A Whole New World.
Not much is going on in this flash. It has a sparse plot, some mediocre graphics, and a song which kind of compliments the action. Why does it get as high as a six of ten? Because it does a good job of transplanting the viewer to the exotic world portrayed in the flash.
The graphics suffered in some areas, which is a shame because the visual imagery is really the selling point of this flash. Character drawings and animations were awkward at some points, such as when one of the astronauts swims to the surface. The two astronauts were the worst in this respect, as at some points they did not have realistic anatomies or body movements. Most of the monsters were pretty cool and some of the best parts of the flash. I was particularly impressed by the monkey and the colorful plants. The animator did a good job of conveying a mostly sparse planet with occassional outcroppings of colorful life. Scenes where an astronaut was racing through barren, dusty canyons were combined well with a couple of frames of pink birds flying into the air. The animation had a good grip of fantasy and imagination, which I can appreciate.
I was pretty excited when when the authors description said "to the song by Jazza." When I think of flashes like this being set to songs, I think of stuff like Future by Celarent, where the action of the flash is synched up to the music. A continually flashing light might follow the beat of a bass drum, and as the intensity of the music increases so might to pace of the animation. This flash did some of that, but not as well as I'd like. If you can pull this effect off, it becomes really cool.
The plot was underdeveloped, and there should have been less of it. As it stands, I figure that life was found on this remote planet, and adventurers go to explore it, after being forced to crash land. For a flash like this, even that is too much of a story, and the authors main focus should be depicting a bare-bones story in the most aestetically appealing way possible. Early scenes of newspapers and city life, although short, were extraneous and should have been cut.
Definitely room for improvement, but this is a solid foray into the, albiet overpopulated, realm of music-video type flashes. Stick at it.
