Welcome to DanDare.org.uk - Starring The Mekon (and Dan Dare) Dan Dare and his unforgettable evil arch-nemesis The Mekon were created by the genius that was Frank Hampson, and they first appeared in the weekly British boys' magazine "Eagle" way back in 1950 in the "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future" science-fiction comic-strip series that was the main feature of the magazine. The series proved to be enormously popular and successful, in 1950's Britain at least rivalling the likes of Star Wars and Harry Potter in the modern era, and it ran every week until the Eagle's initial run came to an end in 1969. This enormous popularity was due in the most part to the groundbreaking full-colour animation-style illustrations produced by Frank Hampson and his team of artists, the likes of which had never been seen in a weekly publication in Britain before (or for that matter since). No doubt the entertaining and imaginative storylines, a consistent and meticulously laid out story universe, plus a memorable cast of supporting characters, contributed to this popularity too. Dan Dare and The Mekon have appeared in many different forms since the original 1950's and 60's era. New "updated" versions of both characters appeared in the "2000AD" comic in the late 1970's and in a new version of the "Eagle" in the 1980's and 90's. The original versions of both characters starred in a series of three computer games in the late 1980's and early 90's, and a series of three live-action TV adverts produced for Mobil Oil in 1987 featured the original Dan Dare, with The Mekon making a guest appearance in the third one. Additionally, there was a four-part BBC Radio 4 serial in 1990 starring Dan Dare and The Mekon, based on the first ever story from "Eagle" in 1950. In 2002, Dan Dare and The Mekon starred in their very own 26-part computer-generated cartoon TV series. Currently, having started in November 2007, Virgin Comics are producing an all-new Dan Dare comic every month which of course also features The Mekon, so the legends live on... (See this site's Picture Gallery for some images of all the different versions of Dan Dare and The Mekon.)
Brief Character Biographies - Original 1950's and 60's Versions: 
The super-intelligent, totally evil and emotionless Mighty Mekon of Mekonta - the "Supreme Being" - was "born" circa 1750 as the result of scientific experimentation by the Treens of the northern hemisphere of Venus. (Venus is completely encircled by a huge equatorial volcanic flame-belt that divides the planet into two distinctly different hemispheres.) The Mekon is characterised by an unusually large bulbous skull (containing a massive brain) with an accompanying small and feeble body. To compensate for this he uses a magnetically-powered armoured flying chair to get around. Until he was defeated by Dan Dare in the war on Venus in 1996, The Mekon was the absolute ruler of the Treens. He has always harboured ambitions of universal domination - he is a true megalomaniac - and is Dan Dare's (and therefore the Earth's) sworn enemy. Even though he has always (so far) ultimately been defeated by Dan Dare, The Mekon has managed to escape on every single occasion to once more pursue his ambitions of destroying Dan Dare and becoming dictator of the entire Solar System. One aspect of The Mekon is the subject of some debate - how is his name actually pronounced? Most people favour "Mee-kon", and indeed that is how it is pronounced in the 2002 Dan Dare TV series for example. But a number of hard-core fans believe it should actually be pronounced "Mek-kon", citing that The Mekon and his Treens are supremely scientifically and mechanically minded, that their civilization is totally dependant on machines, and that since The Mekon himself is totally without emotion (except perhaps for revenge) he is little more than a mechanical creature. Thus "mek-kanical", "Mek-kon". Personally I prefer Mee-kon - it just sounds better to me - but the debate continues... 
Dan Dare (or Colonel Daniel MacGregor Dare of the Interplanet Spacefleet to give him his proper title) - fearless space adventurer, hero and all-round "good guy" - was born in Manchester, England in 1967. Following a distinguished education (which included attending both Cambridge and Harvard Universities) he joined the Interplanet Spacefleet, where he attained the rank of Colonel and the position of Chief Pilot due to his outstanding leadership and spaceflight abilities. Dan first encountered The Mekon during an expedition to Venus in 1996, after his spaceship was brought down by The Mekon's Venusian ray-barrier and forced to crash-land in the planet's northern hemisphere. The Mekon was already preparing for a massive invasion of the Earth, and following Dan's intervention with the help of the friendly Therons from the southern hemisphere of Venus, The Mekon and his army of Treens started a war against the Therons in reprisal for their interference. After many battles, and with the help of reinforcements from Earth under his command, Dan and the Therons (and the Earth) won through. Unfortunately (for everyone else) The Mekon escaped capture, and he has subsequently returned many times to wreak havoc against all the planets and peoples of the Solar System. Dan is always accompanied on his missions by his loyal friend and "batman" Digby (a.k.a. Spaceman 1st Class Albert Fitzwilliam Digby, born in Wigan, England in 1960).
Now, why not explore the rest of this website - there are over 60 pages to view, featuring more in-depth character biographies, story details, plot summaries, a vast number of images (including a picture gallery), a variety of MP3, MPEG, RealPlayer and Windows multimedia, some complete story reprints, a Windows screen saver download, plus some interactive online games and puzzles. There is even a DanDare.org.uk Site Map to help you navigate around. I hope you enjoy it all! If
you want to find something specific, you can use
For a detailed and illustrated profile of all the major characters (not just Dan Dare and The Mekon) that featured in the original 1950's and 60's "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future" stories, go to my "1950's and 60's Who's Who" page. To see a detailed and illustrated profile of all the major characters from the 2002 "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future" CGI cartoon TV series, go to my "2002 TV Series Who's Who" page. For a complete listing of the weekly adventures of Dan Dare and The Mekon (and the rest of the cast of characters) that appeared in the 1950's and 60's "Eagle", plus details of all the other weekly stories they starred in - including the 2002 TV series - go to my "Weekly Comic-Strip Serials Listing" page. For more detailed information on the Treens, including how they evolved on Venus and how they created The Mekon, go to my pages about "The Treen Dynasty".
[ Incidentally, the title of this site ( "Dan Dare doesn't know it... but I like The Mekon" ) is a line from the Elton John/Bernie Taupin song "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future", which appeared on Elton's 1975 album "Rock of the Westies" and was also used as the closing title song for the 2002 Dan Dare TV series. Place your mouse over the green text above to actually hear the line in the song as a Windows Media Audio Clip (32.0 KB, 10 seconds). Click on the following link to find out more - including the complete lyrics and a much longer playable MP3 sample of the song - at one of DanDare.org.uk's "sister" sites, Dan-Dare.net: Dan Dare TV Series ]
Click here to go to my "Picture Gallery" page
Click here to go to my "1987 Mobil Adverts" page
Click on the images below to go to my complete story reprint pages - there are four stories featuring Dan Dare and The Mekon to read:
Click on the following link to download a screen saver that presents all four story reprints above as a picture slide-show (5.49 MB self-installing executable file): Dan Dare and The Mekon Screen Saver
Click on the images below to go to my spoof story reprint pages - there are two spoofs featuring Dan Dare and The Mekon to read:
Click on the images below to view three more complete story reprints featuring Dan Dare (but not The Mekon this time - they are included in this website because they have never, up to now, been reprinted anywhere before):
Click on the following link to view the system requirements for running the interactive games below: Technical Notes
Click on the image below to go to my "Abalis Game" page (Java Applet powered):
Click on the image below to go to my "Shifting Puzzle" pages (Java Applet powered) - there are 2 different versions:
Click on the image below to go to my "Picture Warper" page (Java Applet powered):
Click
here to go to my
(Last updated: May 14, 2008 at 4.00pm.)
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Dan Dare Copyright © 2001 The Dan Dare Corporation Ltd Website Copyright © 2005 Peter J. Inns
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