Judge Anderson of
Mega-City One – (2000 AD)
Many of us are Judge Dredd fans from 2000 AD comic strip and
we have seen this character bloom into novels, graphic novels, audiobooks and films
etc. I’ve now read a number of his stories and will, no doubt, read more and
hopefully enjoy future on-screen entertainment too.
What I liked about the second movie called simply, Dredd was the introduction of another character named Judge Anderson. I was intrigued
by her psychic ability. I knew of her image in comic strips but had never read
much about her. Her image is often on front covers but I was more interested in
Dredd’s cold character. Because of the movie, I developed a better interest in the
Anderson character and wanted to know more. I thought the actress who played
Anderson in the film did look like the comic strip images I have seen.
Anderson, as a character, has an approach that differs from
Dredd’s. She can’t help having empathy with some of Mega-City One’s millions
of citizens. This is because she sees deep and hears all the inner voices. She
can’t help getting caught up in the reason and consequence aspect of things.
Though she is still a hard arse when the occasion demands. We always get see t the
face of Anderson because the helmet interferes with her psychic ability etc.
Therefore she removes it when getting off of her law-master motorbike.
The Dystopian
World of the Judges.
This huge metropolis of Mega-City One is surrounded by the poison
Earth and people can be arrested and sent to isolation cubes for pro-democracy
relays. This overcrowded and claustrophobic society is always on the edge
having been through an atomic world war. There is ninety per cent unemployment
and huge tower blocks are turf areas controlled by various crazy urban gangs.
Large numbers of residents feel loyalty towards the blocks they live in. The
Judges are often hated. Yet they are needed. The whole society of the numerous
Mega Cities around the world have similar setups with these Judges ruling the
areas as a police state. They are undermanned and so the police become Judges
as well. Obviously, they have wide-ranging powers. They can catch criminals and
pass judgement and sentence on the spot. Including on the spot execution, there
and then, if deemed necessary.
It all makes for a disturbing dystopian future where
extremist policemen, from our own perspective, are necessary anti-heroes.
Democratic well-intentioned believers (who really could not control such
an overpopulated and variable decaying urban world) are the villains.
And In Such A
World Judge Anderson Must Function.
In this Judge Anderson story audiobook, I enjoyed yesterday,
(It is called the Abyss by Alec Worley) the female psychic judge is sent to a
prison hospital to evaluate a woman who is the head of a political movement to
bring about the end to the harsh rule of the Judges. In effect, she is a
terrorist in this dystopian world. Her underground group are called Bedlamists.
The terror leader’s name is Moriah Blake and Judge Anderson
do a psychic evaluation of the sedated prisoner in the hospital wing of a huge
prison block. Anderson needs other psychic police colleagues to put a strong
mind shield around her thoughts to stop the other many prison inmates from
breaking into her concentration etc.
A raid of Bedlamists terrorists brings about a consequence
whereby Judge Anderson is trapped in the Asylum hospital and is in the
corridors when all the hundreds of prison cubes are opened. Spilling out into
the corridors are hundreds of the drug-crazed psychopaths, murders, rapists and
many other types of criminals of Mega-City One’s finest nut jobs. The building
is under siege in a Mexican stand-off between Bedlamists and Judges. The
terror group is searching for Judge Anderson via the TV monitors before power
is shut down. Judge Anderson must discard her uniform and dress like the mad
inmates and mingle. She must also try to find the source of a huge bomb.
This is a real on the edge of your seat listen as Anderson
builds a psychic wall to hold off the disturbed minds she is forced to move
amongst. She can also hear some inmates who are incarcerated for not filling
out a tax form on time, a young lad who evaded paying a traffic offence and a
student nurse who’s been in a prison cube for a year, awaiting an evaluation,
because her student boyfriend was arrested at a pro-democracy rally. Such
people are among the more extreme criminal elements. We are in a world where
society can’t afford democracy and some people are mere collateral damage to
the extreme law system. Democratically minded people are terrorists. It’s all
total dystopian horror for us, the listeners, who are rooting for the extremist
right-wing Judges. This world needs them.
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