Tom
00:00:03Hello, and welcome to a new episode of Two Geeks, two beers, and zero awards.
Morgan
00:00:44Yeah, we're a little bit bitter this afternoon.
Tom
00:00:46Tom's mad. Why are you mad, Tom?
Morgan
00:00:47Well, like, we know we're not taking over the world with this podcast. We've been doing it for nearly ten years now.
Tom
00:00:54Yeah.
Morgan
00:00:55And we know you guys love us.
Tom
00:00:57Yeah. But, like, all five of you. Yeah.
Morgan
00:01:00So years ago, we submitted ourselves for, like, the british podcast awards.
Tom
00:01:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Morgan
00:01:06But it was a stupid, lofty ambitions because that was, like, proper podcasts with money behind it and stuff. But there's a thing called the Independent Podcast Awards.
Tom
00:01:16Surely in with a shot of those.
Morgan
00:01:18And we looked at last year's winners and nominees at least. We're like. We're easily amongst that brigade of podcasts that ilk.
Tom
00:01:26Yeah.
Morgan
00:01:27And so we submitted ourselves for several categories announced today. The nominees.
Tom
00:01:32Oh, yeah.
Morgan
00:01:33Not one nomination. No, no. And it's like. I know, I know. We're not doing it for that.
Tom
00:01:38It's not why we do it. It's not why we do it.
Morgan
00:01:40Even so, it'd be nice to have a little bit of recognition. Ten years of doing this bloody fucking podcast.
Tom
00:01:46The wire never won an Emmy, so.
Morgan
00:01:49But it at least had a nomination.
Tom
00:01:51It had a lot of nominations, actually.
Morgan
00:01:52So if you can just at least give us just a little bit of love on social media or an email or something, just to make myself feel better, because it's so pathetic. It is. But, you know, fuck it. We've got nothing else. Yeah, nothing. Nothing at all.
We submit ourselves to several awards, tv and film, culture, comedy, nothing.
Tom
00:02:12So welcome back.
Morgan
00:02:13Anyway, onto episode 133 of the nomineeless podcast. After ten fucking years, the unnominated.
Tom
00:02:23The unnominated podcast.
Morgan
00:02:24Okay.
Tom
00:02:25But who needs it when you've got the support of your listeners?
Morgan
00:02:28Yeah. All five.
Tom
00:02:31All five of you. We love all five of you. The quintet we call you. And I have good news.
Morgan
00:02:36Oh, yeah.
Tom
00:02:37Which is that alcohol is not outlawed in Mega City one.
Morgan
00:02:42Nice. Don't know what that means, but great. I'll explain. Okay, good.
Tom
00:02:47So this episode, we're diving into the world of the one and only Judge Dredd, where one man stands between order and chaos. And he's got a killer jawline. Tom, what do you know about Judge Dredd?
Morgan
00:03:01What do you think?
Tom
00:03:02I think you have a. To call it encyclopedic, maybe overstaying it, but I think, you know all the ins and outs, the canon, the mythology.
I think I'm gonna feel foolish, because I'm gonna try and give you something of a beginner's guide to Judge Dredd. And you'll be like, well, I knew that. I knew that. I know all of it. In fact, you should be hosting the. In fact.
Morgan
00:03:28Should we swap?
Tom
00:03:28Should we swap? Yeah. Should we? No, no. Yeah. So that's.
Morgan
00:03:32Well, I think I've realized why we haven't got nominated for anything.
Tom
00:03:36Why?
Morgan
00:03:37Because I know nothing about judge Dredge.
Tom
00:03:39Because we haven't been nominated for award. Because you know nothing about judge Dredds.
Morgan
00:03:43Pretend that we're geeks on this podcast. The whole point is that you're meant to be teaching me.
Tom
00:03:47Yeah.
Morgan
00:03:47And vice versa. But, yeah, I don't know anything about it. I've seen.
Tom
00:03:51If you knew more about Judge Dredd, we might have gotten an ominous book.
Morgan
00:03:54I've seen. I think I've seen a bit of the recent ish one with. What's his name?
Tom
00:04:02Carl Oban.
Morgan
00:04:02That's the one. Yeah. Never seen a Stallone version.
Tom
00:04:05Hughie homelander. Done kill me wife and took me bloody son.
Morgan
00:04:09Are we pretending his accent is good in that?
Tom
00:04:12No. No. I think it's so bad, it's meant to be shit. I think it's so. I don't think it's meant to be, but I think it's so bad. It's good.
Morgan
00:04:16Yeah. It's up there with Vinny Jones being like, oh, I need a pee.
Tom
00:04:22That's actually how Vinny Joe.
Morgan
00:04:22I know him, but still. Yeah.
Tom
00:04:25I don't know what point you're making.
Morgan
00:04:26It's like Russell Brand did the worst accent ever when he was trying to be a Brummie in Rock of ages. He's like, you're british. You should be able to be able to achieve that.
Tom
00:04:34His greatest crime.
Morgan
00:04:37But, yeah, no, I know what Judge Dredd is. I know the absolute basics.
Tom
00:04:45What do you know?
Morgan
00:04:46He's set in the future.
Tom
00:04:48Yeah.
Morgan
00:04:48Right.
Tom
00:04:49Yeah.
Morgan
00:04:49He looks a bit like robocop, but isn't.
Tom
00:04:51Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, that'll come up. Sort of.
Morgan
00:04:53He's human, right? He's human, but he's got, like, robotic stuff.
Tom
00:04:58No, well, yeah, actually, yes. Yeah.
Morgan
00:05:01And he's the law and order of the town. He's law and order in the town. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.
Tom
00:05:09All right.
Well, coming up, the origins of an octogenarian action hero, the surprising link between the Human League and the metal band Anthrax, and how a reggae artist fanned by the BBC inspired a comic book legend.
Morgan
00:05:24I didn't expect so much music related to.
Tom
00:05:26It is weird that two of those are music related. Not intentional. Okay, so, Judge Dro. Judge Joseph Dredd was created by the writer John Wagner.
Morgan
00:05:36It's Judge's name.
Tom
00:05:38What?
Morgan
00:05:39I thought he was just Judge Dredd. Like he judges people.
Tom
00:05:42Yeah, he is. That's his judge.
Morgan
00:05:43That's his name.
Tom
00:05:44What do you mean? Is it. What do you mean?
Morgan
00:05:45All right, I thought you meant. Okay, fine. So he's. He's. No, but he's officially a judge? Yeah. No, I thought it was a nickname. I thought it was a nickname. I thought.
Tom
00:05:55What do you mean, a nickname?
Morgan
00:05:55I didn't think he was, like, a judge with a fucking wig and all that. I thought he was.
Tom
00:05:58Well, he's not.
Morgan
00:05:59No, but I thought he was, like.
Tom
00:06:01Do you think that Judge John Deeds. Do you think that was his name? Like, he's. Like. He's Martin Shaw. Like, he was born. He was born judge Deeds. What am I gonna do for a living?
Morgan
00:06:11Right? Bear in mind, we've had two points. My brain went, I knew he was a judge, but I didn't think that he was officially a judge.
Like, he'd been bestowed the judgeness. And I read that the judge Joseph Dredd, and I sort of thought. Was that his first name? Well, obviously he was gonna be a judge.
Yeah, but it's not his first name.
Tom
00:06:32Nominative determinism.
Morgan
00:06:33His name is Joseph.
Tom
00:06:34His name is Joseph or Joe Dredd, but he is a judge. I'll explain.
Morgan
00:06:38Bye.
Tom
00:06:38So, Judge Dredd was created by the writer John Wagner and the artist Carlos Escuera, who sadly passed away in 2018. The stories are set in a dystopian future earth damaged by a series of international conflicts.
Much of the planet has become a radioactive wasteland, with populations aggregating into enormous megacities. Dredd's home is megacity one, on the east coast of North America. Dredd is the most famous of the street judges that patrol mega city one.
He is a law enforcer, empowered to arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.
Morgan
00:07:11So who put him in charge?
Tom
00:07:14Well, they set up a whole system of judges and the justice system. But that happened before Dredd. Yeah, he was sort of born into it. Fine. Or was he? We'll get onto that.
Morgan
00:07:27Okay.
Tom
00:07:28His iconic helmet obscures his face, except for his mouth and jaw, and his entire face is never shown in the comic strip. John Wagner explained, it sums up the facelessness of justice. Justice has no soul.
So it isn't necessary for readers to see Dredd's face, and I don't want you to.
Dredd is armed with a lawgiver, a pistol capable of firing six types of ammunition, including standard bullets, armor piercing heat seekers, and high explosive shells.
And he rides a lawmaster motorcycle equipped with machine guns, a laser cannon, and artificial intelligence capable of responding to orders from the judge and operating itself. So, the origins of Judge Dredd.
In 1976, comics editor Pat Mills was developing a new british weekly anthology comic 2000 AD, and he hired writer John Wagner to develop characters. Wagner wanted to take the idea of a dirty Harry style tough cop to its logical extreme.
The name came from a horror strip that Pat Mills had previously developed with the title Judge Dredd, but Dredd being spelt d r e a d. That name was taken from the stage name of a british scar and reggae artist, Alexander Minto Hughes. Wow. You know who this guy is?
Morgan
00:08:44Yeah.
Tom
00:08:45The first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica. Yeah.
The BBC apparently really rude banned more of his songs than those of any other recording artist because of his frequent use of sexual innuendo or double entendres.
Morgan
00:08:55So weird. So I. Because I knew, always knew Judge Dredd, the artist existed, but I thought it was. He ripped off the other one.
Tom
00:09:02Oh, you thought it was the other way around?
Morgan
00:09:04Yeah.
Tom
00:09:04No, no, no. What? Yeah, he's named after the reggae guy.
Morgan
00:09:07Wow.
Tom
00:09:08Who I'd never heard of.
But apparently he sold several million albums throughout his 25 plus year career and was second only to Bob Marley in uk reggae sales during the 1970s.
Morgan
00:09:17Yeah, a lot. His songs are really like, you never hear them now. They're too rude.
Tom
00:09:22Right? Oh, the BBC was right about him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Morgan
00:09:26Wow. Blow my mind there. Wow. Okay.
Tom
00:09:30So the task of visualizing the character of Judge Dredd was given to the spanish artist Carlos Escuera.
Wagner gave esquera an advertisement for the film Death Race 2000, showing the character Frankenstein, played by David Carradine, clad in black leather on a motorbike.
To use as inspiration, Esquera added body armor, zips, and chains, which Wagner initially objected to, feeling like the character looked like a spanish pirate, though the design for a dreads helmet was actually inspired by the corinthian helmets of ancient Greece. So don't tell me this podcast is nothing civilized and sophisticated.
Morgan
00:10:01Nomination.
Tom
00:10:03Judge Dredd was originally supposed to be set in the near future, but the hardware and cityscapes Esquera drew were far more futuristic than originally intended, so the stories ended up being set further into the future.
However, even though Judge Dredd was developed for this new comic 2000 AD, he did not debut in the first issue, which was published in February 1977 for a variety of reasons, one being that the original launch story, written by Wagner and drawn bye Squera, was vetoed for being too violent. He got a violence veto instead, he made his debut in issue two, or prog two, as it was known, and has appeared in almost every issue since.
He's the magazine's longest running character, and in 1990, he got his own spin off title, the Judge Dredd magazine.
So, to give you a taste of what 2000 ad is all about, if you're not familiar, which I'm guessing, I'm guessing you're not just taking a pump, here's a trailer for the 2014 documentary Future Shock, the story of 2000 AD.
Morgan
00:11:00Nice.
Tom
00:11:01In the late seventies, it was a troubled country, to say the least. When 2000 ad came out, it was the biggest hit comics had had for a very long time. We were this gang of reprobates dropped.
Morgan
00:11:21Right down in the middle of this.
Tom
00:11:23Totally conservative comic group. What 2000 ad did was just kick it in the face. We were the lunatics who had taken over the asylum.
People thought because we were a science fiction comic, we were going to be rather nice and middle class, and boy, were they in for a shock.
Morgan
00:11:40All my craziness I was actually getting from 2018.
Tom
00:11:43People tend to think of comics as being very kind of throwaway entertainment, but this was some deep political stuff. It was talking to kids and turning this all into our generation.
Morgan
00:11:51Anarchists, you've just got exit wounds all over the page.
Tom
00:11:58Comics have got a terrible history for treating people really badly. Hang on, you mean I don't own any of this at all? Very soon, these artists were being headhunted.
Morgan
00:12:06I was a bit of a shit to several people. Fuck off.
Tom
00:12:09How much you gonna pay me? And that's the way you gotta deal with these people. Robocop, stolen dread, outrageous.
Morgan
00:12:15Hey, yeah.
Tom
00:12:15Monastery is the worst idea ever. I was determined to present something that was authentic, and the breath of popular culture has caught up with what 2000 ad was doing 30 years ago.
2000 ad has probably, on some level, influenced everything I've ever written. The british comics landscape now would be a wasteland. 2008, it's the Sex Pistols being signed.
Morgan
00:12:38To the major label kind of thing.
Tom
00:12:40Still getting away with it.
Morgan
00:12:41It can be considered a british success story. Anyone can make a comic. There's only one two person ad.
Tom
00:12:51I love that guy who only speaks in really dramatic sentences, so he's like basically the generation of anarchists. And the comic Lansky would be an absolute wasteland. I thought. 2000 Ad, he's like, really chill.
Really like Scott, really scottish, really chill, but only says things that are like, absolutely. Like, his wife's like, want for breakfast? And he was like, oh, if I could have some shreddies, that'd be absolutely fucking phenomenal.
Fucking blow my mind.
Morgan
00:13:18You obviously couldn't see it there, but unless you're watching the YouTube version.
Tom
00:13:21Oh, yeah. So you obviously couldn't see it because no one does.
Morgan
00:13:26Oh, yeah. You definitely haven't seen it. But the animation just looks so cool. They're just so hardcore.
Tom
00:13:33And great artwork. Yeah, yeah. Famously kind of, like, visceral and violent and dark is why people loved it.
So Judge Dredd's stories often satirize american and british culture with a focus on. I don't know why I've given myself so many long words to say, give it authoritarianism and police brutality.
In addition to his long runs in 2000 Ad on the Judge Dredd magazine, Dredd has also appeared in titles published by DC Comics, although this version featured a different continuity and history to the original. You're annoyed. You're annoyed by that.
Morgan
00:14:02Why?
Tom
00:14:02Why? Dread comic strips? This. This blows my mind. It's like, I feel like it was a different. Obviously, it was a different time because it was.
It was not now, but. But, like, Dread comic strips were also published in the Daily Star from 1981 to 1988 for seven years.
But imagine picking up the Daily Star and being like, oh, yes, my latest judge Dredd comic strip. And Dredd comic strip was published in the Metro Metro from January to April 2004.
Morgan
00:14:28So if you're nothing from the UK, the metro is quite a. It's a pithy little, like, daily free newspaper that you get on the tube.
Tom
00:14:36Yeah.
Morgan
00:14:37The idea of Judge Dredd being that for a few months doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Tom
00:14:41I'd love it.
Morgan
00:14:41Well, great. I'd get it.
Tom
00:14:43I'd actually read it. Yeah, it's free. I still don't want to read it.
Launched in the wake of the first Judge Dredd movie, of which more later, there was also Judge Dredd, lawman of the Future, from the same publishers 2000 Ad, but aimed at younger readers. Here, Dredd was prohibited from killing anyone. As one reviewer put it.
Years later, this was judged Dredd with two vital ingredients missing his balls. Judge Dredd, lawman of the Future, ran fortnightly for 23 issues from 1995 to 1996.
Now, not well regarded, not very popular amongst, you know, dreadheads, but that was actually how I first encountered the character was I picked up a. I was. Cause I was a kid. Picked up an issue of Judge Dredd, lawman of the future.
Loved the character and have since graduated to reading 2000 AG, Judge Dredd magazine. So I think people shouldn't be so sniffy. I think it's a nice gateway drug. This is interesting. Time passes in the Judge Dredd strip in real time.
So as a year passes in life, a year passes in the comics. It's not like the Simpsons or, you know, anything else.
Morgan
00:15:47We must be dead now then.
Tom
00:15:48Well, no. So the first judge Dredd story, published in 1977, was set in 2099, 122 years in the future.
So, stories published in 2024, as we record this, are still set, 122 years in the future, in 21 46. Dredd has been going for about 50 years. So he was 38 when he first appeared. So still younger than Judge Dredd. Just about.
But he is now 84 to 85 years old, having undergone a rejuvenation process that restores him to his physical prime. I think we could all do with a bit of that.
Dredd is, in fact, a clone born in inverted commas from the DNA of Chief Judge Fargo, the founder of the judge systems. There you go. His origin story saw a cadet Dredd and his clone brother, Rico, like, okay, what's this one? Joe. Joseph. What about this one?
Morgan
00:16:42Rico?
Tom
00:16:43Rico feeling a bit fancy? Yeah. His clone brother, Rico.
They both distinguished themselves at the Academy of Law, with Rico graduating top of the class and Joe graduating second. Joe later discovers that Rico has embraced corruption, engaging in multiple crimes, including murder.
Joe arrests his brother and sentences him to 20 years of hard labour on the penal colony on Saturn's moon Titan.
Morgan
00:17:07Shit.
Tom
00:17:08Rico. Shit. Rico later returns for revenge after serving his 20 year sentence, and Joe shoots him dead in self defense in a duel.
That's one of the early just Dread stories.
Other notable characters in the Dread saga include Judge Anderson, who shared a close but uneasy friendship with Dredd, which briefly ended when she abandoned the law. After her return, they reaffirmed their bond. Dredd respects her abilities, but finds her playful attitude annoying at times.
Judge Hershey, who was originally Dredd's junior colleague and later chief judge, she was one of the most enduring characters in the strip, appeared from 1980 until her death.
Morgan
00:17:41Shit.
Tom
00:17:42Just last year, in 2023, they killed off Hershey fuck, yeah. Judge Logan was Dredd's assistant, later promoted to chief judge.
Morgan
00:17:49Never got the same first name.
Tom
00:17:50I know. That's weird, isn't it?
Dredd's protege, Judge Beanie, Judge giant, who was a longstanding ally who saved Dredd from execution and was killed in the line of duty in the story block mania, and Judge Decker, who is Dredd's second cadet trainee, who died in 1990. Two's Judgment Day story. Most of the characters other than Dredd died. It was a recurring theme.
Recurring adversaries for Judge Dredd include the Dark Judges, a group of undead judges from another dimension who believe that since all crime is committed by the living, life itself should be a crime. Their leader is Judge Death, who is often considered Dredd's arch enemy.
Death was first introduced to the series in 1980 and is featured in many stories since, opposite Judge Dredd and in his own sort of spin off stories, there's also Mean Machine, angel, the third son of the notorious angel gang.
Mean Machine is a large, hulking man with cybernetics, including a dial on his head, which controls the power of his cybernetically enhanced headbutts.
Some of the most notable Judge Dredd storylines across almost 50 years of storytelling include the Cursed Earth from 1978, which follows dread on a perilous cross country mission through the radioactive wasteland outside mega City one.
The apocalypse war from 1981 to 1982, which sees East Meg one launch a full scale nuclear attack on Mega City one, playing into contemporary cold war paranoia and fears of a nuclear attack. Judge Death in 1980. You can guess which character debuted in that story and then its sequels.
Judge Death lives in 1980, and Necropolis in 1990, and America, which is another storyline in 1990. A more political story that shifts focus from Dredd to the character of America.
Jarrah, who grows up to become a freedom fighter opposing the judge's authoritarian rule. This story questions the morality of dred's world and the cost of law and order.
Morgan
00:19:38So I love that. Obviously, normies like me will look at this and go, Judge Joseph's couple of films.
Yeah, but I love that there's this whole world that's sort of existing.
Tom
00:19:49So dense.
Morgan
00:19:50It's been going 50 years, 50 years, and it's still going, and it's sort of living in its own little.
Tom
00:19:55The fact that 2000 ad is still published, I think, is remarkable and amazing. Like, I'm so glad, but I'm sort of stunned at the same time. But great. Still going good. Love it.
Dredd has also appeared in crossover stories with other iconic characters, including 1990 one's Batman. Judge Dredd judgment on Gotham, which is great. She's judge death. Used dimension jump technology to breach the DC Universe and attack Gotham City.
Morgan
00:20:23So is he technically in the DC universe?
Tom
00:20:28Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, it's multiverse now.
Morgan
00:20:32Oh, yeah.
Tom
00:20:34And 2000 three's Judge Dredd versus aliens, in which Dredd faces the xenomorphs. Yeah. Now onto familiar territory for you. Judge Dredd made his live action debut in the 1995 movie Judge Dredd.
In the film, Dredd is framed for murder by his own half brother, the psychotic Rico, who plots to take over mega City one with an army of superhuman clones. Here's the trailer. Where there is crime in society, there is no justice. Opening with a Plato quote.
Morgan
00:21:15There.
Tom
00:21:18Is that.
Morgan
00:21:18Max.
Tom
00:21:18Max. Max. Boy. Max. One sider. Judge. This quits. Adjourned. Dredd, you're a legend. You are my finest student. Get Drake. Drake Dread, you're under arrest.
What's the charge? Murder. The evidence has been falsified. Guilty as charged. I am not the law. I am the law. Do I chaos the sentence? Shelby? Life imprisonment.
And the chaos train. Very crushing paw.
Morgan
00:22:09Excuse me.
Tom
00:22:10We're not together. It's not for this console to play God. Who says politics is boring?
Morgan
00:22:33Rob Schneider.
Tom
00:22:36We're going to war.
Morgan
00:22:39You're a lot of fun to be with.
Tom
00:22:40Right, Mister Hyand? We got a lot in common. I'll be the judge of that. Very good.
Morgan
00:22:51Deadline.
Tom
00:22:56That was a lot.
Morgan
00:22:58Yeah. I mean, it's one of those films. It's probably rubbish, but.
Tom
00:23:01Oh, it's bad.
Morgan
00:23:02It looks like a lot of fun.
Tom
00:23:03Yeah, it's quite fun. And both can be true. Both can be true. So the Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Morgan
00:23:08Oh yeah.
Tom
00:23:08Was considered for the title role.
Morgan
00:23:10Funny that it's always one or the other.
Tom
00:23:12I never broke the law. I am the law. Gonna work. The power of dread ultimately went to Sylvester Stallone. The film received generally negative reviews.
Morgan
00:23:22You sound like droopy then.
Tom
00:23:24Oh, dear. The film received generally negative reviews with a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I've heard worse. Only a bit worse than hook, apparently.
Morgan
00:23:39I started.
Tom
00:23:41Fans also disliked the fact that Dredd removed his helmet and felt that the film lacked the humor of the original comic, as well as ignoring important aspects of the dread mythology.
Morgan
00:23:50It feels like, you know, like Ryan Reynolds in the original appearance of Deadpool.
Tom
00:23:55X Men. Wolverine. Yes.
Morgan
00:23:57Where?
Tom
00:23:57Moore.
Morgan
00:23:57Yeah, it's like I get. You want to see Stallone's face?
Tom
00:23:59Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Morgan
00:24:00But. Nah. Sorry. If you don't want that, get fucking Peter Weller. Back. Yeah, he'll do it.
Tom
00:24:05Weller was happy to do it.
Morgan
00:24:08Imagine if he did both.
Tom
00:24:09It would have been good.
Morgan
00:24:10Yeah.
Tom
00:24:11Yeah. John Wagner said, I hated that plot.
It was Dredd pressed through the Hollywood cliche mill, a dynastic power struggle that had little connection with the character we know from the comic. So Wagner was not a fan. Although in retrospect, it has gone on to earn a cult following.
This film having received some praise for its depiction of Dredd's city, the costumes, and its larger than life characters. I think fans now, at the time, was just hated. Now they look back, they go. It got aspects of the larger than life world right.
That depiction was good, but it got the character of dread wrong. So another adaptation, just called Dread, this time presumably to differentiate itself, was released in September 20.
Twelve to a much more positive critical reception rating of 80%, which is serviceable. It was directed by Pete Travis, written by Alex Garland. And it stars oi Carl Urban as Judge Shred and Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson.
Morgan
00:25:05Okay.
Tom
00:25:16In the future.
Morgan
00:25:18Thanks.
Tom
00:25:19No worries. One city is addicted.
Morgan
00:25:22Addicted.
Tom
00:25:23We can find out. Desire.
Morgan
00:25:24Ah, Belarus. Larouze dates it to a new substance. Was that.
Tom
00:25:29Yeah. To a new substance. Makes the brain feel as if time is passing at one percent's normal speed. One woman controls it. It's Lena Headey. She's a mess.
But judgment is coming. 800 million people living in the ruin of the old world. Only one thing fighting for order in the chaos. The men and women of the hall of justice.
Morgan
00:26:11Peace trees is the manufacturing base for all the slo mo in Mega City one.
Tom
00:26:15You know how often we get a judge up in peace? Treaty? Please. Well, you got one now. She has control of everything. Levels one to 200.
Morgan
00:26:28This is Mama. Somewhere in this block are two judges.
Tom
00:26:31That's not good.
Morgan
00:26:32I want him dead.
Tom
00:26:35We're gonna have to go through him. Rookie, you ready?
Morgan
00:26:38He's getting the Christian Bale route then. Yeah.
Tom
00:26:41Not quite. Not quite that bad. Judgment time.
Morgan
00:26:49Let's finish this.
Tom
00:26:53Mama's not the law. I'm the law. Negotiation's over.
Morgan
00:27:21Yeah.
Tom
00:27:23His death.
Morgan
00:27:27Yeah. I mean, I've heard nothing but good things about.
Tom
00:27:29Yeah, it's real good. It's really good.
Morgan
00:27:32But it's one of those ones where like, should I come back? But for whatever reason didn't.
Tom
00:27:37We'll get onto that.
Morgan
00:27:37Yeah.
Tom
00:27:38Funnily enough. Yeah. So John Wagner, not a fan of Stallone version? He said he did like this one.
He said it's high octane, edge of the seat stuff and gives a far truer representation of Dredd than the first movie.
So, yes, there were plans for a Dredd trilogy, the second film exploring the origins of Judge Dredd and megacity one, and a third film introducing Judge death in live action and the Dark judges, would have been great. However, in a 2016 interview, Karl Urban said the film's mishandled marketing strategy. Maybe he means Leroux on the soundtrack. I don't know.
And unfortunate box office performance meant that it was problematic to try to make a sequel.
Morgan
00:28:15Actually, by now, it's done well enough in.
Tom
00:28:18Well, yeah. Home theaters.
Morgan
00:28:21Yeah.
Tom
00:28:22Home media.
Morgan
00:28:22Home media.
Tom
00:28:26Well, in May 2017, a television series named Judge Dredd, Mega City one, was announced to be in development, and Urban was later revealed to be in discussions to star in the series, though it's 2024 and the show has yet to materialise.
Morgan
00:28:40But surely it's one of those ones where. Because he's now become a bigger name because of the boys.
Tom
00:28:44Well, the boys is about to wrap.
Morgan
00:28:45Up, and so maybe it's one of those things where his presence alone is enough to book it in, sell it, book it in.
Tom
00:28:51Can we get some time to film this, please? Well, we've got Carl, so. Oh, have you got Carl? You can book us. Yeah. It's not like getting a table at a busy restaurant, but, yeah.
Morgan
00:29:01I don't want a tv series, though. I want a sequel. I don't want. It's too much.
Tom
00:29:05No.
Well, also, this tv series was apparently, it was more like an ensemble drama about other judges, and Judge Dredd would be like a supporting character. Do you know what? We should do a judge Dredd show, but without judge Dredd or, like, with. He's not the main character.
Morgan
00:29:21Yeah. Blade film was meant to be like that, where, like, blade's, like, the fourth main character in it, even. It's called Blade. No one wants it.
Just give us what I get Wesley snipes back. Give us what we want.
Tom
00:29:32Give us. Just give us. Give us what we want. There were also two judge Dredd adaptations broadcast on BBC Radio one in 1995. Again, Radio one again.
Morgan
00:29:43I don't remember that.
Tom
00:29:44Again, this whole thing of, like. Yeah, there was a judge Dredd stripping the Daily Star and, like. And then the metro radio one who commissioned that.
But I think we have a very, like, maybe, like, millennial idea of what Radio one is.
Morgan
00:29:57A chart show and stuff. Like, the idea of obviously happened.
Tom
00:30:01Yeah.
Morgan
00:30:01I can't believe.
Tom
00:30:02But I just, like, between Bruno Brooks and I just. I love the idea.
Morgan
00:30:05Chris Evans.
Tom
00:30:06I just love the idea. It's like yeah, that was a new one from do a leaper. Anyway, what's up next? I'll tell you what. Is Judge Dredd ready for Mega City? Like, what?
Morgan
00:30:13That's like what? We're going back to the broom covers?
Tom
00:30:16Yeah.
Morgan
00:30:16Fucking hell. Weird.
Tom
00:30:18Yeah. And between. We haven't done this for a while.
Between 2002 and 2004, Big finished produced a 2000 ad range of audio dramas featuring Judge Dredd, who was voiced by the actor Toby Longworth. Radio player Mark Gatiss voiced judge Death, and Simon Pegg featured as another 2000 ad favorite, Johnny Alpha of the strontium dog comic strip.
I wanted to play maybe like a clip from these or a trailer.
Morgan
00:30:46Sounds great.
Tom
00:30:47The Judge Dredd series actually had a great theme song. Sadly, these are no longer available to purchase due to the license having expired and appear to have been scrubbed from the Internet.
Morgan
00:30:56Why didn't they scrubbed from the Internet?
Tom
00:30:58I wanted to play a clip, but fuck it. No, I can't. I can't. They fucked it. It's just gone.
Morgan
00:31:02See, it's gone. If one was to torrent.
Tom
00:31:06I don't.
Morgan
00:31:06It's understandable.
Tom
00:31:07No, literally. I try. I look, I tried to find it through, like, other means. I literally scrubbed from the.
Morgan
00:31:13Did it even happen?
Tom
00:31:14It did even happen. Now I've got some cds. Oh, yeah. I should like, sell them at the back of my. Back of the van or like, pass them around like in a pub or something.
But yeah, no, I couldn't. I wanted to play a clip. No, it's been.
Morgan
00:31:25Can't be asked. Get the cd out.
Tom
00:31:26Scrubbed from the Internet. What am I gonna do? Like, rip a cd? The kind of people who rip cds and then play those clips, they win awards.
Morgan
00:31:34They do.
Tom
00:31:35That's what they do.
Morgan
00:31:35They put the effort in. Yeah, they have six listeners.
Tom
00:31:39You say that's what sets them over the edge. Maybe that is what qualifies you. Six?
Morgan
00:31:45Yeah.
Tom
00:31:45Come on. Come on, number six.
Morgan
00:31:47Come on.
Tom
00:31:47Tell us. There were two judge Dredd video games released for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1986.
And then 1990, and in 1995, a game based on the first live action film was released for Genesis SNES Game Boy and Game Gear. And in 2003, Judge Dredd.
Dredd versus Death was a first person shooter released for PC, PS, two, Xbox and GameCube, and featured many of the cast from the big finish plays. Toby Longworth, reprising his role as judge Dredd team up.
Morgan
00:32:19Nick Briggs.
Tom
00:32:20Yeah, he voiced Judge death. We just eliminated the last of the vampires from sector five. The regen infestation is over.
Morgan
00:32:31Good.
Tom
00:32:31Work Dredd.
Morgan
00:32:32Rest assured that we're stepping up security on the dark. 2003.
Tom
00:32:37Huh?
Morgan
00:32:372003. Terrible strain on her, but she's doing fine. Thank you very much. Joe.
Tom
00:32:45You weren't worried about me, were you? Control the drag rock war in progress.
Morgan
00:32:51Corner of Reeves and Hopper.
Tom
00:32:53On my way. Control dread out.
Morgan
00:33:00I guess we'll never know.
Tom
00:33:07Yeah. It's quite well regarded, that game. Yeah. Bit of an oddity, but yeah.
There have also been judge dread novels, role playing games, board games, and even a pinball machine released in 1993. And in 2012, Dredd was one of ten british comic characters commemorated in a series of stamps issued by the Royal Mail.
The metal band Anthrax and the Human League have both written songs about Judge Dredd.
Morgan
00:33:31What?
Tom
00:33:31Not the reggae artist. Both titled I am the law.
Morgan
00:33:34Okay. Yeah, the Human League.
Tom
00:33:36Yeah.
Morgan
00:33:36For Loki just went, you know what? Love a bit of fucking judge.
Tom
00:33:40I love it. I'm a regular 2018 subscriber. Yeah. And a magazine. I get the bundle. Will judge Dredd live forever?
While regarding the possible death of the character, in an interview with Empire in 2012, John Wagner said, there could be many ways to end it, but the probability is that I won't still be around when it happens. I would love to write it, but I can't see it happening. I'll leave the script in my will.
We put the call out for fan comments and thoughts and memories about Judge Dredd. I have one here that I wanted to read out from Alex Windsor, who said, I used to eagerly await every Jar jazz prog of 2000 Ad.
Jar Jazz being an invented slang word, 2000 Ad, which means excellent, he said.
Everything about Dread is summarized in this exchange between him and Judge Fear, who is one of Judge Death's minions, an undead horror whose face will quite literally frighten the life out of you. Maybe we'll share this on social, but effectively, Judge fear. Yeah, he's terrifying. Stares into Judge Dredd's face.
He has this paralyzing, terrifying stare and says, gaze into the face of fear. And Judge Dredd punches his fist through his head. Through his head and says, gaze into the fist of dread.
Morgan
00:34:53Can help.
Tom
00:34:53Perfect. Yeah, sums it up. So, yeah, that's it. A beginner's guide to Judge Dredd.
Morgan
00:34:59Yeah.
Tom
00:35:00Thoughts?
Morgan
00:35:00Great. I mean, I feel like he hasn't had the jew he deserves in terms of adaptations, at least. Clearly the comics are great, and they've had.
They live the life it's lived.
Tom
00:35:09Yeah.
Morgan
00:35:10For everyone else, I feel like we've been robbed of. I mean, dread the film, 2012.
Tom
00:35:14Yeah.
Morgan
00:35:15Seems great, but I feel like, for whatever reason, it's not had the.
Tom
00:35:19No. And that feels a legacy. I feel it's a strange thing to say when it's had. Yeah.
Morgan
00:35:23It's clearly very popular.
Tom
00:35:25Two films and books and audio radio plays, but it's not on the level of, like, Batman.
Morgan
00:35:31No.
Tom
00:35:32And it probably should.
Morgan
00:35:32And you look at something like Guardians of the Galaxy, which was nothing. And because it's Marvel, they made it into this ridiculously mainstream thing, whereas I feel like Judge Dredd deserves that sort of.
And I feel like we're crying out for this kind of new era of, like, sort of. It's still comic books, but it's. We sort of get sort of done with superheroes in the way that we've been having it for, like 15 years.
Whereas this is like a different source of superhero.
Tom
00:35:57Yeah.
Morgan
00:35:57And I feel like it's comic books.
Tom
00:35:58But it's not superheroes. It's dirty cops in space.
Morgan
00:36:01I feel like we're crying out for this kind of. Yeah, I wouldn't. But again, I wouldn't bother trying from scratch. I think. Just bring back.
Tom
00:36:08Bring back.
Morgan
00:36:09Yeah.
Tom
00:36:10Yeah.
Morgan
00:36:10You've already got a fan base there.
Tom
00:36:12I'm the law.
Morgan
00:36:12But, yeah, great. I love the style. Love the. Yeah, the violence. I love the violence. I choose violence.
Tom
00:36:21Yeah, yeah.
Morgan
00:36:22Great.
Tom
00:36:23Yeah. Good.
Well, for more nostalgia packed retrospectives, including other jaunts into british comic book history covering off Banana man and the Beano, head to twogeekstobeers.com. plus, there's more outings covering off classic tv shows, films, video games and more.
Morgan
00:36:38You can also follow us on all the socials who geechscast on Facebook, Instagram, and X. We're also on YouTube and TikTok. You'll find clips from episodes old and new, as well as full length episodes.
Tom
00:36:49And please also rate and review the podcast via your podcast outlet of choice, where you can also subscribe. Please do. It's the only support. Support, feedback.
Morgan
00:37:00We get knowledge that you like us in any way whatsoever.
Tom
00:37:04Well, that's not true, Tom, because there's another way you can do that.
Morgan
00:37:06Oh, is there?
Tom
00:37:07Yeah. You can also become a two geek supporter on Patreon.
Morgan
00:37:09Oh, great.
Tom
00:37:09Patreon. Patreon.com. togeekscast. You can sponsor the podcast, and in return, what do you get? You get exclusive Patreon only minisodes. You get outtakes.
Get personalized thank you. Videos. You get merch. Tom. You get so much more. It's such a good deal.
Morgan
00:37:27Did you know you can also email us?
Tom
00:37:29I didn't know, tell me more.
Morgan
00:37:31If you send an email to podcastwogeeks. Two beers.com.
Tom
00:37:34Oh, yeah.
Morgan
00:37:35And that's two, not the digit. Yeah.
You know, you could get in touch and say any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions, future episodes, or, you know, just the fact that you think we should have been nominated for an award and she wanted to send us your love.
Tom
00:37:49I'm going to do that right now. I'm going to send us an email saying, I think you should be nominated for an independent podcast award. Yeah, I will.
All right, citizens, that's it for today's ride through megacity one. Until next time, I'm off duty. Back to the pub. Yeah. So before we wrap up, I'm sure people are fuming. They're like, that's it.
You talked about the Stallone judge Dredd movie. He didn't talk about the most iconic scene.
Morgan
00:38:17Is that other one?
Tom
00:38:19No, but I didn't talk about the most iconic scene. And I'm. And I'm gonna. Yeah, but I wanted to save it till the end as a little treat for the real fans who listen all the way to the end.
So this, I would say, is the most iconic scene, or at least the most memed scene in the 1995 film Judge Dredd. This is where Dredd and Rico going up against each other, mano a mano.
And I'm looking forward to seeing your reaction to this powerhouse of performance. All right. You can never control yourself. What makes you think you can control these things? You're in control.
Morgan
00:38:58Kiss you, be head of the council.
Tom
00:39:02You choose, and you choose quickly, too. I should have put you down myself, personally. You know, I never understood that. Why did you judge me? Why did you judge me?
You killed, and it's a peer. The means to an end. You started a message. I caused a revolution. You betrayed the law. I betrayed this. Can we go back? I want to watch it one more time.
I want to watch it one more time. That's good. That's good. Why did you judge me? You killed, and it's a peer. The means to an end. You started a mess. I caused the revolution.
You betrayed the law. Betray this. Your council's experiment, which failed. I feel like. Like Stallone just went. He betrayed the law and he just went.
Morgan
00:39:53It just had enough of his shit.
Tom
00:39:55Yeah, just like. I feel like it was almost taking the piss. And they just kept it. They just kept in the final film.
Morgan
00:39:59Very funny.
Tom
00:40:01Why did you judge me? You killed, and it's a piece. The means to an end. You started a mess. I caused a revolution. You betrayed the law. Great, great. The best.
The best scene in the whole brain. Yeah.
Morgan
00:40:14Okay.
Tom
00:40:14Yeah. So, I mean. I mean, give that film a sequel.
Morgan
00:40:18Yeah.
Tom
00:40:18More of that. Yeah, yeah.
Morgan
00:40:20Well, multiverse.
Tom
00:40:22Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good.
Morgan
00:40:29All right.
Tom
00:40:31All right. See you next time.
Morgan
00:40:32Cheers.
Tom
00:40:32Bye. Cheers.
