Introducing the G&T Silver Survey

News

It will have hardly escaped anyone’s attention that 2013 is Red Dwarf’s 25th Anniversary year. In order to do the occasion justice we thought we’d gather everyone together and have a bit of an old survey. In the spirit of the Fan Club’s BTL surveys of old, we’re inviting as many Red Dwarf fans as possible to rank all 61 episodes in order of their preference in an attempt to gather a comprehensive snap-shot of fan opinion from across the web. Everyone is welcome, so we hope that not only will you contribute your list but you will enlist as many friends as possible, even if they consider Krytie TV to be the height of brilliance. All we ask is that everyone taking part has seen all the episodes and that their ordering is honest.

To get started with this admittedly daunting task simply go RIGHT HERE, to our special mini-site, where you’ll find a helpfully colour coded list of episodes for you to order to your hearts content. We’ve tried to make the process as quick as painless as possible so ordering the episodes is a simple case of dragging and dropping, and there’s even a way to save your current order so you can have a break and come back later. Having said that, though, I’d recommend you have your order saved separately somewhere just in case my wonderful system breaks in some way. If you’re having any problems at all, get in touch and we’ll help you out.

The only piece of information we require from you (other than your episode rankings, that is) is your email address. This is to help us filter out any duplicate submissions, identify and remove any spam and to also provide you with a helpful email summarising your choices. We will not use your email address for anything else, so don’t panic. We’re also asking (but not demanding) some extra information that will help us build pretty graphs in the future. Graphs are cool.

So, what are you waiting for? Dig in and make your (probably WRONG) opinion count!

128 Responses to Introducing the G&T Silver Survey

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NitroChrisUK / January 3, 2013 at 1:10 pm / #

this could take some time ! and will have to revert to considering Each Back To Earth Episode separately .. oh dear.

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Pecospete666 / January 3, 2013 at 1:19 pm / #

Too much brain power to complete!
Could you make the form interactive? Like a blank colum that I could put in the ranking number?
I working with a Ipad mini!
I know FUCK OFF!

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 3, 2013 at 1:24 pm / #

Could you make the form interactive? Like a blank colum that I could put in the ranking number?

The numbers down the left will automatically update with the ordering. Is the iPad your only form of internet access at the moment, then? If so, do a spreadsheet or similar and email us at admin@ganymede.tv and I’ll add it in for you.

That goes for everyone, by the way. The site won’t work on mobile devices, so if you have problems get in touch.

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NitroChrisUK / January 3, 2013 at 1:26 pm / #

i also urge you to compile the list to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzQ7MGhgp8

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SoundableObject / January 3, 2013 at 1:35 pm / #

I’ll get mine in early (later today) so you can worry about ‘Krytie TV’ placing higher than some of the first 36 episodes.

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takerdemon / January 3, 2013 at 1:36 pm / #

I’ve done my prelim results but I’m not submitting mine until I rewatched them all. I’m interested to see what I think I like versus what I actually like. Could turn out that I don’t adore some series as much as I think I do.

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Pete Part Three / January 3, 2013 at 1:40 pm / #

>I’ll get mine in early (later today) so you can worry about ‘Krytie TV’ placing higher than some of the first 36 episodes.

Haha. You.

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si / January 3, 2013 at 1:55 pm / #

Started a comprehensive rewatch – 3 episodes per day (until the end of series seven, when eight part series’ and multi-part stories start mucking things up, and result in the occasional two-episode days) – on January 1st, specifically for this survey. I feel that if I rated them all now, from memory, nostalgia would play a part, and the episodes wouldn’t necessarily be in the position they deserve to be. Hence another rewatch, despite me knowing most episodes inside out.
Finished watching series one yesterday, and was actually surprised at the quality of certain episodes. I’m due to finish on January 21st (honestly, I have a handwritten schedule and everything!), and am slotting episode titles into my list as I work my way through them.
I’m due to watch Kryten, Better Than Life and Thanks For The Memory (AKA Red Dwarf II, Byte One) today, so tough decisions will be made this afternoon…

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Ridley / January 3, 2013 at 2:24 pm / #

PS I am ranking as I write this.

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takerdemon / January 3, 2013 at 2:40 pm / #

> Ridley – PS I am ranking as I write this

As the kids say “I LOL’ed”

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 3, 2013 at 2:48 pm / #

PS I am ranking as I write this.

Current best comment of 2013.

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Pete Part Three / January 3, 2013 at 4:52 pm / #

A little disappointed that the name of this article wasn’t “Let’s talk about every episode EVER”.

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NoFro / January 3, 2013 at 5:51 pm / #

Just tried to rank the series VI episodes from best to worst. Pretty sure I had a mild stroke.

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si / January 3, 2013 at 6:03 pm / #

I’m doing that thing of concentrating on ranking the eps within the series first, then trying to combine the lot into one glorious whole.
It’s a bit easier (I think) than watching an individual episode from RDX, and thinking, ‘was that better than [favourite episode thus far]? Was that better than [second favourite episode thus far]?’
Isn’t it?

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NoFro / January 3, 2013 at 6:07 pm / #

I ranked them all individually and then started merging them in a rough way. However, after rather successfully merging 1-BTE into a rough ranking I got to the Series X episodes and didn’t know what the fuck to do with them. I got to my top ranked X ep and thought “I love this episode!” then looked at the list and didn’t have a clue where to put it.

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matty9896 / January 3, 2013 at 6:18 pm / #

It will be very interesting to see how Series X measures up with I-VI overall.

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Claire / January 3, 2013 at 6:27 pm / #

The main problem I’m going to have is ranking 7 – 9. Even though I did a full rewatch before X was broadcast, I just don’t know them as well as 1 – 6. X is also going to be hard as although I’m feeling very well disposed to it right now, part of that could be its freshness.

The results will be very interesting. :)

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G&T Admin

Danny Stephenson / January 3, 2013 at 6:40 pm / #

I’m gonna have a hard time breaking up BTE as I can’t view it as single episodes….

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si / January 3, 2013 at 6:48 pm / #

I’m gonna have a hard time breaking up BTE as I can’t view it as single episodes….

I’d never seen Blade Runner when I watched BtE, so Part Three in particular made very little sense. I think this will affect the individual parts’ placings. I’ve still only seen Blade Runner once or twice since, but it helped me make sense of a couple of things.

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MANI506 / January 3, 2013 at 7:04 pm / #

I’ve seen every episode and my ranking was honest. But I’ve just looked back at my ranking and I think I might be a maniac.

Oh well, it’s done now.

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Blisschick / January 3, 2013 at 7:39 pm / #

I’m with Si, I’m going to have to take a little time and do this systematically. I’ve never actually ranked any of the episodes in *my* preferred order, so a rewatch of everything will be called for. I actually started rewatching Series I the other day, so I guess I’ll take it from there.

This will not be easy. *sigh*

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Pete Part Three / January 3, 2013 at 7:46 pm / #

Having trouble ranking Series VIII as I haven’t watched it since the DVD came out and I’ll be damned if I’m going to do it again.

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Phil / January 3, 2013 at 8:18 pm / #

>Having trouble ranking Series VIII

No, you’re not.

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Connell / January 3, 2013 at 8:43 pm / #

I just ranked for about 4 hours… gave up in the end. I’ll have another quick rank at work tomorrow hopefully.

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srmcd1 / January 3, 2013 at 9:14 pm / #

Man, that only took me fifteen minutes. Something must be wrong with me…

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Nakrophile / January 3, 2013 at 9:35 pm / #

I didn’t take long either. I just had all three BTE in in a row… anyway i should have taken more time really, but oh well.

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Ridley / January 3, 2013 at 9:40 pm / #

I got the top twenty fairly comfortably but Holoship kept slipping down and down…

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G&T Admin

Danny Stephenson / January 3, 2013 at 9:46 pm / #

This is going to take me a month. I’ve never had to actually categorise it, i’m gonna struggle like fuck with this :)

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performingmonkey / January 3, 2013 at 9:59 pm / #

I like the one where they go in space.

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Jonsmad / January 3, 2013 at 11:36 pm / #

I’m just moving the colours into tripple stack formations mirroring flag designs for most of the european community.

What? not allowed?

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Jonsmad / January 3, 2013 at 11:41 pm / #

I didnt rewatch to do my ranking, im doing it from memory of favourite bits that stay with me, and reading online scripts a little bit to check over all episode content. As im pretty familiar with X and back to earth till and the rest ive watched to death but are online scripted.

For splitting back to earth. I found myself kicking part one down for the tomato stuff, and not much else. (only really like the kochancki pathos, that saves it from hitting the very depths) and the other two episodes i think will sit together whenever they finish in my list cus there is stuff I love in both. 2 edging out 3. cus I massively love the arrival through the TV’s and the “videos” joke.

Some of 7 and 8 and 1 is taking a nose dive below X for me.

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fozzibear1 / January 4, 2013 at 2:11 am / #

Si and others make a good point, will wait till i get home from work and start re-watching, we want this to be as honest as possible after all :-)

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Carlito / January 4, 2013 at 4:38 am / #

Ranking the top 10 will be easy and probably the bottom 10 too. But the middle section will just be a whim and if I ranked them again in a week, could end up in a completely different order.

Having to decide which episodes of your favourite show to condemn to the bottom half of the list… this is almost exactly like Sophie’s Choice. Worse, maybe. Yeah, probably worse. Probably.

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Carlito / January 4, 2013 at 4:43 am / #

I also feel that the original series 1-6 episodes are so familiar and comfy that they may lose some of their power when I’m ranking them, through no fault of their own. You see, if I had a choice right now between watching, for example, Trojan or Timeslides, I would pick Trojan because it is fresher and less well-worn in my mind. But does that make Trojan a better episode? I loved series X but I’m suspicious of the fact that three episodes of it are likely to end up in my top 20. Does that seem reasonable or just reactive? Do I take some of the earlier episodes for granted having ‘known’ them for so long?

Arrrgh. This is going to be an actual chore…

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Carlito / January 4, 2013 at 7:06 am / #

Well I had a nice long rank in front of the PC and now that I’m all ranked out I’m looking forward to indulging in some mass debating when the results come back.

I have long considered series V and II to be the strongest so looking at how the cards fell when I finished my personal ranking, I genuinely surprised myself with how well series VI got on. I guess I underestimated it. I mean, I always liked it, but I didn’t anticipate that it would feature 3 times in my top 10.

I’ve also often defended VII and VIII, yet 8 of my bottom 10 came from these seasons.

I’ve just never thought of the Red Dwarf catalogue in terms of individual rankings like this before, always pretty generalised in terms of ‘favourite series’ rather than episodes. It’s funny what you can learn about your own tastes by doing this poll.

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / January 4, 2013 at 11:19 am / #

The relative freshness dichotomy has always been present in these types of polls. In the Smegazine/BTL days, the most recent series would always float to the top – even VII and VIII did far better in the contemporary BTL polls than they would in a retrospective poll today. It’s just a snapshot of where fandom is right now – when we do it for the thirtieth anniversary, a few X episodes will have dropped a few places and places 1-6 will be all from Series XIII.

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anniescribe / January 4, 2013 at 12:39 pm / #

I feel about like the only reader here who may not participate, as my feelings and rankings shift ever-changingly. Red Dwarf for me is kind of like the Star Trek movies – if any come on the TV, I’m done for the duration; and even the worst (I’m looking at you, ST:TMP) are usually more entertaining than most anything else on. :-P

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si / January 4, 2013 at 1:06 pm / #

I think one problem may be that a lot of us have been part of the G&T crowd or fandom in general, that we have a certain ‘fandom overview’, an accepted view in RD fandom circles that x episode is a classic, while x episode is total bollocks. It’s going to be difficultto fight that in some cases. If I rank all of series VII and VIII near the bottom, I’ll have tob really ask if they deserve to be there. Which is, of course, why I’m rewatching them all. Every episode, I think, of Red Dwarf has *something* about it that I like.

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Pete Part Three / January 4, 2013 at 1:33 pm / #

A lot of latter day Red Dwarf doesn’t “feel” like Red Dwarf to me so is devoid of rewatch value. It’s not enough to have the same 4 key actors and that theme tune which is all Red Dwarf VIII has going for it. I can say with some certainty that that’s easily the worst thing I own on disc and, were it not for the extras, I wouldn’t have bought it.

And yet…my bottom 5 currently only has 2 episodes from VIII.

>If I rank all of series VII and VIII near the bottom, I’ll have tob really ask if they deserve to be there.

The alternative is to rank them all near the top and ask the same question.

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CurtisThreadgold / January 4, 2013 at 2:34 pm / #

Submitted. That felt like a far more important and difficult task than it had any right to be

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G&T Admin

Danny Stephenson / January 4, 2013 at 2:58 pm / #

The relative freshness dichotomy has always been present in these types of polls.

Like when Little Britain beat Fawlty Towers in the poll for best sitcom. Little Britain had been shown only the previous month.

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Carlito / January 4, 2013 at 3:02 pm / #

And is also a sketch show…

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / January 4, 2013 at 3:24 pm / #

The results so far are extremely interesting – there are clear faves and worsties that are either way ahead or way behind, but the majority of the episodes are really close together and are fluctuating in positions all the time.

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G&T Admin

Danny Stephenson / January 4, 2013 at 3:36 pm / #

How are people approaching this? I’m finding doing it series by series, that way you have a pseudo-favorite system, and then it’s just a case of re-ordering the larger grid.

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si / January 4, 2013 at 4:59 pm / #

What Danny said.
I watched and ordered series one on tuesday/wednesday, and watched and ordered series two seperately yesterday/today. I’ve just written down my combined series 1/2 list, and already, it looks wrong.
I’m going to go through some serious inner turmoil these next couple of weeks…

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Blisschick / January 4, 2013 at 5:01 pm / #

I thought I might do it like you’re thinking. It seems easiest to me to do it that way.

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mrflibble / January 4, 2013 at 5:55 pm / #

The site won’t work on mobile devices, so if you have problems get in touch.

*makes some incoherent mumble about touch events and how much of a pain they are*

Right. How the hell am I going to do this?

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pendo86 / January 4, 2013 at 7:02 pm / #

Just took me about 2 hours when I’m supposed to be doing work, but never mind! I did what Danny did and ordered all episodes in a series first then tried to place them individually. I could probably spend days reordering and reordering, but I’ll never absolutely settle on an order so in the end I went with my instincts and submitted the first order that I came up with.

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Phil / January 4, 2013 at 8:04 pm / #

I thought this would take me forever. It actually went pretty quickly though. I’m sure I’d be happy to scramble up most of my middle-ranking choices, but honestly it wasn’t that hard for me.

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Nakrophile / January 4, 2013 at 9:18 pm / #

I am intrigued what the results will be.

A better way of putting that thought across may have been, “I wonder where Thanks for the Memory” will rank.

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Hard Drive Full Of Resentment / January 4, 2013 at 9:31 pm / #

I had to rank these by going through series one, thinking “which do I want to watch most right now?”, and then doing the same with series 1 & 2, then 1 to 3, and so on. I therefore have some different opinions now to what I had at the time, since I placed Balance of Power and Kryten further down than I am comfortable with.

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Seb Patrick / January 4, 2013 at 10:15 pm / #

I’m trying to hack into the voting system to ensure TFTM comes top, naturally.

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Another Phil / January 5, 2013 at 12:29 pm / #

I don’t comment here much, but I’d like to say thanks for the opportunity to do this, it was really interesting and a few of my decisions surprised me. Notably IV came out as easily the best series, despite having only one entry in the top eight, for sheer consistency across all 6 episodes, whilst V missed out because of a severe drag from Demons & Angels, which I’ve never much cared for. I had to keep reminding myself that just because an episode finishes, say, 30th (Bodyswap), doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that there’s 29 better ones, and RD has a high standard overall. Plus I became rather fixated with what I dubbed the ‘Cassandra line’, the position held by the best of VII/VIII, and what would fall either side of it. In the end, 3 of X plus BtE2 were above it, 4 of I-VI below it. which seems about right. And it was good to shove Epideme down in 61st where it belongs. God, I hate Epideme.

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Nick R / January 5, 2013 at 7:04 pm / #

I can think of several cases of my favourite specific scenes in all of Red Dwarf appearing in episodes that, overall, I don’t think of as favourites. For example, Trojan wasn’t my favourite of series X, but I found the Cat’s entrance into the moose scene one of the best jokes in the whole series (it lived up to its description in the G&T set report!). Terrorform, Camille, and Backwards are nowhere near my favourite episodes, but I still find the Taranshula, lying, and Flintstones scenes among the funniest in all of Red Dwarf. There are a few other examples, and it’s strange that most of them tend to occur near the start of episodes. In making my list, I’ve found it interesting to think about how these individual really strong scenes have affected my view of the episodes as a whole.

There’s one episode from series VI that isn’t one of the best-regarded, but that I’m really fond of because it was one of very few episodes that I caught during the ’94/’95 repeat run. I thought it was brilliant then, but I didn’t tape it on that broadcast, and I never saw it again until the DVD came out. Consequently it spent a long time being built it up in my memory, and I’m still very fond of it. So it’s an episode that I’ve probably ranked higher than a lot of people here will do.

This was unintentional, but it’s turned out that I’ve happened to rank the three big split-screen episodes of I and II (FE, Me2, SL) all VERY closely together… at least as it stands at the moment!

I’m honestly very fond of series VII on the whole – even the ones without Chris Barrie. So I’ve probably ranked VII’s episodes higher than most people here, and there are a few that break through the golden The End/Out of Time barrier!

A hypothesis: in every Red Dwarf multi-parter, Part 1 is better than Part 2, and they’re both better than Part 3. Hang on, second thoughts, scratch that: the Coronation Street segment being the best bit of BTE somewhat spoils that theory!

Like a few other people, I haven’t had many problems ranking the episodes within series X – the problem comes when trying to merge that ranking with all the other series. I have a confession: I haven’t yet rewatched any episodes of series X since they were first broadcast. I have two reasons (excuses) for this. First, I do not currently have any copies of them: my PVR decided to corrupt its hard drive a few weeks ago, and as much as I want to watch We’re Smegged, I haven’t yet bought the DVD! (So you have me to blame if there are no more series due to poor DVD sales.) The second reason (excuse) is that in the past, there have been comedy TV series that I’ve spoiled for myself by over-rewatching them to the point of overkill (Spaced is probably the main one), so these days I prefer to ration out my rewatches a little more, so that I have time to forget the jokes in between. I’ve forgotten a lot of series X by now, so this month is probably the right time for a DVD purchase followed by a rewatch…

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fozzibear1 / January 5, 2013 at 7:25 pm / #

Done, really reallt hard

Thing is there are so many different types of stories it is a bit like going into a fruit shop and trying to sort all of the fruit (without any subdivision into different types of fruit) from best to worst. Did my best, but as I said in my comment none but the last four or five could be considered as set in stone

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CurtisThreadgold / January 5, 2013 at 9:57 pm / #

My system was, start with The End as baseline and figure out which I prefer, The End or Future Echoes. Position them accordingly, then drag up Balance Of Power and slot that where I think that fits within the three. Repeat this process all the way to The Beginning. When the list gets long, read from the bottom to top and figure out if the episode you’ve currently got is better or worse than the ones already on the list and slot it in accordingly. They rank themselves that way. It was a quick painless way of doing it and it produced a ranking I was happy with. Hope this helps and isn’t an exceedingly obvious thing to do that everyone is already doing

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performingmonkey / January 5, 2013 at 10:27 pm / #

Curtis, I’m definitely copying your method!!

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Ben Paddon / January 5, 2013 at 10:30 pm / #

Oh fuck, this is daunting.

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / January 6, 2013 at 12:52 am / #

I used the Threadgold method, both this time and five years ago. The only possible way I can get my head round it.

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Michael Warren / January 6, 2013 at 10:32 am / #

That’s the way I did it, and I somehow ended up with five Rimmer-centric episodes in a row!

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si / January 6, 2013 at 1:10 pm / #

I’m going to order each series, and try and thread them into my ‘big list’ at the end of each one. Hoqever, I will doublecheck with the ‘Threadgold method’ (is that whatvwe’re calling it now?) afterwards to make sure I haven’t made some horrible mistake.

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Seb Patrick / January 6, 2013 at 1:15 pm / #

>I used the Threadgold method, both this time and five years ago

It was the Patrick method when I suggested it to you all five years ago.

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mick / January 6, 2013 at 3:12 pm / #

Done, tried to do it quickly and not over-think it as I’d have been at it all week.

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si / January 6, 2013 at 4:14 pm / #

*thoughts of Mick ranking, at it all week*

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Ben Paddon / January 6, 2013 at 8:03 pm / #

Is there a way to reset the list? I’ve well and truly buggered mine up.

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 6, 2013 at 9:26 pm / #

Is there a way to reset the list? I’ve well and truly buggered mine up.

Have you already submitted it, or just saved it? If you’ve just saved it, it’s a cookie so try using a new browser for a quick fix.

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / January 7, 2013 at 12:54 am / #

It was the Patrick method when I suggested it to you all five years ago.

Well, it was the Symes method when I was ten and used to do it for everything from Red Dwarf episodes to Mr Bean sketches to Aston Villa players to girls from school.

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performingmonkey / January 7, 2013 at 4:33 am / #

Somebody help me…give me reasons why Nanarchy is better than, well, any other episode at all, cause I’m struggling…

Also, does anyone else feel guilty about some of their placings? It’s like I’m feeling sorry for, and on behalf of, the episode because I’m marking him so far down…it…shutup, it’s 4.30am. -.-

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Ben Paddon / January 7, 2013 at 4:57 am / #

I hadn’t submitted it, no. Maybe I can manually delete the cookie…

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Pete Part Three / January 7, 2013 at 7:29 am / #

>Somebody help me…give me reasons why Nanarchy is better than, well, any other episode at all, cause I’m struggling…

It doesn’t have a horrendous CGI dance sequence, Lister fucking a vending machine, endless shitty tributes to Blade Runner, a chimpanzee turning into a moronic nymphomaniac, a Jeremy Beadle pastiche, Kryten’s runaway penis…

Try those for starters.

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Carlito / January 8, 2013 at 11:45 am / #

And it’s got the return of Norman Lovett, which was rather exciting (at the time anyway).

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Pete Part Three / January 8, 2013 at 12:35 pm / #

I did it.

And then I did it again in another browser and, because it was almost 40% identical to my earlier rankings, I pressed submit.

Yay.

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CoziFantozzi / January 8, 2013 at 10:17 pm / #

Extremely satisfying ranking sesh, and the survey was most enjoyable too.

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G&T Admin

Tanya Jones / January 9, 2013 at 12:05 am / #

Extremely satisfying ranking sesh, and the survey was most enjoyable too.

Excellent. You can stay.

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Karnie / January 11, 2013 at 3:14 am / #

My Top 10 and Bottom 10 were pretty solid, but holy hell was it hard to judge the middle 41!

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anniescribe / January 11, 2013 at 5:18 am / #

Extremely satisfying ranking sesh, and the survey was most enjoyable too.

Small but satisfying courses, like a Japanese meal?

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si / January 11, 2013 at 11:16 am / #

I’ve now found myself dividing the 61 into 4 smaller lists – series 1-3, then 4-6, followed by 7-BtE, and finally series 10. I’m then going to attempt to combine all of them to attempt to reach some kind of satisfying conclusion to my ranking. (fnaar fnaar)

Currently halfway through series V. My viewing schedule dictates that I’ll be watching the whole of Back to Earth on my birthday. Honestly, the sacrifices I make for you lot…

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Pete Part Three / January 11, 2013 at 11:32 am / #

You’re a winner, you’re a star

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SoundableObject / January 11, 2013 at 12:31 pm / #

I just ranked every episode out of ten and then went into ranked them within each threshold.

Even though I try and distribute as well as possible, so the worst Red Dwarf is 1/10 and the best is 10/10 and everything is evenly distributed between these points, I rated most episodes 5/10 or higher. Positivity bias, I guess.

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si / January 11, 2013 at 8:36 pm / #

My problem at the moment is deciding whether I’m ordering these episodes by how good they are or by how much I like them. There’s a difference. For instance, I’ve been watching series five today. Back To Reality is great, and is the top of many charts, because it has some great lines, some great scenes, a great story, great writing etc etc etc. But, personally, I like Quarantine more. Looking at the Tops and Bottoms thread on the forum, I see highly places episodes that I haven’t even rated top of that particular series. Look at Red Dwarf X – I can see how ‘good’- ie well made, set design etc – Lemons is, but, personally…well, I hate it.
Series four – I adore Camille, yet, looking at the ‘chart’ of TeG&T’s last placings in The Garbage Pod, it was the lowest placed of the series back in 2008.

I’m just rambling now, but I’m sure there was a point somewhere in there. Dig it out, win a prize.

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Claire / January 11, 2013 at 11:09 pm / #

My problem at the moment is deciding whether I’m ordering these episodes by how good they are or by how much I like them. There’s a difference. For instance, I’ve been watching series five today. Back To Reality is great, and is the top of many charts, because it has some great lines, some great scenes, a great story, great writing etc etc etc. But, personally, I like Quarantine more. Looking at the Tops and Bottoms thread on the forum, I see highly places episodes that I haven’t even rated top of that particular series. Look at Red Dwarf X – I can see how ‘good’- ie well made, set design etc – Lemons is, but, personally…well, I hate it.

Series four – I adore Camille, yet, looking at the ‘chart’ of TeG&T’s last placings in The Garbage Pod, it was the lowest placed of the series back in 2008.
I’m just rambling now, but I’m sure there was a point somewhere in there. Dig it out, win a prize.

I’m having the same problem – for example, “Marooned” is a good ep, but it’s ended up a lot lower down my list than I imagine the majority of fans would place it. I just don’t find it as rewatchable as some other eps. *Anticipates immediate ban* :p

I think my list has ended up a mixture of acknowledged classics and personal faves. Obviously there’s some overlap between the two.

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Pete Part Three / January 11, 2013 at 11:39 pm / #

>whether I’m ordering these episodes by how good they are or by how much I like them. There’s a difference.

There’s really not. Both boil down to an opinion. I really don’t think you should pay much attention to other people’s rankings. Put Quarantine above Back to Reality if you enjoy it more. That’s kind of the point of the exercise.

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si / January 11, 2013 at 11:57 pm / #

Well, I will be doing. But I’m just wondering if technical quality can boost an episode’s ranking. If acknowlwdging the sterling work that the behind the scenes crew put into the show can help an epiaode you find lacking in, say, story make it’s way up the final chart.

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Claire / January 12, 2013 at 12:06 am / #

Well, I will be doing. But I’m just wondering if technical quality can boost an episode’s ranking. If acknowlwdging the sterling work that the behind the scenes crew put into the show can help an epiaode you find lacking in, say, story make it’s way up the final chart.

No reason why not. “Stoke Me A Clipper” ended up my highest ranked Series 7 ep partly because I love Howard Goodall’s score. :)

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MANI506 / January 12, 2013 at 8:26 am / #

I admire Gunmen much more than I enjoy it for example.

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Pete Part Three / January 12, 2013 at 9:12 am / #

>Well, I will be doing. But I’m just wondering if technical quality can boost an episode’s ranking. If acknowlwdging the sterling work that the behind the scenes crew put into the show can help an epiaode you find lacking in, say, story make it’s way up the final chart.

Couldn’t give a shit, to be honest. So someone spent ages doing that claymation sequence in Back in the Red Part 3? Big whup. Still sucks.

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Ben Kirkham / January 12, 2013 at 10:03 am / #

I’ve stayed away from this for a while because of the daunting task, but Fuck It, I’m ill, feel like shit and need something to cheer me up. I’ve bunched all of my solid gold favourites together, then all of the awful ones together, and I’m trying to sift through the pile of “episodes I don’t mind but can’t really give a shit one way or the other”. Rather fun, though. I LIKE ALL THE LOVELY COLOURS!!!!!!111

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G&T Admin

John Hoare / January 12, 2013 at 1:15 pm / #

I can comfortably put Future Echoes above The End.

Then it gets tricky.

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Another Phil / January 12, 2013 at 3:49 pm / #

Well, I will be doing. But I’m just wondering if technical quality can boost an episode’s ranking. If acknowlwdging the sterling work that the behind the scenes crew put into the show can help an epiaode you find lacking in, say, story make it’s way up the final chart.

I don’t think it matters what reasons you use as they’re yours and not someone else’s or ‘general opinion’, and different episodes can be judged for different reasons. For instance, looking at my own top 5, Gunmen is probably the episode I enjoy most, in the sense I find it the most fun to watch, but I put it below Back to Reality and Marooned for the sheer quality and brilliance of the humour and characterisation in those episodes, as I see it. Then, because Rimmer is by far my favourite character and episodes focussed on him are of particular interest to me, Dimension Jump and Me2 come 4th and 5th. Use what works for you. If, say, people put Back to Reality top just because ‘everyone loves Back to Reality’, then it defeats the whole point of the survey. For instance, despite their evident popularity round here, I’m not going to apologise for putting Thanks for the Memory and Out of Time down in 14th and 26th respectively, as that’s where I think they belong.

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NoFro / January 12, 2013 at 5:28 pm / #

Honestly, Back to Reality was an episode that I liked for a very long time but didn’t LOVE until about a year ago. It would have probably been about 10 places lower than I put it if I’d had to rank all Red Dwarf episodes 18 months ago.

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Carlito / January 12, 2013 at 5:46 pm / #

I still hold it up as the greatest episode of Red Dwarf, but it’s not necessarily a great stand alone piece. I would be loathe to show a first time viewer Back to Reality as you need that context and knowledge of the characters for it to really work. It is also, I would imagine, held in the highest regard of all by those who watched it on first broadcast, because we all fell for it at the time. Well, some of us. Well, one of us. Maybe.

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / January 12, 2013 at 8:59 pm / #

Back To Reality was the first episode I saw. Twenty years later, I’d say it didn’t put me off becoming a fan…

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Pete Part Three / January 13, 2013 at 9:08 am / #

If you really need an aesthetic justification beyond “It’s fucking good’, I’ll go for “The direction of Back to Reality (and, indeed, every episode of Red Dwarf V) poos over any episode from any other series”. Pains me that the direction of X feels so flat and we open on such clunky scenes with such unimaginative camera work when they’re now using amazing movie-style hardware. Look at the opening scene of BTR. Incredible.

But…still script/story first, for me. I think my top pics were great on paper, and my bottom pics were doomed from the start.

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simon / January 13, 2013 at 9:50 am / #

I think Back to Realty works as a standalone episode as it’s just a very strong and funny story and you don’t need to really know the characters to enjoy that but I’d imagine going back to the show later it means much more. But what do I know I didn’t actually see the episode until after I had seen all of I-VIII

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Ben Kirkham / January 13, 2013 at 10:07 pm / #

Still compiling mine, and I’m quite surprised how spread out series IV seems to be on my list. All over the place.

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Ben Kirkham / January 13, 2013 at 10:24 pm / #

And… sent.

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Ben Paddon / January 15, 2013 at 9:51 pm / #

Nope, I can’t do it. I’ve shuffled the episodes around so often and so much that I can’t even see what’s what anymore. I doubt my opinion would’ve made much difference anyway (although I rate much of VII and Back to Earth higher than most, so I don’t know).

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Ben Paddon / January 15, 2013 at 9:51 pm / #

Nope, I can’t do it. I’ve shuffled the episodes around so often and so much that I can’t even see what’s what anymore. I doubt my opinion would’ve made much difference anyway (although I rate much of VII and Back to Earth higher than most, so I don’t know).

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 15, 2013 at 10:12 pm / #

Are you absolutely sure you can’t do it?

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Ben Paddon / January 16, 2013 at 3:04 am / #

I’m sure I could, if I put the time in.

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Ben Paddon / January 16, 2013 at 3:04 am / #

Or if I thought anyone gave anything even vaguely resembling a fuck (or indeed, a shit) about my opinion. Tongueface.

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Ben Kirkham / January 16, 2013 at 8:12 pm / #

Your opinion counts as much as anyone’s, Ben. And you’re a clever guy, I’d be interested in seeing what you think.

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MANI506 / January 16, 2013 at 10:05 pm / #

Good point. Though slightly grovely.

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Bexley Heath / January 18, 2013 at 10:24 am / #

Haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve thought of another method for double-checking that I’m being consistent with my ranking. Take all the first-episodes-of-the-series and rank them, then take all the second-episodes-of-the-series, and so on… then try to integrate them into an overall rank order. Similar to how e.g. Si is starting by ranking the episodes within each series (except I found that when I tried that, I got a little hung up on spreading each series’ episodes out “evenly” across my overall ranking…).

I think it’d be a pretty interesting exercise in itself, given the theories about first and final episodes needing to be stronger, weaker episodes getting buried in the middle, etc. I’m quite looking forward to giving it a go, since I’m so used to thinking about the episodes series-by-series, and it’ll make a refreshing change.

(Of course, this gets messed up if you try to take VII and VIII into account, but I personally wasn’t intending to, having quite happily shoved them all automatically to the bottom of my ranking. I guess some of them are passable enough, but as some people have said in other threads, they just don’t feel like Dwarf, and I resent them for that.)

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ori-STUDFARM / January 21, 2013 at 7:40 pm / #

I think I’m most looking forward to how this list compares to the last list. Which episodes have climbed and which have fallen. I’m assuming you will include the previous position on the last list to save me from having to keep flicking between two browser tabs…

No worries if not. I’ll just keep flicking between two browser tabs :)

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 21, 2013 at 10:55 pm / #

Not sure what will end up in the finished article, but we’re keeping track of the results of this poll compared to the 2008 one, just for our own amusement more than anything. Comparisons are tricky, because that was a very narrow pool (just the G&T staff at the time), but interesting none-the-less.

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peas_and_corn / January 22, 2013 at 6:30 am / #

It would be interesting to see where the episodes that ended up as the top 10 tracked as the poll went on, represented as a graph. Mainly because I like graphs.

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si / January 22, 2013 at 11:04 am / #

The great rewatch has had to be curtailed for a few days, due to reasons far too boring to go into here. I should have finished yesterday, and yet here I am, with 12 episodes remaining unwatched. Shocking. I know where Pete 1&2, Only The Good and Back to Earth rank, so I think I may just rewatch RDX and see what I can do. Hopefully, I can submit my votes by the end of the month. :)

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Pete Part Three / January 22, 2013 at 11:37 am / #

Pray to a god you don’t believe in for a miracle that can’t happen

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Russ L / January 23, 2013 at 6:25 am / #

Is there a closing date for this here thing?

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 23, 2013 at 9:03 am / #

It’s midnight on the 1st February, so 31st Jan is the last full to get your submission in.

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Russ L / January 23, 2013 at 7:20 pm / #

Right y’are.

I’d better get rewatching some.

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si / January 27, 2013 at 1:54 pm / #

DONE.

Blimey, that’s a weight off my shoulders.

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fozzibear1 / January 28, 2013 at 9:20 am / #

Must admit I am anticipating the results of this survey much more than a middle aged man really has any excuse to LOL

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Russ L / January 30, 2013 at 6:20 pm / #

Done and submitted.

I feel that I’ve learned new things about myself and the world during the course of this excercise.

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Chris Stokes / January 31, 2013 at 11:32 am / #

I’m really interested to see the results of this too. I long ago came to terms with the fact that some in my Top 10 are lucky to make a lot of Dwarf fans’ Top 30 (the look over G&T’s choices 5 years ago confirmed this) so I’m intrigued to see how it all comes out.

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matty9896 / January 31, 2013 at 6:57 pm / #

I got all of mine done within about 20 minutes on the first day.

Although I had already done a similar thing on my own last year, so I had already decided how much I like stuff.

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G&T Admin

Jonathan Capps / January 31, 2013 at 8:48 pm / #

Just over three hours until the Survey closes. If you’ve not yet submitted your ranking then take a long (but not too long), hard look at yourself in the mirror and then GET IT DONE.

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G&T Admin

Danny Stephenson / January 31, 2013 at 10:49 pm / #

… and as If by magic. I realised it was 9pm and I still hadn’t filled in the fucking survey. However. Now I have filled in my survey and I stick by my answers.

Sort of…

A bit…

….Maybe.

OH FUCK WHAT HAVE I DONE!?!?!??!?!!

No, i’m happy with them*

*I think.

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HelloMabel / January 31, 2013 at 11:34 pm / #

I hope the survey page stays up for a while; moving those bars up and down is surprisingly therapeutic after a hard day’s work.

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HelloMabel / February 1, 2013 at 6:18 pm / #

Rats.

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gabbyevs / February 12, 2013 at 8:09 pm / #

when do the results come out?

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / February 13, 2013 at 2:09 pm / #

Friday – some time before lunch.

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gabbyevs / February 13, 2013 at 2:34 pm / #

thanks ian are u THE ian symes by any chance?

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G&T Admin

Ian Symes / February 13, 2013 at 7:58 pm / #

I am the one who works on Big Brother, rather than the other guy on Google who works as a General Manager for Right Management.

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gabbyevs / February 13, 2013 at 8:49 pm / #

thought it was u am a fan follow u on twitter :)

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si / February 13, 2013 at 9:44 pm / #

Oh, God, don’t feed the ego.

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Ben Paddon / February 23, 2013 at 7:52 pm / #

The Ian Symes. Classic.

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