Choujin Locke Special

A pretty rough pilot for the 1984 movie, which I admittedly have not seen yet. While not orthodox to watch the pilot first in most cases, it's interesting to see what the final product looks like in comparison. For the time, the Locke movie had quite good art and animation. Pilots sometimes are very polished or impressive in their own right—for example, the Little Nemo pilots. The Locke pilot has very dull art, especially with many of the backdrops, though the late 70s cliche sci-fi art has some charm; the crude animation does improve a little bit in a few brief scenes, but none of ... it is memorable at all. There's no sound, but mouths flap (hey, it gives more realism to the space laser bit!), and we're treated to music—none of which is particularly interesting, but it's not abrasive or obtrusive or anything. What little fight choreography there is is unexceptional. There isn't a discernible plot beyond Locke infiltrating the baddies base and getting into a few fights, and the only thing that stands out is the absolutely ghastly appearance of the main villain. There's really no reason to recommend or watch this except for fans of the film who want to see some of its roots.

Admittedly, I feel kind of odd giving this a rating, as it's the kind of DVD special feature or bonus that feels pointless to rate—one can (or should) only experience it as supplementary material to the main course.