And Grant Naylor spake… News Posted by John Hoare on 10th January 2006, 03:03 Ooooh! “I’ve read the bible for Red Dwarf and it’s 250 pages long but I suspect that the bible when they started writing it was much smaller and it’s grown as they learn about the characters.” I must admit, whilst I know most TV shows have a bible, I never even thought there would be one for Red Dwarf – Rob and Doug seemed so determined not to let continuity get in the way of a good story. Or joke. But this is Paul Mayhew-Archer, so I think we can trust him. I wonder whether he’s right or not about the time period though. Was there a bible from the very beginning of Dwarf, with it being added to as they went along – or was it put together when VII was in pre-production, in order to help the new writers? Anyway, I’d recommend reading the article, especially if you’re thinking of writing comedy for a living – it’s got lots of good tips. Especially the point about actually being funny, which lots of writers seem to forget. It’s almost enough to inspire me into writing something, but I’M ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DIABOLICAL.
Actually, there’s so much sense spoken in that article. “I think you can treat characters on one level as archetypes, don’t be frightened of archetypes – “Mr Silly”, perfectly fine supporting characters. You just want characters who have a funny characteristic. Almost every sitcom you care to mention has a Mr or Miss Stupid in it. You rely on thickos, it’s vital. And the key between the good and bad sitcoms is not that the good ones don’t rely on those archetypes, it’s just that their thickos are funnier thickos.”
The Dwarf Bible is HUGE, but yeah, only came about between VI and VII for the newbies. It’s a kinda haphazard document – more of a scrapbook, and actually more or less redundant now – between DVDs of the show, the Programme Guide and the website, almost everything in it is covered.
> The Dwarf Bible is HUGE, but yeah, only came about between VI and VII for the newbies. It’s a kinda haphazard document – more of a scrapbook, and actually more or less redundant now – between DVDs of the show, the Programme Guide and the website, almost everything in it is covered. Well, if it’s redundant, you won’t mind giving it to me to look after…
