Posted on Thursday 21 August 2008
Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future: Voyage to Venus Part 1
Audio CD review
Read by Rupert Degas, Tom Goodman-Hill, Kate OSullivan, Christian Rodska
Release date Out now
The archetypal British spaceman sets off on his first adventure to the mysterious planet Venus!
Oh boy, this is a real step back in time. Dan Dare and the Eagle were an essential part of childhood for boys growing up in the 1950s and 1960s and Frank Hampson's classic tale is recreated incredibly faithfully in this audio adaptation, which simply uses Hampson's dialogue with an occasional interjection from the narrator.
Tom Goodman-Hill, recently seen as the Wasp-cum-Vicar in Doctor Who's Agatha Christie pastiche, makes an absolutely perfect 1950s gentleman, prepared for whatever the universe throws his way. Rupert Degas carries the brunt of the work, playing every other part, except the female Professor! Some of his accents are a bit iffy, but it's a tribute to the diversity of his performance that there are numerous scenes of him talking to himself which don't sound like a standard book reading with the narrator adopting different accents.
Anyone familiar with Independence Day, and David Arnold's fanfares for its soundtrack, will have a feeling of déjà vu when the discs start, as with one note altered, the Dan Dare theme is strikingly similar. Otherwise the post production and effects are competent. Paul Simpson
VERDICT: 7/10
An interesting version that proves that you don't always need the pictures in a comic strip!