Judge Dredd: The Great Plasteen Disaster

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Great Plasteen Disaster

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. and Tornado Prog 139

DATELINE
17 Nov 79

The line up for this prog also included ABC Warriors, Disaster 1990, Blackhawk, Captain Klep and The Mind Of Wolfie Smith strips and a a cover by Carlos Ezquerra

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd 29, The Complete Judge Dredd 13 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 03.

SYNOPSIS
Mega-City One's reliance on plasteen causes chaos when a bacteria that eats it arrives in town.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First mention of the Judges Tek department.

INFORMATION
Mega-City One's spaceport has at least 43 terminals.

Plasteen is a cheap and versatile material that can be hard as rock or soft as paper. It is used in everything from buildings, hats, wigs, boots, suits, underwear, dentures, tyres, suspension cables, microphones, burglar alarms, bullet-proof security screens and artificial hearts. A bacteria that dissolves plasteen is unwittingly released. The Justice Department labs develop a chemical that kills the plasteen eating bacteria, but only if it is included in the plasteen during construction.

Inter-Space Corporation is a huge company owned by K.K. Danvers. It is blamed for the plasteen disaster.

JUDGE DREDD
He investigates the plasteen disaster.

OTHER CHARACTERS
K.K. DANVERS
Billionaire owner of Inter-Space Corporation. He suffered from heart disease. Last month, he had an operation to have his own heart replaced with a artificial plasteen one and is inside an isolation tent. When angry citizens arrive to serve him writs he is exposed to contaminated air, his plasteen heart ceases to function and Danvers dies.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
At least nine. Three Inter-Space Corporation employees are crushed by the falling terminal building. At least three people are killed in plasteen-related traffic accidents. Two more are killed as plasteen bullet-proof security screen fails to stop two bullets during an armed robbery. K.K. Danvers dies when his new plasteen hearts succumbs to the bacteria.

BEST LINES
Writ-Server: "We've got a right to serve these writs! Don't try to stop us, Judge Dredd!"
Dredd: "The thought never entered my mind."

WORST LINES
Motorist: "Look out!"

Bit late.

CATCHPHRASES
An Inter-Space Corporation employee and Dredd both say "Dok!", during the plasteen-related chaos on the roads we hear an "Aieeeee!"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The plot is very similar the first episode of Doomwatch called The Plastic Eaters (1970), which as the title suggests features a virus that eats plastic.

MISTAKES
The Chief Judge is presented here with dark hair, a uniform that has Chief Judge written across the front and, surprisingly, two eyes.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: John Cooper
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
This is great. It's like a disaster movie with a domestic twist. The over-reliance on plasteen is well-realised here.

Next Prog: The Black Plague!