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2114AD. Judgement Day Plus One. Billions of human beings and
former human beings have perished in a nuclear holocaust that
destroyed the zombie menace of Sabbat the Mecromagus. In China's
dangerous Radlands of Ji, Judge Dredd must begin the long
walk home. All he has is a short-range radio, a chip on his
shoulder, and a very reluctant travelling companion called
Johnny Alpha. Dredd is hundreds of miles from home, marooned
with a mutant he can't stand. They've got unfinished business,
but so have the vengeful survivors of the nuclear strike on
Sino-Cit One...
Pre-emptive
Revenge sees
the pairing of Simon Pegg (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead)
as Strontium Dog Johnny Alpha, and Toby Longworth as Dredd.
These Judge Dredd audios have been consistently good
and the two previous Strontium Dog audios from Big
Finish have also been impressive. So, I was really looking
forward to hearing this release. Alpha and Dredd in one story
seemed almost too good to be true.
Sadly,
this release doesn't live up to the (rather large) expectations
I had placed on it. That's not to say that it isn't any good
- on the contrary. It's just that I was expecting something
a little more... fun.
Neither
Alpha nor Dredd are particularly keen on the others company.
And while this could have resulted in some much welcome comedy
it plays like an old married couple bitching at each other.
While this is played for laughs, it got very tiring very quickly.
And it is Alpha that seems to outshine Dredd - Dredd sounds
like a washer woman as he moans and complains.
While
I know this audio was designed to be light-hearted, a lot
of the jokes didn't work too well. This was mainly down to
the fact that Dredd is played as a bumbling fool - not knowing
how to open a can that contains an instant campfire, being
tricked by Alpha into leaving a dangerous area (I won't spoil
the details of this event) and, on entering a mine field,
has the following exchange:
Alpha:
"Dredd! Don't move!"
Dredd:
"What?"
Alpha:
"Stay very, very still."
Dredd:
"What is it?"
Alpha:
"Mine!"
Dredd:
"Your what?"
Alpha:
"It's not my anything. It's a mine."
While
the above joke is funny, it just seemed a little out of place.
I, personally, don't see Dredd as a Sylvester Stallone type
- all muscle and no brain. And, for the majority of audios
that have followed this release, that is not how Longworth
has portrayed him.
Fans
of Back to the Future will love the time travel elements
to this story, and it also helps to tie-in the events to the
2000AD universe.
This
is still a very fine audio production, but I can't help feeling
that a great opportunity wasn't exploited as well as it could
have been.
Darren
Rea
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