IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 32

In 1982, the year that the new version of EAGLE was launched, a pop group called Loose Talk released a single called Dan Dare, about our hero. Written by band member Ray Walton, it was heavily promoted in EAGLE and was played on Radio One, where it was Tony Blackburn's Record of the Week. A video was made featuring the band wearing costumes previously used in the James Bond film Moonraker and the TV series Space 1999 and incorporating frames from the Return of the Mekon strip from EAGLE, drawn by Oliver Frey and Ian Kennedy, but it was not a hit. Although associated with Dan's Great Great Grandson as featured in the 1980s EAGLE, a reference in the  song to 'Satellite XQY' recalls the original Dan's adventure Prisoners of Space which Ray Walton had read when it was reprinted in EAGLE in 1967. 

The group followed the song up with one about 2000 A.D.'s  Judge Dredd. However I.P.C. Magazines were unhappy with some of the lyrics and placed a High Court Injunction on the record. I.P.C. lost the subsequent case and the record was eventually released. The phrase that particularly offended IP.C. was 'Judge Dredd, he's bad'. It was argued that 'bad' actually meant 'good' in the context of the song. 

Another song entitled Dan Dare was recorded by the Punk Rock group The Mekons in 1978 and featured on their debut album The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen (not a misprint!). As the group's name indicates, they were fans of Dan Dare. Although they have undergone significant changes in personnel and musical styles over the years and ceased activity for a while, they still perform to this day, with their latest album being released in 2020. 

Back in 1975, Elton John released his own Dan Dare song, written by himself and Bernie Taupin, on his Rock of the Westies album. Elton wanted to release the song as the album's first single, but he was overruled and Island Girl was chosen instead. His Dan Dare was never released as a single, but it resurfaced in 2002 when it was used as the closing music for the computer generated Dan Dare TV series.  

IN AND OUT OF THE EAGLE 31

The Web of Fear was a ten part Dan Dare adventure which began in EAGLE in the issue dated October 20th 1962. Written by David Motton and illustrated in black and white by Keith Watson, it featured an invasion of Earth by giant spider-like creatures which covered huge areas with dense destructive webs. Not one of Dan's most memorable adventures, it nevertheless had a memorable title, which was taken up six years later by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln for a six part Doctor Who serial, beginning on February 3rd 1968. 

Set principally in the London Underground, it did not feature spiders, but the Yeti creatures they had created for their Abominable Snowmen serial for Doctor Who some months earlier and which were controlled by a being that called itself 'The Great Intelligence'. The 'web' of the title referred to a deadly web-like fungus which engulfs much of London, necessitating a mass evacuation of the city. This story is regarded by many Doctor Who fans as a classic. It marks the first appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (then a mere Colonel) who would prove to be one of the Doctor's longest serving and most popular companions. The title was used again three years later, for an episode of another B.B.C. science fiction series - Doomwatch. This story was broadcast in February 8th 1971 and did include spiders. A vaccine experiment goes out of control and results in hundreds of spiders carrying a deadly virus. It was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who had also contributed stories for Doctor Who and would certainly have encountered the title when used on that programme. Whether they had encountered Dan Dare's Web of Fear is not known, but Kit Pedler had been a Dan Dare fan in his boyhood. 

In the interests of completion, there was also a Spanish/French contemporary thriller film called Web of Fear, directed by Francois Villiers in 1964, but clearly David Motton used the title first on Dan Dare.  

EAGLE TIMES Vol.35 No.3

 The Autumn issue of EAGLE Times is out now. Articles cover Dan Dare's lesser known rivals, girls in EAGLE, Luck of the Legion, the Canadian Pacific Railway and a report on our 2022 Gathering in Greenwich. There are also tributes to our late member, Adrian Perkins, who was greatly involved in Dan Dare fandom for over forty years, including being a key member of the EAGLE Times editorial team. There are two instalments of In and Out of the EAGLE, about the artist Fortunino Matania and the radio hero Dick Barton. A Letters' Page, the first episode of a new Sergeant Archie Berkeley-Willoughby adventure and the text of Steve Winders' talk at the Society's Gathering complete the issue.