Okay, we know that on a day like today, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction (Shearer to Newcastle? lol), and we haven’t exactly helped matters on that score ourselves. But it’s afternoon, now, so we can legitimately ask, as if it were any other date, what in holy flying buggery is going on here?

EDIT (12:55pm): Oh my stars, there’s another one!

The BBC appear to be hosting a viral video for Back To Earth. This is bloody great. On first glance, it’s one of the standard “mock-up-some-improbable-footage-instant-april-fool” jobs, but it has a link to Lister’s Coming Home at the end! These things always get forwarded and forwarded to death; just think of all the unsuspecting people who are going to see a Red Dwarf teaser against their will!

We should point out that when this video first appeared, the accompanying text was written in some sort of gobbledy-gook:

A new series on Mars and will make a long awaited return to
television screens for a two part special of a well known television
series.

…which accounts for our initial abject confusion. I DON’T KNOW WHY I PAY MY LICENSE FEE.

Oh, and does anyone else find it kind of creepy when the shadow appears? It’s almost as scary as a water tank.

ADDITIONAL : Okay, look, BBC, just STOP IT.

Right, so after the first video – which subtly hints at Dwarfyness – comes this one, WITH DANNY JOHN JULES IN IT. I’m not really sure what the point of the allusive one was given the existence of this one (unless it was simply to give the Beeb something to put on their front page), but this is pretty immense. A few things to note, then :

  • It’s Cat! Talking, and stuff! I’d suggest that I’m not wholly sure whether he’s got the accent spot on were it not for the fact that not getting the accent spot on has been getting the accent spot on since around series VII. It’s still bloody lovely.
  • If they’ve gone to the trouble of creating this Mars backdrop, and filming on/in front of it, is this going to be plot-relevant? Or simply something we’re to mentally slot in between their heading home and getting there? I’d have thought the latter were it not for the fact that the blurb says that they “will be found on the red planet by Beagle 2, six years after the probe’s last contact”.
  • On the other hand, the blurb also says that “they” are “Lister, Rimmer and the Cat”. And I’d suggest that BBC News have accidentally spoiled something HUGE had we not already SEEN KRYTEN ON EARTH AS WELL.
  • Just in case you missed it, THIS IS VIRAL MARKETING FOR RED DWARF ON BBC NEWS. Headfuck.

Of course, by the time I’ve written all this, they’ve probably posted a further sixteen videos featuring Kryten, Lister, Rimmer, Birdman and performingmonkey. Give us a chance to catch up, you bastards.

58 comments on “A godawful small affair?

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  • This is… bizarre. It took me ages to see the ‘Lister’s Coming Home’ link at the bottom, but if this *is* a strange trailer for Back to Earth why the hell are the BBC publishing it?

    Still… isn’t it brilliantly done?

  • Ok, I have checked around the site, either you guys are REALLLLY good at hiding another April fools, or this is the best thing EVER!

  • > Ok, I have checked around the site, either you guys are REALLLLY good at hiding another April fools, or this is the best thing EVER!

    It’s after 12. We may be cunts, but we’re not cunts.

  • The clocks went forward this weekend – change your time settings by editing your profile.

  • >The clocks went forward this weekend – change your time settings by editing your profile.

    I meant on the BBC page, sorry.

  • >EDIT (12:55pm): Oh my fuck, there?s another one!

    Notice how Lister and Co. are superimposed on the rockface at the end? :-))

  • Ok, I have checked around the site, either you guys are REALLLLY good at hiding another April fools, or this is the best thing EVER!

    If we were able to fake Mars footage AND hack the BBC site, I can assure you we’d be doing something a bit more bloody spectacular.

  • Notice how Lister and Co. are superimposed on the rockface at the end? :-))

    Never noticed that. Looks a bit Mount Rushmore…

    Anyone fancy a crack at that?

  • Red Dwarf is set to return to our screens for a two part special set on Mars?

    Somebody fire whoever at the BBC wrote that. Please.

  • Maybe the BBC have asked to show the specials too, but in two 40 minute parts rather than three 25 minute parts or whatever they are on Dave.

  • Oh and at the end of the Cat video you can see the faces of all four crew members on the rockface.

  • A spoof trailer filmed on ‘Mars’ will mark a long awaited return of a well known television series.

    I presume this was to make people think ‘Life On Mars’?

  • >Maybe the BBC have asked to show the specials too, but in two 40 minute parts rather than three 25 minute parts or whatever they are on Dave.

    They can ask, then they can fuck off.

  • I presume this was to make people think ?Life On Mars??

    Well isn’t it obvious? Mars spelled backwards is ‘Sram’ which is two letters away from Spam, an obvious reference to Monty Python, in which Graham Chapman was meant to appear as a guest on Red Dwarf.

    It’s blatant.

  • > I presume this was to make people think ?Life On Mars??

    …Or possibly Doctor Who (first trailer for Planet of the Dead to be shown tonight on BBC1, just before The Apprentice at 9pm).

  • cat has gone back to refering to humans as monkeys which he aint done since series 1

    that was always something that worried me about the specials, i wouldnt wanna see them full of series 1 jokes that are long since gone after 7 more series as i really dont believe the cast could ever do it the same way they did in series 1 so why ruin it :(

    doug seems to like that

  • cat has gone back to refering to humans as monkeys which he aint done since series 1

    I hate to be a pedantic bastard, but he said it in ‘Kryten’. But agreed, it’s been aaaaaaaaaaages!!!!

  • Would I be be looking too much into this if I suggested that these trailers might form part of BtE as well?

  • No, where they find out that Red Dwarf is a popular TV show, and new episodes of it are being trailed on the internet, via the BBC website…

  • for this to be part of BtE u would have to ignore the fact that they are breathing oxygen on mars… hmm…

  • > If we were able to fake Mars footage AND hack the BBC site, I can assure you we?d be doing something a bit more bloody spectacular.

    Hey if you were capable of faking Mars footage and hacking the BBC site then this is exactly what you should be doing!

  • i was hoping the favorites were specifically placed as well, alas, i think not.

  • I notice the Youtube account is owned by one Bob Giles, who also maintains the Scanning Jupiter site…

  • Saw this in work today. Nice to see them getting a plug on BBC news, but apart from that it seemed just a little meh.

    Or am I missing something?

  • Aw. Just had a rotten thought. What if today’s SCD98247 update is just a link to all this business? Or the Cat vid? That’s be something of a let down, no?

  • Well if the object was to whet the public’s appetite for more, mission accomplished baby.

    *wringing hands greedily*

  • >Neat stuff. I didn?t notice any issues with the accent.

    Me neither. I noticed his accent slips in the ‘behind the scenes’ video, (the one in the bunk room where he looks soaked) but we don’t know if that take will be used. (And if it is…meh. Not a big deal really.)

  • Sorry, I was tempting fate. Blame me, It’s my fault.

    The only problem I have with the accent is when he says “Mr MultiUniverse 3,000,026” – he loses it slightly.

    Geez, we’re really gonna have to stop overanalysing this stuff…

  • Everyone noticed the faces in the rocks at the end, right? Took me a few viewings to notice.

  • Damn you, Si.

    Well the only reasonable answer to overanalyzing stuff is for there to be a Lot More Stuff!

  • Truly amazing really and it has to be beyond the wildest dreams of GNP’s publicity dept..

    Considering that so much of ‘Daves’ airtime is taken up by ‘made for the BBC’ stuff, it seems only fitting that the Beeb should give a nod to the channel..
    It’s also fair to say that with BBC worldwide doing the biz with the DVD’s for the main BBC channels and owning/part owning Dave, they are indirectly helping their own cause..It’s still a huge surprise to me that there is so much media interest..

    It’s easy to say as a fan that Red Dwarf deserves a comeback, and yes, I did expect a lot of interest but with magazine coverage, Daves own input and now, other channel interest, It’s far outstripped my expectations…

    This is one big mother and my guess is it’s taken other people in the industry by surprise too..

  • Got one of those emails off Cat saying its an April Fools. BAH. I really do hate April Fools day…

  • Well, whether it’s an April Fool’s or not is immaterial – it’s out there, and it’s Dwarf, so what is there to complain about?

  • Well people looking at the BBC site may see it and think it’s serious as a lot of us did. And they might think that the Red Dwarf crew going to Mars was a bit of a silly idea and decide not to bother watching because of it. Maybe going to all this trouble for a pointless April Fools joke could actually do more harm to the specials than it does good?

  • Nah. People generally expect the odd gag on April 1st, even on a news site.
    No harm done, and an extra plug into the bargain = win-win.

  • Had another look at the vid on the BBC news site, which now reads:

    The ‘life on Mars’ consists of a curry eating slob, a cat-like humanoid, an officious hologram and a sanitation mechanoid.
    This spoof April Fool’s footage which sees Red Dwarf’s Cat being ‘discovered’ on Mars, celebrates the three episode special ‘Red Dwarf: Back to Earth’, which will air on Dave, ten years after the team’s last appearance on our screens.

    So there.

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