DwarfCast 100 – 100th DwarfCast Special DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 1st September 2019, 13:16 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes That’s 100th DwarfCast. Not 100th PodCast like you and Skeletor think. Very nearly thirteen whole years ago, a group of young and self-important Red Dwarf fans decided to tip their toes into the barely-chartered waters of podcasting, unleashing their verrucas into the world with the first edition released on October 1st 2006. The fact that it’s taken this long for the hundredth episode to come out should be a source of embarrassment and regret, but instead, brace yourself for the most self-indulgent and smug thing we’ve ever done: a documentary about ourselves, which runs for nearly an hour and a half. Join Jonathan Capps, John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Daniel Stephenson and Ian Symes for a look back on the history, highlights and lowlights of what is undoubtedly a podcast about Red Dwarf, ably assisted by a former regular making a one-off guest appearance many years later, reddwarf.co.uk editor Seb Patrick. We discuss the origins of DwarfCasts, the evolution of our style from ill-informed dickheads to slightly-better-informed dickheads, how the Back To Earth weekend nearly tore the group apart, and the difficulties faced when one of your hosts is on the verge of death in intensive care when he’s supposed to be doing a live podcast. There’s also music, testimonies from loyal listeners, and tonnes of clips of our best and worst moments – including snippets from the proto-DwarfCast episode commentaries recorded by a barely-pubescent Ian and John, previously not heard in the last fifteen years. Thankfully. DwarfCast 100 – 100th DwarfCast Special (156MB) Incidentally, Seb Patrick can currently be heard podcasting on Cinematic Universe (comic book movies), Beyond The Touchline (football culture and ephemera) and Mifflinfinity (The Office (US)).
That was a lovely bit of wanky fan service. Moffat would be proud. But seriously, that was a genuinely well put together little trip through all your work over 13 years (almost my entire adult working life, madness). Well done. It’s inspired me to go back and listen to the episodes again and I’m really enjoying them.
Well that was a pleasant trip down memory lane. Am I the only one who used to listen to these over and over again in the background while doing college projects? Congratulations for keeping it up for so long, cunts!
That was great! I don’t think I’ve re-listened to many old Dwarfcasts, so in my memory the recordings have retained a pretty consistent level of professionalism since the very start. This episode definitely debunked that misconception! The old clips proved just how far you’ve progressed: once you were just a mere Betty Boop operation; now you can proudly claim to be a real Mickey Mouse operation. I have vivid memories of waiting for the the Back to Earth Dwarfcasts to be available to download, and of being in the Spreaker comments for the live XI and XII broadcasts – but I have no memories of the Red Dwarf X instant reactions. Looking at those episodes’ pages on Spreaker, some have very few chat comments, some have none. Did those Red Dwarf X live Dwarfcasts have any kind of listener interaction at all?
Yeah, the Spreaker chat only became active for XI and XII; it was integrated into the DJ console, so easy for me to see, where previously it was a pain trying to follow it on mobile. X listener comments came from the Let’s Talk About threads on here (when the server hadn’t fallen over) and Twitter.
Just looked it up. To quote Alan Alda from O News it’s fantastic, ridiculous, ludicrous, preposterous.
Lovely stuff, enjoyed that very much indeed. Once you finish the commentaries (not many left now, right?) I’m going to watch the whole series in order with them. I’m sure it’ll be a bizarrely jarring experience.
Debris, or anyone, that does wish to listen to the commentaries in Red Dwarf episode order, can check out this handy little spreadsheet I put together a while back as I was doing the same thing with what had been released at that point. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u-Pa08zt4c7C9rL9MktW0Y8CP_hDOdssLnnkjVnA5mA/edit?usp=sharing I’ve not updated it in a while, but it’ll give you a good start. Might try and update it soon if I can bothered, or anyone else is free to if they wish.
I have watched all the episodes with Dwarf Casts on more than one occasion. Looking forward to completing the episode commentary set.
That spreadsheet – I kind of did something like that a little while ago, got halfway through and then didn’t actually know what the thing was when I found it again. https://twitter.com/bromley001/status/696333901791436802?s=19
I’m a bit late to the party, as usual – but that was lovely, great work everyone. I look forward to enjoying the 150th Dwarfcast episode through a special speaker installed in my coffin by my great grandchildren.
I look forward to enjoying the 150th Dwarfcast episode through a special speaker installed in my coffin by my great grandchildren. Then you can look forward to your grandchildren listening to the 151st via the same method.
Finally listened to this and I loved it. It felt in places like a proper audio documentary. Bravo. Those early episode commentaries are a joy to behold, they remind me of some ramshackle ‘Doctor Who’ commentaries that a friend and I tried to record in 2002. We got pissed and gave up after ‘An Unearthly Child’ Episode 3. I can understand you don’t want to upload them again, but they’re a wonderful piece of juvenilia to remind you of how far you’ve come. Nice to hear ‘Can’t Smeg, Won’t Smeg’ and ‘Tikka to Ride’ being so highly thought of, they’re definitely amongst the most enjoyable. My fondest memory of the DwarfCasts is the night ‘Trojan’ aired. I was on my arse with no money in a little bedsit with a mezzanine bedroom, listening to it live on my old laptop. Wifi constantly dropping out, technical issues abounded, but it was exciting. Those six episodes are twinned with the experience of listening to the Live Reactions, for me. I’m pleased that you’ve all matured and you’re all more balanced in your approaches, but it’s the freewheeling, ad hoc nature of this website waaay back when I started visiting in 2002 that I’ve always loved it for. Please don’t be organised, I couldn’t bear it. Here’s to the next 100. Oh, an honorary mention must go to the ‘PipesCast,’ which was responsible for me first discovering ‘Ghostwatch’ (don’t know where I was on the original broadcast).
I’ve not actually said how much I enjoyed it, have I? ‘Cause I did, a lot. I listened as soon as it went up (either side of me sunday dinner), and thought it was great, very well put together. Well done, chaps.
Hm, this one’s a bit long for my liking. Seriously though, congratulations on the big one-oh-oh. Long may they continue.
Always enjoy hearing content creators critiquing their own work. Evolution over such a long period means that the changes seem pretty imperceptible to the listeners at the time. I haven’t revisited the earlier episodes in a while, but I’m sure a newcomer would see a gulf in quality between episodes 1 and 99. Beyond the initial annoyance of UKTV scheduling, I didn’t really notice any issues with the agenda for the Series XI commentaries, and both those and the Series XII commentaries stick in my head as the best of the show – mainly due to the spreaker page.. Maybe an initial 7 days to evaluate the episodes would have helped in the case of BTE, or at least eased tensions? I certainly appreciated John’s input that weekend, if only to balance out the gushing praise. Nice to hear snippets of the proto-Dwarfcasts again. I think they’re the only ones I ever listened to alongside playing the episodes (no longer seems particularly essential to enjoying them). The tone of those (and the refusal to treat the whole thing as if your opinions are valid and this is professional endeavour) did seem to carry over in at least the first batch of proper-Dwarfcasts, but it seems like a well-oiled machine now. It’s still very sweary though, you cunts.
As usual, I’m “fashionably late” even though I listened to this weeks ago. I remember listening to those original 3 commentaries back in 2003 or 2004 when they came out. I had just got the internet at home for the first time. The now defunct Groovetown forums and G&T was really my introduction to fandom in general – the kind of fanbase that builds for popular shows like Red Dwarf and what-not. I didn’t really know how passionate and in depth other fans could get for a show that’s meant so much to me. Those threads in the Groovetown forums and the early articles on G&T were really my introduction into that world and made want to write reviews or just passionate rants about the shows I love. Then the Dwarfcasts came and I remember thinking “I wish other shows I’m a mad obsessive fan over had stuff like this too.” I also remember sending an email to Ian when those 3 commentaries came out, just saying what a great idea I thought they were. I’m sure he thought I was a crazy, stalker-y nutjob, and I’m sure since meeting me in recent years, he’s been proven right. Merry 100th to you and here’s to many more and not letting silly things like family, health and your lives in general getting in the way.
Once the episode commentaries are completed, I might listen to them in episode order rather than the order you produced them in. Looking forward to the quality/ professionalism varying wildly!
