So we have the cast announced for this but it seems to be slightly confusing to me,are they audio dramas or audio books? The two are quite different formats. https://2000ad.com/news/richard-armitage-sheila-atim-and-joseph-fiennes-to-star-in-2000-ad-audiobook-adaptations/ (https://2000ad.com/news/richard-armitage-sheila-atim-and-joseph-fiennes-to-star-in-2000-ad-audiobook-adaptations/)
I'm assuming they meant audio drama. A dry read of a comic would be pretty dull.
I'm really looking forward to these.
I think it's a bit of a mix. There's an existing thread discussing it here (click (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=46333.0)). They also seem to have a cast of about five people - which may put them on par with the Big Finish audios - but I'm somewhat disappointed to see that both Dredd stories include a narrator. Both The Pit and America have a grand sweep to them. It would be lovely to have all that put into your mind's eye with a soundscape rather than using narration.
Quite a lot if the pit (take this page, for instance) relies on an unseen narrator, so it makes sense to cast one...
(https://images.rebellion.co.uk/productImage/4e/20/00.large.jpg)
You can't have Dredd read that out loud (though it represents his thinking) and it's such fun meaty stuff (and important) you don't want to lose it and I don't think any audio soundscape in the world could cover the text in that last panel...
Quote from: pauljholden on 21 February, 2021, 10:11:02 AM
Quite a lot if the pit (take this page, for instance) relies on an unseen narrator, so it makes sense to cast one...
(https://images.rebellion.co.uk/productImage/4e/20/00.large.jpg)
You can't have Dredd read that out loud (though it represents his thinking) and it's such fun meaty stuff (and important) you don't want to lose it and I don't think any audio soundscape in the world could cover the text in that last panel...
True but if it is an adaptation, like they do with novels on radio 4 they will just have to rewrite bits & excise stuff to make it work as a drama rather than an audio book
The BBC made radio adaptions of every Sherlock Holmes story with Clive Merrison in the title role. They didn't have a good handle on it in the early ones, and there's a lot of Dr Watson setting the scene with narrative. After a while they were entirely acted with no narration, and they're so much better for it.
Audible now has 5 minute samples up of the start of each production. I listened to "The Pit", "America" and "the Ballad of Halo Jones". I'm going to pass. Looking at the stern face of Dredd on the cover image for The Pit, and listening to the voice they've given him, they just didn't seem to fit for me. Also, we get other Judges talking during Dredd's opening inspection but when they're not talking, it felt like he was in an empty room. I didn't get any sense of anyone else being there. Perhaps I need to listen to it with the sound up, as I don't remember much of a soundscape at all, other than Dredd's footsteps. It didn't create a picture in my mind what kind of room they were in, or how big or who was there.
I hope others get much more enjoyment from it and that it's a big success.
Quote from: pauljholden on 21 February, 2021, 10:11:02 AM
You can't have Dredd read that out loud (though it represents his thinking) and it's such fun meaty stuff (and important) you don't want to lose it and I don't think any audio soundscape in the world could cover the text in that last panel...
Third person narration is desperately unfashionable these days, but this is a brilliant example of how to use it well. The reader isn't supposed to empathise with Dredd in the way that a first person narration would encourage — the use of third person gives an insight into what Dredd thinks and feels, but maintains that necessary distance.
(The only time I can think of Dredd getting first person narration is the opening of America, and that's substantially different because it's not an internal monologue, a transcription of his thoughts, it's a
direct address to the reader: "Where do I stand? I'll tell you where I stand...")
All of the dialogue is read as written. It's incredibly faithful, only with the most minor of additions. I've put together some video reviews of the full series on the Reviews section if anyone wants to know more. ;)
Just listened to The Pit in its entirety.
Difficult to express a feeling on it. For a start, it's nowhere near as gritty as I'd have liked it to be - there are several instances where the actors don't sound like they're REACTING to one another, just moving through their lines. It's difficult though, when you've read the story as much as I have, you need to realise that this is a different take - an adaptation - and you've got to have an open mind. In fact, the only really sore point for me was Ed Winchester doing what can only be described as a comedy tough guy voice for Guthrie.
The rest of the cast do a fine job, Fiennes in particular as Dredd puts a more relaxed and nuanced spin on Dredd. In fact, the whole thing reminded me of The Pit as directed by Kevin Costner. Half the time I could picture Dredd as Costner in a bent - up cowboy hat behind the wheel of a 4x4, going about his business.
There are times when the sound effects take over and it's difficult to tell what's going on if you've not read the story already - the Grot Pot part in particular is guilt here.
Overall though, I enjoyed it. It was refreshing to hear a Dredd that's not got a Batman Begins style overly gruff voice, and it filled in a couple of hours as a I went about my daily walk.
I'd recommend it, but keep an open mind.
Slaine tomorrow, will report back when I've heard it all.
I've got Brink lined up for tonight, and have been working my way through a reread of the whole series to date, in preparation.
I'm slightly nervous- largely because no matter how good audio drama can be (and I've listened to a fair amount over the years) it always, always, makes me doze off.
At 3.5 hours, the best I can hope for is that I start to tonight and finish sometime early next week. But I am.so happy these exist. Hoping for CD releases too.
SBT
I bought Brink as I was really looking forward to it but its not great.
Its very flat sounding and I really don't like the music choice.
The acting also feels off. As someone else said it does sound like the actors are just reading the lines to them selves.
So disappointed
I've probably been spoiled by Big Finish productions (their 2000ad line ended up with me spending thousands with the firm over the years) but when I saw that these were adaptations of existing stories, my heart sunk.
It's a totally different medium and these stories are so reverential that I doubt they would have been re-written in a way that's necessary.
So I was going to buy Brink, as it's the one story I know nothing of and have zero expectation. But the sample contained a load of childish swearing and an odd audio mix for the speakers. Didn't even sound like Nina Sosanya was in the same room.
I will probably pick these up but I wasn't inspired to do so last night.
Started on Slaine last night it's not too bad, most of it is narrated by Ukko as he is writing it down. Good to see that they choose an Irish cast for this. It lacks the energy of the comic as you don't get the effect of the visuals. This would probably suit a new listener
Brink: Part One for me last night. I stayed awake! But you know what, I'm glad I'd read the series in the days previous because without it I would have been hopelessly lost. I'm not even sure it would have been clear that it was set on a massive space station, as so much of Culbard's art is not referenced in the script.
It has problems: the main one being what seems to be a standard across these things: British actors pretending to be Americans, or putting on 'working class' voices. My grud, that grates on me.
Some of the cast have exaggerated their performances and just do not suit the story as we know it: Frannie, for instance, is played entirely for laughs.
That said, the leads are superb, and I really, *really* liked the music. It's all what sounds to me like an 80s synth electronic concept album, and I'd even buy a CD of that alone. Loved it.
If this sounds too negative and critical of what is a- let me be clear- very welcome and bloody great thing for 2000AD, then I apologise. I look forward to part two tonight, regardless.
SBT
oh dear these don't sound great
Been listening to Brink. I'm disappointed to say that I don't think this works.
The footsteps really annoy me. Because the dialogue is lifted straight from a visual medium, its signalled that characters are on the move by having the sound of foot steps...so two characters are chatting in a busy environment and "clunk clunk clunk" here comes someone else.
Brink is a story I love, but it just doesn't fit the format. Bridge shooting a guy in an early episode is a massive deal in the comic...here, its a messy sound effect and you don't know it happened until several minutes into the next scene.
It loses its power. So much of Brink is about the power of words and ideas, about how words can do real harm, so we have to be protected from curses, and certain syllables can make a person sick. On the page, where letters can sit alongside runes that symbolise alien concepts, that makes sense. Put on accents repeating "Phase Corozon" and it stops being an interesting idea.
Have just finished Brink Book Two, and am pleased to say that it worked a lot better than the first. While there're still some dodgy accents, Nina Sosanya saves everything with her basically spot-on portrayl of Bridget Kurtis. Skeleton Life is a particular favourite of mine, and I think they captured the particular atmosphere and distressing weirdness of the Habitat very well.
I am now very much looking forward to Book Three.
SBT
Happy to report that Slaine - The Horned God works incredibly well as an adaptation. Setting it in Slaine's native Ireland with an Irish cast is a wonderful idea, and just about everybody concerned sounds committed to bringing it to life.
Any issues are generally the same as the original text - endless exposition at the beginning, bringing the reader/listener up to date with previous adventures. It's generally made clear what's occurring, though, and it's begging for a visual version. I've not read the comic for a couple of years (since the first hachette volume), but I reckon you could enjoy this without having read the source material. RECOMMENDED.
Reckon I'll give Brink a wide berth, judging by the comments here...Halo Jones or America next for me, as soon as my next Audible credit rolls around...
I've only listened to the 5-minute sample of The Pit on Audible; as hearing an actor do Dredd's voice always fascinates me. I really didn't like Toby Longworth's version - he just sounded like someone trying to be hard - and whoever played Dredd in the old radio plays somehow thought Dredd needed to sound like a 1940s mob henchman.
But I like this new version - not trying to sound forcedly hard or gravelly, just commanding and well-spoken. More like the politician that Dredd needs to be now and again.
For my money, nobody got Dredd's voice like Karl Urban - exactly the right mix of Clint Eastwood growliness and commanding barks. The next best for me, oddly, was a very old 80s or 90s Dredd coin-op arcade game.
Re Brink, while I had issues with the first Book and indeed the whole format- i have to report that Book Three is superb. If you remember, in the comic there was a minor kerfuffle over the swearing being blacked out (book for introduced the One Dollar Fine, seemingly as a reaction to this). In the audio version, everyone swears with great abandon, and it is wonderful. David Warner, playing Tillerson, is particularly good (as Warner always is) and he really makes the most of a great script.
As before there are problems with the process of *ignoring the art*- Kurtis' long walk through the Hab on her day off in order to shake any tails is a few seconds long on audio and absolutely nothing is made of the holographic walls behind which staff are expected to hide when in the Big Space. It's not even mentioned- they appear to just 'step back', which makes a nonsense of the scene where Kurtis and Gentry are surprised during their first covert meeting.
But on the whole I've not enjoyed an audio as much as Brink in years.
SBT
I've just listened to an hour of The Horned God. Good stuff so far - I almost wish I hadn't read the GNs so many times I know the story by heart. Good call on the Irish accents too. North-of-the-border Sláine and Cathbad - why the hell not. Perfect traditional Irish storyteller voice for Ukko too.
They pronounce Sláine like most readers, and Pat Mills, do - fine by me. I've always pronounced it the Irish way, but have been flipping between them recently as the internet has provided more and more fan and creator videos and audios. Also I only found out recently that Rudraige is actually the name Rory, but I'd forgotten till I listened to this.
Great incidental music and sound effects too. Slough Feg sounds perfect - just the right mix of frail eunuch and delusional bombast. And Medb is Yara Greyjoy! She does the accent perfectly.
Obviously there's no avoiding listening to this with a constant mental stream of Bisley paintings in my head. Wonder what a nonscrot type would make of it?
'Scuse the double post, but I've just finished The Horned God. Yep, well worth a listen - I really enjoyed hearing what all these characters might sound like. The star of the show is Slough Feg - he's absolutely nailed that odd mix of geriatric weirdo and self-important braggart (though wouldn't he have a French accent instead of an Irish one? Of course I realise nobody back then would sound anything close to what anybody sounds like now. Whenever 'back then' was).
Ukko's voice is spot on for the storytelling old man side of things, but a bit too posh for the pervy little thief in the story itself. Though maybe nobody outside of Ireland could spot the poshness; in which case fair enough. Some of the accents are Lug-awful ('Quane Nave to see ye, soire') but only from the smallest of bit-parts so it really doesn't make a difference. And the music is bleeding fantastic.
I really wish I could know what it's like to listen to this with no prior knowledge of the story - for example, without having seen the strip, there's no possible way a listener could realise [spoiler]exactly where Feg is skewered by Sláine's gae bolga, even though it's kind of essential to understand the full nastiness of the goddess's joke.[/spoiler]
Have the Halo Jones one a go. It's alright, you know?
Actress playing Halo is pitch perfect. And how they did Glyph was great, although it wasn't entirely clear what happened to her at the end with Toby.
It just feels as if it's perhaps too fast as an audio compared to the comic.
Again, not sure how easy it is to follow without knowledge of the story
Would definitely listen to this again.
Interesting to see the news in the Thrillmail that the new audio adaptions are coming out from Penguin. Some interesting choices too and be intrigues to see what folks think about them.
https://2000ad.com/news/new-audio-adaptations-of-2000-ad-classics-announced-by-penguin-random-house/?mc_cid=8698e40027&mc_eid=84ec3f1c5a (https://2000ad.com/news/new-audio-adaptations-of-2000-ad-classics-announced-by-penguin-random-house/?mc_cid=8698e40027&mc_eid=84ec3f1c5a)
Line up is:
DREDD: ORIGINS
DREDD v DEATH
JUDGE ANDERSON: SHAMBALLA
ROGUE TROOPER: WELCOME TO NU-EARTH
NEMESIS THE WARLOCK
Getting books 1-4 of Nemesis will be quite something!
Finally, a Rogue Trooper audio.
Now I might be in...
Audible has the release date as 8-9-22 regular price £25.99 members price £7.99 or 1 credit each
Okay, for anyone who's heard the Slaine audio... how do they pronounce "Slaine"?
It's pronounced Slaine not SLAW-nyuh in the audio
having listened to a couple of these i do not think they worked. Too faithful to source. It is being adapted into another medium so needs changes or hard to follow.
PETER SERAFINOWICZ has been cast as Judge Death
https://www.facebook.com/2000AD/videos/395414039372779
Adam Basil is the new voice of Judge Dredd
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=1066207084270238
That's nothing like how I imagine that line being delivered. It's way too slow, lacking the urgency and immediacy it needs. The punch should be part of it, not after it.
I'm reminded of that famous philospher Eddie Catflap discussing playing Shakespeare, in an episode of Filthy Rich & Catflap: 'On the one hand I'm the fiery and warlike Tybalt, and on the other it's all "stand there while I do my speech"!'
I'm hoping the rest of the scene gives it some context. If Fear has just said "Gaze into the face of Fear" with the same intonation, so that Dredd's rejoinder imitates the way Fear says it as well as what he said, then it may just work. But I still feel having the grunt/punch afterwards, instead of being the tail end of the sentence (what he's doing as he speaks) makes it come across as more theatrical than actiony.
Not that you should judge(!) a scene or production based on such a short clip, but of course my pre-cogs have an accuracy rate of... hang on, is this graph upside down?
Quote from: judgeurko on 28 July, 2022, 12:57:22 PM
having listened to a couple of these i do not think they worked. Too faithful to source. It is being adapted into another medium so needs changes or hard to follow.
What I think the Big Finish Dredds did so well. Although it did take a while to get into the swing of things.
First couple are here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfg7BDOiEDI&list=PLtaPjy9U4r4hR2QRclD73oSg8BCekEy6E&index=3
Chuku Modu (Soh-Larr-Captain Marvel, Aggo= Game of Thrones, Xavier/Dr. Gabriel Santiago -the 100) is the voice of Rogue Trooper
https://www.facebook.com/2000AD/videos/1031140387596552
Not bad! I can live with that.
Patrick Warner is Nemesis the Warlock
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=795658298231966
Quote from: rogue69 on 15 August, 2022, 02:57:34 PM
Patrick Warner is Nemesis the Warlock
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=795658298231966
I listened to a clip of this on the 2000AD Facebook page. It seemed to go down well with most people, but all I could think of was the narrator from
Count Duckula. Goodnight out there...whatever you are!
KEITH ALLEN is Torquemada but very badly IMO
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=431025445756009
Quote from: rogue69 on 17 August, 2022, 10:23:47 PM
KEITH ALLEN is Torquemada but very badly IMO
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=431025445756009
It seems an obvious choice with a suitable manical over the top quality to Allen... and yet somehow how there it seemed off?
I'm wondering if it wouldn't work better the other way round - Allen as Nemesis and Warner as Torquemada.