BODYSNATCHERS! News Posted by Ian Symes on 6th January 2007, 14:59 Andrew, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I couldn’t wait for you to announce this one… Swarajit Das from BTLi has just come back from the Rob Grant signing at Forbidden Planet. And… well, I’ll let him tell you: He did tell us some interesting news though. Firstly, what he referred to as “20th Anniversary DVDs” (i.e. the remastered releases) will contain storyboarded, voice-recorded version (alá Identity Within in Series VII) of “Bodysnatchers”, the script that was dropped from Series 1 and replaced with Me2. He said that the draft script was currently being passed between himself and Doug Naylor so that they can prepare it for recording. (Apparently, this episode has a female Holly which Rob himself said he’d never realised.) OH MY SHITTING CHRIST JESUSING H GOD. Right, so, in summary then… WE’RE GETTING ANOTHER IDENTITY WITHIN, AND IT’S THE MISSING EPISODE FROM SERIES ONE AND ROB AND DOUG ARE SORT OF COLLABORATING ON IT ARGH. If anyone was in any doubt that Remastered would be a worthwhile purchase, hang thine head in shame. Also: The second piece of news is that he’s been trying for ages to get a programme commissioned and has finally managed it. It is an animated programme which he is working on with Aardman Productions (of Wallace & Gromit fame) for the BBC. Excellent! That’ll be Cruel Aliens, then. I want to kiss Rob Grant’s chubby cheeks. And his face.
This is most delightfully excellent news I’ve heard since… well, Friday at 11:30, really. I want to have sex with everyone involved with this. Right now.
This is really quite interesting. Excuse me for one moment. Holy s–t! Holy f–k! This is unbe-f—ing-lievable! Ahem. What an excellent piece of investigative journalism Mr. Symes. And now if you will pardon my absence for a short moment, I’m going to celebrate in whatever fashion feels the most socially inappropriate to me…
Right, I’m back and the neighbours will never be the same again. Oh well. Now for a few comments: a) Whoever sold Rob Grant on the idea that these were 20th Anniversary DVD’s is a genius and, by the way, what a terrific marketing tool. b) I am going to put an early nomination into Time Magazine to vote Mr. Ellard (or whoever came up with the idea of doing Bodysnatchers in this way) as Man of the Year. Actually, as I suggested it myself many moons ago, perhaps it should be me (yeah right). Seriously though, this is absolutely amazing. c) In two days, the extras from this set already promise to be the best ever – I cannot wait to see what else is coming around the corner, but if there is a commentary with Ed, Rob and Doug in there somewhere, I could die happy in the knowledge that I had reached Nirvana (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof).
> a) Whoever sold Rob Grant on the idea that these were 20th Anniversary DVD?s is a genius and, by the way, what a terrific marketing tool. Interesting that, as the 20th anniversary year is 2008. Does this mean we’re not going to see the release for at least another year? Unlikely, I suppose, as it’s worth putting it out a few months early to catch the Christmas 2007 market.
> Does this mean we?re not going to see the release for at least another year? Um…no. It says Autumn on rd.co.uk, and October/November remains the target. Not sure what makes it anniversary, in that case. But, hey, whatever. Yes, it’s true, it’s all true. More details…well, when we’ve made the thing, frankly.
Amazingly amazing news.. The fact that the script is passing between the two and they are together in a professional sense is excellent… Just as long as the script isn’t passed back and forth with the others bits crossed out, it could be amazing, no, it will be amazing.. The mind boggles as to what else is up their sleeves, it will be hard to top the news so far though…
God, Doug meets Rob, Doug writes with Rob, Doug argues with Rob, Rob argues with Doug, Rob splits up with Doug, Doug meets Paul, Doug goes off with Paul, and Rob loses Doug, Dwarf and Movie….. How many times have we seen THAT happen…..
>OH MY SHITTING CHRIST JESUSING H GOD. Quoted for truth. In the interests of furthering the discourse I’d also like to add a cunting fuck-damn shit hell fucking-a. Seriously, it’s like one gigantic fucking miracle after another for the RD fandom.
Seriously, it?s like one gigantic fucking miracle after another for the RD fandom. Abso-bloody-exactly. Seriously – what other 1988 sitcom would have a lost script recreated in a DVD release? NO OTHER, that’s what. We’re so fucking lucky…
I love the way the fans and the creators/releasers of RD material can communicate and respond to each other so effectively, at least partly ‘cos the people who release this stuff really care about what they’re giving us fans, and the fans care enough to give intelligent and constructive analysis of the material relased (of which this site is ample evidence). We’re almost spoiled, us Red Dwarf fans.
> Knew there had to be a script. Should have put 2+2 together over the Identity Within thing? What’s interesting is that we’ve been told for a while that most of the re-usable bits of the script have already been recycled for existing shows. I wonder if this means they’ll leave the repeated bits in or maybe just cut them out and only show us the ‘bodysnatching’ specific bits.
>What?s interesting is that we?ve been told for a while that most of the re-usable bits of the script have already been recycled for existing shows. I wonder if this means they?ll leave the repeated bits in or maybe just cut them out and only show us the ?bodysnatching? specific bits. I did kind of wonder about this myself. The first indications we had from Andrew were that other than a classic opening scene (where Rimmer called role), the script was basically incomplete and was then chopped up later. However, we always wondered about Rob having a full script and now we know that clearly he always had one. I would think that if he and Doug are now collaborating we will essentially get the whole original episode, but maybe slightly rejigged with some new gags added to replace the ones that have already been used. At this point I don’t really care; it will be such a unique insight into early dwarf, I will need to change my underwear several times in the next few days just by thinking about it.
> Just as long as the script isn?t passed back and forth with the others bits crossed out I can imagine each of them receiving it and saying ‘yeah, no it’s not funneh’.
> However, we always wondered about Rob having a full script and now we know that clearly he always had one. Sadly this isn’t accurate guesswork at all, I’m afraid. But we’re not ready to report yet. details on rd.co.uk as and when…
> However, we always wondered about Rob having a full script and now we know that clearly he always had one. >Sadly this isn?t accurate guesswork at all, I?m afraid. But we?re not ready to report yet. details on rd.co.uk as and when? Well now I really am curious as to how this came about. I remember in the past you informed us that all that survived of this lost episode in the GNP vault was a few of the opening scenes and some lines/pages/jokes scattered here and there and that was about it. I guessed from the comments on SOTB (quoted below from this website) that Rob had a script. This was what led me to hope that a kind of IDW could be done on the episode in the first place. If he didn’t, I will be fascinated to hear how this came into being and how much of this new script has actually been resurrected from their collective memories; I can hardly wait… [ED: What was that script about then? The one that was never made? ROB: Well, I actually – this is very strange – I came across it about three weeks ago just going through some papers. DOUG: Oh yeah? And? ROB: Very – oh it?s all right.]
I felt a bit lukewarm towards the Identity Within. It was crap, though, wasn’t it? The effort they went to was brill, and Barrie was good, but the episode would’ve been terrible. Perhaps I should be more excited by this news than I am.
I think it doesn’t really matter how good the actual episode is. It’s like deleted scenes – I don’t judge them on how entertaining or amusing they are, I judge them on how interesting they are, to see the thought processes behind the show, and why certain things were cut. It’s the same with Identity Within, and also with Bodysnatchers. It doesn’t matter how good they are as episodes – it’s how interesting they are as a peek into what could have been. And I found Identity Within fascinating.
Very true, but if it’s funny at the same time, it’s a bonus. IDW, Bodysnatchers and the deleted scenes weren’t broadcast. It’s annoying if a shit episode goes out ie ‘Barely A Joke,’ but it’s easier just to shrug your shoulders and think ‘what if?’ with the unmade ones. If anyone can make sense of what I just wrote, answers on a postcard please.
“Barely A Joke”. Heh. I likey. And, yeah, you’re right. Identity Within WAS interesting, but it wasn’t entertaining. Whereas the DVD documentaries are entertaining and interesting. I dunno. Maybe Bodysnatchers will be brilliant. I’m just not awaiting this extra with the stomach-churning anticipation that the rest of you are. I think I’m just a miserable fucker.
>Identity Within WAS interesting, but it wasn?t entertaining. Whereas the DVD documentaries are entertaining and interesting. I dunno. Maybe Bodysnatchers will be brilliant. I?m just not awaiting this extra with the stomach-churning anticipation that the rest of you are. I think what should separate BSN from IDW is that Series 1 was largely brilliant whereas Series VII was my least favourite of all the series (yes even 8) and frankly almost all crap. As a result, IDW was only interesting to me to see if it could have been better than any of the other episodes in that series, especially after Chris Barrie left. And the simple answer was yes, it could have been. Alternately this episode is being produced by BOTH Grant and Naylor and was once a part of Series 1, which by definition should not only make it better than anything produced after series 6, but also provide a special insight into the origins of Red Dwarf and surely there cannot be enough of that.
Alternately this episode is being produced by BOTH Grant and Naylor and was once a part of Series 1, which by definition should not only make it better than anything produced after series 6, but also provide a special insight into the origins of Red Dwarf and surely there cannot be enough of that. Yeah. Now THAT is inticing.
> Identity Within WAS interesting, but it wasn?t entertaining I found Identity Within both interesting AND entertaining, so there (OK, without Chris performing it it wouldn’t be). HOWEVER, it’s worth noting that it wasn’t written by Doug, let alone Rob AND Doug. Once it had received a Doug rewrite and the episode filmed I reckon it would have been one of the better eps of VII (although I think Duct Soup, IDW’s replacement, is possibly the best of VII, so we would have lost that in the process) By the way, we don’t even know if Chris is performing Bodysnatchers, do we? I hope he does though, although I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one to spray sticky ejaculate in their own pants if we got other cast involved too. Did anyone else happen to see the episode of ‘M.I. High’ the other day and get the biggest kick out of Robert and Danny being onscreen together? I know some of you have lives and won’t have seen it.
