Trap for a Rhino

[Serena Lewis]

This episode is a difficult one for me. I never really liked it, but I never really disliked it. It's somewhere in between. Indifferent to it I think. But I hate Harmony, so maybe I’m leaning more towards the 'Dislike' side.

Pros

1. Mysteron granny. She was seriously cool. Nice to have a Mysteron that isn't a strapping young fellow in a suit. And when she was driving it was like Granny Road Rage. Her falling over the cliff was either very funny or very freaky...
2. Fights. The fights in this one were very good, the one between Harmony and the Mysteron geezer in particular.
3. The idea for the episode. I just...liked it. It was good, I thought.
4. A few small things, such as the Mysteron guys face when he's driving up to the plant (Big teeth... ), the mention of Scarlets untidy bedroom, and Harmonys little wink at the guy when she’s radioing in.

Cons

1. THE ENDING. Sweet llama of the Bahamas, that was so...eww!! I just can't describe how much it made me cringe.
2. The way the Mysteron guy became a Mysteron. He just sort of...fell over, pulled faces like he had constipation, and died. When he came back to life, he was a Mysteron. Since when can Mysterons just force their way into bodies, instead of killing the person first?
3. Harmonys hair. Ye gads, I'm blinded!!
4. That 'What I have in mind will be much more painful' line. That made some very dodgy things spring to mind. What exactly was he going to do?? of course, this may just be my mind, which is as dirty as a...err...coal...bucket?
5. What happened to Harmony? They sort of forgot her.
6. The pointless 'Don't go into my room' thing. It just made Scarlet suspect her more, when really there was nothing in there.

Bloopers

1. A few times, when Scarlet is talking to the power plant owner, the owners jacket passes through his legs.
2. For some reason, a few times in this episode, Green seems to have a bald spot at the back of her head.
3. Scarlet is all...static, when he's flying the Hummingbird (This may be a ‘Little Thing’).

Little Things

1. Green seem to have gained very thick, weird eyeliner for this episode. I'm surprised she can see. It's particularly apparent when Scarlet is talking about going to his Albatross.
2. I don't know if this is a blooper, but when Green is told to message Scarlet by the Colonel, she starts typing then just abruptly stops. It's really weird.

Rating: 6/10

xx

[foster]

That bit made me gag. My dad was watching it with me, and when he heard it he had a sheer look of sickness on his face. He told me that in real life nobody would in their right mind say that.

[Father Unwin]

This is by no means a perfect episode, unlike Rat Trap, but it is still my favourite from Series 1. I am not Scottish but I love the highland scenery and the Scottish characters. “Are you sure you didn’t fall asleep and dream it all, Mrs Mackenzie?” Enchanting.

Last week I enjoyed the scenic countryside in Circles of Doom but in Trap For A Rhino I think Mrs Mackenzie’s cottage is delightful. I just love the brickwork fireplace and the way the fire burns merrily casting flickering shadows around the room.

I really appreciate the effort that must have gone in to creating the carpets, wallpaper, furniture and ornaments dotted around the house. It is this meticulous attention to detail that conveys the sort of authenticity that the tiny props used to do in the various Supermarionation series.

There are a couple of little moments that I particularly like including the way the light bulb sparks and hisses for a few moments after it breaks. The way that Scarlet inclines his head and gently asks “Why?” when Mrs Mackenzie says he can’t go into her untidy bedroom is delicately observed.

Members have commented on Harmony’s curious red hair but I noticed that the hair of the grey-suited reactor boss was very well done. This seems strange as he is a relatively minor character compared to Harmony. Incidentally, Cadet Johnson’s smug look of self-satisfaction as he climbed into the unlocked Rhino was priceless and photo realistic.

This episode has the best extended action sequence in either series. I have no idea if ‘star shells’ are real defence weapons or not but they are used to great effect in NCS in this and a number of other episodes. The way that the Rhino keeps going, and the way Cadet Johnson becomes more maniacal by the minute, is just great. I liked the anti-missile missiles and the final head on crash was dramatic television.

Finally, we come to the last scene with Scarlet and Destiny and … I thought it was terrific! The way that a very battered, burned and torn Scarlet dragged himself along was emotive and heroic - there was nothing like it in any other episode. I disagree with all those who found the “Am I in heaven?” exchange with Destiny sickly. That’s how love can affect you and I respect that. The sentimental music fitted perfectly too!

[Serena Lewis]

Finally, we come to the last scene with Scarlet and Destiny and … I thought it was terrific! The way that a very battered, burned and torn Scarlet dragged himself along was emotive and heroic - there was nothing like it in any other episode. I disagree with all those who found the “Am I in heaven?” exchange with Destiny sickly. That’s how love can affect you and I respect that. The sentimental music fitted perfectly too!

I've been in love (surprising really LOL) and no way did I act like that. I do like Scarlet dragging himself along, but...oh no, all those people who think Destiny is amazing will witter on for centuries now about how they converted you . I can't take it anymore!

xx

[shadokp]

The Story - This is one of my favorites and when I try to get others hooked onto NCS, this is my second choice to show (behind Rat Trap). The action is incredible. The build up is pretty good and while there are some minor plot issues (The Mysteronization of the cadet to name one), the pay off is excellent. The corny dialog may be because Scarlet hit his head.

The Animation - Some really good stuff in this one. Love the outdoor cottage stuff and the Rhino chase. Scarlet's "Why" nod mentioned by Father Unwin is one of my favorite bits of detail.

Other - The action sequence, in my opinion, matches many other TV show or even movie action sequences. It has action and tension with an excellent climax.

The Ongoing Tally - Old Lady falls off cliff


On screen Death Count - two (Cadet and Old woman) although that guy who couldn't make up his mind which way to jump almost bought it.

KP

[gojohnniegogo]

An interesting one this, really enjoy this episode, Mrs Mackenzie who "likes the odd whiskey" beautiful Scottish Highlands, clever co-operation between the two Mysteron agents for acquiring the Rhino. Nice stuff indeed. Strange that Harmony seemed to be locked away last we saw of her. As for the "something much more painful" I think that's just you lot with your sick minds! Didn't really go for the cheesy dialogue at the end, I just didn't like it, I suppose it's down to personal taste. We get the common evil slightly-psychotic looking Mysteron agent too. Good story, well written, and pretty well executed for me.

[Serena Lewis]

As for the "something much more painful" I think that's just you lot with your sick minds!

Well...it did sound odd, especially seeing as Harmony looks really frigtened afterwards. Not that I wanted anything to happen to her...I just had to bring that line up. I'll do that a lot when writing these reviews.

xx

[Dom Lavery]

Hi Guys
Kinda pleased some of you liked Trap for a Rhino as it was a REAL pig to do.
Also, on a sad note, John Brown who wrote this episode passed away recently, so please spare a thought and a moment for him.

As with Rat trap, any questions you have about the episode, do please ask.

Cheers for now
Dom

[Serena Lewis]

I'm very sorry to hear about John Brown.
R.I.P.!!

xx

[Skybase Girl]

Hello, Dom, thanks for passing on the news about John Brown.

This is sad indeed, he was a talented man. His scripts for NCS were among the best written for the show. "Best of Enemies" is one of my favourite episodes from series 2, and from a writing point of view, gave a more adult angle to the proceedings!

I'm sure that all NCS fans on the forum would appreciate you passing on our condolences to his family, if you're able to.

[Father Unwin]

I am also very sorry to hear about John Brown's passing but will think of him fondly because of his fine work on NCS. R.I.P.

Dom, As far as Trap For A Rhino is concerned, it would be nice to know what bugs were fixed and what got through the net because of time and financial constraints. Why exactly was this episode such a pig to make?

On a more general note, I would like to understand more about the techniques and challenges of making NCS and Key Framing vs Motion Capture seems a good place to start. I have just read the following Wikepedia article about computer animation key framing so that I have a basic understanding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_frame

You may be amused to see my efforts at guessing which scenes in Trap For A Rhino used key framing and which used motion capture. Overall, there appeared to be quite a lot more MoCap than Key Framing but I have attempted to list 5 examples of each!

KEY FRAME SCENES?
1. Cadet Johnson is killed by Mysteron rings and falls to floor.
2. Reactor boss walking and talking to Scarlet.
3. Mrs Mackenzie shrinks away and sits down when she sees Scarlet through the window.
4. Johnson in the cellar points gun at Harmony.
5. Scarlet is thrown from the crashed Hummingbird.

MOTION CAPTURE SCENES?
1. Mrs Mackenzie gets up from the chair and goes to the window when the Mysteron lightshow begins.
2. The fight between Harmony and Cadet Johnson.
3. Johnson sneaks over to the Rhino while Mrs Mackenzie and Scarlet are grappling on the road.
4. The badly injured Scarlet crawls away from the crash scene.
5. Destiny cradles Scarlet in her arms.


I may be right (or hopelessly wrong) but I would be interested to hear any comments you may have on this subject. I guess that 95% of the time you would go for motion capture if you could but that maybe the MoCap studio is a scarce and expensive resource.

To the untrained eye (mine) it would seem that MoCap successfully conveys a feeling that a person has a physical weight whereas Key Framing is just not sophisticated enough to be able to do this convincingly.

[Dom Lavery]

Hi.
Have to go away for a few days. Will answer your questions when I return.
Trap for a Rhino was an episodes that had a number of technical issues. One being the whole valley landscape was not built untill the last moment. Some how it had slipped through the building net. And as for Mrs Mackenzie's hair, mo cap jitters, matt lines, lip synch!!! I shall explain more in a few days.

Till then
Bye

[Dom Lavery]

Hi again
Right, here are a few answers for you.
Trap for a Rhino had more than its fare share of problems. It was quite a while ago now and my mind may have erased a few. The one big one was that the landscape, whole valley, some how had been missed from the modeling schedule. There was allot of confused faces when I asked the question, ‘so where is it then?’
We had no roads, hills, trees, nothing to place the cottage, or PowerStation in. All the cameras for the motion captured scenes and the driving sequences had nowhere to go in the real world. Confused? I was!! Basically it was a big problem. Even when the landscape and road was built, it did not match up with many of the camera shots. For example, in the sequence when the rhino is driving down the road we would suddenly have the rhino driving in mid air or through the ground because the animation and the landscape did not match. We had little time and resources to put it right. However, the guys and girls worked hard to put it right. Someone who did a blinding job was Andy, or as you know him, Aegis. He took what landscape had been built and worked hard to populate it with trees. He had to take it scene by scene to see if he could get the trees in there. There are still some scenes where it jumps from no trees to forest, but he did succeed in saving allot of the shots. Cheers mate! Also Nick Lee who sat with Andy was a bit of a hero.
Other problems with the episode were, the power station, although beautifully built, it had problems rendering. Very large polygon count. Also I wanted the PowerStation to be populated with workers. This did not happen because of render and animation time. Looking back at the series as a whole, I do think that it was very ambitious for the time. Given another 6 months to a year, I wonder how it would have looked? Hay, I do feel that we all achieved allot with the show all things considered.
One other problem to mention was Mrs. Mackenzie’s hair. After the first renders came through, Gerry decided he did not like it. All the shots and model had to be re done. He is the boss though!
As for what is key frame and what is not?

KEY FRAME SCENES?
1. Cadet Johnson is killed by Mysteron rings and falls to floor. NO
2. Reactor boss walking and talking to Scarlet. NO
3. Mrs Mackenzie shrinks away and sits down when she sees Scarlet through the window. NO
4. Johnson in the cellar points gun at Harmony. YES
5. Scarlet is thrown from the crashed Hummingbird. YES

MOTION CAPTURE SCENES?
1. Mrs Mackenzie gets up from the chair and goes to the window when the Mysteron lightshow begins. YES
2. The fight between Harmony and Cadet Johnson. YES
3. Johnson sneaks over to the Rhino while Mrs Mackenzie and Scarlet are grappling on the road. YES
4. The badly injured Scarlet crawls away from the crash scene. YES
5. Destiny cradles Scarlet in her arms. YES

Can I say, but keep it to yourselves; I wanted to ditch the lines in the last scene. I felt that no words, just the fact that Destiny holding the near fatally wounded scarlet was enough.

AS the series went on, we used more and more mo cap. However, sometimes the mocap did not quite work. Jitters and funny walks appeared. That had to be cleaned up or replaced with Key Frame.
For me, Mo cap it the best way to convey realism for movement in animation. Facial expressions, hand and finger movements are still key framed. You can mocap facial expression very well now. Try looking up Face Robot Facial capture.

Hope this helps you understand the show a little better.
Must go, Dog is looking at me as though I am its dinner. And she is big!

All the best
Dom

[Father Unwin]

Hello Dom, Thanks very much for your very interesting and informative reply. Sorry about my first 3 (incorrect) guesses at keyframed scenes!!

[Serena Lewis]

Actually, on the note of 'Destiny holding wounded Scarlet but no lines' thing, I think it works to have mute on for any Scarlet/Destiny scenes. The fact that Destiny is holding him and stuff (Oo er...), and in Virus when they kiss, is alright if you have no sound.

xx