Having never previously seen any Doctor Who that I can recall, I had little to found my experience on when watching this. However, I am a die-hard fan of science fiction, and I admit this cartoon sparked my curiosity about the Doctor Who character in a way that commercials for the live-action and hearsay in general never did. It really is a cool little concept, at least from what I've gleaned from this single, tiny installment of the Doctor Who tradition.

The quality of art is better than most web animations I've seen, although supposedly this was originally intended for television? ...Regardless, the real thorn in my side with this series was the cinematography, and to a lesser degree the writing.

It's pretty much common knowledge that, as an actor in a film, you are NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA. I mean, this is really a pretty basic rule, and it applies to animation as well as live-action. Unfortunately I think it's fair to say that about half of the shots in this series have the characters doing just that, and what's worse, half the time it's an extreme-close-up shot of his / her face. It's as if the animator simply could not visualize any three-dimensional interaction between characters...so why not just have them stare right back at the viewer? I almost didn't know how to react to a character talking to Doctor Who but staring me straight in the face from a very close distance. Am I supposed to kiss my computer screen? I am reminded of a couple of recent animations on Adult Swim, such as Minoriteam, that seem to be following this same pattern. After I finish this review I'm going to see if they're animated by the same person.

Aside from this irritating aspect (which I admit may not annoy you as much as it annoyed me), I think the writing could have been a little better. The alien invasion theme was nothing new, but there were some interesting twists on the idea and the aliens were fairly original. I just don't think the story was pulled off as well as it could have been in terms of dialogue and general storyboard.

When all is said and done I'd say this is worth glancing at, if you can wait through the download times, but it's nothing to get excited about.

(Post-Edit: It seems the animator, Cosgrove Hall, actually has a pretty respectable history in British animation. Based on one of his fansites, though, it looks like most of his work has been comedy or otherwise lighthearted storytelling. In either case that may explain where he got this habit of having all his characters face the camera; doesn't work so well for a dark and serious story like this one.)

When you think of web animations, you probably expect a short piece (or a series of shorts), most likely somewhat comedic and quite short: four, five minutes at the most right. If so then Scream of the Shalka is going to be quite a shock to the system. Comprised of six episodes, each running at fifteen minutes; meaning a total running length of ninety minutes. Add to that the dark, rather bleak storyline and this could be quite a daunting prospect for the uninitiated.

Doctor Who is something of a institution in Britain and quite a cult elsewhere, first aired in 1963; it has become one of the world’s longest running Science Fiction series. It has it own fair share of ups and downs and is the spiritual home to some of Sci-Fi’s most iconic villains. The recent series starring Christopher Eccleston, then David Tennant as the Doctor have restored and updated the show, bringing in some great writing and much more elaborate special effects, without losing its essence. To date, there have been ten official Doctors (thanks to his ability to regenerate) and several unofficial ones (btw Paul McGann, who starred in the 1996 TV movie is considered by the BBC as official).

Please bear in mind one thing here… It'll help greatly if you seen and liked Doctor Who before, because, to be frank it’s pretty much tailored for that kind of audience. There is a little amount of explanation here and there, but mostly it expects you to know the story of The Doctor before you start.

On a technical angle, there not a lot wrong here, for a flash-based, made for the internet piece, this is surprisingly sophisticated compared to some of the other stuff I’ve seen: like a moving graphic novel. Part of this is possibly due to the fact it was made by Cosgrove-Hall; the company behind Count Duckula and Danger Mouse, so there no lack of talent for making quality work.

The story of a alien race bent on world domination is hardly going to win prizes for originality, but it’s a stable of Doctor Who. Their control of the humans is nothing new either, though thankfully they manage to use the medium to find some new angles. However the actual writing is strong throughout with a thorough knowledge of its subject matter, it comes as no surprise to me that the writer would follow on to the current television series.

The cast are superb, with strong characterization throughout. Richard E. Grant’s take on the Doctor is a little cold and distant, but there still lies that spark of humanity in him. A bit of the time he comes off as a little bit over bearing and arrogant, but ultimately it is still the Doctor. Sophie Okonedo also puts a lot of spirit into her role as Alison, the lone soul who becomes heavily involved in the story's events, these two leads greatly compliment each other and give the whole a strong foundation.

If you can cope with the time it takes to download (even the low bandwidth option can take a while on low-end connections, although there is an option to download three minute segments at a time) and are able to deal with the dark world of the Doctor, then it is a piece of animation that is definitely worth watching, and it’s certainly showcases the talent of those involved.

It's certainly different from most web animation… and it does what it sets out to do amazingly well.