How many frames was that

I'm afraid I tend to be disappointed by attempts at animated drama. Humour or kids shows seem to come together often enough but dramatic action does not seem to do it for me. It could be that drama involves jeopardy or threat for the main characters and to appreciate that, there has to be projection of the viewer onto those characters. This has just got to be harder with an animated character unless the animation and storytelling is done really well. So I tend to have an "it's OK but..." response. There is more - I am pickier about the quality of the artwork and animation with drama when for humour, the level of Southpark is just fine as the dialogue is where the action is. Of course the story has to be good and that is another area where I feel let down sometimes - particularly with adaptations of comics. Then there are the voice artists - some of them are just so wooden. I'm not saying all these things are wrong with every production but usually at least one of them falls down. It seems like it is too hard to get all the ducks in a row.

However, every so often the producers get it right. I have just watched the pilot of The Amazing Screw-On Head and it was very very good. The adaptation of Mike Mignola's comic was done superbly by Bryan Fuller. The story is simple but well constructed and the dialogue is crisp with plenty of quippage to keep things light and amusing. Perhaps it isn't accurate to lump it in drama as it is funny, but then so is Buffy or Wonderfalls and they are dramatic too - lets say "comedy/drama". The artwork is strongly in keeping with the originating comic style which works better than the hybrid attempts that you see for some other series (Batman anybody). The voice artists are also good with David Hyde Pierce being particularly impressive as Emperor Zombie. Apart from a few lip-sync glitches it all worked well. Now to hope they pick up the series.