Random Dredd Questions

[GizmoDuck]

I just reread Origins the other week and I forgot that Joe and Rico weren't the only clones of Judd/Justice Dept. So, what happened to the other clones that were birthed with Joe and Rico, were they just MIA/KIA along the way?

Is it ever explained why the Justice Dept stops cloning? I mean, I know about Dolman and Rico (not Rico Dredd, the other one). They have all the gene stock they need. They could pump out battalions of clones. Unless, maybe, they don't want a repeat of the Judda?

[sheridan]

I just reread Origins the other week and I forgot that Joe and Rico weren't the only clones of Judd/Justice Dept. So, what happened to the other clones that were birthed with Joe and Rico, were they just MIA/KIA along the way?

Is it ever explained why the Justice Dept stops cloning? I mean, I know about Dolman and Rico (not Rico Dredd, the other one). They have all the gene stock they need. They could pump out battalions of clones. Unless, maybe, they don't want a repeat of the Judda?

Invalid question - Justice Dept hasn't stopped cloning.  I was going to write that it's just we don't hear about it any more, but it does crop up every now and then.

[sheridan]

I suppose the vast majority of people who watched that film would have no idea at all of the comic backstory we're all so familiar with. I'd imagine it was just an interesting little background detail the production team came up with.

Don't forget Anderson is a card-carrying mutie in the movie - this is most definitely a different Dredd universe from the one we know.

I hope they make a sequel like the Friday Rogue Trooper where the two versions of Dredd meet up and hang out (no I don't).

Uh, you misssed the one-off then (which threw together 'our' Dredd, 2012 Dredd and 1995 Judge Dredd)?

[GoGilesGo]

Is it ever explained why the Justice Dept stops cloning?

As Sheridan says, the Department has not stopped cloning. Prog 1835 shows Tech Department literally churning them out. Sinfield managed to slip his DNA into the program some years before Tour of Duty so they aren't that picky.



Prog 1216 reveals Dredd alone has seven clones (I presume this includes little Jessica above along with Rico, Dolman and Nimrod).



Then of course, way way back, there were these fellas, sent as a gift to Texas City to 'improve their stock'. Years later it turned out Rico was one of them.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I suppose the vast majority of people who watched that film would have no idea at all of the comic backstory we're all so familiar with. I'd imagine it was just an interesting little background detail the production team came up with.

Don't forget Anderson is a card-carrying mutie in the movie - this is most definitely a different Dredd universe from the one we know.

I hope they make a sequel like the Friday Rogue Trooper where the two versions of Dredd meet up and hang out (no I don't).

Uh, you misssed the one-off then (which threw together 'our' Dredd, 2012 Dredd and 1995 Judge Dredd)?

Oops! Forgot about that. To be fair, it was a kind of whimsical one-off, rather than Rogue's months of brain-frazzling narrative acrobatics trying to tie two totally different continuities together.

[sheridan]

I hope they make a sequel like the Friday Rogue Trooper where the two versions of Dredd meet up and hang out (no I don't).

Uh, you misssed the one-off then (which threw together 'our' Dredd, 2012 Dredd and 1995 Judge Dredd)?

Oops! Forgot about that. To be fair, it was a kind of whimsical one-off, rather than Rogue's months of brain-frazzling narrative acrobatics trying to tie two totally different continuities together.

Different dimensions.  Job done.  That wouldn't have saved a lot of time.

[Hawkmumbler]

Considering how massive the multiverse as a genre concept has become, the tooth editorial team in the 90's must really be kicking themselves they didn't just take the path of least resistance, as Sheriden points out.

[Lawman of the Present]

Regards the flag question, I always assumed it was displayed as a history lesson. In an MC-1 school I'd expect Pre-Atom War history to be a core subject, not that the little spugs would pay attention!

In earlier comics, MC-1, MC-2 and TC were known as the Triumvirate, the United Cities of North America. There was a flag with three stars if I recall. Eventually the concept was abandoned.

Regards clones, it's been said that a third of the Judges are clones, which does beg the question why they aren't all being taken from the 'top stock'. Then again, not all of the Fargo clones were as equally successful as Joe. To my knowledge, stories haven't really covered what limitations may exist with the tech.

Was it one of the older novels which featured a virus that was affecting clones and knocking the Department out? Maybe it was A Savage Amusement unless I'm mistaken.

[sheridan]

Was it one of the older novels which featured a virus that was affecting clones and knocking the Department out? Maybe it was A Savage Amusement unless I'm mistaken.

There was something like that in one of the Big Finish audio plays, if you ever listened to those?  It's been a long time since I read the Virgin novels, so I can't remember if there was any connections between the audios and the novels.

[Tjm86]

Considering how massive the multiverse as a genre concept has become, the tooth editorial team in the 90's must really be kicking themselves they didn't just take the path of least resistance, as Sheriden points out.

Just got one word for you "Helter-Skelter" (or is that two?)

[Hawkmumbler]

Considering how massive the multiverse as a genre concept has become, the tooth editorial team in the 90's must really be kicking themselves they didn't just take the path of least resistance, as Sheriden points out.

Just got one word for you "Helter-Skelter" (or is that two?)

Hush now, hush. What does not exist can't hurt us anymore.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Different dimensions.  Job done.  That wouldn't have saved a lot of time.

Why have two dimensions when you can have two Nu-Earths within travelling distance of each other in the same universe, with two completely unrelated sets of Norts and Southers fighting on them?

Not that Friday's version was originally called Nu-Earth (being in fact

SPOILER



old Earth till Tharg forgot, and Norts and Southers not really being called that till a few series in).

Nah, you're right, dimensions would have been a better bet.

[The Legendary Shark]

Blowing my own trumpet, if I got the chance I'd do Rogue Trooper like this.

[Funt Solo]

Why have two dimensions when you can have two Nu-Earth

When I was re-reading for my 2kstages reviews, I found myself with way more knowledge of the narrative of nu-Rogue than I suspect the writers had.

I reviewed the insanity thusly at the stage where Steve White started to take over from Fleisher:

Rogue Trooper [Fr1day]

So, try to keep up:

 - Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons created Rogue Trooper and it ran with GFD from 1981 to 1985. It was set mostly on Nu Earth, but went on a short (but violent) vacation to Horst.

 - Once GFD was out, Simon Geller wrote "The Hit" sequence (which was set on any planet they wanted due to magic alien teleportation), but it was a damp squib.

 - Dave Gibbons rebooted things with The War Machine in 1989, featuring a new, grittier, biochip-less Rogue: Fr1day. This was set on Earth, and ended when peace was declared! Huzzah! No more war. Wait...

 - Michael Fleisher nixed the peace & took Fr1day through various missions to defeat corporate warmongers. It was on Earth, then in space, then on ... a planet somewhere.

 - Fr1day was given back biochips in a transition tale: The Scavenger of Souls.

Summary - original :: dribble :: reboot :: retcon :: retcon.


Anyway: Steve White (with Henry Flint on art duties) takes the new chipped-up Fr1day out for a spin in the 1994 Sci-Fi Special's Some Mother's Son, an action-soaked frying pan-to-fire tale heavy on the FWOOOM! but light on a dramatic question (or a location).

In the prog: Mercy Killing let's us know for the first time since Apocalypse Dreadnought that we're now on Nu-Earth (which I don't think has ever been part of the Fr1day reboot until now). Despite lots of shouting "skev", a shit-ton of military jargon and some great action sequences the problem is outlined in the credit page of the first episode: that Fr1day and the chips "pursue an uncertain destiny". The Norts have been replaced with religious fanatics (the Kervanu) and the Southers with just anyone else we meet. It's like the perfect recipe for churning out story after story without really committing to anything - almost as if the purpose of the comic is just to endlessly repeat itself to generate money.

Mercenary Attitudes introduces the oft-repeated concept of "knifing", except with guns. Also, a super-ninja babe joins forces and exposits all over the place about the Clavell/Clavel Corporation before dusting off into space. Isn't that just like super-ninja babes, though? Wait: is that still the plot? How many times do we need to kill this Clavell/Clavel guy? It's almost as if the purpose of the comic is just to endlessly repeat itself to generate money.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Skev almighty, what a mess.  And that's even before the original Rogue met Friday and gave him Gunnar.  And who exactly was Venus Bluegenes in this version?  The one from the original Rogue stories, or a new one from Friday's location that looked exactly like the one on that other Nu Earth a few light-years away? 

To be fair, the Gibbons and Simpson reboot was great - an oddly successful blend of Platoon and Blade Runner.  Even without Fleischer, they probably should have ended it there and then while the going was good.

Anyway, sorry, I've completely thrown the thread off-course - please don't mind me and keep asking Dredd questions.