DwarfCast 107 – Duct Soup Xtended Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 11th June 2020, 14:37 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes If we have to watch the shit bits, then you do too. In the first of a two part series of taking another stab at an abandoned commentary from years ago, Danny Stephenson, Ian Symes and Jonathan Capps dig into a tepid bowl of Duct Soup. So, put on your best bed sheet, grab a tin of pineapple chunks and ensure there are at least two opposing players between you and the goal at the moment the ball is played forward as we discuss the only time in Dwarf history that the crew gave a shit about what Kochanski thinks, Lister’s various phobias and more. DwarfCast 107 – Duct Soup Xtended Commentary (83MB) As an extra ‘treat’ this episode also includes the inaugural edition of Waffle Men, in which we (some men) talk about whatever you’ve suggested over the previous week. So, please feel free to suggest any big or small topics in the comments for the next episode.
Enjoyed that. Along with all of the character problems in Series VII, I think another big difference between this and Marooned is the lack of jeopardy. In Marooned you have the constant theme of “We’re going to die!” which is a lot more dramatic than Kryten and Kochanski chatting about her growing up in Glasgow. As for topics to be discussed, how about whether the movie script will ever see the light of day? Is Doug holding on to it in the hope that it will be used as part of a stage show? Or is he half-thinking that in the future a movie could be made with a new cast (when it becomes clear that the current cast have retired from Dwarf)?
The ‘What Is It?’ list – I’ve gotten up to the end of series VI making my big list of “What is it?”s (or near enough to) and their episode timings. There’s forty-odd so far, I think. I do keep going back to it, and will try and get it finished in the next couple of weeks. There is, of course, another “What is it?” in The Promised Land, so I can include that, too.
Appropriately I enjoyed listening to this in a nice hot bath. Kryten’s paranoid vision of the future is one of the few bright spots for me. Funny but kind of eerie, like the bit in DNA when he’s trying to be funny and Lister’s backing away from him.
Duct Soup is a great Cat episode. He and Lister together have some great scenes, mostly down to Cat himself: the washing machine bit, the superb “boy is it cramped in here?” bit and the whole watery roaring noise section are all great, and totally agreed that him coming down in the wardrobe (with accompanied confused expressions) is a highlight. Otherwise it’s not much of an episode, just sort of trundles by without anything of any real note happening.
Thanks for answering/discussing my question in this Dwarfcast folks… got another one for you. Has there ever been a point in your lives, where you almost gave up on Red Dwarf ? For whatever reason, be it over a certain joke, direction of the series or even cause of a moral issue you didn’t agree with ?
Discussion: Why was Last Human called Last Human, when it features more regular human characters (four) than the other books?
Doug (AND Rob) settled on (The) Last Human as the name of the third book long before Last Human was published in April 1995. A (dated) book tour was announced for The Last Human in the Smegazine and it was supposed to appear at the end of October ’93, so that thing must have been almost complete. Clearly the breakup happened at around this time, as that book never saw the light of day. Doug must have rewritten it, but the name stuck. Kinda.
Doug (AND Rob) settled on (The) Last Human as the name of the third book long before Last Human was published in April 1995. A (dated) book tour was announced for The Last Human in the Smegazine and it was supposed to appear at the end of October ’93, so that thing must have been almost complete. Clearly the breakup happened at around this time, as that book never saw the light of day. Doug must have rewritten it, but the name stuck. Kinda. I think those news updates from 1993 are pretty fascinating and a little tragic in their own way. Fans were being promised not only that novel, but a Christmas special in 1994 and a possible movie. As well as Grant Naylor penning The 10%ers. I can’t imagine how stressful the period was for Rob and Doug.
Yeah, and the Smegazine went bye bye soon after anyway so, aside from a comment that the novel had been “delayed at the last minute” an issue after Doug had been describing how it opened, it was never really contextualised. BTL were banging on about Series 7, 8, 9 and a Christmas special in 1994. I guess we almost got there in the end, but , I think the writing was on the wall before VI even aired. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/trial-separation-1616445.html%3famp This was concerning, to say the least. I remember when the first (proper) episode of The 10%ers aired in 94 and it didn’t really set alarm bells ringing that only Doug was writing.
Thanks for that link. I was also rather surprised by Doug’s response to this interview question in 2018: Q: “What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made and how did you get over it?” A: “Probably taking so long to write on my own. In fact I would never have written on my own if Rob hadn’t wanted to go off and do his own thing. Not that we didn’t do some great shows together, but I wonder if my live would have been much easier if I’d just written my own stuff.”
Well he likely wouldn’t be doing Red Dwarf now if he had written his own stuff any earlier. especially if 1995 is taking too long.
Was about to make a thread about this, but given this one is already about Duct Soup I thought I’d ask here: Towards the end of the first Bond movie, Dr. No, 007 escapes from a prison cell by climbing up into some rather tight, claustrophobic ducts. He then hears a watery kind of roaring noise, which is quickly followed by a whole bunch of roaring water, which almost washes him away. Could this have been at least part of the inspiration for Duct Soup, where something very similar happens, or is it a coincidence?
Series VII’s Bond inspiration continues as I now realise that the opening to Stoke Me A Clipper is clearly inspired by the ending to Goldfinger. Doug must have been on a Bond binge before/during Series VII.
Was about to make a thread about this, but given this one is already about Duct Soup I thought I’d ask here: Towards the end of the first Bond movie, Dr. No, 007 escapes from a prison cell by climbing up into some rather tight, claustrophobic ducts. He then hears a watery kind of roaring noise, which is quickly followed by a whole bunch of roaring water, which almost washes him away. Could this have been at least part of the inspiration for Duct Soup, where something very similar happens, or is it a coincidence? I think it’s as likely that Duct Soup was inspired by Doug flushing a particularly persistent turd.
