Reviewed by Aaron Haynes

I remembered hearing about this film for the first time a few years ago, during my pre-bulletin board days on Dragon Films, and 2003 seems to have been the Year of the Finally Released -- Shit Happens, Final Fantasy: The Ultimate Epic, Videogame Nightmare 2, and this little overlooked gem of a movie. Space Station Alpha is not nearly as specialized as any of it's Finally Released brothers (it's more like FF:UE than either of the other two), but strangely it got the least feedback out of all of them. This is one of the tightest cinematic pieces of work ever done in the program -- not one thing feels out of place, and it's clear that Tom has taken his time to polish this until it absolutely shines.

The first time I watched SSA, it struck me as being professionally done, excelling in every technical aspect, having a well-thought out and interesting story, and being rather cold and empty despite all of this. When I watched it again for the 3dmm.com awards, I realized I was wrong. The movie has a lot of heart in the places where it matters; an exchanged glance, a line whose tone betrays it's intended meaning, an action that betrays a character's words just moments before. It's a much smarter script than I had realized at first glance, expecting you to pick up on the fact that the characters communicate most of their development through having two conversations at the same time: the one out loud that we hear, and the intended meaning that's implied by it. I didn't even realize I was being challenged at first.

The plot is one of the best ever devised for a 3DMM film. 80 years into the future, Earth receives help from a species called the Dacturi in fixing its environmental and overpopulation problems....the sense of teamwork and cooperation founds an underlying spirit of trust and appreciation between them. Or so we thought it did. When a human research station over Mars is attacked by the Dacturi, Earth's leaders rush to cover it up and figure out what's going on and act diplomatically before the incident tears the tentative friendship with the aliens apart. Meanwhile, an old war hero is secretly called back into action for one final investigation and recovery mission.....but I'm summarizing. The best way to understand what's happening here is to see it the way the film tells it to you. Tom knows exactly what he's doing, and if the story doesn't totally make sense the first time, you'll definitely have picked up on subtleties mentioned earlier.

All of the technical aspects of this movie are phenomenal. The default spaceships and rockets might throw you off at first, but don't be fooled: this is top-notch directing and animating. The voice acting, while occasionally somewhat deadpan, communicates a lot about the characters, the plot, and the history of SSA's world through equal parts well-inflected tone and well-written dialogue. The music and editing choices are well-done and while the film still does feel a little cold at times, it has a unique style about how it speaks to you. But in recognizing how well constructed, arranged, and assembled the film as a whole is, I can't help but feel like something's missing. It feels truncated, like the most essential highlights of a really fantastic story -- we wonder a lot about the main characters, what they did before the story, how the public is reacting to leaked information, how the military feels about it -- it's as if Tom took an hour-long screenplay and chopped it down to the most important twenty minutes.

The fact that it plays amazingly well anyway is a definite credit to Tom's writing and editing skills....most of the 'missing' information is implied in some sneaked in shot; a trophy on the wall, a flash of memories, a seemingly throwaway comment by an old friend, and I never felt cheated. We're given a complete story here, so if it feels like there should be more, it's an advantage and not a detriment. The wistful, ironic final moments of the film tie everything together -- the default characters can't change their expressions, but for some reason I get the impression of a wry smile while listening to the main character's last few lines to the Dacturi leader as he knows what having a heart after all has finally cost him.

Critical Score: 90/100.
Personal Score: 90/100.