Messages

I think Kingdom would make a good animation

Incidentally, that Johnny Alpha pic does actually remind me of 'Ben 10'.... 

I suppose my earlier posts have looked a bit ageist against the kids. That wasn't really my point. As you have rightly pointed out, our love of comics was instilled at that early age. I was buying Starlord, 2000AD, Buddy, Spike and Victor throughout the early 80's when I was 8 and loved them. Only 2000AD remains that really harks back to that era of great British comic output, whilst keeping itself fresh to readers of all ages. It is easy to forget that it was a kids comic when we are seeing more adult art in the likes of Slaine, Nikolai Dante, and Necrophim these days...

Therefore, my label 'kid-friendly' isn't really suitable to make my point, so I withdraw it.

What I really meant was that I don't want to see an sanitised version of the Warriors. They shouldn't be made into a politically correct version.  The majority of material aimed at 7 - 13 year olds today just seems a little too... well.. nice. Clone Wars and Doctor Who and the Marvel Kids comic lines are all examples of this. And the equivalent TV output is specifically aimed at the young. There is no complexity to it. Can you honestly see a BBC executive approving a scene with Blackblood drinking oil from tortured and slain robots? I don't. Kids are just not exposed to that anymore in children's TV output or magazines, I just don't want 2000AD characters santised in that way.

All I am saying is that the 2000 AD animated should have an appeal to an older audience as well. If it was pitched at 15 year old anime fans for example, then it would bridge a gap and appeal to young and old, and still introduce teens to 2000AD as a publication. There is a happy medium. Just don't turn it into another "Ben 10"...

I suppose the 'kid friendly' possibiliy comes from the fact that the animation company doing the ABC clip also produced the red button Doctor Who : Dreamland feature. I just don't want 2000AD to prostitute its characters too much so that they become the "must have kids toy" for next christmas. They need to retain some sense of 'underground cool'.... Doctor Who is now aimed at 11 year olds, but anyone marketing 2000AD material should avoid that strategy...

I don't mind them ringfencing Dredd, but Mega City One has a wealth of source material for other animated projects that could serve as tie-ins to the movie, and also the animated series wouldnt altogether lose a connection the the real 2000AD iconic character

If the upcoming 2000AD animated is edgy enough, it would be tailor-made for a US channel such as Adult Swim. That would be an excellent springboard to launch a monthy magazine in the States mixing up classic strips with newer material.

Other than ABC Warriors - does anyone know what other strips are slated for the animated series?

Its not so much the violence aspect - I was thinking more of character traits like Blackblood's duplicity and betrayal and Mek-Quake's psychotic killing sprees. I don't want those to be lost, just to send out a nice moral message, as is common in most animations.

He could even take a shot at mek-quake - I've always thought his voice would not be deep. It should have a child-like quality

The other name I thought of for Mad Ronn was Simon Pegg...

Thats why he is only playing Madd Ronn - cue large spaceliner explosion... lol

The ultimate cast

Hammerstein - Lance Henriksen   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf6qe9lbNZQ
Blackblood - Bill Nighy  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Gjj_TwpWA
Joe Pineapples - Ron Perlman  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqxvslhaWqk
Mongrol - Michael Dorn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acBMwHG-xMA
Mek-Quake - Mark Hammil  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOiEZVy5c1k
Steelhorn - Keith David  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3zxyoDeJzI
Deadlock - Hugo Weaving http://www.zuguide.com/index.php#V-for-Vendetta
Ro-Jaws - Bob Hoskins  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVVrZJaN1IU
Morrigun - Minnie Driver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RK78AW7tYs
Hitaki - George Takei  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELhoqTyBBg
Mad Ronn - Robin Williams  http://www.spike.com/video/robots-train-station/2665967

Am I the only one concerned about 'a kids version' of this?
The grittiness and violence and moral ambiguity of the Warriors are their biggest appeal for me. I don't want a watered-down version.

They should make a series of hour-long DVD releases - similar to what Marvel are doing with the Avengers animated features, and Planet Hulk. Then they could make it more to to the original spitit of the comic.

It would be very difficult to follow the timeline of the series (is there one anymore?) but I would like to see the Volgan War, The original Mars series era, the Termight / Gothic Empire era (minus the complication of Nemesis), the Black Hole, the Hekate storyline, and the current Mars Era all covered, and include all personnel changes, so we see the deaths of Happy Shrapnel, Mad Ronn, Hitaki, and Morrigun, and the various incarnations of Steelhorn. You could really get a story which spans a thousand years without all the time travel mess. You could even get a Ro-Busters flashback in there to set up occasional appearances by Ro-Jaws...