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BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred?
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Subject: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:22 AM Be still, my beating heart! Heard this on the news this morning. Apparently he no longer flies the Flag in far-flung corners of the solar system, but is Buck Rogers with an English accent. And Digby has lost his "ee, bah-gum" Yorkshire lilt, shock-horror. I'm sorry, I can't go on ... I'll have to leave it to fellow Eagle fans to comment ... Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:43 AM What is the correct pronunciation of 'Mekon'? I always believed it to be MEEKON, but my kids say it as MEKKON |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST,Upstreeter Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:45 AM Oh woe! To us kids of the 50s Dan Dare and The Eagle comic were a blaze of colour and escapism dropping onto the doormat every week. Fabulous artwork, futuristic design and great characters...Dan's creator, Frank Hampson nearly drove himself into an early grave in order to fulfill his own exacting standards. In order to achieve his masterpiece, Frank employed anything up to five artists in his studio in Southport, working from live models to present the levels of figurative accuracy for which Dan Dare was famous. It would be reactionary to say that a film adaptation couldn't possibly match the original, but they're as different as chalk and cheese...remeber the Popeye movie with Robin Williams? It's a mark of respect to think its been attempted all and I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier but for me, Dan and co. will live for ever in my treasured dog-eared copies of The Eagle Annual (not forgetting PC49, Jack O'London and Harris Tweed, extra special agent). Definitely required lavatory reading for gentlemen and ladies (the Eagle enjoyed a 20% female readership) of all ages!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST,Upstreeter Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:14 AM Sorry, must have been a 'call of the wild', for Jack O' London read Jack O'Lantern... I think! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:36 AM Of course it's "MEEkon", Pavane! How do you say "Xel"? They've made an animated cartoon for tv, which is disturbing: look what happened to Paddington Bear and the Moomins when The Suits got hold of the rights. On the positive side, they're geting some classy voices, like Robbie Coltrane and Charles Dance, to name a couple. Maybe we'd better wait and see if we get a pleasnt surprise, but I shan't be holding my breath! Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST,Upstreeter Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:41 AM Steve, a question. Was Hulton's Rev. Marcus Morris a 'suit' of his day? or merely a cassock? I agree though. Never thought of Thomas the Tank Engine as sounding like Ringo Starr.
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Les from Hull Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:58 AM It seems they are casting a live action version soon. Any ideas for Col. Dare? Obviously it will be William Hague as the Mekon (just spray him green and sit him in a saucer).
There's a Dan Dare exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull from 14 July to 18 September. Les |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:38 AM It seems I made a glaring error in my first post: Dig was from Lancashire, not Yorkshire! Grovelling apologies to roses of both colours. A former colleague from Yorkshire calimed the Pennines were "God's barrier"; I always said that if that was the case, they' run East-West somewhere just north of Stoke (or maybe just south!) Steve P.S. A quiz for DD aficionados: What was the name of DD's personal spacecraft? Where did the name come from? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:44 AM Anastasia, wasn't it? Also in the "Eagle", the Calypso Kid. And I always loved the cutaway drawings in the centre pages of battleships, airplanes and such. Happy days. While we're at it, anyone remembere the Hotspur, Wizard, Rover and Adventure? Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:03 AM And Les Barker's verses, such as 'Wilson of the Wizard' |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: John J Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:02 AM Digby (I believe) was from Wigan in Lancashire, a long, long, long way from Yorkshire. Dan Dare's spaceship was called Anastasia, I haven't a clue where the name came from.
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:15 AM I think Anastasia was called after an aunt, probably Digby's.
Hague is obviously a Treen, but the only plausible Mekon would be Maggie Thatcher. Remember the Private Eye version in which she featured.
The thing about Dan Dare is it's not in the future, it's in a present that didn't come about. To do it properly you'd have to set it in some kind of parallel universe, which would be much more fun - you could have characters from our present world turning up in odd situations. Tony Blair as a hairdresser for example, Bob Dylan as a bank clerk, John Lennon as a bishop - that kind of thing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 11 Jul 01 - 11:10 AM The quantum mechanics theory of parallel universes--now that's what I call thread creep! Now this may be very difficult to get your head around, but it's perfectly possible, if an infinite number of other worlds exist, that none of those things happen; or that every coin always comes down heads in all the universes ... or none of them. Dane Dare lived (will have lived?) in a world that was essentially 1950-something, with a few decades advance on space-flight technology. Most of the big US cities got zapped by the Mekon, apparently--bad luck, guys!--leaving John Bull to boldy go where Uncle Sam hadn't. There's an excellent site here, do have a look. If you guys over there in the smoking ruins are wondering what we're talking about, imagine Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers played by a young Alec Guinness (about the time of the Ealing comedies, say). Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Jul 01 - 12:19 PM When Dan Dare started the Mekon hadn't moved from Venus. A yank ship had got there first, but it got zapped by te Mekon, and Dan Dare had to go and rescue the crew and so forth.
More Buck Rogers than Flash Gordon. I used to read Buck Rogers as a strip in the Irish Press which my father would btring home - I've always imagined him with an Irish accent as a result. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Gareth Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:17 PM Agree Anatasia (or my best spelling of ! but didn't the Anatasia end up destroyed by an accidental flight out of the solar system with DD and Digby in deep sleep and be replaced by the "Zylbat" or "xylbat" ? My God as you approach 50 your memory goes ! Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Penny S. Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:30 PM When I was young, I read Girl, the Eagle's sister comic, and quite as good except for the absence of DD. But when I was ill (usually tonsillitis), my Dad would buy back numbers of other comics for me, and I really longed for that heap of Eagles to follow Dan Dare..... I heard the item this morning....It'll be about as convincing as the 2000 AD version. Penny (Who didn't get to keep those heaps....) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 11 Jul 01 - 05:59 PM Gareth, approaching 50 from which side? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Gareth Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:22 PM Pavane
OUCH !! No its not the second time around the clock. Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Gareth Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:24 PM Sorry HTML Error The "Ouch" should be big. Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:38 PM I hadn't heard about an accident to the Anastasia! I'm shocked.
I think Dan Dare would have fitted in just fine on the USS Enterprise, any series. The same kind of optimistic, essentially honourable, future is envisaged. (That'd be the way to bring him in - as a time traveller from a alternative time line.)
I seem to remember Digby having problems with a beam-me-up type transport device in the Eagle. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 11 Jul 01 - 07:05 PM Yes; he was always the only one who came through upside-down. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:05 PM I once received a Dan Dare film projector-space pistol for Christmas. About the size of a Colt .45 Automatic, it had a lens in the muzzle, a bulb and a loop of black and white film of a Dan Dare adventure, which was advanced by clicking the trigger. It could be projected onto a sheet, ceiling or white wall. Great memories. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: 8_Pints Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:53 PM Am I mistaken? Wasn't Captain Pugwash in there too? I thought Mr. Hart transferred it then to T.V. until some suit realised that he was taking the mickey with the names of some of his characters... Seaman Staines, Master Bates, etc! And who else remembers the contemporary fashion of playing with Meccano construction sets. I used to drive my mum wild with all the nuts & bolts that were inadvertently scattered on the carpet. Hurts bare feet you know! How's that for thread creep? Bob vG |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Jul 01 - 09:03 PM Captain Pugwash was Harris Tweed put in period costrtume -and yes, he was in The Eagle too, But not in Dan Dare's adventures.
PC 49. Tin-Tin. Luck of the Legion. Riders of the Range. Tommy Walls even. (Girl wasn't bad either, but you couldn't be seen reading it if you were a boy. Whereas girls could read Eagle, of course. They had all the luck it seemed.)
I'm sorry for anyone growing up with the comics they have these days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 11 Jul 01 - 09:04 PM "They've paved paradise, and put up a parking lot..." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 11 Jul 01 - 11:44 PM McGrath, I don't remember Tommy Walls in the Eagle, who was he? The others I can recollect as though it were yeaterday. What was the name of the little fat corporal in Luck of the Legion, the one who used to say "Sapristi!"? Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:12 AM With the curly mustachios and the outrageous phonetic French accent! It'll come to me .. hang on, I've got to e-mail my cousin--he'll remember! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:41 AM Gareth - sorry! Really! Didn't realise Eagle was going for that long. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:45 AM Wasn't Tommy Walls the ice-cream ad? Used to make a W with fingers and thumbs of both hands? And I thought the Pugwash myth had been exploded long ago - I have seen a posting somewhere with the real names of the characters. Seaman Stains and Master Bates only existed in legend. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 12 Jul 01 - 04:42 AM Frank Hampson drew Tommy Walls; the sponsors wanted only the best. That was in the early days, though; by the time I was considered old enough to graduate from the Swift to the Eagle, Hampson was gone and Don Harley and Bruce Cornwell were handling the artwork on Dan Dare. Memories, eh? I had one of those film-strip projectors, too! Many years later, Lew Stringer and I did a series of parodies for Fleetway (who still own the Dan Dare copyrights) in a strange children's comic they had at the time, called OINK! Yes, almost all of the characters were, well, pigs; our remit was Ham Dare, Pig of the Future. I had a lovely time studying Hampson's style and teaching myself to draw (a bit) like him. The comic only ran for a couple of years (a bit ahead of its time, and the pig business did wear a bit thin), but we at least got an honourable mention in Mike Higgs' book The Dan Dare Dossier (1990) as "a delicious parody... with a great sense of homage to Frank Hampson", which was rather nice. Plans for a film have surfaced on and off for years; at one time, Rodney Bewes was cast as Digby and James Fox as Dan in a proposed television series that never materialised. I await the new venture with interest and a certain amount of trepidation... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 Jul 01 - 07:16 AM Rodney Bewes playing a Lancashire lad? That might be stretching his talents a little! There's an article on why parallel universes really do exist in this week's New Scientist (www.newscientist.com), but the webpage doesn't seem to be up and running yet. (Puzzled readers: I referred to PUs a while back; and of course DD may still be going--or even really exist!--in one of them.) Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST,Redhorse Date: 12 Jul 01 - 08:19 AM I thought Anastasia (named after Digby's great-aunt)got swallowed by the Silicon Mass, and Anastasia II was subsequently built. Was the "sapristi" legionnaire called Bimberg? God this is sad |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Snuffy Date: 12 Jul 01 - 08:54 AM I'll go with Bimberg. Was it him or someone else used to say something like "Ishkabibble"? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 Jul 01 - 09:29 AM "Bimberg"! A fine old French name, that ... I wonder if it was meant to have a sort of euphoic resonance with "Digby"? (Is "consonance" the word I'm grasping for?) What was the sadistic sergeant's name, or am I thinking of Beau Geste? BTW, my cousin says when I was reading Eagle, he was into Playboy, which is just the kind of smart-alec response I'd expect. Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Fiolar Date: 12 Jul 01 - 09:45 AM Murray. Came on the thread a bit late. Yes I was a great fan of the Rover, the Adventure, the Wizard,the Hotspur and not forgetting the Champion. Remember well the characters "Strang the Terrible" and "Wilson." Others which take me back are "The Knockout"; "Film Fun" and "Radio Fun." These ran for years before the Eagle. Sadly there is nothing like them today. Happy days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 12 Jul 01 - 09:47 AM The Anastasia had a chequered career alright. It was lost during the Red Moon Mystery, but found undamaged in the Sargasso Sea of Space some years later. It was rescued from the Silicon Mass safely, but as far as I can remember was again lost on the planet Zyl; certainly, Dan and Digby returned home in a new ship, the Zylbat. I suspect that the Anastasia, or a new version of her, may have appeared again later, though I can't remember when. Sad? No; it's an important piece of popular culture! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Les from Hull Date: 12 Jul 01 - 10:24 AM Steve - why would an enlisted man in the French Foreign Legion need a French name?:) I remember the Hotspur, Rover and Adventure stuff better - Wolf of Kabul, the Amazing Wilson, Alf Tupper (the Tough of the Track)... Of course if you can remember the 50s you were really there. We didn't do much drugs in those days, apart from the Vick that is. Les |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 Jul 01 - 11:26 AM Give me a chance, Les--I was only about ten at the time! I had enough trouble getting my tongue around "allons, mes enfants!" and the like before I started French at school. If I ever had to draw my sword to a Riff (the Desert Song kind, not the jazz kind), I'd still expect hime to shout "Aiee!!!" with several exclamation marks, although I'm not sure how to pronounce it. Of course, as a White Man, I'd be allowed to say "Take that, you devil!" (one exclamation mark--I am English, after all) or maybe "Touché, diable!" in italics, as I ran him through. Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Les from Hull Date: 12 Jul 01 - 11:32 AM Also at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull Eagle Weekend Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th August If you remember waiting for the next copy of The Eagle, and were captivated by the adventures of Dan Dare, don't miss this fabulous weekend of talks, exhibition tours and memorabilia sessions. If anybody wants details, let me know and I'll post 'em here. Les |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Ivan Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:23 PM Does anyone else remember the radio series? It was on Radio Luxembourg at either 7 or 7:15 on weekdays (I think it followed the Ovaltinies show). I wonder if the recordings still exist? The BBC have released the "Journey Into Space" radio serials from the same period on cassette but I don't know who would own archive material from "Luxy" as it no longer exists. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST Date: 12 Jul 01 - 03:39 PM Bliss; I'm wallowing in nostalgia! Lucky me, I had younger brothers, so got to read all the above mentioned. Remember the school where the pupils learned by sleeping with headphones(?) under their pillows? Eagle was my all-time favourite. i also remember the radio series, and it was certainly mee-kon; put your kids right, pavane. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Fiolar Date: 13 Jul 01 - 06:04 AM Any one interested in the history of comics pre-Eagle days should try and get hold of a book called "Boys Will Be Boys" by E. S. Turner which was published in 1948. More than likely long out of print, the local library may be able to get a copy. In the blurb it says "the story of Sweeney Todd, Deadwood Dick, Sexton Blake, Billy Bunter, Dick Barton, et al." It's a feast of nostalgia for lovers of the "golden age." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 13 Jul 01 - 07:38 AM While we are all wallowing in nostalgia, were any of you addicted (as I was) to the "William" books by Richmal Crompton? Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Les from Hull Date: 13 Jul 01 - 08:38 AM The nostalgia we get these days is not a patch on the stuff we had when I were a lad. ps I remember this when it were all fields. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: pavane Date: 13 Jul 01 - 09:22 AM Radio Luxembourg DOES still exist, or its successor at least, as RTL. It just doesn't broadcast on Medium wave any more. So they MAY have the material in their archive. RTL is one of Luxembourg's biggest companies, I believe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 13 Jul 01 - 09:47 AM I'm too young to have heard the Luxembourg serials, which ran from 1951 to 1956. Mike Higgs (The Dan Dare Dossier, Hawk Books, 1990) gave some useful information, including the fact that Dan was played by Noel Johnson, the original Dick Barton, Special Agent. Among many others, both Kenneth Williams and Ralph Richardson appeared at one time or another. On the subject of recordings, Higgs commented: "Unfortunately the series does not seem to have been sold to any other radio stations around the world and only one copy of each recording was ever made. None have survived in the Luxembourg vaults and, unless anyone can miraculously come up with a recording that has remained hidden away somewhere, only memories remain of those exciting trips into outer space." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Fiolar Date: 14 Jul 01 - 05:19 AM On the subject of nostalgia, a news item today states that an eight foot high bronze statue of "Desperate Dan" is to be errected by Thompsons in whose comic "The Dandy" he has regularly appeared since 1937. Cow pie anyone? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: lady penelope Date: 14 Jul 01 - 05:29 AM To answer your question " is nothing sacred?" you only haveto look at what Stallone did to Judge Dredd. And please don't blame the director, the poor lad was heart broken. Imagine being a fan of a comic since it first came out, you even win one of their poster competitions, you grow up, become a director and some one ASKS you to direct this film! What joy, what bliss, until you find out that Mr Stallone has a controlling interest in the film and has decided he doesn't like the way the story goes. It was so bad that most of the people they used as consultants on the writing and the design ( the people who wrote and drew for the comic) removed their names from the credits and made a public statement to the effect that they did not wish to be associated with the film. I met Pat Mills after, he was fuming! So yes they can and will make a complete balls up of your favourite comic. The only one I've seen so far that really worked was TankGirl and that was because Hewlitt was in on EVERYTHING! Rant over. TTFN M'Lady P. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: GUEST,PJ Curtis.(The Burren, Ireland) Date: 15 Jul 01 - 05:39 AM Ah, the nostalgia of it all!....I listened to DD without fail every eve. on Radio Lux. No 'Starwars' or 'Startrek' could have been as riviting and nailbiting as this daily groundbreaking serial> Am I wrong but did the Dan Dare voice belong to Andrew Faulds,(or was that jet Morgan from 'Journey Into Space'?) whom I seem to remember when on to become a MP for somewhere I also collected The Eagle for years...though now only two copies (from June 1954) survive. I would not trade them for the world. Ok maybe I would for Elvis' orig. Martin D18!!! happy days. PJC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dan Dare--is nothing sacred? From: Fiolar Date: 15 Jul 01 - 06:03 AM Noel Johnson was the voice of Dan Dare on Radio Luxembourg from 1951 to 1956. |