Main Menu

Judge Dredd: Mega-City One - TV show announced!

Started by Jim_Campbell, 10 May, 2017, 05:10:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

IndigoPrime

It's pre-production. During this point, there's rarely any news. Nice that Urban keeps the flame alive though regarding his potential involvement.

Cosier

It's worth baring in mind that the first season of The Boys is slated to be 8 episodes. What we know of the Dredd series suggests it's going to be around 8-12 episodes a season, so it really isn't inconceivable that Karl Urban could do both as long as they shoot at opposite ends of the year.

JOE SOAP

#872
Karl Urban's casting in The Boys isn't conflicting with anything; if MC-1 was reaching close to production, it would, but that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment – so Karl Urban can't keep his calendar clear for something that might not happen for a long time, or possibly not happen at all if all stars don't align.

If The Boys is successful, and multiple seasons are commissioned alongside Karl Urban's regular film roster, then it might cause a scheduling problem when/if MC-1 achieves lift-off. Until then, things remain the same.

Not that the role should be beholden to any actor – it's not Indiana Jones. Much like Spider-Man and Batman aren't owned any actor, neither is Judge Dredd, so it's only an issue if they are in any way depending on Karl Urban's name for promotion or financing.

sheridan

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 07 April, 2018, 02:55:38 PM
Not that the role should be beholden to any actor – it's not Indiana Jones. Much like Spider-Man and Batman aren't owned any actor, neither is Judge Dredd, so it's only an issue if they are in any way depending on Karl Urban's name for promotion or financing.

There's also the Superman route - where actors from previous iterations tend to appear in the later (Smallville had cast from the most famous Superman films, Supergirl, Lois & Clark and possibly others).

Tjm86


Mardroid

Not as Dredd, but I could see him as a character in that universe...

Proudhuff

DDT did a job on me

sheridan

Quote from: Proudhuff on 09 April, 2018, 02:50:29 PM
I knew you was going to say that ;)


For the double whammy, get Rob Schneider in as well!

The Legendary Shark

I thought Stallone would make a good Minty.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




Hawkmumbler

Oh come now, we all know which MC-1 role Stallone was truly made to play...



IAMTHESYSTEM

"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

http://artriad.deviantart.com/
― Nikola Tesla

JOE SOAP

#881
Quote from: IAMTHESYSTEM on 12 April, 2018, 08:09:38 PM
For none Facebookers Mr H Reviews is going to meet Rebellion over Mega City 1 TV series.

He's back-referencing an older interview which is when that picture was taken.

https://twitter.com/MrHreviews/status/984343193813700609



Richard

Apologies ic this has been posted before, but I've just found this article comparing the films, and he actually makes a good point: https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/judge-dredd-tv-show-mega-city-one-sylvester-stallone-karl-urban-sequel-gaze-into-the-fist/

IndigoPrime

#883
I've read that before and take exception to a lot of it. Tonally, the Stallone movie was just flat-out wrong, and everything stems from that; conversely, Dredd was tonally accurate to the comics – the problem is people forget the range in tone Judge Dredd has, and expected the movie to be all things to everyone. (Arguably, that's something the Stallone flick tried to do – what with all the names and cameos – and utterly failed.)

Some specifics, though:

Quote"Dredd" [...] nails the lead character of Dredd himself, but for me [...] misses the mark everywhere else
Fortunately, there's a really important qualifier in that sentence, and that frames the entire piece: "for me". So this is inherently a subjective piece. Still, it's hard to objectively state that aside from Urban, the Dredd film got everything else wrong, or missed the mark. I find that a baffling assertion. Moreover, I can think of few things the Stallone flick got right, which this article argues is:

Quotemore right than you might remember.

It continues:

QuoteIt had enough cash to realise the visuals properly, and absolutely nailed the look of Mega City One.
I get why people liked this element of the production design, but it never felt like MC1 to me. It was so shiny. It felt like generic 1990s futuristic movie, and had no character. MC1 has character. Stallone-City One was just bland.

QuoteThe sets, costumes and vehicles were fantastic.
I will never ever understand the praise for the 1995 film's costume. It's bloody awful. Yes, you get a version of the shoulder silhouette, although one that's in no way comics-accurate. But it just looks crap on screen, not least the jumpsuit bit. It doesn't feel like Dredd could actually go to work and not come back basically stripped to the bone. And that codpiece. Seriously? The vehicles also didn't click for me, with the again bland Lawmaster. They weren't offensive – they just weren't that exciting. (Not that Dredd did any better there though.)

QuoteAnd the opening scene, in which returning citizens descend from a soaring sci-fi megalopolis to teeming, war-torn streets, was as succinct an introduction to Dredd's turf as you'll ever see.
This is a fair comment. The opening to that movie is pretty good, as is the 'eat recycled food' quip. But as soon as Fergie shows up, it's all ruined.

QuoteBut it's not just about budget. The '95 movie drew more more shrewdly on the comic's abundant history than the 2012 version. From undead dark judges to mutated gorilla gangsters, from Soviet assassin Orlok to face-changing serial killer PJ Maybe, the comic has been stuffed with some of the most colourful, imaginative and complex villains seen in comics. What did the 2012 movie give us? A tower block full of scruffy junkies.
It gave us a tense, dark movie with a new villain (who was fucking scary), and plenty of nods if you knew where to look. But if you weren't grounded in 30 years of Dredd, you weren't lost, and I didn't feel any suspension of disbelief. Dropping the Dark Judges into a movie would just make the audience go BWUH? Death is a mirror to Dredd. Without knowing Dredd, Death makes no sense. Similarly, until you get a sense of Dredd's devotion to duty, him no longer being a Judge is not a shock.

QuoteFrankly, the 2012 movie has nothing on the '95 movie's looming ABC warrior and grotesque Angel Gang, both triumphs of pre-CGI physical effects.
There's a point here, although Judge Dredd does with those two examples feel very much of an era that was Tim Burton's Batman. Perhaps that would have worked had we got Dredd sequels that gradually got the space to become weirder.

QuoteThe other thing the 2012 movie lacks is humour. Stallone clashed with the '95 film's director Danny Cannon over the comedy elements of the film, and it was horribly cartoonish. But looking at the humourless 2012 model, with its effing-and-blinding and grimly lingering close-ups of exit wounds fountaining blood and bone, Sly might have had a point.
We must have watched different films, then. Dredd isn't a comedy by any stretch, but it has plenty of jet black humour. There are some superb lines, mostly from Dredd. As for arguing Sly might have had a point. No. No, he really didn't. He seemed confused that a comic adaptation wasn't funny – an actual comedy. The thing is, Judge Dredd just comes across as ham-fisted and goofy. It has no gravitas. What makes MC1 in the comic is a mixture of satire, black humour, and futuristic madness. The last of those is absent from Dredd, but it has the first in spades and enough black humour to work. Judge Dredd is bereft of all of those things for the most part.

Quote2000AD #818, the first issue I ever bought.
Brave that he continued.

QuoteSpeaking of ludicrousness: The '95 movie had Ian Dury in it, the costumes were by Gianni Versace, and The Cure did the theme song. Those are the kind of bonkers choices that made "The Fifth Element" so gloriously memorable two years later, and it's the kind of absurdity that the 2012 Dredd movie sorely lacks.
Ian Dury: a great cameo. Agreed. The Versace costumes were crap, although could have been worse. The Cure? Really? Hell, I like The Cure, but a song playing during the credits is broadly meaningless. Had they done the OST, fine. (As for Dredd, it doesn't quite hit the highs of a Clint Mansell for me, but Paul Leonard-Morgan's score is one I've bought and since played quite a number of times.)

QuoteUltimately, the 2012 movie gets Dredd himself right, and Mega City One wrong. The '95 movie got Dredd wrong, and everything else right. The new TV show needs to draw on both if it's going to be a law unto itself.
I'd say the series should use Dredd as the basic framework, inject more of the comic as required for any particular script, and pretend the Stallone film never happened.

Richard

That's a compelling argument! You've changed my mind (except about the first view of the city -- I liked the gleaming towers at the top and the contrast with the grotty city bottom). Let's hope the tv people agree with you.