Starbug Spotting Features Posted by Ian Symes on 10th October 2024, 12:20 Since its introduction in Series III, Red Dwarf's shuttle craft Starbug has become almost as iconic as the eponymous ship itself, spawning t-shirts, models, playsets, televised competitions and even a giant life-sized version as part of an elaborate ad campaign. Both its interior and exterior have changed dramatically in looks over the years, and it's established almost immediately that there are actually multiple Starbugs in existence, allowing us to headcanon away those inconsistencies with relative ease. When a new set was built for Series XI, a knowing reference to this was included as part of the set design, with the ship's interior baring branding that reads "Starbug 19". But is this number accurate? Does it correlate to the number of Starbugs we've seen on screen, or was it chosen arbitrarily for the purposes of the gag? Let's investigate, as we delve through the episodes to tally up just how many times the ship's been destroyed and then reappeared, and track some of the changes and features which are unique to each iteration. Read more →
Mini Newsround – 01/10/24 News Posted by Ian Symes on 1st October 2024, 15:06 Ah, it's October. The month where the new Red Dwarf special(s) go into production. After all, it was reported extensively online back in May, and none of the publications that giddily jumped on the bandwagon have since issued any updates or corrections, so we assume it's all going ahead. We should be getting the official announcement any moment. Here it comes. Any moment. Aaaaaany moment. Any moment... NOW. It hasn't worked. It's almost as if you should take what the cast say about any new projects with a pinch of salt, as even if the details are correct to the best of their knowledge at the time, plans change, and nothing is official until it's announced by the appropriate channels. This is a lesson that desperately needs to be learned by the entire population of comments sections everywhere else that Red Dwarf is discussed online. Nevertheless, the latest unconfirmed whisper is in, and this time it comes from Chris Barrie, via ITV Anglia: We hope next year to, in 2025, to shoot a special. That's the plan I've heard. The others might throw more light on it, I don't know, but yeah, that's the plan. I think all four of us are up for it, yeah. Read more →
DwarfCast 173 – Bottom Parade – Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 18th September 2024, 14:59 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes U&UKTVPlayG2U&Dave&Knuckles Righty dokey matey bloke flap old salty seadog amigo skip-jack jockstrap piano tuners, we're back with another in our occasional series of Dwarf-adjacent commentaries, this time covering Bottom Series 2, Episode 4, Parade. Not only is the series produced and directed by Ed Bye, this particular episode guest stars both Robert Llewellyn and Lee Cornes, which is as good an excuse as any to rabbit on over this episode and tackle your Bottom-shaped waffles. We cover pretty much all the affiliated spin-offs - the live shows, the Fluff video, Guest House Paradiso - as well as discussing what happens when TV schedules are affected by real life events, how Rik and Ade could have fitted in to Red Dwarf and trying to figure out if there's any modern equivalents to this madness. Read more →
DwarfCast 172 – The Smegazine Rack – Issue #12 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 21st August 2024, 11:35 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Clifford the Big Bastard of a Dog" With apologies for the delay, it's finally time to get back on the rack! Our Smegazine odyssey reaches February 1993, a very interesting time in Red Dwarf history, as the magazine's news page documents. In this episode, we uncover the origins of Entangled, some foreshadowing of The Promised Land and the first ever use of the smeg hammer. Other super relevant and definitely on-topic discussion points include the Bottom Exposed documentary, various 1990s adventure game shows, and the state of the Hitchhikers franchise after Douglas Adams's death. Oh, and the results of a caption competition from two years ago. We may not be fast... Read more →
Video DwarfCast #5 – Are You Smarter Than A G&Ter? Byte Two Features Posted by Jonathan Capps on 22nd July 2024, 13:27 We've set a lot of Red Dwarf quizzes in our time, but are we any good at answering them? Well, Part 1 of this video should give you a decent idea but unless we are still in any doubt, it's time to find out... again! Want to play along? You'll find a big list of quizzes underneath the video - take them, then watch the vid, then tell us how you did. Oh, and you're probably better off clicking through to YouTube and going full-screen if you want to see what we're typing properly. <span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span> Read more →
Video DwarfCast #4 – Are You Smarter Than A G&Ter? Byte One Features Posted by Ian Symes on 13th June 2024, 15:18 We've set a lot of Red Dwarf quizzes in our time, but are we any good at answering them? Well, we already know that Cappsy isn't, but what about Ian and Danny? It's time to find out, as we put our reputations on the line by taking on a series of Sporcle quizzes that probe every aspect of our mental capabilities. Want to play along? You'll find a big list of quizzes underneath the video - take them, then watch the vid, then tell us how you did. Oh, and you're probably better off clicking through to YouTube and going full-screen if you want to see what we're typing properly. Byte Two coming soon! Read more →
So What Is It? Features Posted by Dave on 25th May 2024, 14:10 Repetition, Running Gags and Callbacks in Red Dwarf We're once again opening our doors to long term G&T regular Dave, bringing us his latest deep analysis of one of the show's core elements. Like all sitcoms of a certain age, Red Dwarf has a tendency to repeat itself from time to time. I’m not talking about in-the-moment repetition like the White Hole sequence that gives this article its title, or the Terrorform gag about Kryten’s short-term memory being erased – those are deliberate repeated phrases that give a single joke the necessary rhythm and cadence. I’m talking about episode-to-episode and series-to-series recurrences of the same ideas, jokes, lines and structures, and the way that these have accumulated as the show has gone on. Read more →
The State of Online Journalism in 2024 Features Posted by Ian Symes on 18th May 2024, 15:13 or: Why We Insist On Being Grumpy Bastards Every Time This Happens If, like me, you're known amongst your more neurotypical friends, family and colleagues as "the Red Dwarf fan", you'll have received umpteen messages in the last couple of days, reacting to the "news" that new Red Dwarf has been "confirmed". These normies will then have been confused by your lukewarm response, before you have to tediously explain that nothing is actually official yet, and the articles that they've seen online are just discussing the rumours we've known about for months. "But look", they reply, "it says it right here, the Scrapheap Challenge guy announced it". At this point, you have to choose between launching into a full scale rant about the intricacies of television commissioning, or just saying "yeah, looking forward to it" in order to maintain the illusion that you're a well-adjusted individual like them. It's especially frustrating when you can also see this happening on a much wider scale. Us lot - you, me and anyone else who'll visit a fansite for a sci-fi programme from the 1980s - know the score, but there are vast swathes of Dwarf fans who have a much more casual relationship with the show. They might love it every bit as much as we do, but they're not as obsessive about the details as we are, and are less likely to have been following the series of small scale leaks that we've been tracking. But all of a sudden, they're all over social media in the last two days, sharing their excitement at the confirmation of something that isn't actually confirmed. But here's the thing - it's not their fault. They're being let down by the people they trust to provide information. Read more →
DwarfCast 171 – Re-Disc-overy: Series VI DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 28th April 2024, 14:51 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Nic Farey is why we have to take off our shoes in airports" Even by the standards of the Red Dwarf DVDs, the series VI release was special and probably represents the arguable pinnacle of the original set of releases. As such, Cappsy, Danny and Ian had a marvellous time reliving an absolutely packed release of musical insight, more SFX behind the scenes goodies, plus a very amusing and previously unknown tale regarding Craig and horses! Read more →
Something’s (maybe) coming (possibly) News Posted by Ian Symes on 17th April 2024, 13:15 It's funny to think that just over a year ago, we were convinced that Red Dwarf was dead and buried, a victim of an ongoing legal battle with no end in sight. That was until it ended. And since then we've been teased with the prospect of a new spin-off series, whilst also regaining a modicum of hope that the OG Dwarf would return at least once more. While there is still no official news - and as usual we'd like to clarify that nothing is confirmed until it's announced by the production company and/or the broadcaster - we've now entered what we've come to recognise as the preliminary phase that usually indicates that such an announcement may be forthcoming. Yes, the cast have been blabbing again. Read more →
