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A corpse with no face lies on the line between Immigration
and Mega-City One. A feud breaks out between wannabe drug
dealers. A shape-shifting killer is on the loose in Alientown.
And Dredd's partner is an irritating, green-skinned company
flack with an inflated sense of his own importance. But when
it comes to solving the crime and enforcing the Law, Judge
Dredd is on his own...
Solo
is
a remarkable audio production. Not only is it well written
by Jonathan Clements and brought to life thanks to John
Ainsworth's
direction, it also has only one principle actor - Toby Longworth.
Listening to Solo, you'll find it almost impossible
to believe that Longworth plays every character, but he does
- and his vocal range is incredible
There
are some similarities to be drawn between the earlier Dredd
audio Pre-emptive
Revenge. Both
see Dredd having to join forces with another law enforcer
from a different jurisdiction. In this production it is Blarg
(who is obviously modelled on Tharg, the editor of "The
galaxy's greatest comic" 2000 AD). A lot of the
humour comes from the arguments between Mega-City One's chief
lawman and custom control's self-important Betelgeusian. But
this felt like a much more polished production than Pre-emptive
Revenge, and is certainly more entertaining.
Solo
also pays homage to a number of other sci-fi influences. Dredd
meets up with an alien who is obviously based on the pink
woolly creatures in The Clangers and he chats with
a talking door that sounds like a cross between Eddie the
onboard computer in the original The
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
BBC play and Kryten from Red Dwarf.
The
only voice I had issues with, and this is one I've never liked
the sound of in previous Big Finish 2000 AD productions
and the Dirk Maggs Judge Dredd radio plays, was Max
Normal. It's just a personal niggle, but all actors seem to
play him as a black gangster. He is dressed as the age-old
stereotypical British city gent (bowler hat, pinstripe suit)
but he's cool and speaks street slang. I've always imagined
that a "Queen's English" accent was the way he would
speak. In fact this, coupled with his street banter, I thought
would make him seem even more eccentric.
But
that is a very slight niggle on what is a first rate story.
As a bonus, Big
Finish throw in a 20 minute making of featurette that shows
parts of the recording with Longworth and Ainsworth.
It
doesn't get much better than this. Bloody fantastic! Sadly,
it won't get any better than this either, as this release
marks the end of Big Finish's Judge Dredd audio series.
 
Darren
Rea
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