* * *
When I was growing up, space was American. I was born the
year of the Apollo moon-landing and in my childhood, all astronauts were
American, both real and fictional. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, the other guy,
Steve Austin, even the Fantastic Four. It was years before I realized that for
a time, at least in fiction, space had been somewhat British, in the form of
Dan Dare and the Interplanet Space Fleet.
So I had absolutely no frame of reference when, on a family
holiday on the Isle of Wight, my parents’ friend Dave popped my younger brother
on top of his new stubby surfboard, hoisted boy and board up high and
proclaimed him to be ‘the Mekon’. I had no idea what he was going on about, but
apparently Dave was onto something because my dad seemed to agree that a skinny
child in his swimming trunks sat atop an oval of toughened polystyrene was
indeed compellingly Mekonish. I think, though memory may be betraying me here,
that they got him sit cross-legged and drape his hands over his knees, just to
compete the look. Certainly the two grown men then proceeded to parade him at
shoulder-height across the beach, for we children were informed that this Mekon
‘hovered on a sort of flying disc’.
This then was my first encounter, however bizarrely, with
the world of Dan Dare, and just goes to show what sort of impression his
original adventures in Eagle comic had had on my father’s generation. As a
sidenote to this I would recommend reading Eugene Byrne and Kim Newman’s
excellent short story Teddy Bears’ Picnic,
set in an alternate timeline where Britain rather than America fights the
Vietnam War. In the story, the hapless soldiers - having grown up in 1950s
Britain on a diet of Eagle comics - coin their own slang for the Viet Cong
enemy - Treens. It makes sense that
in an alt-history world where British lads are fighting in the jungles of
Southeast Asia, that the Mekon’s alien race would become a dehumanising word
for the enemy.
But I digress. Growing up in the 70s, kids like me learnt a
few things ass-backwards: Paul McCartney was that guy from Wings who we only later
discovered had been in some pre-Mull of Kintyre group called the Beatles; World
War Two was all the rage thanks to endless repeats of Colditz, The Battle of the
Bulge and Dad’s Army on telly whilst
its predecessor World War One barely got a look-in; and Dan Dare was the
widow’s-peaked, luxuriantly-maned action hero of early 2000AD progs - complete
with a cool metal hand - rather than the clean-cut gent in a green uniform from
our parents’ Eagle comics.
The Dan of 2000AD was a pretty cool character I thought,
especially when the art duties had passed from Massimo Bellardinelli to Dave
Gibbons, who gave him a much nicer haircut and that awesome metallic hand glove
thing. As with the Mekon turning out to be a green dome-headed Treen, it was
years before I found the metal hand glove thing was actually called the Cosmic
Claw. Gibbons’ Dan looked more than a little like Lewis Collins, riding high at
the time as one of the action stars of The
Professionals on ITV. But 2000AD’s Dan stories didn’t really grab me, not
as much as the mayhem, lunacy and mega-violence of the comic’s rising star
Judge Dredd, and I don’t think I blinked an eyelid when he faded away with prog
126. By the following week, I was too engrossed in the adventures of new
character Black Hawk - a Roman gladiator forced to fight aliens - to wonder
whatever happened to the Pilot of the Future.
Fast forward many years, much as Dan himself did between Eagle
and 2000AD, and I am now writing for Crooked Dice Games, founded by Graeme
Dawson and my best friend Karl Perrotton. Their flagship game, a skirmish /
roleplaying system called 7TV, draws on classic elements of cult TV and film,
primarily British sci-fi, fantasy, and spy genres like Dr Who, James Bond and The Avengers. We used the conceit of a
fictional television company that existed in the 60s and 70s to give the game
both a rich shared universe between the ‘shows’ and to create an entertainingly
tongue-in-cheek ‘real-life’ production history, where I indulged myself by
casting actual actors, stuntmen and directors from the period to populate our
made-up programmes. As an illustration, I cast hardman actor James Booth as the
no-nonsense London copper Frank Skelton, and the boyish Hywel Bennett as DS
Lenny Kennedy, in the Sweeneyish crime show The
Beat.
In 2011, we started work on a chunky gaming supplement for
7TV called On Location, which would
expand the core rules beyond the central settings which had tended towards
extinct volcanic lairs and crime-ridden London streets. One of the new
locations we would be covering was space, but from a strictly cult TV, pre-Star Wars viewpoint, so we needed to
create a suitable show to personify the setting, which is where the spirit of
Dan Dare re-enters the story.
Karl had already introduced the concept of A.R.C., the
Albion Rocket Consortium, in the core rulebook, with an episode of our
‘UNIT-without-the-Doctor’ show Department
X. In ‘The Shadow Over Space’, the department’s star agents Dr Hugo Solomon
(played against type by legendary actor David Warner) and Pandora King (Jenny
Hanley off of Magpie) joined forces
with A.R.C.’s Dr Melody Lake to investigate sabotage aboard the lunar shuttle’s
maiden voyage, uncover a secret cult and ‘face an ancient horror from beyond
the stars’. So when we got round to developing a space show for On Location, A.R.C. was a natural fit.
We already had the basic concept for A.R.C., taking Quatermass’
fictional British Rocket Group and creating adventurous female rocket scientist
Dr Lake for the starring role, played by the gorgeous Diana Rigg at the height
of her powers. Now we set about fleshing out the show with cult sci-fi elements
- from TV, radio and of course Dan Dare - to give it a unique blend that would
feel not only like a loving homage to those influential sources, but also we
hoped that would come across as a plausible - though sadly non-existent - show
from the late 60s and early 70s.
Working with Karl and artist extraordinaire Wayne Peters, I
had a fine old time creating a complete world, or more accurately solar system,
for Dr Lake, Professor Kneale and the rest of the A.R.C. crew, from the lunar
base Guinevere and rocketship Percival to alien threats like the sinister
cerebral Venusian and his warlike Kreeg soldiers, and the faceless Martian
force known only as ‘the Enemy’.
To give the show just the right look and feel of the genuine
article - maybe around the late 60s as with other 7TV creations - we went the
extra mile to come up with authentic-looking TV listings, script excerpts and
even an Eagle-style double-page splash of the Percival, complete with
knowingly-named technical details. Thus I present to you these following selections
from 7TV’s A.R.C. series. Points will
be awarded for every homage or shout-out you can spot.
5.45 Colour
A.R.C.
starring Diana Rigg
Darc Side of the Moon
by KIT PEDLER
Melody’s ship
experiences a series of unexplained malfunctions whilst surveying a remote
lunar region. Are they mere accidents, deliberate sabotage or the work of some
sinister external force? When radio contact with Guinevere base is lost
followed by a complete power blackout, tempers fray and suspicions grow that
someone on board is not who they seem…
Dr Melody Lake DIANA RIGG
Cpt Jock Hampson PATRICK MOWER
Valentine DAVID McCALLUM
Spinnaker ANTHONY MARRIOTT
Fred Roberts DAVID JACOBS
The Enemy (voice) DONALD GRAY
Producer CHARLES CHILTON
Director GERRY ANDERSON
- A.R.C. -
- Darc Side of the Moon -
SCENE 9. MERLIN, EXTERIOR
An A.R.C. Merlin class
transport seen from directly above, against the Moon's hidden face, cratered,
shadowy and inhospitable. The Merlin seems to hang motionless against the lunar
backdrop, as lifeless as the Moon itself.
SCENE 10. MERLIN, INTERIOR
The ship's cockpit, in near
total darkness, save for dim starlight from the cabin windows and that of an
electric torch, currently waving around somewhere under the pilot's control
panel. Intermittent grunting and muttered curses emanate from somewhere down in
the pilot's footwell, near the torch's beam.
It is Jock HAMPSON, on his
back as if inspecting the underside of a car, holding the light in one hand and
unscrewing an instrument panel with the other. A pair of smart feet appear
behind him out of the darkness, followed by the disembodied voice of security
officer Mr VALENTINE.
VALENTINE (in a clipped tone)
Haven't you finished that yet?
HAMPSON jerks with surprise,
hitting his head on the instrument panel and swearing in equal amounts of pain
and irritation.
HAMPSON (through gritted teeth)
It'd go a lot bleedin' faster if you didn't keep
creeping up on me like that!
VALENTINE's eyes narrow and
he is about to issue an acerbic retort when Dr Melody LAKE emerges from the
darkened mid-deck.
LAKE
Enough, both of you. I can't worry about the ship
and you pair at the same time.
She breaks into a smile and
adopts a mocking, schoolteacherish tone.
LAKE
Don't make me come over there and make you sit
apart. Now, was there something you needed, Spinnaker?
She turns back to the
mid-deck, where technician SPINNAKER is standing in the darkness, his back to
LAKE. Obscured by SPINNAKER's head, there is a faint reddish glow.
LAKE
Spinnaker..?
5.45 Colour
A.R.C.
starring Diana Rigg
Spaceship Venus
by GERRY DAVIS
A spaceprobe
inexplicably plunging into the Sun is the first indication that all is not well
with the solar system’s second planet, but soon Professor Kneale deduces that
it is moving out of orbit, threatening to extinguish all life on Earth! The
crew of the Percival, struggling to endure the fearsome heat of the Venusian
desert, are mankind’s only hope of survival.
Dr Melody Lake DIANA RIGG
Professor Victor Kneale JOHN MILLS
Valentine DAVID McCALLUM
Zara WENDY PADBURY
The Venusian MICHAEL WISHER
Kreeg Overseer PAT GORMAN
Producer INNES LLOYD
Director VAL GUEST
- A.R.C. -
- Spaceship Venus -
SCENE 12. VENUSIAN DESERT,
EXTERIOR
The Sun, so much bigger in
the sky than they are used to, beats down upon the A.R.C. crew as they trudge
doggedly on. As blinding sunlight reflects off the metal of their suits, Dr
Melody LAKE, ZARA Kneale and Mr VALENTINE find themselves navigating a series
of deep, dusty dunes, not unlike quarries found back on Earth.
ZARA (panting a little)
Can't we rest a bit, Doctor? I'm terribly tired.
LAKE
Just a little further sweetie, I think I spotted
some sort of structure in the distance where we can have a sit-down in the
shade.
Mr VALENTINE, walking ahead
of the other two, gives the tiniest of sniffs at this. He knows as well as LAKE
that shelter from the harsh desert is a long, long way off.
EFFECT: A distant
high-pitched humming coming closer.
Mr VALENTINE turns to the
approaching sound then drops to a crouch, motioning for the others to do the
same. Both he and LAKE draw their pistols as they squint up the slope of a dune
to where the humming noise now emanates.
EFFECT: Clouds of sand blow
down off the top of the dune, as if a helicopter were landing somewhere out of
sight.
The humming dies down as the
three astronauts cautiously crawl to the top of the dune and peer over the
sandy ridge. Not far away, a curious metallic platform seems to have settled on
the sands. It is flat and disc-like, about the size of a car, with a single
rail running around at waist height. It seems to have settled into a shallow
dusty depression of its own making.
Disembarking from the hover
disc are four alien KREEGS - hairless, wide mouthed and devoid of expression.
Each one unslings an odd lamp-like device as they fan out, searching the dunes.
ZARA (panicky)
They're bound to find us! We've got to get away!
LAKE (laying a reassuring hand on ZARA's arm)
Tish, but we haven't introduced ourselves yet! Mr
Valentine, if you wouldn't mind..?
VALENTINE nods at her
unspoken suggestion and scrambles back down the dune, circling around. LAKE
straightens up, dusts herself down and begins walking over to the nearest
KREEG.
How many did you get? Did you spot our nod to the Mekon, and
who I cast as the actor to play him, and why?
As Dan Darish as A.R.C.
is, our most obvious homage to the Pilot of the Future appears in another 7TV show
altogether. Bluntly pitched as ‘Charlie’s
Angels meets Thunderbirds’, The Daredevils stars three sisters - glamourous
Diana, roguish Katrina and tomboy Charlie - who have inherited their father’s
love of high-flying adventures. Aboard their futuristic Dareplanes, these
fearless female flyers respond to emergencies around the world at the behest of
their perpetually off-screen daddy, who communicates with his ‘devils’ via
long-distance speakerphone.
The family name? Dare, of course.
- THE DAREDEVILS -
- Operation Skyhawk -
SCENE 1. DARE MANOR,
INTERIOR. NIGHT.
Night-time in stately Dare
Manor.
PAN across the hallways,
reception rooms and gallery and library.
Moonlight through tall
leaded windows illuminates suits of medieval armour, stuffed animal heads,
portraits and opulent furniture.
PAN past a framed photograph
of three young girls grinning for the camera, a man kneeling behind them, his
face obscured by a replica spacecraft standing in front of the photo.
…
