‘Dark Judges’ Online Miniseries

[Ghost MacRoth]

But it's Dredd Richmond.....you MUST like it, become....one of us, one of us, one of us!!!!!

Those who dislike it seem happy enough that others enjoyed it, why can't those who enjoyed it accept that others disliked it?

[The Sherman Kid]

Sorry but that was all kinds of awful.

Why spend all that time and not remotely research what they are promoting (they have Amazon in Spain don't they?). A mish-mash is one thing but this was just plain gibberish.

People will get annoyed because, in this case, it does imho subtract a little from Dredd as a property. Why represent it like this?

[Mark Taylor]

But it's Dredd Richmond.....you MUST like it, become....one of us, one of us, one of us!!!!!

Those who dislike it seem happy enough that others enjoyed it, why can't those who enjoyed it accept that others disliked it?

No problem with folks disliking it here. My only point was that if Dredd the character continues to grow in popularity (a good thing, most would agree) it will very likely come with the side effect that the number of different reinterpretations of the character and non-canon versions of the setting out there will continue to grow. So it's probably a good idea to be prepared for a whole lot more stuff not all of us will necessarily like.

Personally I'm okay with most versions, with the exception of Stallone '95 and the dire 'Lawman of the Future' spin-off. Even the IDW stuff I can handle, though it has some irritating flaws. Those new dark judges were probably the worst bit so far. They're pretty silly and pointless. The fact that the writer feels the need to explain each of their functions in the dark judges' setup in order to justify their existence only underlines how pointless they actually are.

[Bat King]

LOL Folk not liking this is less of a wind up to me than folk liking the Stallone film...

Actually I'm not surprised some folk don't like this cartoon. It wasn't ever going to get full support. I'm not 100% thrilled, said so in my review and I am usually very positive about everything I review (I do it for fun so only review things I like).

I like it about 75%, which for me is enough. Already watched it twice in full. Won't ever watch it as much as Minty or Dredd (2012) though lol.

[Ghost MacRoth]

Those new dark judges were probably the worst bit so far. They're pretty silly and pointless. The fact that the writer feels the need to explain each of their functions in the dark judges' setup in order to justify their existence only underlines how pointless they actually are.

Won't hear any argument from me on that one!

But much as I disliked the 95 film, and am unimpressed by the IDW stuff (MC2:COC drawing with the multi dark judges for lack of quality) I'm less impressed still by that animation.  For a couple of years work, with the backing of Shankar (and yes, I know, there was no financial backing) I really expected something.....better.  Coherent would have done even, but what we got was......well....crap. 

Still, he did say in the intro, he was going for an early 90's MTV feel, so congrats there, mission accomplished, it did come across like that (I wasn't a fan of that either!), and the Saturday morning cartoon thing....yeah, I guess I can see a bit of that going on, so well done again. 

However what I really don't get is why you would promote something as a Dredd world project (and again, yes, I know he said it was more about Death, but Death is an element within the Dredd-verse), using popular elements of that world, but in such a way that who, or what, they were was made more or less irrelevant by ignoring their established character traits, as well as what they mean to 'the fans' this project was supposed to be for???? 

But hey, as said before, horses for courses, to each their own and all that.

[Muon]

I quite enjoyed that Superfiend thing. Very silly and mixed up, but it had a lot of black humour that made me smile a couple of times. The "glove puppet" bit cracked me up.

Someone likened this to a parody and that's how I see it. It reminds me of parodies of movies you might see on The Simpsons or Family Guy.

[shaolin_monkey]

Well, it's there now, so regardless of the ambivalence towards it we just have to deal with it. It is what is.

One way might be to introduce anyone who has seen it to Case Files 5. That's my plan of action anyway.

[TordelBack]

My only point was that if Dredd the character continues to grow in popularity (a good thing, most would agree) it will very likely come with the side effect that the number of different reinterpretations of the character and non-canon versions of the setting out there will continue to grow. So it's probably a good idea to be prepared for a whole lot more stuff not all of us will necessarily like.

This is a very good point, well made.

[Theblazeuk]

I really enjoyed it.

You lot are thrill-suckers 

[blackmocco]

As part of a different animated Dredd fan-film project currently being put together, I guess I have to be careful what I say here. I don't want to bag too much on the quality of this. It is what it is - three people working for free with no budget. We have the same budgetary constraints as they do so we're facing the same challenges. Thankfully for us, we're not trying to hammer out an entire half an hour. Animation is, by its nature, expensive and time-consuming, particularly if you want it to be of a high quality so for our own sanity, ours will be far shorter.

Yes, it's fine and grand to say "it's just a bit of fun. It's not the Dredd from the comics, etc." but at this point, 2000AD/Rebellion needs to think about exercising some editorial control over some of this stuff. The quality's not so much the issue (although for me personally, it is) but how Dredd and 2000AD are perceived by people that don't know much about them, particularly here in the US.

I work on Family Guy, I'm here in Los Angeles, my unhealthy obsession with the character and 2000AD is pretty well known around these parts so it was with some concern that many people who work here sent me these links with the general comment that they didn't realize this is what Dredd was like and a general confusion as to how this ties in with the 2012 movie, both in story and tone. It's an old argument but most people here associate Dredd with the Stallone movie. They know it's based on a British comic but most of those people have never read it. The 2012 movie did a lot of good in addressing that but people generally had to be coerced into seeing it, with the brain-scalding memory of the 1995 version as a turn-off. (For what it's worth, I don't blame the marketing of the movie for it's box-office failure here in the US - although I accept it was done badly - but more the fact that the general public is tired of hearing about stuff being remade and rebooted and Dredd's name is associated with a bad Stallone action flick. The feeling was "how bad must things be in Hollywood when they're even remaking that crap?" To call it an uphill struggle would be something of an understatement.)

In any case, Rebellion have done a fantastic job getting 2000AD related product in front of people's noses. There's barely a comic/book store here without something representing the comic over here and if that doesn't sound like a big deal, ten years ago you could not find a fucking scrap of 2000AD here in Los Angeles beyond very specialist comic stores that charged exorbitant prices. The 2012 movie is finally getting discovered at home by an audience, and there's the chance to create some real momentum for these characters in the public's eye.

This short was the next high-profile event - whether by 2000AD's official hand or not - and in my opinion, is two steps backwards. Having your project featured as an Entertainment Weekly exclusive is no small feat in this town. It's about as high profile as it gets and you better have something that lives up to the hype. This fails in every regard. A fun fan film? Yes, absolutely and if that's all it was being judged on, no harm done but this is a high profile, much-hyped "labor of love" offshoot from one of the 2012 movie's producers being trumpeted from the US's most read entertainment rag.

Time will tell whether it really has any negative impact but generally speaking, Dredd has had to work extremely hard at being taken seriously over here and just as he's starting get a foothold, and with all this talk of sequels to the 2012 movie, with all due respect to the artists who toiled - FOR FUCKING FREE!!! - to get this done for Shankar, this should NOT have been what was presented next.

[Steve Green]

Having worked on a fan film, and steered clear of commenting on any others, since it's none of my business... I will say this.

There are two aspects as far as I'm concerned, the actual tone of it is one thing, but how it all came about is another.

Nothing operates in isolation, having an exec producer pushing himself forward as 'the voice of the production', then getting 3 guys working for nothing for 20 months doesn't sit well with me.

I think it's one thing for people who are are broadly on the same level to ask for a few days here and there for a fan film, another for a 'name' producer to ask 3 people to commit to that amount of work.

I'm sure they're adult enough to know what they were getting themselves into, but it smacks a little too much of 'doing it for exposure'

I don't imagine it was a great position to be put in for Rebellion either.

Seeing how secretive this project was, if they'd killed it early on they could have been painted as 'the company who killed a Dirty Laundry style Dredd - don't you want a sequel???', since that's what people were imagining it to be, and nothing was said by Adi Shankar to contradict it.

[blackmocco]

Nothing operates in isolation, having an exec producer pushing himself forward as 'the voice of the production', then getting 3 guys working for nothing for 20 months doesn't sit well with me.

I think it's one thing for people who are are broadly on the same level to ask for a few days here and there for a fan film, another for a 'name' producer to ask 3 people to commit to that amount of work.

I'm sure they're adult enough to know what they were getting themselves into, but it smacks a little too much of 'doing it for exposure'.

A subject I didn't even want to broach for fear my rage reactors would go into core meltdown, Steve. It's absolutely disgusting. "Yeah, I can't pay you but just think of all the work you'll get after people see this and man, you get to work on JUDGE DREDD! How awesome is that?"

No joke, I get an e-mail like this maybe once every two months.

[Steve Green]

Well, I can only go by what they've said - I don't know what the exact deal was, it certainly feels like it was one of these exposure things.

Luckily I don't get much of that - apart from one person asking for freebies after our thing came out, like I make a habit of doing it for every Tom, Dick and Harry.

[GordonR]

Yes, the old "it'll be great exposure for you" line.

A word of advice for anyone doing anything creative, especially in a freelance capacity.  Whenever you hear those words, just walk away from whoever's saying them and whatever the job being offered is.  The person asking you to work for free is probably a bullshitter and a piss artist, and if they have the money to pay you, then that probably becomes a definitely.  You're being exploited, pure and simple.

On an entirely unrelated note, Adi Shankar doesn't strike me as a young man short of a bob or two.

[blackmocco]

Yes, the old "it'll be great exposure for you" line.

A word of advice for anyone doing anything creative, especially in a freelance capacity.  Whenever you hear those words, just walk away from whoever's saying them and whatever the job being offered is.  The person asking you to work for free is probably a bullshitter and a piss artist, and if they have the money to pay you, then that probably becomes a definitely.  You're being exploited, pure and simple.

This.