Audio Review: Judge Dredd – Trapped on Titan
Another day, another dive into the grimy neon future of Mega-City One—courtesy of Big Finish. Their Judge Dredd dramas are pure gold, which is why it hurts my soul that they’re getting harder to track down than a perp with octopus DNA. One day, maybe Big Finish will set them free again. Until then, if a generous citizen of the wastelands has a copy of any titles they’d like to chat about… well, my comms are open.
Details
Audio Name: Judge Dredd: Trapped on Titan
Author: Jonathan Clements
Cover Artist: Henry Flint
Cast:
Toby Longworth (Judge Dredd / Grudfather / McRoy / Babs)
Nicola Bryant (Judge Mordin / Titan PA System)
Adam Blaug (Malcolm / Control / Guard #3)
Laurence Bouvard (Stacey Dolan)
Andrew Fettes (Honest Bob / Guard #2 / Seamus / Bubba)
Jack Galagher (Riley / Martos / Computer)
Alfred Hoffman (Jude / Guard #1 / Bowles)
Director: John Ainsworth
Duration: 68 minutes
Commercial Blurb:
It's the most hellish place in the Solar System - a prison for the Earth's worst criminals. Now Titan is under new management - a cabal of two-faced spin doctors intent on bleeding the inmates dry.
But something is out there on the freezing plains of Titan. For thirty years, people have committed murder to keep it quiet, but now its secret has escaped. Time is running short for Titan, and Dredd alone can stop the killing.
The future of the Earth is at stake, and Dredd must go into the prison undercover. He must walk among serial-killers and mass-murderers to find the answer to the puzzle, before he spends the rest of his life Trapped on Titan!
Timeline: Takes place in September 2124.
Review
This is easily one of the darker entries in the Big Finish Dredd catalogue. Thirty inmates are dead, the Governor smells like corruption, and Mega-City 1 sends Judge Mordin and an undercover Dredd to investigate. Their checklist?
Figure out if the Governor is crooked.
Uncover the truth behind Rico’s Rock (yes — as in Dredd’s brother Rico).
Try not to die in the process.
Naturally, things go sideways almost instantly. The Governor reveals her true colours and tries to have Judge Mordin killed, sparking a full-scale lockdown and a riot led by the wonderfully deranged Grudfather. And just when the situation couldn’t possibly get worse… an alien warfleet arrives, ready to annihilate Earth on Rico’s say-so.
So Dredd does what any sensible Judge would do: impersonates his criminal brother and attempts diplomacy with aliens who are seconds away from vaporising humanity. Classic Tuesday.
Earth survives, Titan doesn’t, and the cleanup crew is going to need hazard pay for the next decade.
Highlights
Toby Longworth once again nails Judge Dredd. The man is the voice of the Law.
The script is packed with sly in-jokes and that unmistakable 2000 AD bite.
The atmosphere is pitch-dark but never dreary — pure Mega-City grit.
The alien threat adds unexpected scale and tension, making this feel like a real turning-point story.
Verdict
A fantastic, bleak, sharply-written Dredd adventure. Trapped on Titan blends mystery, prison tension, alien warfare, and classic 2000 AD satire into a tight, atmospheric 68 minutes. If you’re a Dredd fan or a Big Finish addict like me, this one is well worth tracking down.
Cold, brutal, and surprisingly funny in the right places — Titan might be frozen, but this story is hot stuff.
A solid A+ from me.
