Tomorrow, When The War Began (TV Series) (2016)

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General		Extras
Category	Action Adventure	Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Multiple Featurette-Making Of-Multiple
Rating
Year Of Production	2016
Running Time	301
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	ABC Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Molly Daniels Madelaine Madden Andrew Creer Narek Arman Madelaine Clunies-Ross Jon Prasida Fantine Banulski
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Many will remember an Australian feature film based on this John Marsden novel from 2010. I reviewed it when it got a local DVD release here. It was a well-made action adventure film which seemingly had legs to continue making movies of the other novels in the series. Unfortunately, no more films were made and now the story has been resurrected as a television series for ABC3, Aunty's youth channel. Tomorrow, When the War Began screened on ABC3 earlier this year and now hits local home entertainment. It consists of 6 x 45 minute episodes which pretty much covers the same ground as the movie (i.e., the first novel although there is more deviation from the novel here than the movie).

     The main characters are

• Ellie (Molly Daniels) - a strong and brave 18 year old girl who leads the group.
• Corrie (Madelaine Madden) - Elle's best friend for many years.
• Kevin (Andrew Creer) - Corrie's boyfriend and local sports star.
• Homer (Narek Arman) - childhood friend of Ellie and local troublemaker.
• Fiona (Madelaine Clunies-Ross) - a recent arrival in town who the others are surprised agrees to go camping.
• Lee (Jon Prasida) - a local Asian boy whose parents run the town's restaurant.
• Robyn (Fantine Banulski) - the youngest of the group and daughter of a very religious father.

     The plot here involves seven teenagers who go away for a camping trip to a place known as Hell near the town they live in Wirrawee, which includes an air force base. While they are camping in this isolated area, Australia is invaded by unknown foreigners who take over the local area, capturing their parents and putting them in a camp. The area where this series deviates from the book is that the parents are a bigger part of the story, whereas the book is pretty much told from the kids’ perspective. The kids must decide how to handle their situation and decide to fight back.

     Unfortunately, the series is not up to the quality of the feature film and overall is reasonably disappointing. The writing is weak at times, not the story itself obviously, but the way it is written for the screen, with diversions and a slower pace than you would expect for action adventure. One thing which really drags the pace is overuse of montages to poppy singer/songwriter tunes. When the first one started I thought it was a positive and suitable to the moment of tranquillity as they head for their camping trip. However, then there was another one, and another one and another one where the poppy songs don't feel right. Why use a soft tranquil song over an action montage?? These slow down the pace and just feel wrong at times. This goes over the 6 episodes and becomes very tedious. It also significantly impacts tension and excitement for the audience. Also, the young cast is good looking, however the acting is a bit patchy at times.

     On the plus side, the show looks good, with some beautiful locations.

     Hard to really recommend for a purchase. Fans of the book will be interested to see it.

Video

     The video quality is good.

     The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was quite sharp but lacked the sharpness of better DVD transfers at times. The shadow detail was very good.

     The colour was good with no issue to report.

     There was some motion blur at times.

     There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

     The layer changes are not obvious.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good for a TV DVD.

     This set contains an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1.

     Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to hear and understand, although the subtitles were useful at times.

     The music sounds great but as I mentioned above is sometimes incongruous. The score is better at promoting tension than the songs.

     The surround speakers were well used for atmosphere and surround effects and the subwoofer supported the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     A good selection of extras.

Menu

     The menu included music.

Boot Camp (1:41)

     Featurette about training the cast before shooting.

From Novel to Screen (3:30)

     Featurette on the novel and adaptation including interview with John Marsden, discussion of the changes made, character portrayals and the use of strong female characters.

Wirrawee's Main Street (3:12)

     The town of Clunes which stands in for Wirrawee, plus some discussion of production design.

Prisoners of War (4:45)

     Focused on the larger role played by the parents in this adaptation and why they added them.

The Enemy (4:14)

     Creating an army, uniforms, extending the characters from the novel and how they came up with the weird accent for the Colonel.

Running from the Enemy (2:45)

     Focused on the shooting of a particular action sequence and its stunts.

Cliff Jumping (3:41)

     Shooting the sequence where they jump off a cliff to escape from soldiers. Stunt people and cast.

Blowing up a Bridge (3:20)

     Shooting the bridge explosion sequence.

Character Profiles (approx. 1:40 each)

     Interviews with the main cast members about their characters for all 7 kids.

    This set does not seem to be available outside of Region 4.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall