Space Precinct: Manga, 1995-96

Space Precinct had the longest gestation time of any of the Gerry Anderson series so far. An hour-long pilot called Space Police was made in 1985, after production on Terrahawks had finished, but this failed to sell. It contains many elements that would eventually appear some ten years later in Space Precinct. But the feel was wholly different, being intended for a younger audience, as opposed to family and primetime viewers.

My first exposure to Space Precinct was behind the scenes, towards the end of its production at Pinewood in the spring of 1995, and its effects work at Shepperton. So my first view, ironically, was from the last episode, and of lead character Brogan (in reality, charismatic American actor Ted Shackleford) using somewhat adult language for a camera rehearsal. Even though the phrase 'so let's get the motherf**ker off the planet!' did not make it through to the filmed scene, I had an impression of a quite different type of show! The explosive effects trailer, set to the rousing score by Crispin Merrell, reinforced that. Graham Bleathman's cutaway of a police cruiser, which would take pride and place in the centrespread of issue 2 of the Space Precinct magazine, was on the wall of one of the effects offices, so I knew a publication of some sort was also in the works.

It all looked very good. Two successful and popular genres - science-fiction and crime - blended into one. How could it fail? Some would say it fell between stools: a normally hard-edged crime series, diluted by science-fiction - usually the province of kids - and the 'soap-opera' antics of the Brogan family. On Sky One, the series was at least given a decent primetime slot, which is where I eventually saw it (from an episode called The Power) in the summer. It was entertaining but some way off the expections I had from behind th scenes, being neither decent crime show nor SF series. But other episodes, like the superlative Two Against The Rock, showed the concept could be done justice. When the series finally made its debut on BBC2, recently having had some success with repeats of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet, it was relegated to the same tea-time slot of 6pm, resulting in editing of some of the more explicit scenes, and diluting an already softened concept.

So where did the Space Precinct magazine fit into all this? As on television, the publication was preceded by over three reasonably successful years of Fleetway comics - Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet - reprinting the TV21 strips, supplemented in later issues by new material. So even though the market had tired of these by the spring of 1995, a brand new Gerry Anderson series - the first in ten years (not counting Dick Spanner) - and dedicated publication seemed an assured success.

However, the publishers (though not necessarily those who eventually worked on the strips) were not only new to Gerry Anderson, but to original material as well. Cefn Ridout, editor of the magazine, relates, 'Manga Publishing bid for the license to publish Space Precinct and won. At the time I was editing a number of other Manga licensed properties such as X-Files and Manga Mania that were doing well for the company. These titles featured reprint comic strip material. Like the other Manga staff, I grew up on Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999, etc. So I have a huge affection for Gerry Anderson’s body of work. After seeing the dynamic Space Precinct trailer that was shown to all license bidders, we thought this was our opportunity to publish a new title for which we would originate all material – comic strips and features – that could then be sold on to other markets.'

As editor of the magazine, what did Cefn Ridout think of the series? 'I thought the trailer was sharp and the concept had legs, and that there was good chemistry between the leads (Ted Shackleford, Rob Youngblood and Simone Bendix). But the series was eventually dragged down by too many poor, recycled scripts - among some gems it has to be said - wobbly sets and often less than special effects'. Ridout considers, echoing a now popular view, 'I think the producers were trying to pitch it at an older audience than Thunderbirds, Terrahawks, etc. but it missed the mark and ended up in no man’s land'.

Unlike Manga's other publications, the Space Precinct magazine was to be publshed fortnightly (though the first issue was given a sales window of three weeks, and a month separated issues 4 and 5 because of Christmas). This was possibly influenced by the same fortnightly publication of the aforementioned Fleetway titles, also becoming popular with other comic publications, and meant a rigorous schedule of deadlines. 'We made a decision to go fortnightly from the outset to maintain strong readership momentum,' Cefn Ridout recalls, 'which was appropriate for a younger audience. Also as everything was approved by Gerry Anderson through all the various stages of production (ie. likenesses, script, pencils, final artwork) we had to commission and complete a lot of the comic strip material, features and interviews well in advance so we wouldn’t get caught out by a deadline'.

Because of this tight schedule, several writers were approached to pitch ideas, and two four-part story arcs were commissioned simultaneously - Simon Jowett's True Believers, and Ian Carney's The Last Warrior. These would have the added bonus, running to 48 pages total each, of being considered as standalone graphic compilations. As it was, only the latter saw release in this format, in time for the 1995 Christmas market and ahead of its completion in the magazine. This was also a minor twist of fate as, according to Ian Carney, 'The Last Warrior was initially going to be the second story arc, but I wrote it pretty quickly and John’s artwork looked impressive so they ran it in the first issue'. The story was fortunate in being accepted without any changes, 'which is unusual when working on a licensed product,' Carney notes, and this may also have been a factor in it being fast-tracked.

What did Ian Carney think of the series itself, and its potential to a storywriter? 'I think the concept – an interplanetary Hill Street Blues – was strong but wasn’t that impressed with the first few episodes. I thought the series got better as it progressed'. Given the series 'bible' and a tape of the first three episodes, Carney came up with the concept of a soldier fighting a long dead war, The Last Warrior of the title, but from deep in Demeter City itself: 'I just started with the WW2 Japanese soldier idea and built the story up from that. I followed that American series style of an action-packed A plot and a more light-hearted ‘emotional’ B-plot.' But, as he notes in hindsight, post-September 11: 'I don’t think I’d use the idea of a suicide bomber in a comic book nowadays!' Ian Carney also pitched some ideas for the shorter secondary strips that featured in each issue, though none were used.

Artist, now film-maker, John Erasmus was chosen to draw Carney's story. Self taught, Erasmus had worked in advertising before making the move to comics, and used magic markers - a popular medium for advertising visuals before computers became vogue. Having worked in design myself, I complimented him on his use of markers, which is quite an artistic discipline. He expands on his techniques: 'I draw on A3... nothing else for detailing. Well, occasionally a coloured pencil, but I find the more I get into that stuff the more the job never ends and the less satisfied with the result I am... So once I've done the drawing with pen and pencil I try to leave it at colouring with the wedge-tipped markers and nothing else'.

Like Carney, Erasmus had reference material to work from, 'I was given photos and a video of a few episodes. When I started work I don't think I'd seen an episode on TV. Thought the programmes looked like the million dollars that was apparently spent on each one'. But a lot of what Erasmus drew was not from the series itself; 'The psychic stuff (from part four) is what I get up to when I design birthday cards for people... '. And even though the work was commissioned quite a way in advance, he still felt a bit rushed, possibly to meet the deadline for the graphic compilation. 'Wished I'd had a bit more time on the art. Then you'd really have seen something!' Though he adds, 'I bet all comic book artists say this.'

It was around this time that licensing for Space Precinct hit a glitch. It would appear either actress Simone Bendix herself, or official product licensors Patrick Sinfield Ltd, were unhappy about her likeness being used. Initially, this affected the Grandreams Space Precinct annual, with photos of her being removed. For Manga, this meant the replacement of her character - Officer Jane Castle - from the cover of the Last Warrior graphic compilation (see left) with Tarn Officer Took. Cefn Ridout recalls 'We commissioned a lot of work right up front, which required each artist to submit likenesses before they commenced work on the strips. When they were approved they started work on the strips, and we wouldn't have gone back and asked them to change faces after that point. Covers were a different matter as they were the chief selling point on the newsstands and we had time to make alterations if required as they were one-offs.' However, artist John Erasmus recalls, 'I wasn't allowed to draw Simone in the first place (for the cover of issue 2) ...it was always Took from the start. The only issue was I drew a big gun (held by Took on that cover) which wasn't part of Space Precinct's repertoir and that had to go... ' Erasmus would have liked to have done his own cover for the graphic compilation, saying, 'The MacNeil cover was simply commissioned up front, before I had a chance to submit my own cover. I asked, please. But they said no'. As it was, only Mick Austin's cover for issue 4 featured Jane Castle, as the veteran artist had presumably got a good likeness, but the character is also conspicuously absent from any artwork in the first three issues.

The aforementioned secondary strips, running to six pages per issue, would be devoid of this problem, focussing on the alien cast of the series. Standing out from the run of single stories was the only two-parter in this format: Arcadia, written and drawn by David Hine. As writer, Hine was also sent 'a tape of a sample episode to get a feel of the show' and as artist, 'a set of studio stills of the major characters and diagrammatic designs of the hardware'. Like other British artists and writers, he was raised on the earlier Gerry Anderson productions, so how did he view the new series? 'It was more 'authentic' looking than previous Anderson shows and a lot slicker. It also had a harder edge to it but looking back, I think I prefer the clunky special effects of the earlier shows'. The secondary strips tended to have a more humourous side, as typified by the first venture, William Cade's Parental Guidance. This offered a balance to the harder main story arcs, and possibly set the tone for future stories, as Hine recollects; 'The script is a lot lighter and more humorous than I would normally write. It's too long ago to be sure if I was actually requested to put the humour in'.

Arcadia was also the first secondary strip to feature on a cover, and this was the only contribution to the magazine by well-known British artist John Higgins (right). Created on his first computer, a Power Mac 7100 - 'the cutting edge of personal computer technology at the time!' and Photoshop 2.5, Higgins explains, 'I generating the background using a filter over painted blocks of colour, the big head on right probably painted traditionally by hand and scanned, the same with the planets. I scanned and pasted photos of parts of the Aliens, using hands and heads, leather jackets, badges, from reference supplied, collaged together and retouched as they were all grainy with print screening on them. I probably finished it within two days as at that time I was doing a large number of low cost covers for multiple companies, Fleetway, IPC and Manga, but it was fun'. As a regular contributor to the Judge Dredd strip for 2000AD, on which he also used a combination of traditional art and digital composites, Higgins was also asked about drawing one of the Space Precinct strips, but the magazine folded before this became practical.

Unlike the main strips, the secondary stories tended to be drawn in black and white, and coloured separately. David Hine believes for his strip, in order to meet the fortnightly schedule, 'it could have been down to the time factor'. Nigel Parkinson, who had contributed some illustrations and strips to the Fleetway Anderson comics, was colourist on four of these six issues, including Arcadia. 'I was sent the original artboards which I had laser-copied, and then coloured using the new generation of Letraset markers, the Tria pens (which have three different thicknesses of nib on each pen) and magic markers. There was some discussion about re-applying the original black line in some way during printing so I was a little careless about borders and whiting out, but was surprised to see the finished print job had simply taken my coloured photocopies and put the lettering on! The next job I did (Cory Macrae's Timebomb, in issue 5), I was very careful!'.

The exception to this way of colouring was Nigel Parkinson's last published work for the Space Precinct magazine: Cruise Control, written by Paul Grist. Artist Colin MacNeil had already produced a cover to promote the strip, and most of the first page, but Parkinson had to step in at the last minute to help out, "I just remember that one being very hard work, a page a day, full paint, something I've never done before or would wish to do again. But the remainder was rather sketchy and I had to guess what effect he might have been looking for. I believe he was supposed to do the whole thing so obviously he left the line work very open for himself..." He admits now, that the whole thing was 'trying to make it look like I knew what I was doing, but it wasn't very successful...'

Space Precinct magazine strip guide

File 001, 31 October 1995
Editor: Cefn Ridout. Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover Art: Kev Walker.

The Last Warrior, Part One
Writer: Ian Carney. Art: John Erasmus.
12 pages, colour.
Demeter City has a bad reputation.
There are a million jokes and apocryphal stories of its escalating crime problems and soaring murder rate.
'Hell on Altor', they call it.
But even Demeter has quiet nights, when villainy stays in and puts its feet up.
Not that Officer Jack Haldane and Lieutenant Patrick Brogan are complaining...
Haldane tries to get Brogan to go for a drink after work but his family are expecting a student from the planet Rhan that evening. The chat is interrupted by a collision with an out of control hopper heading for the city hospital. They cannot shoot it down as they are over a crowded part of Downtown, so Haldane leaps aboard, only to find the Creon pilot has already been shot dead. Bringing the hopper under control, they are unaware they are being watched by a heavily-armoured figure. Downtown, Officer Romek visits elderly widow Sona to tell her it is unlikely the the goods - including the only pictures of her dead husband - stolen from her apartment will ever be recovered, and she breaks down. Back home on orbiting Suburb Delta, Brogan has got on the wrong side of wife Sally for being late, but their 'visitor' Ru-akk is a red gelatinous substance in a sealed container. The autopsy of the dead hopper pilot reveals he was shot by a Ka-Llan shell, and that it was fired from the deserted hovering Volant Centre mall, empty for some twenty years. Podly orders Brogan and Haldane to investigate, but as they explore inside, the Creon caretaker sent to let them in is brutally but silently murdered. Haldane detects movement with his multicom, but it turns out to be a solar-powered ride activated by their lights. Believing the place clean, they do not see the heavily armoured figure hanging from the ceiling above them...
Notes:
• Part One of The Last Warrior is a decent scene setter for the magazine's main strip, enlivened by John Erasmus' slick and colourful magic marker artwork. Though interestingly, the A-plot is almost sidelined by Romek's B-plot, and the Brogan family, for this opening instalment.

Parental Guidance
Writer: William Cade. Art: Andrew Currie. Colourist: Steve Whitaker. 6 pages, colour.

Romek's parents are visiting him on the Precinct 88 station, much to his embarrassment, and the amusement of Orrin. They tell of Romek's first 'girlfriend' Morin (when he was only eight), and to his shock and horror, they have invited her along that evening. A prisoner breaks free of the two human officers holding him, and Romek confronts him, punching him unconscious in his anger. Fed up, Romek storms out, but then a lovely lady Creon appears - the now grown-up Morin - whom Orrin now takes the opportunity to wine and dine.
Notes:
• A wonderful comic vignette about Precinct 88's greatest double act.
• According to this story, Romek is thirty years old. But not which planet the years refer to...


File 002, 21 November 1995
Editor: Cefn Ridout. Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover Art: John Erasmus.

The Last Warrior, Part Two
Writer: Ian Carney. Art: John Erasmus. 12 pages, colour.
Matt Brogan is arguing with mother Sally about not being allowed to go with friends to arcades in Downtown, and illicitly calls his father at work. This act saves Brogan's life when Matt sees the Ka-Llan warrior behind him on the multicom. Blasts from the warrior's guns weaken the old floors and Brogan falls through. Haldane tries to intervene as the warrior jumps through to kill his partner, and both narrowly escape when the Ka-Llan hurls a grenade and disappears after the explosion. Back at the Station House, Podly is lenient with them as Commander S'aath of the Ka-Llan militia has arrived to tke over the case. The rogue Ka-Llan appears to be a survivor of a short holy war with the Creons from twenty years ago, who still believes the conflict exists. Meanwhile, in Downtown, Romek has gone undercover with Orrin in an attempt to buy back Sona's belongings. But the story of trying to acquire personal effects to forge a convincing background for green card status doesn't wash with the dealer, as this is all done digitally now. S'aath and his trained corps have tracked the rogue warrior to another area of Downtown, but they fall into a trap set by the Underclass, assorted aliens who live in the sewer system and prey on unsuspecting passer-bys as food. As S'aath sends out a desperate call for assistance before being dragged into the darkness, Brogan And Haldane are the nearest police to respond. And the Underclass are waiting for them too...
Notes:
• John Erasmus cites a possible inspiration for the look of the Ka-Llan warriors was Michael Golden's Micronauts.
• For a story inspired by Japanese soldiers in the jungle still fighting World War Two, this instalment offers another interesting parallel to wars in Crimea and Vietnam, with the technology advanced Ka-Llan overpowered easily by the Underclass in their own sewer environment.

Arcadia, Part One
Writer/Artist: David Hine.
Colourist: Nigel Parkinson. 6 pages, colour.
East of Demeter, a wonderland called Arcadia has recently sprung up, offering virtual hyperreality trips to the young in a colourful promotion by invitation. Two weeks later, Podly receives a covert visitor at home - Randolph Sarrin, prominent up-and-coming city councillor. The Creon is being blackmailed by Bagaan, the director of Arcadia, in return for curing his son of hyper-reality addiction, and he suspects other politicians, businessmen and maybe even police, may be hit in the same way. However, Arcadia is outside the city limits so Podly is forced to find other means to get hard evidence. Calling a press conference at the station house, Podly states his intent to shut Arcadia down, claiming he also has material in a video tape that would be embarrassing to certain individuals. Bagaan is furious but finds he has Podly's niece Raana in one of the hyper-reality cubicles, and attempts to blackmail the police captain into handing over the tape...
Notes:
• As David Hine draws his own story here, the script is tight and succinct with only short descriptions. As he notes himself, 'This script only had enough detail for the editor to have an idea of what the finished story would look like'.
• Arcadia is described as 'a futuristic Disneyland style group of buildings'.
• The script describes Bagaan as 'a Daanite' from Altor, with 'an apparently friendly alien face, growths from the upper lip are suggestive of a long oriental moustache. Something in the black liquid eyes suggests another, darker side to the shaman/showman exterior'.
• There are minor changes from script to printed strip: the recipient of the invitation on page 1 is 'a teenage Tarn youth' but this is changed to a human girl, and when Podly identifies Sarrin on page 3, the short line 'Mr P.R. himself' is omitted.
• Sarrin's son is only described as 'Sarrin junior'.


File 003, 05 December 1995
Editor: Cefn Ridout. Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover Art: John Higgins.

Arcadia, Part Two
Writer/Artist: David Hine. Colourist: Nigel Parkinson. 6 pages, colour.
Slomo rushes out of Podly's office to Romek and Orrin, claiming the captain has gone crazy. Podly had smashed the screen and taken the tape of evidence, taking a police cruiser to Altor. Romek traces the cruiser to Arcadia, and he and Orrin have to option but to pursue with a warrant for Podly's arrest. At Arcadia, Podly is met by Bagaan and armed guards, and taken to see Raana, who has not been in the hyper-reality long enough for any brainwashing to have taken effect. Before Bagaan can dispose of them, Orrin and Romek arrive, and a gunfight breaks out between their cruiser and the guards. Podly pursuades Bulbo, Bagaan's aide, to surrender, and the Daanite director is finally arrested. Podly reveals Raana was in on the plan - the only way to get police with authority into Arcadia - and the 'embarrassing evidence' is tape of Romek and Orrin's drag act at the last Precinct christmas party!
Notes:
• Frames 3 to 6 on page 1, and frames 1 to 4 (including the inset of Slomo) on page 2 are supposed to be a flashback, as indicated in the script, but this is not clear in the final strip.
• The first draft script for part 2 refers to Podly's niece throughout as Kaarla, but as part 1 had already referred to her as Raana, this name was retained.
• The script describes the guards as 'armed Daanites' even though one is clearly human. But David Hine indicates: 'I think this just referred to the 'soldiers' of Bagann's cult rather than any alien race. Probably I was thinking of the Dannite sect - the members of the Mormon Church who perform their 'blood executions'.
• There is a minor change: on page 5, frame 3, in the script Bagaan uses an unspecified curse '****!!!' which is replaced by 'The fools!' for the final lettering. Hine is sure 'that was an editorial change'.
• Arcadia is a mixed bag, taking the then new - and rapidly cliched - concept of virtual reality and giving it an interesting addiction/blackmail twist, similar to the Star Trek The Next Generation episode 'The Game'. 'I haven't seen that episode. Virtual Reality was the buzz at the time.' Hine recollects, 'I did a couple of scripts for other things (a Mambo story for 2000AD and a short story for Marvel UK) which also dealt with the theme of computer generated realities. Philip K Dick would have been the main inspiration'. It is not a bad story, perhaps only marred by its brevity, but Hine himself now says, 'Looking at it now I don't rate the script very highly. The idea is pretty cliched and the art is below par'.

The Last Warrior, Part Three
Writer: Ian Carney. Art: John Erasmus. 12 pages, colour.
By the time police back-up, led by Romek and Orrin, arrives on the scene the trail is cold, and the cabling in the system jams signals so there is no way to follow. Brogan and Haldane are swept deeper into the sewers by a floodgate tunnel opening, and find themselves set upon by the Underclass, only just managing to scare them off with a flashlight. As the rogue Ka-Llan sits on a high Demeter structure chanting a mantra of destruction, Haldane and Brogan penetrate the unusually plush Underclass nest, and while its denizens are watching television, find S'aath still alive. But as they attempt to carry him out they are spotted and a gunfight ensues. Brogan suddenly smells gas, and they flee just as it ignites, destroying the nest and purging the sewers in the vicinity. Brogan and Haldane take the critically injured Ka-Llan commander back to the station house by Cruiser, but before dying S'aath warns that the rogue warrior is no normal soldier - it can destroy himself in a massive bio-chemical explosion...

Notes:
• This is the one instalment that really does hit its mark. The scenes of the Underclass - watching what might be a future derivative of kids' show Barney & Friends on TV - in a beautiful faux-lounge amidst the large cavernous sewers, are above and beyond anything the series aspired to. It's almost Judge Dredd (but for mutants, read aliens) in its sublimity...


File 004, 19 December 1995
Editor: Cefn Ridout.
Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover Art: Mick Austin (left).

The Last Warrior, Part Four
Writer: Ian Carney.
Art: John Erasmus. 12 pages, colour.
After an emergency meeting at Station House, Haldane and Brogan are helped in their search for the rogue warrior by officers Castle and Took. By video, Romek complains that he and Orrin being left out of the search, but the sight of Creons could tip the warrior over the edge. Haldane jokes that he will get Took to scan his mind and print out the pictures. This suggestion solves one of Romek's problems, but now the two cruisers have spotted the glowing Ka-Llan warrior. Landing, Took tries to use a psychic assault on it to disable the detonation, while Castle tries to reason with it. But the clash of these causes the warrior to suspect a trick, and it flees to a roof area. Brogan and Haldane land, only to find the roof booby-trapped and their cruiser blown to the edge. But the warrior has positioned himself under a water tower, and bullets from Brogan's gun cause jets of liquid to hiss down on the super-heated casing, momentarily flooring him. Took tries another psychic assault, and nearly succeeds before mental defences attack her. Brogan has a last ditch idea, and returns to the cruiser. The Ka-Llan is seconds from detonation when S'aath appears, ordering the cancellation of the program as the holy war is over. The warrior cools, and requests permission to sleep. Brogan takes off S'aath's helmet, and awaits the Ka-Llan military to arrive and escort it offplanet. The next day, Romek takes Sona to the Station House and, using Took's mind reading capabilities, is able to get her mental images of her husband to printout, replacing the stolen pictures. In return, Sona tidies up the chaotic filing area. A week having passed, the Brogan's prepare to say goodbye to student Ru-akk, when suddenly the teen alien arrives, apologising for being late, and wondering if his mum's present of homemade jam arrived okay...
Notes:
• As a whole, The Last Warrior manages to get the characterisation, dialogue, even the Romek and Brogan family sub-plots, spot on to the feel of the series, and it evokes a lot of the atmosphere. Even though the sleek superhero-like Ka-Llan soldiers betray more comic orientated ideals - but where else could you do this - The Last Warrior is an effective and eye-catching story arc to introduce the series.

Christmas Spirit
Writer: Stephen Jewell. Art/Colourist: Gary Chaloner. 6 pages, colour.
It is Christmas - another human cultural infection with little meaning on Altor - but the usual yuletide chaos rules the Station House. Podly decides to respond to an incident himself, with Slomo, to get out. A robot Santa Claus has gone crazy in Uptown store Bracy's, believing itself to be the real thing after being told Santa does not really exist. It is now giving away all the goods, and holding owner Mr Bracy hostage at a children's party in the store. Slomo tries to reason with it to no effect, so Podly goes in, and asks the children who the robot is. At the overwhelming response of 'Santa!', the robot surrenders, nearly killing Bracy in a 'toy' guillotine by accident until stopped by Podly and a new 'toy' ray gun. Threatened with a charge for a 'lethal' toy, Bracy allows 'Santa' to continue the season of goodwill.

Notes: Gary Chaloner's artwork is nicely stylised, helped by wife Tracy (who is credited at the bottom of the first page) who coloured the strip bright and seasonally, with a muted wrapping paper style background on each page being a nice touch.


File 005, 16 January 1996
Editor: Cefn Ridout. Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover: Tony Luke.

True Believers, Part One
Writer: Simon Jowett. Art: Graham Manley. 12 pages, colour.
Deep Space Archaeology.
Long range scanners and space suits have replaced ancient maps and shovels, but the same questions occupy the minds of every member of the team:
What is it? Where does it come from? When was it built? Who built it?
Roy Colloy introduces Professor Sondra Conway to Tarn archeologist Maressa Otto of the Pan-Simter Museum, in the depths of an ancient wrecked vessel adrift in space. As they discuss the study, a strange signal is heard over the radios as a masive explosion tears the ship apart. Some time later, a cloaked figure chases a Creon through the night of Downtown - only to be interrupted by the arrival of Brogan and Haldane. The Creon escapes, and the two officers find the pursuer is Sondra Conway. Back on the Station House, she relates how her friends were killed in the destruction of the wreck - an act she does not think was an accident, as the explosion occurred in the propulsion nacelles. Conway is also convinced a missing shipment of artifacts may be on Altor, but the Creon who could lead her to them is being scared off. As these could, in the wrong hands, start civil wars on Altor, Simter and Danae, their value is extreme. As extreme, almost, as the One True Path, who seem to be inciting Creon youths to beat up non-Creons. And another such incident is flaring up at a League for Tolerance rally that Officers Castle and Took are watching over...
Notes:
• Simon Jowett's script is detailed, evocative and witty, and carries some superb dark undertones.
• The alien hulk is described as 'a good deal older and a lot less sleek than the surrounding ships. Its design is more ornate, more alien... a difference along the lines of Jules Verne's 'Nautilus' compared to today's jet skis'.
• On page 6 of the script, Haldane refers to Brogan as 'Pat' but this was changed to the more characteristic 'Brogan' for the final version.
• According to the script, the logo of the League for Tolerance - three circles linked together - represents 'harmony between Creons, Tarns, and any race that comes from outside the Mentorn system'.

Time Bomb
Writer: Cory MacRae. Art: Andrew Currie. Inks: Graham Higgins.
Colourist: Nigel Parkinson. 6 pages, colour.
Took has been partnered with Orrin for a bust tip-off in a Downtown hotel, where a hopper hovers near an upstairs window. The rundown room contains an old man and a spherical alien device with a counter, which Took believes cannot be right according to their tip-off. But the man's ID gives his age as fifty, and the device will crumble the city to dust by aging one thousand years - it aged him forty years by going off when he was programming it. With only a minute to go, Orrin blasts the device with his gun, and Took tries to disarm it with telekinesis, but the man grabs the device and jumps out the window into the hopper. The bombs goes off... but Orrin and Took are okay (so something they did worked), as is the city. At ground level, police back-up arrives, and Orrin finds the fugitive in the hopper... now reduced to a baby in age.
Notes:
• The uncharacteristic teaming of Orrin with Took promises some interesting dialogue, but the brevity of the tale allows little to be done with it.


File 006, 30 January 1996
Editor: Cefn Ridout. Deputy Editor: David Jerrom.
Cover Art: Colin MacNeil (right).

Cruise Control
Writer: Paul Grist.
Art: Colin MacNeil.
Colourist: Nigel Parkinson. 6 pages, colour.
Romek is talking to a group of kids in the Station House cruiser bay, and relates how tough and hard you have to be to wear a police uniform... but the truth is somewhat different!
Some time previously... Romek and Orrin are on patrol when they notice a disturbance in Downtown but as they land and investigate, they miss a report on Milton Orlock who has escaped from custody. The passenger of an air taxi is claiming being overcharged for a short trip, but as Romek takes details their own cruiser is stolen by Orlock. The only transport available is the taxi, so Romek, Orrin and the passenger climb in and give chase. Losing sight of it behind a building, the air taxi suddenly gives out... to crashland on top of the cruiser! Romek's rhetoric inspires the kids a little... even though the he and his partner have been relegated to cleaning the cruisers for their recent mishap!
Notes:
• Another highly amusing comic vignette featuring our two favourite Creons.

True Believers, Part Two
Writer: Simon Jowett. Art: Graham Manley. 12 pages, colour.
Cruisers are despatched from the Station House to assist, and manage to get to Castle and Took in time. As Creons themselves, Romek and Orrin seem torn over whether the One True Path are responsible for the violence. While the injured officers lick their wounds back on the Station House, Podly prepares to meet the leader of the One True Path - Rollo Garsh. Garsh is an extremist, bent on ownership of what he refers to as 'the First Settlement' and eager to establish his 'New Order' of Creons. While Haldane and Sondra seem to getting close to each other, Brogan muses that the League for Tolerance must be naive if they did not expect a reaction to the rally. Podly and Garsh clash when the police captain tries to warn about inciting violence, so he sends Romek and Orrin to stake out the headquarters of the One True Path in the lower city. However, the two Creon officers are given away by human private investigator Kehoe, opertating under his own agenda. By diverting the guards this way, he gains access to the headquarters, and knocks out Garsh. The extremist leader has been grooming the telekinetic powers of a young alien girl called Tekkie, whom Kehoe is there to bring back to her parents. At home, Brogan is watching an interview with Garsh on TV, when the door buzzer goes and, to his horror, he finds Liz in distress, and Matt badly beaten from a fight with Creon kids, who collapses in his arms...
Notes:
• The script indicates that the story title and part number were written to be included within each instalment, and possibly omitted so the same plates could be used for the graphic compilation. Here, it would have appeared at bottom of the first page, in the frame where Castle and Took are surrounded by Creon thugs.
• The likening of The One True Path to Nazis is quite explicit in the script, with Rollo Garsh is described as 'more like a successful media tycoon than the leader of a fascistic politico-religious cult', while his expression is 'distant, contemplative. He's probably planning the annexation of Poland, or something'.
• Likewise, Ando is described as 'Dr Goebbels to Garsh's Hitler', and Garsh's vision on page 5 is referred to as a 'Triumph of the Will' - the title of a famous 1934 Nazi propaganda film.
• Simon Jowett is also fond of political humour, referring to Garsh on page 7 as 'giving a performance which would win the All-Time Smug Bastard Award - if Michael Howard (the now leader of the Conservative Party!) hadn't already won it'.
• Kehoe is described: 'Wearing a tatty raincoat and several day's stubble, he could be posing for a fashion spread in Down-At-Heel Private Eye Quarterly'.
• Although depicted as more Tarn-like, for reasons that later become clear, Tekkie is described as 'a Creon girl about the same age as Matt Brogan'.

Unpublished

File 007: True Believers, Part Three
Writer: Simon Jowett. Art: Graham Manley. 12 pages, colour.
After dinner with Sondra Conway, Haldane has escorted her back to the seedy Hotel Excelsior, where she is staying, in Downtown Demeter. Haldane is bemused as to why she did not choose an orbital hotel, but Conway is not here for a holiday - she can find the information about the One True Path, the death of her friends, and the theft of the artifacts, more readily here. Haldane angles to be invited in for a coffee but Conway replies she may not be all the woman he expects her to be, and enters her room alone, shutting the door. Bemused, Haldane ponders - like Jane Castle before her - Conway will soon realise her mistake. But it is not a call back Haldane hears, but the woman screaming as she stands back in the corridor, pointing at the room. Trying to calm her, Haldane calls into the room he is a cop, and for ever who is inside to make no sudden moves. Little chance, for sprawled in a shabby armchair is a dead, equally shabby man, shot between the eyes. "K-Kehoe!' Conway stammers.
Later, Haldane has brought Conway back to Precinct House 88, and Castle gets information on the dead Kehoe from Slomo:
Kehoe, Anthony John, Born London, federation of European States. School record: Clean. Joined European Police Force. Record: Clean.
The young eager police officer left Europol after giving evidence against corrupt fellow officers, and held a private investigator's license for ten years in the Terran system before it was revoked, following accusations of jury-rigging in another police corruption case. Conway confesses to Kehoe having responded to her first enquiries on Altor about the stolen artifacts, and whoever killed him must have found her address in his papers. It is vital the link between the stolen artifacts and the One True Path's bid for power is found soon, and Took may know a way to find it.
In the Station House morgue Took, watched by Castle, Haldane and Conway, attempts to enter the 'mind' of the dead Kehoe to get is last thoughts. Hladane knows Brogan, currently looking over Matt in the city hospital, would have a fit at the thought of this, but Took tries anyway...
Planet Danae, some time previously. Accompanied by the psyche of Kehoe, Took is privy to his meeting with Tekkie's parents - a rare mix of Tarn mother and Creon father - and being hired to find her after she disappears. Tekkie had been bullied by other kids because of her mixed-race background, and read a book called 'Tomorrow Belongs To Us' by Rollo Garsh. She come to Altor to be close to him, but also to prove she was a better Creon than the 'pure' ones. But Kehoe was quickly found by One True Path thugs after abducting Tekkie back, as the girl had a tracer.
Waking from the trance, Took suddenly realises Tekkie could see her in the 'vision', which would be impossible unless her mixed heritage has made her stronger than either a Creon or Tarn. And she is currently helping Garsh and his One True Path followers to find 'The First Settlement', a mythical place far out in the Altor desert, and proof the founding settlers on the planet were Creon. Brogan has now arrived back on the Station House and, realising that Garsh may be on the verge of discovering something incredible, decides they must follow without official authorisation to find out what...
Notes:
• Nothing in the previous instalments really prepares you for Kehoe's suddenly death, so soon after his introduction, or the 'trip' Took undertakes - probably the most innovative use of Tarn psychic powers seen in either the series or the strips.


File 008: True Believers, Part Four
Writer: Simon Jowett. Art: Graham Manley. 12 pages, colour.
Twenty-three hours after leaving the Station House, the police cruiser carrying Brogan, Haldane, Castle and Conway runs out of power far into the Altor desert and crashlands. Fortunately, they are not too far from their objective, and Conway leads the others to a huge trapdoor in the desert floor. Disabling the One True Path vehicles, Conway leads them into the underground complex, the design of which indicates its builders were the same as the space wreck that was destroyed. Ahead of them, in a vast underground amphitheatre, Garsh is directing the tired Tekkie to use her powerful telepathic gift to activate the psionically resonant stones and make contact... with the past! Assembled from the memories of the stones and Tekkie's powers, a female alien vision called Druna appears - member of a race that has characteristics of both Creons and Tarns. She tells them this is not the First Settlement... but the last, to which Garsh cries out in anguish. Hearing, Brogan and the others move to locate the source, even though Conway would rather examine the place in more detail.
Druna explains: Our home system was densely populated by several races. We had lived and traded with one another for centuries. No one can remember who started the 'Gene War'. Cities, continents, even planets were devestated in the name of genetic superiority. Telepathy makes for poor soldiers. When you can feel another's pain, you are less willing to inflict it upon them... unable to fight, we could only run before the tide of war.
The telepaths wandered the stars for generations, finally settling on Altor in its prehistory, but in time the warmongers tracked them down too. The only hope is a deception, with brave volunteers piloting a fleet of fast ships to lead them away. These are destroyed, but save the others, who decide to settle on the other two habitable planets so if one falls to war or disease, the rest will survive. These other worlds are named after the two heroes who comamnded the decoy fleet: Simter and Danae.
Garsh is horrified that the Creons may be descended from what he sees as a race of cowards and, insane with rage, orders his thugs to destroy the place with explosives. Only he and Tekkie saw Druna, and if the Creon race is to rule, all ties with its polluted past must be severed. He orders Ando to kill Tekkie, just as Brogan and the other other arrive and interrupt. But Garsh has the detonator, and activates it. The explosion starts to bring the vaulted roof down, killing Garsh and Ando, and trapping Haldane. Conway tells Brogan to get the others out, as she frees Haldane and carries him free. The explosion on the space wreck had shattered her body, so it was rebuilt cybernetically - and she had the limbs upgraded in strength illegally afterwards.
Outside, some time later, police cruisers arrive to investigate the large hole in the desert which has appeared, and Haldane is taken to the Station House hospital. Conway has gone back to the desert, to try and salvage as much from the ruins as possible. With Tekkie's help, from her contact with the aliens, details of what the past civilisation was like could be pieced together. The news that the Tarns and Creons share a common root should stop the One True Path in its tracks... but rumours have already got out, and a rival Tarn group may be claiming their species to be the superior, having retained the telepathic ability. Took is horrified, and Brogan warns: ...That's why we've all got to stay alert. Tolerance is too valuable to take for granted. If we want any kind of future... we're going to build it together.
Notes:
• The script describes Druna as 'tall and broad as one of Garsh's bodyguards, the creature's face and head is a combination of both races' most prominent features: three-eyed, the creature's third eye looks out from a bump in the centre of its very Creon like forehead. The other two eyes sit at either end of Creonesque stalks'.
• While having quite disparate parts, True Believers comes together incredibly well as a whole, and makes a fitting impromptu finale to the Space Precinct format.
• This is the Space Precinct format given wings, from gritty street-level observations about prejudice - barely touched upon in the series itself with the episode 'Hate Street' - to the epic species-crossing conclusion. For any story to not see completion is tragic. For one as good as this, and its superlative third part, it's criminal!

Following on from The Last Warrior was True Believers, written by Simon Jowett. Like Ian Carney and John Erasmus, Jowett was asked to contribute through his previous association with independent US comic publishers Dark Horse, whom Manga Publishing Director Dick Hansom had worked for as editor. Jowett was also given a tape of an episode: 'This kind of reference material can be useful in the early days of working on a licensed project.' - and had successfully pitched his story, initially inspired by the staple image of many an SF novel book cover - the wrecked spaceship. He muses on the subject, 'I do remember coming up with the image of an archeological investigation of an ancient space hulk some time before I found a story in which to use it. I remember quite liking the idea that, in the distant future, things which for us embody the promise of the future, such as interstellar spacecraft, would be considered historical relics'. But from this premise springs forth an epic tale about prejudice, and the origins of the Tarn and Creon species. Jowett expands on this ideal, 'The fact that all humans, regardless of overt racial characteristics, share a common ancestor somewhere back down the evolutionary tree has always struck me as the most obvious refutation of all kinds of racist dogma.'

Unfortunately, the magazine was having problems. As Cefn Ridout recounts, 'The mechanics of the newsstand business is such that you only get a good idea of how your title is selling after a month or so, once all the unsold returns have been quantified. Depending on the figures, you need to make a decision on future print runs, cover promotions, geographical distribution, etc. On a fortnightly, that means you might have already published 3-4 issues before you really know how sales are going and respond accordingly. Second issue sales are particularly critical. By the time we were publishing the 4th issue of Space Precinct, we knew we’d have to boost sales, so we tried some cover mounts and re-oriented where copies were sold'. But this unfortunately did not work either. Ridout continues, 'We had to wait until issue six was published to find that the promotion hadn’t really arrested the sales slide, so we had to pull the plug quick before we lost any more money. And publishing original work at industry rates on a fortnightly basis was a lot of money'.

Three months after its launch, with that sixth issue, the Space Precinct magazine stopped, without fanfare or farewell. Cefn Ridout comments, 'The fortnightly schedule allowed us no time to let readers know what was happening'. It is interesting to note though, the final issue carries no 'next issue' page, as previous ones had. But such was the sudden nature of the cancellation, older brother magazine The X-Files still ran an advert for the magazine the month after the Space Precinct magazine disappeared from newsstands.



True Believers was the main casualty of the cancellation, remaining a half-published venture like, ironically, another of Simon Jowett's comic mini-series: James Bond: A Silent Armageddon, for Dark Horse a few years previously. But both scripts and artwork were completed, and Jowett remains pleased with what artist Graham Manley produced. 'I do remember meeting him at a convention shortly after the cancellation of the magazine where he showed me his art for the unpublished pages. He had done an excellent job of coping with both the epic and the street-level elements of the story and it was a real shame that the public didn't get to see all of it'. Cefn Ridout was also pleased with the strip, citing 'it was a great finale'.

At the end of the day, Cefn Ridout remains philosophical about the short-lived venture. 'It needs to be said that the success of TV tie-in titles is inextricably linked to the fortunes of the series on which they’re based. And the magazine’s sales figures mirrored that of Space Precinct’s ratings'.

'Everyone worked bloody hard on Space Precinct, so naturally we were disappointed, especially as the comic strip creators and magazine contributors to a man and woman had done such fantastic work that they received high praise from Gerry Anderson himself. In my humble, but not unbiased opinion, the strips were superior to many of the TV stories and we were immensely proud of publishing what we could and saddened by what we couldn’t.'

'Cest la vie.'

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:

Ian Carney • John Erasmus • John Freeman • Graham Higgins • John Higgins •

David Hine • Simon Jowett • Nigel Parkinson • Cefn Ridout • Guido Weisshahn •

- for their valued assistance and contributions to this feature.


Version 1.1 - 01.05.05

Any comments or notes about any of the strips, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.


All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders