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

[A.Cow]

The guys on the Megacast said they are listening to the fans so the campaign begins here:
For the love of Grud, ditch the dweeb!

I know some fans don't like Walter but they could have him in the show and drop the W bits.   He could just be called Walter the Robot.

IMHO I think Walter the Wobot presents an excellent opportunity to explore pathos in the series.  He doesn't have to be a one-dimensional Jar-Jar Binks comic relief job.

As a downtrodden droid, mistreated because of his speech impediment, he'd give a great opportunity to explore the relationship between citizens and their servile robots.  As in the comics, he could be a recurring character, popping up occasionally.  There are undoubtedly ways to do this well.  Hodor (from Game of Thrones) springs to mind.

[Pete Wells]

Or, he could have a hover bus dropped on him in the first minute of episode one! He's dwokking wubbi-, I mean, drokking rubbish!

SCWAP THE PWAT! 

[SIP]

I'm really hoping with the violent nature of Dredd that this series is going to be more pitched at a walking dead TV show level. . . . Walter is a character aimed at children under 10.

Walter (and Max Normal) I can live without. I get why long time readers have a nostalgic place in their hearts for them, but would they really work for general viewers? You'd need a very soft touch with them as they are marmite even for prog readers.

[Spaceghost]

I'm really hoping with the violent nature of Dredd that this series is going to be more pitched at a walking dead TV show level. . . . Walter is a character aimed at children under 10.

Walter (and Max Normal) I can live without. I get why long time readers have a nostalgic place in their hearts for them, but would they really work for general viewers? You'd need a very soft touch with them as they are marmite even for prog readers.

A little Walter cameo as a nod to the fans would be cool. I think an oddball informant for Dredd's team could work though.

[CalHab]

The tone of the comic is all over the place, which is fine because its read over a long period and its what readers expect and enjoy. I don't think TV viewers would know what was happening if there was a comedy robot saga one week and a brutal drug bust the next.

Obviously there needs to be room for Sensitive Klegg, though.

[Rusty]

The tone of the comic is all over the place, which is fine because its read over a long period and its what readers expect and enjoy. I don't think TV viewers would know what was happening if there was a comedy robot saga one week and a brutal drug bust the next.

Obviously there needs to be room for Sensitive Klegg, though.

Indeed. It could end up being like the X-Files reboot, in that it felt like fan service, but was just a shambles overall as it veered from the sinister, dark overtones of the original 90's series, to the "what the fuck is this shit?" whacky comedy schlock. It ended up being a sort of "pick'n'mix" of a mess. No anthology style, tone meandering. I think it needs to pick one tone, with sprinkles and nods to the comic here and there.

[TordelBack]

The tone of X-Files was frequently over the place, but you can get away with that spread across 200 episodes... less so with just 6.  Personally I think potential Dredd-comparanda like the Netflix Marvel shows could use a bit more variation in tone and theme, where one episode tends to blend into another unless a guest star pops up.

[IndigoPrime]

I think there's also a certain nostalgia in the nature of people's memories of Dredd. Walter and quite a lot of other aspects of the strip are a very 1970s version of the future. Robots these days are often invisible (production ones, or those within devices) or terrifying (Boston Dynamics), and those seem to be more likely paths than a waddling drinks dispenser. I suppose that's in part why I liked Dredd so much: I could relate to it on the screen. It felt like it could be real. Early Dredd transplanted directly to screen would feel like a cartoon to me.

[Jim_Campbell]

or terrifying (Boston Dynamics)

"They sent a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair."

[CalHab]

Early Dredd transplanted directly to screen would feel like a cartoon to me.

Absolutely. There's also a heavy nostalgia factor among readers for the early Dredds. When you read them fresh you soon realise that a lot of them haven't stood the test of time. There is a reason that new readers of Dredd are not advised to start with Case Files 1.

[IndigoPrime]

"They sent a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair."

Even creepier: their Happy Holidays horror show.

Absolutely. There's also a heavy nostalgia factor among readers for the early Dredds. When you read them fresh you soon realise that a lot of them haven't stood the test of time.

I enjoy reading old Dredds but they do feel relatively one-dimensional. Thing is, that's the Dredd a lot of people remember and clamour after. I can't imagine it'd hold up well on the telly across 13+ hours though.

[Goaty]

Maybe the timeline will pick up after Dredd 2012 stories in Meg mags?

[Jim_Campbell]

Maybe the timeline will pick up after Dredd 2012 stories in Meg mags?

So they're going to create a series in which only people who've seen the 2012 film and read the Megazine will properly understand? That'll work well…

[Goaty]

ok

[Steve Green]

I could certainly see an episode in robot tech going haywire, a Big Dog robot auxillary having a proto-mechanismo moment - Although the comics have that with the lawmasters going apeshit, I think something like big dog would be creepier.

Coming from the micro-budget fan film end - I think smaller budget episodes in a restricted location would be interesting.

If you had a recurring set like an H-Wagon interior, it could be something that is more like a tank crew episode, and the exterior info is mostly related via screens or audio. H-Wagon down in gang territory for example.