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Fugitive conman Oswald Mega has found the perfect place to
hide. Johnny Alpha and his fellow Search/Destroy Agents have
just 24 hours to find him, before every bounty hunter in the
galaxy comes after the reward. But while they search in vain
for him on the university planet Midgard, Mega has become
a prophet on the forbidden desert world of Muspel... preparing
an army of religious fanatics for the last battle against
the Strontium Gods... lords of destruction who will fall from
the sky... bringing fire from heaven...
Fire
From Heaven is
the second
Strontium Dog audio
production from Big Finish. This
collection is more adult than the previous instalment, or
the regular Judge Dredd audio's for that matter, with
a handful of swear words (Gasp!) thrown in to heighten the
realism. Let's hope this is the direction that future Strontium
Dog episodes will go (The world of Judge Dredd
already has it's own "Stom" and "Drok")
because the constant use of the word "Snecking"
is starting to get a little worn.
Simon
Pegg is perfect as Johnny Alpha, the mutant bounty hunter.
Pegg's co-stars are also extremely well cast. Mark McDonnell
is wonderfully curt as McNulty, with spot on comic timing
and Toby Longworth (who, incidentally, plays Judge Dredd in
Big Finish's range of the same name) is wonderfully entertaining
as the time travelling Viking Wulf Sternhammer. Nicholas Briggs
(who also directs this episode) also turns in (an intended)
bordering on pantomime villain performance as the warped Mega.
There
was only one minor complaint which I thought may have confused
listeners not overly familiar with the dynamics of the relationships
in the 2000AD strips. In the previous Down to Earth
audio release Alpha and McNulty are working very much
as a team, but when they meet up in Fire From Heaven,
they are openly hostile towards each other.
There
are some great throw away lines and scenes, including McNulty's
habit of urinating in public places, as well as his paranoid
obsession that people think he is stupid, which also helped
to enrich this production. It is also satisfying to see the
conclusion come full circle, relating to subtle events at
the start of the recording.
This
is a first rate audio production and Jonathan Clements should
be patting himself on the back for such a work of art.
Oh,
in case it's not obvious... I bloody loved this! Go buy!
Darren
Rea
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