Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Ed Stoppard, Geoff McGivern, Heide Reed, Raad Rawi, Michael Cochrane, Amy Humphreys, Dianne Weller, George Bryan.
Dan Dare, the name for adults of a certain age which evokes memories that have never been allowed to fade, to be allowed to slip into the murky waters of the unreliable adaptation without a fight and for whom, with sadness, means arguably nothing to a generation or two that has moved on, tired of the escapism provided by the weekly comic strip and the collections turned to clutter in their rooms.
Dan Dare, The Mekon, Digby, Professor Peabody, names that have stood the test of time, and still maintain a position of artistic beauty that was created by the intricate mind of Frank Hampson and his team in a small workshop in Southport.
Such small beginnings, such adventures, that captivated millions of boys minds in the days after World War Two and one that came with Frank Hampson complete belief that such a character must stand for everything noble, be true to the point of exercising tolerance, of forbearance, principles and honesty, of never giving in, of never giving up to the menace captured in the fierce aberration that was the leader of the Venusian people, The Treens, the dreaded and scientifically driven megalomaniac, The Mekon.
Widely now credited as the third part in The Man From Nowhere series, Reign Of Robots is one that taps into a trope of Science Fiction and war, that of the willing collaborator, the one who sees a chance for advancement, even exacting revenge for some perceived slight in the past and while the graphic illustration only delves into this, in the 2015 made for radio adaption by B7, there is a decidedly bitter examination of what it takes to change sides, and the subterfuge required when playing a game of double bluff.
Whist a lot of the side characters from the initial comic run have been dropped for radio purposes and cast time, it is to the adaptor, Simon Guerrier, that the tight script and ethos of Frank Hampson and the Reverend Marcus Morris so dearly wanting to be a measure of how boys at that time should be seen to hold as a virtue, works as an audio drama and as an insight into the mind and vision of those days after a brutal and shocking war.
It is a thought, to hope that all Dan Dare stories embrace and Reign of Robots is no exception, a thrilling adventure yes, the return of one of the most underrated, albeit always memorable, villains of comic book history, being given a particularly unnerving voice by the impressive Raad Rawi, but always with hope, hope that has seen other comic book characters fall, the superhero failing to understand the point of its existence. Yet in the hands of an ordinary man born in Manchester and in the artistic mind of one Britain’s greatest ever artists, hope is not only required, it is the very essence of what gives us life.
With strong performances by Ed Stoppard as Dan Dare, Geoff McGivern as Dan’s faithful bat man Digby and the aforementioned Raad Rawi as The Mekon, Reign of Robots is a story that resonates far beyond its supposed cage of Science Fiction, it teaches us that there will always be those that cower under the shadow and soul of the jackboot, that revel in tyranny because they believe it will give them a better chance to bully others, or to supress the belief of the valiant few, and finally it questions us on how we respond when good wins out.
A wonderful adaptation of a much-loved story, Reign Of Robots is a reminder of all we can lose, and dare win.
Ian D. Hall