Wow! How’s this for a fun mailbag – not ONE but TWO superb new takes on animated science-fiction.

First up is “Rogue Farm”, directed by Mark Bender and Garry Marshall and produced by Alan Jenkins. Set in a post-apocalyptic Scotland it’s the first really strong piece of serious science-fiction I’ve seen in years. Taking all the best from the Manga tradition it manages to be less pretentious, less naive, less childish and, well, more Scottish, than any of the Anime I’ve ever watched.

With it’s elegant visuals and an edit that reeks of Hitchcockian menace, this is a stylish fairy tale in the best traditions of science fiction writing. Some of the vocal performances are little on the nose and, as with all the talking dogs that litter sci-fi history, I couldn’t quite make-up mind whether this dog was a witty cameo character or an embarrassing and rather irritating piece of a different film; but none of this spoilt the genuine tension of the story. Most impressively of all, whilst the ending is probably quite guessable for anyone whose misspent their childhood living in the future (or in my case, with my addiction to 60′s and 70′s sci-fi, the future-past) it is handled with a rare skill and what could have been plodding and obvious was genuinely moving.

Almost everyone who makes sci-fi likes to make claims for the grown-up integrity of their work, usually these claims boil down to a teenage obsession with naked women. It’s great to finally see something that has subtext, emotional depth and a genuine lightness of touch.

You can find out more about “Rogue Farm” via www.roguefarm.com and if that sort of thing sounds like your sort of thing then producer Alan Jenkins is keen to hear from you since he is putting together a slate of original animation ideas (TV for 6-11 year olds and any of feature length). As you can imagine from this review he’s looking for stuff that is much more sophisticated than anything currently on TV, “Something that’s darker, more involving and dramatic” and you can contact him via roguefarmer@yahoo.co.uk.

Swinging right to the other end of the sci-fi spectrum, a massively enjoyable film that goes to great lengths to hide any grown-up integrity by gleefully indulging in an obsession with naked women. “Reptile Day”, written and directed by Tom Hickmore with backgrounds by celebrated graphic artist D’Israeli, is a piece of perfect kitsch escapism and is the opposite of “Rogue Farm” in everything but it’s quality.

So full of creative new techniques it positively fizzes off the screen at you, “Reptile Day” is a blissful slice of retro nonsense; kinda like “Sin City” if Frank Miller had a sense of humour. It places real actors in comic-book back drops and then further disorientates you by having them mime to deliberately disparate voice performances. If the effect is at first glance jarring, the crack-pot plot (which concerns David Icke’s favourite conspiracy theory and ends with our hero escaping on the back of the heroine who is able to fly them to safety by using the tassels on her… oh never mind) rips along with such insane certainty that soon you find you’re knee deep in Tom’s compelling, if lunatic universe.

Amidst all of the technology and trickery (both hi and very low tech) special praise should go to the brilliant cast (both on and off camera) especially the leads David Rintoul/Neville Hutton and Monserrat Gili/Oreke Moshese who manage not only to make the whole thing make sense but make you both believe it and care. They are two (should that be four?) of the most deliberately mismatched lovers in sci-fi history but by the end of this short I had more faith in their relationship than countless others I’ve seen.

As you’ll see from the brilliantly detailed Reptile Day Website (which includes a short clip) Tom is trying to turn this into a feature film. This is me asking for a walk on! Hallo! Hallo! Woo-hoo! Hallo!