And it only gets worse from here.
Dot and the Kangaroo and its first seven sequels all have their fair share of Nightmare Fuel, more or less, but this sequel arguably has the most nightmarish scenarios of them all. There are reasons why it has never been released outside of its native Australia after all.
WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.
- For starters, let's not forget that, for all she has achieved in the previous movies, Dot is still just a little girl and, in this movie, she just wants to save the life of a dog stranded in orbit yet over the course of the film:
- She and Dozey-Face are almost electrocuted by a perimeter fence.
- She manages to rescue Whyka but only narrowly escaped Whyka's rocket before it blew up.
- The resulting shockwave causes some metal piping to fall and almost crush Dot and throws her rocket off course, resulting in her crash-landing on the wrong planet where she is ambushed and captured by Scary Dogmatic Aliens who subject her to persecution and public humiliation, interrogation, imprisonment in a slave labour camp, starvation and abuse for not being round.
- Even after Dot escapes, she encounters quicksand, hostile trees, active volcanoes and geyser fields and rock-like creatures then is almost recaptured and left at the mercy of an alien dinosaur after unintentionally revealing her location. Luckily, said monster spares her life.
- Also, there's no telling what could have happened to Dot if she'd been discovered at the space center. After all, even in the Dot Movie Universe (or the Works of Yoram Gross Universe in general), one can hardly imagine NASA taking kindly to what basically amounts to a security breach, even if the culprit is only an innocent little girl.
- On top of all the above, we don't even see Dot and Whyka return to Earth though Word of God says they do.
- Also, how she has not been traumatized after everything she has been through throughout the entirety of the film remains a mystery.
- The interrogation scene particularly stands out. Such a scenario would be intimidating enough for a grown-up but for an innocent little girl like Dot? The start of this scene speaks for itself as the first thing we see is Dot gagged in a darkened room, watching a bright light swing back and forth just above her. Cue Dot gulping to emphasise that This Is Gonna Suck. Then a hand stops the light and reaches out to rip Dot's gag off and she has to deal with two Roundy interrogators getting almost right in her face and bombarding her with questions that she cannot answer because she is not native to Pie-Arr-Squared and therefore has no idea what is going on or what she has done to deserve this. How that scene doesn't break her is anyone's guess though it could possibly be because the scene in question rather descends into farce once Papa Drop sticks his nose in and starts a mudslinging match with Dot until he orders her to be thrown in prison.
- On top of that, the Roundy interrogators look like stereotypical mafia goons. It makes one wonder if Pie-Arr-Squared has (or had) its own equivalent of the mafia and if Papa Drop had any ties with them.
- This opens up an even more disturbing can of worms, and that's putting it mildly, because this implies that Papa Drop had his fellow Roundies (and possibly some Squaries) tortured (or even killed) for daring to oppose him, rather than just simply threatening them with imprisonment.
- This also implies that he had Roley's mother, and possibly Poley's father, killed for no reason other than they approved of Roley and Poley getting married and he didn't.
- This could also explain why most, if not all, of the Squaries seen in the movie are female. All the males (may) have been murdered on Papa Drop's orders.
- This would also further cement the Roundies' possible status as Asshole Victims as, if Pie-Arr-Squared does have its own mafia and Papa Drop has connections with them, they would be living in fear of torture or murder, as well as imprisonment, if they dared not to adopt Papa Drop's Fantastic Racism against Squaries.
- Gorgo the alien dinosaur. He may turn out to be friendly and he may be a herbivore but he is still a monster capable of destroying homes and villages and even if he wasn't going to eat Dot and Whyka, he still advances on them as if he was going to attack (or even kill) them. Think how this would have looked from the point of view of young Dot, tied up and gagged and therefore unable to run, cry for help or defend herself as a monster bares down on her. The look in her eyes alone makes it obvious she thinks Gorgo is going to eat her and she's resigned herself to her fate and, when you really think about it, Gorgo only realised Dot needed help when she started struggling and trying to scream at him through her gag so it is certainly possible he would have attacked Dot and Whyka, even if he wasn't going to eat them, especially since it happens so close to the end of the film.
- Also, if Gorgo didn't actually eat Dot or Whyka, he could have savaged them or crushed them.
- What makes this even worse is that the Roundy Sergeant shows sadistic glee at the thought of Gorgo eating Dot, even if he believed this would mean Papa Drop would never figure out how her rocket works, therefore scuppering his plan to conquer the universe.
- The first time we actually see Gorgo, he's destroying the Roundies' homes and the residents are running away and screaming in terror. He's mainly trying to get at the leaves that make up the roofs of the Roundies homes and he may be a herbivore but he does end up catching the odd Roundy in his mouth and having to spit them out. The Roundies may deserve it for what they've done to the Squaries but being terrorised by a monster who actually could have accidentally swallowed them (and possibly thrown them back up because he's a herbivore) and who destroyed their homes just to feed himself? Not to mention he could have accidentally crushed them under his feet.
- Just imagine being in your home and all of a sudden, it gets kicked over and spits you out the windows and the first thing you see is a monster, that's what the Roundies have to deal with.
- Even if said monster doesn't eat you or come after you, that's only a small mercy and not even that much of one, especially when you've just lost your home.
- This actually only makes matters worse for the Squaries as they are the ones forced to repair the damage, though at the same time, it is a small mercy (and again, not much of one) that the Squaries are in prison (rightly or wrongly) because it at least means they are safe from Gorgo, knowing what he is capable of. Poley does list Gorgo as one of her and her fellow prisoners' reasons for not trying to escape for a reason after all.
- There's also the climax to consider: if Professor Globus hadn't disarmed Papa Drop to stop him from potentially shooting Dot, The Party (a.k.a. his own son Roley), and the Roundy Army, there could have been an alien gunfight that would have very likely riled up Gorgo, causing him to go on a rampage and resulted in several casualties.
- The planet Pie-Arr-Squared is shown to be a particularly hostile world. In addition to devastated villages and a dictatorship influenced by Fantastic Racism (one akin to Nazi Germany no doubt), there is also the numerous aforementioned dangers Dot and Whyka encounter, all of which have deterred the Squaries from trying to escape from prison and which they will still have to live with even without Papa Drop's tyranny.
- Although we don't actually see it happen in the movie, Poley also mentions earthquakes (or should that be Pie-Arr-Squaredquakes) as one of the potential dangers deterring her and her fellow prisoners from trying to escape from prison. (That is, unless one considers the rock-like creatures that Dot and Whyka encounter to be an earthquake).
- When the Roundies capture Dot and Whyka the first time around, they can briefly be seen sporting some creepy-looking frowns on their faces.
- When Dot and Whyka are captured and brought to Papa Drop's palace, some of the Roundies in the stands (who are not chanting) actually look as though they are having a good time watching Dot, an innocent child, being publicly humiliated and persecuted for no reason other than the fact that to them, this is just another "Squarey" being dealt with. This is disturbing to say the least.
- What is more, how many of them are only putting up a front just so Papa Drop won't throw them in prison?
- Papa Drop himself when he loses his temper and deflates as the Roundies are basically sentient balloons.
- We get a hint of the Roundies being balloon-like aliens when Dot is brought to Papa Drop's palace and she kicks the Roundy Sergeant in the face (although this may be due to her attempting to break free of her bondage and struggling against her captors, and why shouldn't she, as she's been ambushed, captured, tied up and gagged by him and his troops for so much as trespassing, even though she accidentally crash-landed on their planet, and for all we know, she could have been trying to find someone trustworthy to ask for help in returning to Earth). She kicks him so hard with both feet that the whole left side of his body temporarily caves in like a improperly inflated football, squashing up his face enough to cause him to temporarily exhale helium (That is, if the Roundies even know what helium is. They may have their own equivalent of helium.)
- In this instance, the Roundy Sergeant should be thankful that, being a human, Dot doesn't have claws on her toes. A creature with claws in her position could (and probably would) permanently deflate (if not burst) the Roundy Sergeant by kicking him the way she did (even if it would technically make him an Asshole Victim since he runs the Prison for Squaries and he was at one point using Whyka as a yo-yo).
- To a lesser extent, so should Professor Globus as Dot's foot disappears into the folds of his when she stamps on it.
- This also leads to the unfortunate implication that Whyka could have actually burst, or at least permanently deflated, the Roundy soldiers when she bit them on their hands and feet, potential Asshole Victims or not.
- This also means that Gorgo could have burst, or at least permanently deflated the Roundies just by stamping on them if he was riled up enough. It is a miracle he hasn't already done that (as far as anyone both in and out of universe knows) with all the villages he's already destroyed. He's probably been tamed by Roley/The Party enough not to actually kill or hurt anyone accidentally or otherwise.
- The Roundy Sergeant notably has his jacket secured with a giant badge pin. At first, this may seem like Stupid Evil on his part, wearing a sharp object when he's a sentient balloon but if one really thinks about it, he could use it to burst (or permanently deflate) any soldiers who may be tempted to defy or even desert him.
- During The Party's (a.k.a. Roley) raid on Papa Drop's palace, Papa Drop gets hit in the head by falling debris from one of the statues the former blew up, and we see lot of air coming out of his head. He was lucky not to be permanently deflated or burst (although given everything he has done from turning Pie-Arr-Squared into a dictatorship that revolves around persecuting any one who isn't round to dragging an innocent little girl into his conflict along with his minions, he would deserve either one of those fates).
- Even the theme from the Opening Scroll emphasizes the foreboding nature of the film if you listen very carefully.
- Not that he doesn't deserve it of course but Papa Drop gets overinflated enough to float up into space where he would most likely die from either starvation, dehydration, suffocation or hypothermia or be burned by rays from the nearest star or even the Sun (which might even cause him to expand until he explodes) or in the atmosphere of the nearest planet if he doesn’t get hit by floating debris or even Dot's rocket, or if he's lucky, spend the remainder of his days as a living planet.
- The hostile trees. At first, they appear harmless, but then the wind suddenly picks up and blows all the leaves off the branches and when the leaves strike other branches, they glow as if they have caught fire and turn into branches resembling disembodied clawed hands. They proceed to slash and grab at Dot and Whyka, pulling the latter's ears at one point and ripping at least two fragments off Dot's dress. When the "possessed" branches fail to catch Dot and Whyka, they snap like broken limbs and yet they still try to catch their quarry as the "possession" wears off and they "die". How Dot emerges from this encounter more annoyed than scared, simply batting the last branch off like a common fly, is anyone's guess.
- While Dot and Whyka are traversing the volcanoes and geyser fields, they slip down a steep slope and end up on the edge of a pool of lava with a literal ring of fire burning on the surface. They then have to climb up a rocky incline with geysers shooting flames at them all the way. They were lucky not to get seriously burned (Especially Dot, who is perpetually barefoot and therefore, could have been severely burned on her hands and feet and her hair and dress could also have potentially caught fire). They then have to jump a chasm and Dot makes it but Whyka doesn't and Dot only just manages to rescue her.
- The very worst part of all that Dot goes through over the course of the film is that, like she says to Whyka after their encounter with the "possessed" trees, she's going to have a hard time explaining it all because no one is going to believe her.
- All in all, Dot comes so close to dying so many times in this film, that one can't help wondering if Yoram Gross or anyone else involved in the making of the film was tempted to actually kill Dot off to ensure there definitely wouldn't be any more Dot movies.
