Dwarf back in print? News Posted by Seb Patrick on 27th May 2005, 23:38 “Currently in development – the new Smegazine?” Oooh. Okay, very few sketchy details on this one so far, but it seems that Grant Naylor Productions and BBC Video are in discussions with a major partworks publisher to produce a Red Dwarf magazine series. Partworks. Ah. What’s a partwork? Simplicity itself. They’re the magazines you see advertised on TV – a free binder with part one, collect all twenty Greek god statuettes, that kinda of thing. You mean the ones that always get cancelled after about ten issues because hardly anyone buys them, leaving a few people stuck with half-full binders? Darn.
That’s a very pessimistic way of looking at things, Seb. GNP aren’t just some two-bit publishing company just set up for the soul purpose to sell a crappy partwork. All the profits from past DVD sales have gone on to fund more DVD production but now the money has no where to go, so it would be perfect to publish a part-work. Still, let’s see.
To be fair though, it does say “in discussions with a major partworks publisher” – it isn’t the BBC or GNP that are actually publishing this. But I think it’s too cynical as well – I can’t see them stopping halfway through on this one.
>I can’t see them stopping halfway through on this one. Maybe not. And I’d love to see it completed (although if it’s weekly, at the usual six quid or so a pop, I can’t see myself buying it). But if it’s published by one of the companies that normally do these things, they’re unlikely to make an exception just because it’s Dwarf. You very rarely actually see these things get completed, because the companies make more money off a newly-launched one than one that’s been around for twelve weeks with a rapidly-diminishing number of people buying it. Not that I’ve ever had my fingers burned by buying a partwork that never got finished, you understand…
Possibly with something like this, the BBC or GNP would put a clause in the contract saying it had to finish publishing it? Not sure how well that would go down with the publisher, mind you. Still, the Trek one went on for *ever* – hopefully there’s enough market for a Dwarf one that we’re worrying unneccesarily. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this – I hope it happens. G&T could do a nice review of each issue…
“All the profits from past DVD sales have gone on to fund more DVD production but now the money has no where to go, so it would be perfect to publish a part-work.” They could put the money towards funding a movie version of Red Dwarf for the big screen. I’d love to see that!!!!!!!!!!
It’ll probably be stuff that we already know about from the DVDs etc. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was like an episode a week or fortnight on a DVD and the magazine a supplement of it, like that fucking Inspector Morse one that was around. That’d be shit.
