‘You Bet Your Life'
Mega City One Year: 2099
Published 13th August 1977, 2000ad Prog: 25 (Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.)
Parts: 1
Script: John WagnerArtist: Ian GibsonLetters: Bill Nuttall/John Aldrich
Synopsis
‘You Bet Your Life’ is an illegally broadcast game show where contestants compete for credits, but in doing so are playing with the lives of their loved ones should they fail. Walter the Wobot, Dredd’s maintenance droid, is broadcasting the show on his monitor-face. Dredd initially admonishes Walter but then quickly realises that Walter’s broadcast can lead Dredd to the studio where the show is taking place.
At the studio, the quiz continues, with host Baby Bob Nicely preying on the desperation of the participants. As contestant Sheldon is loaded onto a guillotine and tricked into a no-win quiz, the blade is dropped towards Sheldon’s neck. Dredd, having tracked the studio through Walter’s signal receivers, storms the studio, shoots the falling blade which splits in two and both pieces fly into both Bob Nicely and his accomplice, killing them both.
Review
An obvious play on the game show culture of British television, which was at its peak in the 1970s and 80s, this is a fun satire, only suffering from a pacing perspective at the very end. Baby Bob Nicely saying "Good game! Good game!" is a callback to the many catchphrases of host Bruce Forsyth across his shows The Generation Game and Play Your Cards Right. There is also some good Mega City lore explored here - from the question posed to a contestant of who the 53rd US President was, we learn there were at least 53 presidents of the United States of America.
Line of the strip: Dredd: "You played your own game of ‘You Bet Your Life’ Nicely, - and lost!"
Be back next time citizens for : 'Dream Palace”
