Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 24, 2017

Severin Films released a really interesting DVD some time ago entitled Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide which was followed by the even more exhaustive Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Part 2, both of which documented the frenzy surrounding supposedly objectionable videos that (again supposedly) threatened the moral fiber of Britain’s youth. The “video nasty” era is most associated with the 1980s, but kind of interestingly something somewhat analogous in another medium had already occurred in England a few years prior to this outbreak of moral outrage. As is documented in the appealing if not exactly revelatory Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD, a comic book called Action! got itself banned in the late seventies after a short and tumultuous run of issues that saw the magazine run afoul of so-called arbiters of decency, including the now infamous Mary Whitehouse, a right leaning activist who (rather hilariously) complained about everything from Benny Hill to Doctor Who over the course of several decades of policing what other people should be able to view, read and/or listen to. Action was the brainchild of Pat Mills, a guy who kind of reinvigorated some of the same graphic content and looney tunes (no pun intended) ambience that had gotten American publisher EC Comics in hot water way back in the 1950s, in the process helping to similarly revitalize a subgenre that was known as “boys comics”. Just as Action was encountering increasing difficulties in its short and tempestuous life, Mills was alerted to what some presciently foresaw as a turning point in modern media, a little film that was then just on the cusp of being released, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Mills was encouraged to develop a science fiction book to capitalize on what was seen as a burgeoning genre, and 2000 AD was the result.

Someone might be able to make a fun parlor game for comic book aficionados where only one character from any given publisher has to be chosen as representative of that particular line. Fans of DC Comics might conceivably split fairly evenly between Superman and Batman, while my hunch is Marvel followers would be somewhat more variously focused on everything from Spider-Man to X-Men to Deadpool to Doctor Strange to—well, you get the idea. With regard to 2000 AD, while there’s no dearth of interesting material to draw on, chances are for most fans of the line (and maybe especially for those who haven’t really read the original comics but are at least tangentially aware of them), the magazine’s claim to fame would probably be Judge Dredd .

In a way, it’s kind of ironic that Dredd would end up being one of the more identifiable characters from the 2000 AD universe, since, as Hill mentions in detailing the end of Action, it was kind of the “in your face” aspect to that older line that got it in trouble with authoritarian types, when Dredd himself is almost proto fascisctic, at least at times. But that’s one of the interesting things that ends up being both overtly mentioned and also subtextually evident in any number of samples of strips—by removing the context of the content from the “current” time period (which in Action’s case was the troublesome seventies), 2000 AD could in fact address many of the same issues that Action did, but perhaps from a bit more circumspect perspective.

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD isn’t compelling from only its presentation of some of the socioeconomic issues of the seventies which ultimately gave birth to it, but also from a purely informational standpoint in terms of how stories and illustration elements are handled. The documentary has a glut of well done interviews, including Pat Hill, who’s quite funny at times, and Neil Gaiman, one of 2000 AD’s more celebrated writers. This may for more than one reason be a “niche” documentary, but it’s unfailingly interesting and may in fact captivate even those who would struggle to name any character from any comic book publisher.

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a nicely sharp and generally well detailed documentary, one helped by the fact that aside from brief archival video at the beginning showing the raucous punk fueled environment of the UK in the seventies, the documentary is made up largely of contemporary interview segments and some fun (at times animated) line drawings. The talking head segments boast very good to excellent fine detail (depending on the closeness of the coverage), and while the palette isn't exactly mind blowing, it appears natural. The line drawings are very nice and precise looking, with at times very beautiful contrast between the black "ink" and white backgrounds.

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD's LPCM 2.0 mix is perhaps a bit more boisterous than one might expect from "only" a documentary, given the fact that so much source music (including quite a bit of punk material) is utilized. The music, along with occasional sound effects in some of the animated material, give the documentary a little sonic flourish at times. Otherwise, this is a fine sounding if unremarkable (in terms of pure sonics) accounting that features a clear representation of all the interviews.

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Extended Sequences include:

  2000 AD vs. the USA (1080p; 15:11)

  Dredd 2012 — True in Spirit (1080p; 13:05)

  Judge Dredd Extended Sequence (1080p; 13:52)

  Cheap Entertainment — The Appeal of Comics (1080p; 9:00)

• Production Extras include:

  Art Blast — Jock & Henry Flint (1080p; 4:03)

  Blooper Reel (1080p; 2:04)

  Pat Mills Visits Kings Reach Tower (1080p; 5:55)

  Soundtrack — Behind the Scenes (1080p; 3:47)

  Festival Teaser Trailer (1080p; 2:06)

  UK Release Trailer (1080p; 2:04)

• Behind the Strips includes:

  Bad Company — Peter Milligan (1080p; 2:50)

  Future Shocks (1080p; 8:01)

  Rogue Trooper — Dave Gibbons & Cam Kennedy (1080p; 7:30)

  Slaine — Pat Mills (1080p; 11:28)

  Strontium Dog — Carlos Ezquerra (1080p; 5:22)

• Extended Interviews include:

  Grant Morrison (1080p; 34:14)

  Karen Berger (1080p; 34:50)

  Pat Mills (1080p; 1:27:13)

  Neil Gaiman (1080p; 17:35)

  Dave Gibbons (1080p; 48:31)

Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly am one of those guys who, while generally aware of comics culture, isn't a huge fan of comic books themselves (this despite the fact that some of my friends make their living at Portland's Dark Horse Comics). But perhaps that's an even better indication of how winning Future Shock! The Story of 2000 AD actually is, for I found it not just informative on a baseline level, but really rather captivating in terms of both the history relayed and some of the more purely technical aspects covered. Technical merits are fine, and Severin has assembled a nice supplementary package. Recommended.