Dan Dare - The Voyage to Venus (Feature Version)

This is the feature version of my earlier posted Dan Dare webseries for those of you who prefer it in that format. It is essentially the same, but with individual ep titles removed and editing to make the eps flow better together. It is an adaption of the first Dan Dare adventure which appeared in the UK's Eagle comic over 60 years ago and is a marvellous SF adventure story of the first expedition to Venus, with the incredible artwork of Frank Hampson portraying the heroes, villains, machines and fantastic worlds encountered. Frank also wrote the story, with the aid of Arthur C Clarke, and its influences were very strong on other British comics of the 50's/60's as well as the later Dr Who & Anderson TV series, and even the 80's Red Dwarf parodied the character. Dan dare has been revived several times but it was never as effective as in its original format.

[@davidwright8432]

A wonderful realization of my 7 yr old's imagination, 72 years later! Deep, deep thanks.

[@dfernand101]

This franchise is BEGGING to be made into a movie. The Art Style, the Britishness, the evil aliens, the side kicks etc.

[@richardvernon1853]

+David Boris Fernandez I total agree, but like every other attempt that has been made to transfer British comic or TV shows into a big screen movie for the US market has failed massive, due to poor script and acting or poor marketing i.e. 2nd Dredd movie, which I though was brilliant by the way. If made into a decent movie that actually makes a big profit, a sequel or two are possible (Red Moon Mystery would make a fantastic film with plenty of special effects in the shape of Nuclear explosions, plus tidal waves, earth quakes and other major natural disasters caused by a large object entering close orbit to the earth (plus the storms caused magnetic effects form the moon if you ‘ve read the story) . on top of that, there’s the evacuation of Mars (plus of course the sting in the tail when its discovered what the enemy actually is)). As regards the first film, which is need to get the Venusians on board (plus of course the Mekon), sod the Britishness, the Story is of an international crew sent on a mission to Venus because a couple of terraforming survey missions suffer some form of infight disaster as they approach the planet. Put the Space fleet HQ in North West England, but move it up into Cumbria. Why, cause the British are the people who by fault or design come up with the way to make interplanetary flight cheap, fast and practicable (Impulse wave drive) and the Cumbrian coast is where the prototype reactor that powers the system was first built (Sellafield meets all the requirements, though in fact is a very bad place to launch anything from). Turns out that the Treens were incepting all of the space probes sent to the planet and were sending back false information on the conditions there. As for the main characters. Dan Dare, Chief Test Pilot of the ISF, just happens to be a very good pilot, leader, fighting man with a lot of brains and a Brit (Stiff upper lip very optional when you waste one of his redshirts). Digby, Damm the 50’s class distinction as it was dying before the strip was even written and promote him from Dare’s batman (Servant) to be Dare’s Warrant Officer Co Pilot / Flight Engineer / Weapon Systems / Sensor Operator. Don’t do what they did with his character in the CGI TV Series and make him a Cockney, but leave the Lanc’s accent. Sir Hubert Guest, make him a New Zealander and the man that came up with basic concept of the propulsion system (like Frank Whittle). Make Peabody an Aussie or a Canadian and Leave Hank Hogan and Pierre Lafayette as is. Bolster the crew of the 3 survey shuttles with some other national red shirts for the treens / flame belt to waste or kill horribly. Keep the plot tight and well scripted with no plot holes, make the characters 3 dimensional and use good special effects in the right place and the thing may just take off. By the way, Russell Devlin, excellent effort. Firstly you have allowed me from this to ID a bit of Music that I've wondered the name of for over 20 years (Things to Come March), plus I've always wondered if the Clarke Scale mentioned in Red Moon had anything to do with Arthur C Clarke. Seems it did!!!!

[@BlackMaria61]

@@richardvernon1853 - There was a CGI version a few years back which had its heart in the right place, but it had changed things to be more attuned to modern scifi, and when you do that it's not really Dan Dare anymore

[@KismetMulhaneski-to3wg]

Frank Hampson was a Genius.

[@SwanSycorax]

I grew up on Dan Dare in the 1950's. Great to see this animation of the original story.

[@jollygrapefruit786]

As a 25 year old I feel pretty envious of you that you were able to grow up in such an incredible era for sci-fi and comic books.

[@martinwilliams9866]

One day, A.I. will make possible interactive 3D Dan Dare

[@JonnKammeron]

You choice of Holst is so Resonant with your Art. Outstanding Choice.

[@BlackMaria61]

You may be interested to know that the Big Finish group are putting out a series of audio adaptions of the 50's Dan Dare stories

[@BlackMaria61]

I'd like to adapt those, but BF are understandably protective of their copyright and I doubt I could put them up without being quashed

[@Mentally_Ill_Simp]

Really impressive animation

[@simonandsuetonkiss]

Only just discovered this - it is absolutely fantastic , loved every minute of it ! Thank you so much !

[@retroactivejealousy-worldl1805]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you

[@mikekenny9374]

I read the eagle comics and annuals back in the 60s loved this

[@danielgilek4664]

That was DARN GOOD!!! THANK YOU! As a huge fan of Retro SF/F Space Heroes (and a Yank) I've always felt my education lacking not having been able to enjoy the adventures of Dan Dare. Now I can proudly claim that I have! Again, Thank You!!! This was GREAT FUN!!!!!!!

[@petesmodelcarcustoms584]

Absolutely Top Hole,chaps👍well done and thank you. Great cast too.👍. Thanks for showing and best wishes from jolly old England 👍😎Pete 🤓

[@paulziolo9241]

Oh well done! Well done! Well done! In childhood, Dan Dare and Hari Seldon were my 'icons' and role models of the Future (always with a capital 'F'). The Dan Dare Radio Station was my first & favourite toy. From it I learned basic, Morse, electronics and the Solar System.

[@jasmineblack9778]

Well done ,this is a work of genius

[@BlackMaria61]

that's what i said

[@hugebartlett1884]

Very glad I kept all my Dan Dare pages!

[@whotoinfinity]

What a great way to wake up on a Saturday morning... I feel like I'm 12 again, and discovering a Great "New" Cartoon. Well Done!

[@uplift7]

Awesome Cartoon/Audio Drama, It reminds me of Space Angels, here in America, with the moving lips!

[@BlackMaria61]

Thanks Irish66. Unlike my other animations, I was using a BBC radio version to supply the dialogue for the animations and at times this was less distinct than I normally like, esp where the Mekon was concerned. Also, I have found that sound mixes is sometimes distorted on different formats & computers, so what is perfect for me comes out with too high/low dialogue/fx/music for other people, so I try to do an optimum You Tube mix now .

[@davidrichard2765]

This is well put together, I really enjoyed it. I made my own Dan Dare movies but I had to take them off Utube because I got copyright notices. I think more for the music I used (the Sea Hawk overture) rather than the Dan Dare images.

[@stevefahnestalk8500]

I love it! Well-chosen voices, too. Takes me back, it does!

[@Picktzar]

Brilliant video by the way Russell, well done and thank you for the fun of it. From a fellow Dan Dare fan.

[@wadards]

This is great. I also remember the Frank Bellamy Eagle versions, they were also years ahead of any other strip. Well done.

[@neilkendrick4976]

well excellent! am nery glad i found this!

[@sparkmanuk]

Well done!

[@whotoinfinity]

I can't begin to imagine how long this must have taken you... Well Done.

[@cpuwrite]

excellent work

[@jcb3259]

Great stuff, I'm only 29 but I love Dan Dare anyway

[@edsquidful]

Wonderful!

[@allanlammiman3984]

loved it

[@TYONEification]

BRILLIANT ABSOLUTLEY BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@GarryLavin]

Brilliant.

[@huhtime]

this is great

[@jcb3259]

They really should make films of those old comics

[@BlackMaria61]

Thanks

[@pressureworks]

Ace Rimmer !!!........what a guy !!!

[@BlackMaria61]

Well you can see where they based him from

[@pressureworks]

@@BlackMaria61 yes ! Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

[@pressureworks]

@@BlackMaria61 yes ! Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

[@GiloTintin]

This is Genius

[@BlackMaria61]

Thanks Gavin

[@davidrichard2761]

Can’t we get Richard Branson to make this into a film, it’s got a great quality provided they don’t modernise it.

[@whotoinfinity]

Excellent Excellent Excellent! ***** 5 stars!

[@mattysykes2121]

The 3D comics though! Why did such a great comic finish?

[@mattysykes2121]

Along with 2000ad

[@gentleman-shutterbug]

This is really great. The music you used for the theme was spot on. I love it. I'm familiar with it, but I don't know the name of the piece. Could you help me with that? Much thanks.

[@BlackMaria61]

It's an excerpt from Holst's Jupiter, individually known as "My Country" and there are words to it as well

[@irish66]

Thank you very much for this. But I find some of the dialogue very low. Then there other scenes where the music overwhelms the dialogue.

[@JonnKammeron]

Just Outstanding . I will make a more extensive and very thank full comment later. I have just shade the great pleasure of coming accord your channel. I must add that waiting for the next edition of Dan Dare in the Eagle was the highlight of my week as a kid in Glasgow. I have a question ? Do you know who created the Wonderful Detailed Center Graphics of Military Equipment in the Eagle and whee I might find them. They in fact got me seriously interested in Aircraft Design. Many Thanks.

[@BlackMaria61]

Hi John, I just consulted the Eagle Annual of the Cutaways a recent reprint collection and they said a team of 21 artists worked on them, but Leslie Ashwell Wood was one of the main people, with John Batchelor, Geoffry Wheeler, Laurence Dunn, Hubert Redmill and Roy Cross. Online searches of Eagle fansites and the like may reveal more.

[@JonnKammeron]

Many Thanks Russel. Sorry for not including your name earlier. I am an author and special needs teacher. I am seriously interested in your Artwork re The Eagle. Where can I find out more about your work? Thanks Again

[@BlackMaria61]

Well there's not a lot to tell really, I've been working on either my own or friends fanfilms since the 80's , moving from Super 8 to video to digital, and several years ago I began doing limited animation adaptions of famous comic book stories, using a process I derived from photo editing which I call Devlimation, a nod to Ray Harryhausen's Dynamation. As my equipment and editing programs improved I was able to refine the process, and use it conjunction with model photography as well as artwork. In the case of Dan Dare I was able to use a pre existing radio adaption for the dialogue but added in the music and sound fx myself from a large collection I have built up, and did my own audio recordings for the other adventures

[@jakes3643]

The thunderbirds music yes I thought I was he only one that watched that

[@emeraldscorpio]

whats the name of the tune at the start? sets up the story perfectly!

[@BlackMaria61]

That is an excerpt from "Jupiter- the Bringer of Jollity" from Holst's Planet Suite, one of the most famous classical works and oft used by scifi & other dramas as mood music. I chose it because it is very English and builds up a sense of grand optimism for the future, which what Dan Dare was all about

[@pertuk]

Great, are you going to do anymore?

[@Picktzar]

Here you go Michael: Gustav Holst, Jupiter the Bringer of Jolity, Movement 4 of The Planets Suite

[@calabiyou]

astronomy dominee by syd Barret brought me here

[@GiloTintin]

I recognize a bit of Thunderbirds music in there :-)

[@martinwilliams9866]

And Fireball XL5.

[@BlackMaria61]

Vale Donald Gee (Digby) :(

[@DreddJudgeJoe]

I love Dan Dare but 1hr&36mins is dragging it out a bit !

[@sqwidink1]

Comic con

[@michelformika]

Lots of cursing. Probably why we never heard of this in the USA. They would have most likely kept this from children.

[@paulnash9851]

Women in space !?!?... BAH !!!..... 😉