Tara Duncan (2010)
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 That's the overall result of when you adapt a teen novel into a children's cartoon, you get a disappointing series.
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Tara Duncan (also known as Tara Duncan: The Evil Empress in the United States, which is the title of the eighth novel) is a French animated series produced by Moonscoop, very loosely based on the novel series. The show premiered on 27 June 2010 in France on Disney XD, and aired through 19 June 2011 but was cancelled after its twenty-sixth episode.
Plot
The series is inserted between volumes 7 and 8 of the saga, when Tara Duncan is back on Earth, exiled for having almost caused the destruction of Otherworld. It depicts the adventures of the Alpha team, sometimes accompanied by members of the Beta team. We find Tara, Sparrow, the Beast of Lancovit, and Cal, the talented Licensed Thief for the Alpha team as well as Robin, the half-elf, Fabrice, the werewolf, and Fafnir, the dwarf warrior in the team Beta5. The heroes face various creatures from the Otherworld, including semchanachs, while trying to lead their teenage lives: while Tara is a college student, Sparrow runs a pet store and Cal a video store. The events of the series take place in the town of Rosemond. The characters of the anime's protagonists sometimes differ markedly from those of their literary counterparts.
Bad Qualities
- Poor mastery of source material: Similar to other bad shows like Les Légendaires, Trolls de Troy, Titeuf (Season 4), Lanfeust Quest, Les Sisters, Les p'tits Diables, Le monde selon Kev and the 2016 reboot of Boule & Bill the series is highly unfaithful to the book in which it is adapted.
- The main problem is that the series has absolutely no idea how to position itself between a spin-off, a non-canon sequel or an adaptation of the books.
- The series also does not take into account the couples, the evolution of the characters or even certain very important information of the books.
- The characters are also not presented at all, in particular the cameos of Robin, Fabrice and Fafnir which come out of nowhere if one has not read the books. So it would be a spinoff game between books 7 and 8 or a non-canon sequel, but in that case the series is almost always incompatible with the books.
- Another problem is the writing which is really not good, it seems that the series is suitable for children but basically the book is suitable for a teenage audience.
- The 2021 reboot is even worse than the series.
Good Qualities
- Really excellent and perfect traditional animation which is really rare for a French cartoon because the majority is animated under flash.
- The series at least tries to stay true to the book unlike the horrific 2021 reboot.
- Good voice acting in both French and English.
- Tara, Gloria, Lorelei and Caliban are likable characters.
Reception
Although it had a 7.6/10 on IMDb the series received negative reception from fans of the book, the series holds a 3.1/10 on Senscritique.