On a day when half the country is either in lockdown or preparing to go into lockdown, and we’re debating whether or not meeting up to watch the Red Dwarf Special go out counts as “non-essential travel”, Dave and Red Dwarf HQ have provided a much welcome distraction, in the form of this lovely big poster:

There’s a couple of variations actually, and the one without the Dave branding (pictured above) is clearly superior, although there’s also this textless version too. There’s a lot to take in, so have some bullet points:

  • Having been slightly hidden behind the others in the first main cast shot, you can see here that Kryten’s bodywork is distinctly scuffed and patched up. His chest monitor has got a dirty great chip in it, something that you could sort of make out in the very first clapperboard shot.
  • Another angle on Rimmer’s new silvery muscley costume makes his neck look a lot more normal, and also shows off the fabric and some of the details a little better.
  • Rodon featured in the main poster! Fangs and claws very much on display. And he appears to be on fire.
  • Is that some sort of Starbug schematic in the background on the left hand side? Full version of this please.
  • And speaking of Starbug, just look at actual Starbug at the bottom! It’s missing its rear section! This is what we were hinting at with the tiny glimpse of an effects shot we saw in the teaser trailer – we weren’t sure whether we were supposed to be able to make it out there, but it’s very much a feature here. It’s Tikka To Ride Xtended all over again.

Overall, very impressed by this artwork, and the sense of scale that’s coming across in the promotional campaign so far. These updates are getting closer and closer together, meaning that we surely can’t be far away from having a date for our now otherwise empty diaries.

84 comments on “I know, but the Blu Tack is mine

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  • Anyway, this is exciting, isn’t it?

    A demi-Starbug! Wolverine claws! Is that Earth? Kryten’s crack! And Holly actually looking like Holly again!

  • Also, I think the Rimmarmour looks much better in that shot.

    His neck doesn’t seem as oddly twisted for a start.

    But yes, a lovely looking thing. The poster, I mean, not Rimmer’s neck.

  • “the poster’s arrived”.

    This would have been better.

    I am so so so in love with this poster. Its so epic. All the poses are different to anything we’ve had before. The colours and the overlays over everything work really well.

    Everything about it is great. Though poor Norman getting shoved up in a corner like that lol

    And yeah, as Dave said, Rimmer looks better here. I wish this had been the first reveal of that costume, would have been a little more exciting and intriguing, and I wouldn’t hate it so much.

  • Am I right in thinking this is the first official acknowledgement that Norman is in this too?

  • My 10 year old self would have cum for the first time to this poster. And the teaser. Really I would have just been girl-jizzing all over the place.

    For back then I still believed in The Movie.

  • I mean this is basically his chance to do The Movie. Hell, with the real possibilty of more The Movies. I say let him chase his film ambitions while he finally has the chance. You know he’s always wanted to, and I’ve always wanted to see a Red Dwarf movie even though in recent times I resigned myself to the idea that getting a few more series was the best and most likely option.

  • Well, Dave have tweeted April 2020 as the release date, so just waiting for an actual date in the month, but surely it will be around Easter?

  • The 12th is the date that keeps going around, leaked from that UKTV page I believe.

    Also Holly’s bald? I think? They should have given him one of Rimmer’s wigs. Seriously, though, Holly’s probably the only character who could get away with going totally bald and not look distractingly different.

  • Thought he might be involved based solely on certain RD people following him on twitter around the same time

  • One thing that strikes me about the marketing we’ve seen so far is that it feels like a conscious move away from the often nostalgic and quite backwards-looking flavour of XI and XII.

    This feels fresh and new and different, in content as well as format, which is very exciting.

  • Guess Holly is bald now? He was always bald, obviously, but now he doesn’t have his side hair?

    Anyway, awesome poster and I’m glad the movie got one. Btw can we all start referring to it as the movie now? That’s basically what it is.

  • Honestly, giving it a harder look, I’m not a fan of this Holly’s look. Maybe it’ll change when I see him perform or have context into what role Holly will be playing, but for now the all-natural old man Lovett look is not welcomed.

  • I wouldn’t start calling it a movie, just because all official parties have been very careful not to refer to it as a movie. It would be rude not to be respectful of their wishes.

    I mean, the difference between a feature length special and a TV movie is just marketing anyway. What makes the Doctor Who TV Movie a TV movie but the Jonathan Creek feature length specials feature length specials? Why isn’t a hot dog a sandwich?

  • Doesn’t really fit in on this poster. Should have been a little bigger, straight, and blended into cloud a bit.

    I know Norman would whinge everyone to death but I agree that he’s just a bit too “old bald bloke”, would be an interesting experiment to see what a bit of pixelation and crushing would look like.

  • Yeah Holly does look a bit like he’s been plonked there as an afterthought. Overall I think this looks great though. Wasn’t sure about the logo in the trailer but it looks a lot better on the poster.

    Is Lister being beamed up/down? Or is that a celestial light shining down on Cloister?

  • The more I look at this poster (and think about Kryten’s “we have to find a new ship!” from the trailer) the more it feels like they’re teasing a story in which Red Dwarf is destroyed or disabled, they have to flee in Starbug and they end up chased by the cats and crashing on the planet in that poster (could that be Earth, or somewhere else maybe?).

    That’s probably completely wrong, but it’s fun to speculate.

  • It better not be Earth, what a disappointment it’ll be if they forgo Garbage World. I’ll be massively letdown.

  • I mean, the difference between a feature length special and a TV movie is just marketing anyway. What makes the Doctor Who TV Movie a TV movie but the Jonathan Creek feature length specials feature length specials?

    The amount of money involved?

  • Would love to buy this poster and get it framed. Shame the Red Dwarf store is gone now. Hopefully we see some form of merchandise for this.

    >Or is that a celestial light shining down on Cloister?

    I assumed that this was what they were going for.

  • >I wouldn’t start calling it a movie, just because all official parties have been very careful not to refer to it as a movie. It would be rude not to be respectful of their wishes.

    Has Doug said it? or is it just the cast? i sometimes think the cast say it because they think after BTE the fans are afraid of a movie being made. they have been fairly against a movie after BTE.

    There was an interview where Doug and the cast were asked about the movie. craig seemed to dismiss it as lets just stick to the show. Doug was fairly up for it still, claiming BTE was not what a Red Dwarf movie would actually be.

    But saying that. its clearly not a movie. but its just whether Doug is treating it as if it was a movie. they got an orchestra doing the music it seems. very filmic.

  • What makes the Doctor Who TV Movie a TV movie

    I would say budget, but I’m sure there are counterexamples you could throw my way. Ad breaks? But then if it airs on the BBC there aren’t any….

  • It wouldn’t take much to make this a movie in scope. We have already seen the effects and they look great. The show itself looks as good as the best of XI/XII (in terms of how it looks, Give & Take always comes to mind when thinking of what I’ve seen recorded for The Promised Land). Add in an orchestra and it could really be a big independent production.

    The one further thing I hope they also do to add to the movie feel is not to have the normal Red Dwarf opening but instead go through the cast and crew credits in the opening the same way they do in a movie and have the backdrop of cat religion iconography.

  • Even if they didn’t do a movie style opening title credits, they could do a series 1-2 open title sequence. It’d be more dramatic, it would in with the series 1 themes being covered, it’d mean not having a single, 30second set of clips for 1 episode we’re about to watch (we sort of had that with BTE now but at least at the time that was broadcast over 3 nights), and it would give it a little more of a filmic, cold open almost feel to it.

  • Perhaps the difference between a movie and a feature-length special could be the audience. Without an audience it would be more movie-like? ????????‍♂️

    But then that doesn’t account for shows that aren’t shot with a studio audience anyway, so who knows? ????????‍♂️

  • Even if they didn’t do a movie style opening title credits, they could do a series 1-2 open title sequence. It’d be more dramatic, it would in with the series 1 themes being covered, it’d mean not having a single, 30second set of clips for 1 episode we’re about to watch (we sort of had that with BTE now but at least at the time that was broadcast over 3 nights), and it would give it a little more of a filmic, cold open almost feel to it.

    It would feel weird if they’re not using Goodall’s music though.

    (Hopefully they will still use key pieces.)

  • I imagine they can still use certain music from Goodall. why its not him doing the music is a little odd. maybe they went for cheaper.

  • Perhaps the difference between a movie and a feature-length special could be the audience. Without an audience it would be more movie-like?

    I linked this way back, I can’t be bothered to do it again but I remember Robert saying at a comic con ahead of XII’s release where he was asked about a movie and he said something along the lines of, “BtE got a bad reception and I think it was cause of the lack of a studio audience, making a movie with a studio audience would be a novel concept.”

    Its essentially a movie, I know some people don’t think it is for whatever reason, but its 90 minutes, orchestra soundtrack, we even got official posters for god shakes lol. It’s basically our Day of the Doctor, if that makes you feel better.

  • I imagine they can still use certain music from Goodall. why its not him doing the music is a little odd. maybe they went for cheaper.

    Many people said it was cause Goodall’s music wasn’t used enough in XI and XII, to the point he didn’t bother releasing the XII soundtrack you’ve probably already heard at this point via some unnamed sources lol, but its all speculation whether Goodall was pissed off so bad he didn’t want to return. That’d seem like a bit of an overreaction if you ask me.

  • Maybe they just went for cheaper. Goodall has been doing TV and Film for years. he probably deserves to be paid very well and for his music to actually be used. but then you can just go for someone whose fairly new and willing to accept less money just so they can get your work out there.

    It would mean (hopefully) quality for less of the budget.

    Just speculation.

  • I don’t really buy they couldn’t afford Goodall, or that Doug saw fit to hire another composer over Goodall especially come a linear project akin to the movie he always wanted just because he felt it’d produce a similar product. Something else happened behind the scenes, I’m sure.

  • Think Goodall has been offering mates rates and favours for the Dave series, and if it was me, doing the same amount of work for less and then not having it used wouldn’t make me feel great, appreciated, or generous.

    Just my take.

  • I assure you that Goodall quit because of how terribly they utilized his scoring for XI and especially XII, constantly dropping his original music for the same exact fucking recycled cues over and over and over. Why’d you think he didn’t even release his XII score? Because they didn’t _use 90% of it_.

    It’s so egregious it almost feels like they left in the temp edits from before his music was done. He composed nearly an hour of music for both series and so much of it was simply left out in favor of library music or recycled Series 1 and 2 cues for no obvious reason. Between that and the constant failure to use more than one or two different model shots most of the time despite occasionally showing many others, the editing feels bizarrely incompetent in specific areas in those series.

    It truly does feel like temp edits left in the final product that were meant to be replaced with material that wasn’t finished yet but never were. I’m convinced that Doug realizes they botched the models in XI / XII and that’s why we (judging from what we’ve seen) have switched to pure CGI, something I’ve been saying they should do for years now.

    It’s a deep relief to see they got a proper composer for the special. I was afraid that we’d get this big epic film-style special and be stuck with just library music and recycled Series I cues.

    Except that’s we got in Series XII and _that_ had a composer, so we’ll see.

  • If Goodall quit because of that then the whole situation looks rather childish on his end, they’re adults, its a reasonable solution for Goodall to simply have a discussion with Doug over the use of his music than to take his belongings and vacate the building. Not only that, many in the professional industry have seen their work go unused and they don’t act like that.

  • Well didn’t he do Doug a favour for series X? there was some music budget issues or something.

    I’ve heard reports stock music was still used throughout on the occasion, I recall one person saying they heard the audio cue played during the sequence where Lister flies into the ramscoop used in a commercial, which I’d be willing to believe as it does seem quite generic.

  • I recall one person saying they heard the audio cue played during the sequence where Lister flies into the ramscoop used in a commercial, which I’d be willing to believe as it does seem quite generic.

    Yeah i heard that music on an advert for a kids toy. so part of that likely was stock.

  • Even if they didn’t do a movie style opening title credits, they could do a series 1-2 open title sequence. It’d be more dramatic, it would in with the series 1 themes being covered, it’d mean not having a single, 30second set of clips for 1 episode we’re about to watch (we sort of had that with BTE now but at least at the time that was broadcast over 3 nights), and it would give it a little more of a filmic, cold open almost feel to it.

    With the inclusion of the Cats and the title The Promised Land it seems like they are heavily relying on Cat species lore from the first series that basically hasn’t been discussed for thirty years. To get people back up to speed I would love a Holly narrated introduction.

  • To get people back up to speed I would love a Holly narrated introduction.

    No better time to have one again.

  • It’s basically our Day of the Doctor, if that makes you feel better.

    Half of it is a beautiful and poetic celebration of the show up until this point with oodles of humour, charm and gratuitous fanwank, while the other half is some boring distraction about some C-grade villain from decades ago who only return as a “here you go” for the big name actor you brought back for the episode, which admittedly and thankfully sets up a much better story two seasons later? I’m in.

  • On a first watch of Day of the Doctor I felt the same. It took me a second viewing to appreciate how the Zygon plot parallels the Time War aspects and they each inform the other, but once I got that I enjoyed it all a lot more.

  • To be fair I haven’t seen it since (a couple of hours after) broadcast, maybe I’d appreciate it more now upon rewatch. There’s still so much of New Who that I’ve really only seen once – watching the entirety of Classic Who took up a lot of my Who-watching time whenever the show wasn’t currently airing.

    Partly inspired by this conversation, I’m actually onto episode three of Terror of the Zygons right now. I really disliked this the first time I saw it two or three years ago, and… it isn’t faring much better now.

  • Day of the Doctor might not be everyone’s favourite kind of Doctor Who story but I think it’s great as a big, fun celebration of the show in a blockbuster mode, and perfect for an anniversary special.

    If the Red Dwarf special comes anywhere close to that I’ll be very happy.

  • I loved every second of it that didn’t have anything to do with Zygons, and just felt like they were distracting from the more interesting stuff, but I’ll let you know how my opinion changes when I watch it again, which should be some time before 2030

  • I’m pretty sure the Dr Who TV Movie was named that because it was for the American market, where they frequently have TV Movies. In the UK we have ‘feature-length specials’.

  • I was just wishing for a trailer but not expecting one until Friday. I willed it. I’m good at willing it.

  • All feature length specials are TV movies, but not all TV movies are feature length specials, because a special is by definition connected to a regular TV series, but a TV movie only may be.

    Therefore, whether a feature length special is referred to as a “movie” or a “special” is strictly PR. Red Dwarf: The Promised Land is a feature length special AND a TV movie; Doctor Who (2005-) is a revival AND a reboot. Embrace the ambiguity, folks, else embrace madness.

  • Will it be a full 90 mins, straight through, or will they chuck ad breaks in? I actually do think the former, but the prospect of an AA ad halfway through the ‘film’ I find intriguing.

  • Will it be a full 90 mins, straight through, or will they chuck ad breaks in? I actually do think the former, but the prospect of an AA ad halfway through the ‘film’ I find intriguing.

    I’m assuming 2 hours with ads. I thought that had been previously confirmed, but now I can’t find the details so maybe I imagined it.

    Hopefully any AA ads will be integrated directly into the story though. At the end of part one they break down on the planet from the first ad, and at the end of part two they wind up on the second.

  • Will it be a full 90 mins, straight through, or will they chuck ad breaks in? I actually do think the former, but the prospect of an AA ad halfway through the ‘film’ I find intriguing.

    They said that that special itself is 90 minutes of content in I believe a two hour slot.

  • They said that that special itself is 90 minutes of content in I believe a two hour slot.

    It’s a two hour slot, yes, think Richard specified this during his Q&A session when the film was announced.

    So the AA ad appearing halfway through is very possible.

    That’s gonna fuck continuity right up, then.

  • Imagine if the AA are actually involved in the plot of the special. Maybe the Red Dwarf crew team up with them to defeat the RAC.

  • https://gazpacho-soup.com/2020/03/19/interview-veer-assi-of-uktv-creative/

    New interview conducted by the guy above me (I think? Fact-check me on this if wrong).

    “This artwork has been pretty universally praised among an often hard-to-please fandom. How does that feel?”

    In our defense the criticisms are usually well-intentioned for the betterment of the show, I hope as we approach this special we all collect ourselves so as to not go all-or-nothing in “I fucking hate this” or “this is the greatest thing ever, why are you fabricating complaints,” let’s just settle down, remain openminded, and enjoy the trailer tomorrow in a thread which everybody will beat me to somehow.

  • Shit quality version of trailer (better off waiting for better quality release, it skips 4 seconds ahead and I can’t bother fixing it, sorry): https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=lU7SrF5AbD0&feature=emb_title

    TRAILER SPOILERS BELOW:

    I just wanna say, I’m a total ass. I was complaining about Rimmer keeping his same uniform and he switches through his series I uniform AND his series III one, which looks fucking sexy btw. I’m a twat, sorry Doug

    Holly looks great, again another complaint I lobbed which proved bullshit. Sorry Norman

  • >New interview conducted by the guy above me (I think? Fact-check me on this if wrong).

    Andrew did the interview. Lovely little interview it is too.

  • Utterly surreal that Doug tweeted that version of the trailer – it’s clearly a leak, but why is in 4:3? Did he think it was the official release, did he stumble upon it in his YouTube recommendations?

  • That’s Rimmer’s uniform from The Inquisitor. A series III ‘H’ would have been nice but overall this thing looks brilliant.

  • This is fucking bonkers – Doug said 9pm, then it was leaked at half 8, so official channels uploaded it at 9am!

    I think it’s more likely that Doug just said “pm” when he meant to say “am”. Although what the fuck Dave were doing putting it on telly beforehand, or more to the point what the actual shitting Christ Doug was doing tweeting a low-quality wrong-aspect-ratio fan-originated YouTube link before either 9am or 9pm, is anyone’s guess.

  • It wouldn’t be Dave era Red Dwarf without some behind the scenes release cock ups now would it.

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