would have brightened up many a 50’s and 60’s newsagent’s shelf. The accompanying soundtrack of two obscure Dalek tunes ‘enhances the viewing experience’.

The Littlest Dalek

A delightful little animation in which a baby plays at being a Dalek in a cardboard box, and encounters a real one, which he destroys with an egg whisk.  How he achieves this presents certain technical problems, but I suppose it could be taken as an allegory of the power of human imagination to conquer the forces of oppression.

Then again, perhaps not.

Nice soundtrack.

Who’s Doctor Who

Frazer Hines singing a song, over a presentation of John Canning artwork.

The artwork’s better than the song.

 Roger Smith AKA Black Dalek writes:

Well what can you say? Stuart has only gone and done it again - Emissaries of Jevo is yet again a step up from the last production.

The lip syncing is so impressive now, and along with the facial moments are amazing.

I adore the spaceship recognition scene, so many early memories of films and TV shows I watched as a child. Brilliant.

We have all come a long way with Stuart over the years. I do sometimes wonder if Stuart knows how much he is appreciate by us all and if we sometimes forget just how rare Stuart is.

I have seen loads of Dalek animations on the web, some a few seconds long, some a few minutes. But with Stuart you get the whole package, complete productions. I do not know of anyone else doing this. Quite a lot Talk the Talk but only Stuart can Walk the Walk.

Not only do we get full productions, but they all come with amazing extras. This time is no exception.

The work he has done with my raw footage is incredible. That was one big exhibition (well over one hour of footage). Yet I do not feel you are missing anything. Okay, there are some big displays on how they make things but they all have representations in there - and my apologies for the Sontarans, I guess my arm way getting tired by then as I do all my filming freehand. Helps in getting high to get over peoples heads but the drawback is your arm does get tired now and again.

A big thanks to Stuart for the Hitchcock moment and, best of al,l the end credits. How do I thank someone for such a thank you, having the end credits roll as the BLACK DALEK is rotating was just perfect. Bought a big smile to my face. Could you get a bigger thank you? I think not, so thanks again, Stuart.

Moving on. I just love Ron Turner’s artwork, so any chance to see something new is most welcome and I love the tracks. I’ve  had them for a while now, they are so cranky.

The Littlest Dalek, what can you say........ BRILLIANT Why Oh Why 2|Entertain do not use you for Easter Eggs is beyond me.

As for Who’s Doctor Who... Well, needless to say anything to do with Pat gets my vote as he is my Doctor and always will be, I even like Frazer’s song, so there!

Last of all, and this is the sad part, as Stuart’s excellent trailer shows, we are coming to an end of this wonderful adventure with the Daleks. We will never again get to see the Daleks so dark and devious powerful. It’s the end, but I hope Stuart has prepared for it.

10/10

Sort of looking forward to the next production, but knowing it is the last gives it a tinge of sadness. But whatever Stuart does after, he will always get my full backing with animations or just helping on the web site. Stuart for me will always be one of the unsung heroes of Doctor Who.

 David Backhouse writes:

Just finished watching the latest DC (Yes! This morning!!).

Wow, the animation just gets better as technology/software moves on, but is the quality getting worse? I seem to be seeing more artefacting these days than before. Is it because there is more going on in the picture and VCD has a limited set bitrate?

Such a shame you can't stick them on DVD to keep the original quality :(

I can't believe there's only one more to go. I hope it's not too long before it comes, and then you can take a well deserved rest for a day or two before ringing Tom Baker up and asking is he'd like to do a VO for your next animation of The Iron Legion. LOL ;-)
 
Thanks again from those of us in Sheffield who just can't get enough Daleks! :)

 Robert Barclay writes:

As always, first of all thanks to Colin for lightning-fast, no-trouble turnaround!

Well, what to say about Emissaries of Jevo? As a comic strip, I have to admit it's not one of my favourites - after some years I've come to realise that I like it when the Daleks are up against it and, weirdly, you're rooting for them; or they're being thoroughly evil but carrying out some cunning plan. In this story they just seem to be a bit rotten for the sake of it!

But as for this adaptation of the story - really great! The low-key music sets off the slightly doomy atmosphere of the story; the animation of the humanoid characters - whether walking or talking - is the best yet; and the use of reflections, especially in the Emperor Dalek's shiny casing, is really effective. My favourite moment is probably when the Daleks' magnetic beams are bringing the spaceship down to the surface of Skaro. It's a striking image from the strip, and seeing it brought to life - with lines of Dalek saucers in the orange sky - is inexplicably lovely and evocative of my misspent youth reading TV21  Comics.

(I realise using the phrase "inexplicably lovely" makes me sound like Stephen Fry, but there we are!)

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the final instalment of the Dalek Chronicles. I used to worry about how well it would work as CGI, given the prominence of the human characters in it, but seeing what you've done with Emissaries of Jevo, I don't think there's anything to fret about. Except what to look forward to when the Chronicles are all done...

 David Barnes writes:

I received my copy of AV23 yesterday. Another exceptionally good video up to your usual high standards of production. Many thanks for the effort that everyone at Altered Vistas puts into these. The Daleks look fantastic in Movie Style, and the Emperor as scheming as ever.

I especially liked the scene where the Daleks were identifying the craft on their scanner screen, and it ran through showing the Jupiter 2, the saucer from The Day the Earth Stood Still, a Martian machine from The War of the Worlds, as well as the TARDIS. A lovely touch. Once again, thanks for your efforts.

 John Anderson writes:

Just a short note to record my appreciation for the two CDs that arrived today (Emissaries of Jevo and Warmonger).

My son (who has collected faithfully every Altered Vista production since the first) thoroughly enjoyed it and really found the extras excellent.

Once again Altered Vistas have raised their own high standards to new level of professionalism and quality.

Many thanks and kind regards.

 Alan Mackenzie writes:

I have just had the pleasure of watching your latest release, Emissaries of Jevo, having had my copy despatched with Colin Gunn's usual outstanding efficiency.

Once again, technically, it is another advance for Altered Vistas Productions, with the realisation of the humanoid characters the best so far. The Daleks, of course, are as marvellous as ever and, I think I would be right in observing that this is the first time that Invasion Earth film-style casings have appeared, with the midriff power slats and mesh.

Story-wise, I had a chuckle at the rather distinctive Russian accents of the Jevoans and I think the expansion of the disagreement between Kirid and his subordinate beyond the limits of the original Chronicles strip adds considerably to the drama of the piece.

Also highlighted, is the glaring lack of comprehension by the original author (David Whittaker?) of the scale of the cosmic distances involved. I had to check back with my printed copy of the Chronicles to be certain, but note that you have faithfully reproduced the stated distance between Skaro and Jevo as being ten million miles! In reality, this would put them in the same solar system and very considerably closer together than either Earth and Venus, or Earth and Mars. If this had been the case, with Jevo practically in the Daleks' backyard, I should think the Jevoans would have been subordinated to the Dalek Empire long ago. Now, if he'd said ten light-years, that would have been much more realistic for a supposed voyage across the ‘Unknown Regions’!

Anyway, all that apart, this is another triumph for Altered Vistas (and the Daleks!) and I look forward very much to the final episode, The Road to Conflict. What I'm not looking forward to, however, is the ending of the Chronicles dramatisations after enjoying them for so long.