NEW FROM BIG FINISH...
JUDGE DREDD: CRIME CHRONICLES
Doctor Who's Leela helps fight crime!
Big Finish makes a long-awaited return to the 2000 AD universe in October for a brand new series of adventures in crime and space. Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles finds the iconic lawman of Mega City One starring in four new stories where he faces off against foes old and new and, for the final story, partners up with a fellow Judge played by Doctor Who's Louise Jameson. Officially licensed by Rebellion, each story is a dramatic reading, with full sound design and a specially drawn cover by 2000 AD artist Cliff Robinson, and features Toby Longworth as Judge Dredd.
The series begins with Stranger Than Truth by David Bishop and told by Brit-Cit academic, Eliza Blunt (Helen Kay). Captured and imprisoned by Judge Dredd, author Truman Kaput has spent years in the Mega City One iso-cubes, his work banned. His crime: writing lurid detective novels in which the ficticious Slick Dickens repeatedly outwits the cowardly bully, Judge Dredd. Now a new Truman Kaput novel is being serialised, and each chapter predicts an imminent murder with chilling accuracy. Has Slick Dickens escaped the page to commit real crimes in Mega-City One? Is a serial killer using the chapters as templates for
their crime? Where does fiction end and the truth start? Can Dredd stop the plot before his nemesis fulfils the finale of Slick Dickens: I Killed Judge Dredd?
In Blood Will Tell by James Swallow, a frenzied mutant attack on Mega-City One's shield wall is revealed to be the cover for a group of infiltrators. Judge Dredd tells the story of how he was forced to face a deadly opponent from his past: Garris Hale, a man whose life he destroyed. Back from exile in the radioactive wilderness of the Cursed Earth, Hale has possession of a dark secret – a secret so explosive that it could plunge the entire city into anarchy and chaos! With his judgement in question and the future of his city in the balance, Dredd must face a lethal enemy intent on revenge at any cost...
The third tale, The Devil's Playground by Jonathan Clements, is narrated by Wendy Plainfolk (Gemma Wardle) and finds Judge Dredd hunting a killer on the loose, his only lead a girl who's never seen the sky or the streets. Raised in a religious commune, locked in a closed farming habitat in the heart of the city, Wendy Plainfolk knows nothing of the temptations and dangers of Dredd's world. But she is the only link to a double homicide in a place she calls the Devil's Playground: Mega-City One.
Finally, much-loved Doctor Who alumnus Louise Jameson (Leela) narrates James Swallow's Double Zero in the guise of Judge Anderson. On the Mills-Wagner scale of psychic potentiality, the Double Zero rating is ranked as the lowest possible level of human telepathic receptability and/or psionic ability. When a strange premonition draws Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson to her fellow law officer, Joe Dredd, what begins as an inkling of something sinister soon becomes a matter of life and death. With telepathic secret agents from a dozen city-states infiltrating the Big Meg in search of a psychic weapon called 'the pariah', Anderson and Dredd find themselves in a race against time to save the life of an innocent child – with the power to start a war...
Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles begins in October and is released monthly until January, priced £9.99 per CD and £7.99 for an MP3 download.
Both are available from www.bigfinish.com
Wahey! Rebellion are true to form with their official announcements, but I'm pleased to see this.
I've recently got addicted to Big Finish stuff, so am well happy to see these.
Not so sure about the costs though. Big Finish currently has them on pre-order for £8.99. http://www.bigfinish.com/2000-AD
You can also subscribe to the range for £30 (CDs) or £25 (downloads).
Good on Bish-Op! Nice idea for a story too, can see the pastiche element working well in audio.
Glad for some official info on these. The radio 1 Cursed Earth and Apocalypse War adaptions were great and the previous Big Finish audio production were a lot of fun, so I'll definately give these a go.
I just paid for the bulk 4 CD's for £30 option, great value. Plus I like to feel the product in my hand knowing that it's all mine ;)
Just seen my email confirmation of my order and it says, "If you have purchased one of our audio adventures on CD that is available to download then you will be able to download it to your computer or MP3 player - for free!". Well that's not bad if you ask me!
Commando- that is a pretty decent thing for Big Finish to do. Especially if they keep that option open for new technology. That way when we are all live streaming stuff in our headcases you will have permission to refresh your versions of older product.
I think this is something I was talking about at work the other day- with the current vogue for purchasing downloads, the next step as I see it will be purchasing a liscence or permission to download material you have already bought in later formats.
Mind- there is a reduction in what money can be made from that system...
But... if you have the CD it takes - what - about a minute to rip it to MP3 anyway? I understand that it might feel like an incntive, but I don't get it :/
As said I've paid for my 4 CD's as I prefer to own the product, just like the comics. I don't rip stuff for myself to an mp3 player but I do for my wife with her CD's.
Now imagine that I lost the CD (it'll NEVER happen) or it gets damaged, I can then always fall back on downloading it from the site for free.
It's just a free backup deal as far as I'm concerned.
Imagine if all your files suddenly got deleated from your computer because of a bug, it'll be easier to download the programmes off Big Finish than try and recover the files I suspect.
Plus, most insurers still don't cover digital content, so no CD no pay out.
Be interesting to hear if Dredd works better as a narrated story with Toby Longworth doing Dredd. The original format worked reasonably well but had its limitations. It's possible someone describing Mega-City 1 will add a new dimension to the stories. ;)
"Garris Hale"?
(http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/we-love-telly/ITV-Gareth-HaleTHE-ROYAL--s.jpg)
A couple of trailers are up and running. Toby sounds good doing Dredd + others.
http://www.bigfinish.com/101-Judge-Dredd-Crime-Chronicles-Stranger-Than-Truth
http://www.bigfinish.com/102-Judge-Dredd-Crime-Chronicles-Blood-Will-Tell
The auidios happened along just about the time I was starting to be unfaithful to Tharg - having discovered them late, I'm eager for more.
By the by, there were ones released that aren't up on the Big Finish site. Now I understand they might not have CD copies available, but what about downloads?
Hale and Pace, one of the few comedy shows I've enjoyed watching,in the mid ninties and still don't mind even now. Like "Little Britain".
It's the Asutralain comedy shows that I used to watch and that they have now I no longer think are fnnuy. There are a few starting now now.
I won't even mention there names/titles, because that would be just advertising for them.
As for Hale and Pace.
I even went to see them at Twin Towns on the south coast --When I was Still Working--, just over the border.
About their performance. I think they made some errors in choosing which material to use, but it was good to see them up there.
Favorite skitt of theirs is when one them dreseed up as a young hoon or punk or chav driving a small car that looks like alarge penis down the road while singing "Here we go, here we go, here we go"
Thats really funny. ;D :P ;D ::)
Sounds great and written by David Bishop it's bound to be worth listening too.
Quote from: Bad Andy on 18 September, 2009, 06:15:58 PM
A couple of trailers are up and running. Toby sounds good doing Dredd + others.
http://www.bigfinish.com/101-Judge-Dredd-Crime-Chronicles-Stranger-Than-Truth
http://www.bigfinish.com/102-Judge-Dredd-Crime-Chronicles-Blood-Will-Tell
Great to hear more of Toby as Dredd, although in "Blood will Tell" he states his name for the record as "Jospeh Dredd". "Joseph" isn't canonical, is it? It's just another thing spoiled by the Stallone film, I think. It's only ever been Joe, right?
I don't mind James Swallow's work (really enjoyed his Rogue Trooper novel), but for example, Jonathan Clements, who can be relied on to be extremely thorough, has Dredd give an oath in "Pre-emptive Revenge" beginning "I, Judge Joe Dredd...."
The Cliff R. covers look excellent, much better than the placeholder covers we saw previously. I don't even mind the use of the current Dredd logo though would prefer the ol' faithful "stony" type.
Listening to the Big Finish podcast, the original 2000ad range was stopped because they were only a critical success rather than a commercial success.
The popularity of the Doctor Who companion chronicles, meant that they were able to do stories with a smaller cast.
Thankfully only a couple of these stories are chronicled by Dredd himself. That would get wary on the ears.
Quote...although in "Blood will Tell" he states his name for the record as "Jospeh Dredd". "Joseph" isn't canonical, is it?
I believe it is now - young Dredd is referred to as Joseph in either The Connection or Origins (I forget which). But you're right, it appeared first in That Movie.
Although what ELSE would "Joe" be short for? I'd always assumed it was Joseph.
Quote from: Mike Gloady on 24 September, 2009, 08:13:28 PM
Although what ELSE would "Joe" be short for? I'd always assumed it was Joseph.
Why does Joe have to be short for anything? He could just be Joe.
Is it really worth getting that hung up about?
I've got a friend called Joseph and his name is always abbreviated to Joe.
That being the case, I've always assumed Dredd's full first name is Joseph.
What has "canonical" got to do with someones name wether its shortened or not ?
It's a daft thing to get in a tizzy over, true. I'd just always assumed it was a short form of Joseph as it is for, ooooh, a good majority of folks called Joe.
I always felt that Fargo called Dredd "Joseph" in the film (and later in Origins) because he'd given him the name. The rest of the world can call me "Mike" until the cows come home, it always sounded a bit odd from my mum and dad.
Just noticed - the first one is due for release tomorrow ;D
Only 6.99 with Play - http://www.play.com/Books/AudioBooks/4-/11103757/Judge-Dredd-1-1-Stranger-Than-Truth/Product.html
It says October on the Big Finish website. I was sure it said September when I first ordered them. I suppose this will be another one of those times when the release dates mean nothing ::)
End of the month... apparently
Let us hope!
Good news, mine arrived today, bad news, the CD box is damaged but the CD looks fine.
Just finished listening to my copy, quite enjoyable but different to the way the previous 18 were produced.
This one stars Slick Dickens, Truman Kaput, Eliza Blunt and Dredd. You get 18 chapters in all and the last one is a preview to the next disc.
I think I'll have to listen to this one again when I'm driving along at work!
By the way, he calls himself Joseph somewhere on the disc. Now stop it you lot ;)
Oh by the way, you get a free booklet included with the disc called 'Vortex The Big Finish Magazine' and inside is a two page interview with David Bishop.
In this he talks about his first encounter with Dredd, the development (or not) of Dredd over time, the difference between the old cd's and these, Dr Who and a few other bits.
Finally caught up with the final crime chronicle in the series and it's a cracker.
Louise Jameson(Leela from Doctor Who)does a mean Anderson and it a pretty gripping affair.
Certainly one of the best of the new wave of audio dramas.
Nice interview at the end with Toby Longworth and Louise Jameson discussing the characters
Worth a punt for sure.