Beat The Geek: Final Cover News Posted by John Hoare on 15th September 2006, 13:01 Ooooh, isn’t it lovely? Nice picture disc, too! Like I said before, let’s hope this leads to a resurgance of proper, painted, original covers for things like this! It’s not just good because it’s retro – it’s good because it’s beautiful as well! The blurb on the front is very clever – note that it says “Pit your general knowledge against the Red Dwarf fan in your family!” – not the other way around! Obviously, Red Dwarf fans are going to buy the release anyway – so the cover cannily appeals to people who know Red Dwarf fans as well, which a far larger market! Very good! It’s also announced that the release is going to come with a slipcase (or an O-ring, as I shall now forever call it in an attempt to show off)… mere days after I slagged them off! Whilst I acknowledge they do make a release look good, I still don’t like them – because they easily get lost or damaged, and it’s one more piece of packing you have to remove before you can play the DVD! Still, it’s not a digipack, so I can cope – at least the main plastic case itself will remain undamaged! The tale about the 2 | entertain logo being left off the spine of later Dwarf releases (not this one, mind) for the sake of continuity is interesting – there was a bit of fuss about that amongst some members of the Doctor Who fan community, because of the logo being added to the spine and ruining the line of Who DVDs on their bookshelves! Obviously with the number of Who releases being planned for years to come, they just had to bite the bullet on that score – but it’s lovely to see such minute attention to detail on the Red Dwarf releases! There’s very few companies that would care about something like that! I must admit, I hadn’t even thought about their being a booklet! And I want to know the never before revealed facts! You’re such a prick-teaser, Ellard! And good news for all you Region 4 people out there – there’s the first confirmation that this release should be making its way over to you in November! A Region 1 release is yet to be announced, however – let’s hope one happens! If it does, I expect it would be February next year, if previous releases are anything to go by! God, I’m such a twat.
OK…I’m gonna be a right bastard and slag off the cover, which I wanted to before now but didn’t have the balls to do so (and I liked – I still like – the art). The cover still seems a little off to me, I’m afraid. For a start, I reckon it should have Rimmer, Lister and Kryten on the front (or maybe just Rimmer and Lister). It should also look more like a game (I KNOWWWW it says ‘Interactive DVD Game’ at the top, even with a little DVD remote graphic, but still…). I’m not fond of the positioning of the four main objects on the cover either, but hell, I’m not the one the cover is being sold to. I’d be getting it if it was just Norman’s face, with his shiny bald head and that spot in the middle of his forehead, with a black background. The blurb IS great though. And I still like the title. It’s just…I don’t know, I’m gonna stfu. It’s the game itself that counts.
I really like it. Perhaps the one thing I’m not keen on is the actual “Beat The Geek” lettering itself (I can’t help but think it’d look better if it wasn’t italic), but that’s about it. It’ll *really* stand out on the DVD shelves, anyway!
I really like it, though I see what Mr Monkey means about looking the part. Having said that, the new logo does look good and could be the future norm, another plus side being, it will blend in on my DVD shelf… Todays update got slightly buried on the webboard due to the ‘coughing and spluttering’ post amongst others which is a shame as the booklet and untold secrets sounds very interesting. Top marks to 2 Ent for giving up their new logo for the sake of continuity.
Ah, I just read the TOS copy. Perhaps it was intentional on John’s part, then. As a sort of tie-in joke. Perhaps. Perhaps.
>A Region 1 release is yet to be announced, however – let’s hope one happens! I would sell my first born for a region 1 release. No wait, perhaps my second born – she’s more of a pain in the ass, but still… >If it does, I expect it would be February next year, if previous releases are anything to go by! Bastard…(probably right though…)
Andrew> Which is both informative and breaks any previous ‘most exclamation marks’ record. You’ve never read a Stan Lee comic, have you? :)
> For a start, I reckon it should have Rimmer, Lister and Kryten on the front (or maybe just Rimmer and Lister). For the rest of the cover, if it’s not to your taste, that’s fair and fine enough. But on this point…well, you see where the process took us. I’m not sure having just Rimmer and Lister on the cover of a DVD called ‘Beat the Geek’ and starring the two Hollys would have been the right move!
For the rest of the cover, if it’s not to your taste, that’s fair and fine enough. But on this point…well, you see where the process took us. I’m not sure having just Rimmer and Lister on the cover of a DVD called ‘Beat the Geek’ and starring the two Hollys would have been the right move! I think I see his point. For Red Dwarf fans such as those who would purchase this disc, Le Dibbley embodies the concept of “geek”* much more ably than even Arnold Rimmer and his abiding love of Morris dancing, Hammond organ music, Risk, and telegraph poles. *albeit for a usage of “geek” in a slightly pejorative sense (i.e., more synonymous with interpersonal ineptitude than with knowledgeability in a specialized subject and scholastic zeal) with which I don’t quite agree. But that’s a soapbox rant for another day ^_^; .
Only Rob and Doug could get away with the line “He’s looking so geeky I don’t even think he could get into a science fiction convention”, and not offend a large section of their fanbase!
I’m not against having Duane on the front, it’s just…he isn’t as recognizable as the main crew, even though technically he IS one of the main crew. It also implies the ‘Red Dwarf fan in your family’ (I love that line, I don’t know why) is like Duane, which is downright offensive… :) I know I’m in the minority, but I just look at the cover and think it’s wrong. Maybe if the Cat wasn’t seemingly standing impossibly on the hull of Red Dwarf, and the screen dropping from the Bug…IT’S GOOD, I JUST NEED TO SHUTUP.
>Maybe if the Cat wasn’t seemingly standing impossibly on the hull of Red Dwarf Oxygen is for losers.
“And why the hell is Lister painting the Esperanto on the back of the Series V DVD?! I DEMAND VERISIMILITUDE!”