DwarfCast 161 – Re-Disc-overy: Series 2 DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 14th April 2023, 13:36 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes “Could you make Patrick Stewart come in the middle of my television programme, please?” The second Red Dwarf DVD was released twenty years ago (as of a month and a half ago). Any bets as to whether we can get the next one done before this November? Back in early 2003 we had barely had chance to watch the first DVD more than two or three thousand times before another release was thrust into our sweaty palms. As is expected, the Series 2 DVD was very closely related to the first so you’d be forgiven for thinking this release might be a little less interesting, but as you will hear Danny, Ian and Cappsy still had plenty to talk about as they continue on their voyage re-disc-overy. For each edition of Re-Disc-overy, we’re going to be sharing our memories of each DVD release, looking back on the media and fandom landscapes of the time, and of course revisiting and reassessing the many, many special features. This time we’ve selected the Red Dwarf A-Z for the commentary treatment but you can bet we also had plenty of time for the Doug Naylor interview, commentaries and every other special feature contained within these shiny discs. DwarfCast 161 – Re-Disc-overy: Series 2 (113MB) This party political broadcast was paid for by the Rt Hon. Horance Terrance Cox. Show notes “Very very nearly 20 years ago” is now “slightly over 20 years ago”. “New Years Eve this year” is now “New Years Eve last year.” 17-year-old Ian’s breakdown of the A-Z Dalek 63•88 identifying which Daleks were used James O’Brien reveals all on RHLSTP Saint and Greavsie meet Donald Trump Tom Scott talking about sync claps and that 16-year-old Ian whinging about the Alternate Personalities featurette
The period of only having those anonymous red and blue spines on the shelf seemed to last for ages. A combination of being the year I was most obsessed with DVD sets (I couldn’t afford many, so made them count), never having had any of these episodes on video before, and admittedly still itching to move on from the decent early stuff to the more iconic Starbug/Kryten/Hattie/Bibby years. My brother got a PS2 over Christmas, so I could watch these properly on the telly now. Another Saturday morning working through all the extras (an odd experience, watching deleted scenes from episodes you’re not very familiar with in the first place), then taking it round Dan’s to marathon the episodes in the afternoon and considerably raising my opinion of an overlooked run. I remember us laughing the most at the forced expression “smegorama!” It was in the lead-up to this release that I first saw the sentiment online that series 2 was considered by some/many to be the best series, which seemed a completely barmy notion to teenage me. But that stayed in my head, and it was immediately obvious when rewatching Kryten and Queeg that they were as enjoyable as any later episodes in their own ways. TFTM was faultless too, if not a favourite yet, but the other three felt spoiled to varying degrees by poor execution or just some general griminess, and I’ve never really got over that.
Splendid and lovely stuff as usual. I had a couple of comments but thought I’d leave them until the end before posting and now I’ve totally forgotten what they are, so there’s that. Also, additional thanks for Horance Terrance Cox, which made me laugh like an idiot.
Man, it was so exciting when these were coming out. I remember the thrill of getting the new boxset, eyeing the cover art, exploring the extra features and commentaries. I miss that!
I guess Patrick Stewart was reading his lines in that section purely because he’d also read the opening and closing bits for the whole night. I think it’s fair to say that he genuinely enjoyed the show, though, and he was later a guest on Robert’s Carpool.
I guess Patrick Stewart was reading his lines in that section purely because he’d also read the opening and closing bits for the whole night. I think it’s fair to say that he genuinely enjoyed the show, though, and he was later a guest on Robert’s Carpool. I reckon he was overreacting to perceived Gunmen / A Fistful of Datas similarities, since that was an episode he directed, so one he would have felt close to and actually been paying attention to. And Gunmen was repeated more often than most.
I listened to a lot of James O’Brien’s radio show over the last few years and the comment about him being “basically a Tory” is insane. He is constantly ripping them new arseholes.
I reckon he was overreacting to perceived Gunmen / A Fistful of Datas similarities, since that was an episode he directed, so one he would have felt close to and actually been paying attention to. And Gunmen was repeated more often than most. I don’t think the “lawyers” comment was remotely serious and he was just using a common expression to exaggerate. He turned the TV on to see a show set in space, initially thought it was going to be a Star Trek knock-off and then realized it was a comedy.
“Who is that guy on the right” looked like Joe McHale But then Joe McHale does look like every stock American male to some extent.
A few random thoughts … It’s true that the cast commentaries can get a little annoying, but I love the intimate feel of them and the fact that you can just relax with those 4 people. Youtuber Tim Walk With Me visited Sachas Hotel recently in his Worst Rated Hotel series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBQAu7eQG9g I was also rather surprised at some of the James O’Brien comments. Kudos to Doug, as I remember that Andrew Ellard said that Doug was the one who insisted that they must have subtitles for the interview for anyone hard of hearing.
Calling James O’Brien “basically a Tory” is unfair, terribly unfair. He really does hate them. But he did help get them elected, so it’s fair to say it’s complicated.
Maybe Ellard is a massive fan of Angels, the drama series about student nurses originally set in St. Angela’s Hospital, and the “Angel” Bruce error in the booklet is a clever reference to her role in that. Those deleted scenes really are a great mix of funny stuff it’s a shame they had to cut, weaker material, and interesting ideas that didn’t really work. Series III’s are pretty good too iirc. League of Gentlemen, Hitchhiker’s and Dark Star commentaries would all be brilliant. See? Totally adjacent!
Great stuff. It was enjoyable to watch the A-Z again, and it was a good point that it had more to it than The First Three Million Years, even if it was very clip heavy and the choices of what each letter was felt very arbitrary. I’ve never been quite so cynical about the Patrick Stewart story, despite how stagey the delivery of it is in this. Maybe I just wanted it to be true, but I imagined it was at least based on truth, because otherwise why would Stewart choose to characterise himself as an overly litigious shit? I also think you were perhaps too generous in suggesting that only the Dave era has any objectionable, politically-incorrect-in-a-bad-way content, because, well… *gestures in the general direction of Series VIII*. But even the bubble era wasn’t squeaky clean. It had Rimmer saying that Eskimos kill their elderly, Lister talking about looking up women’s skirts, Rimmer being homophobic towards Ace, and multiple uses of “transvestite” as implicitly derogatory, just to name the examples that spring to mind. Re James O’Brien, I agree that painting him as basically a Tory is a bit unfair, as he has made criticising the Conservative government his whole deal for several years or more by now. But he did admit to voting for Boris Johnson for London Mayor, essentially just for the lols, so it’s understandable that leftists would be reluctant to trust him. And of course pretending to be a Red Dwarf fan is the worst crime imaginable.
Great stuff. It was enjoyable to watch the A-Z again, and it was a good point that it had more to it than The First Three Million Years, even if it was very clip heavy and the choices of what each letter was felt very arbitrary. I’ve never been quite so cynical about the Patrick Stewart story, despite how stagey the delivery of it is in this. Maybe I just wanted it to be true, but I imagined it was at least based on truth, because otherwise why would Stewart choose to characterise himself as an overly litigious shit? It’s an expression. Not meant to be taken any more literally than, “I nearly fired my agent.”
It’s an expression. Not meant to be taken any more literally than, “I nearly fired my agent.” Maybe, but if it is an expression, then there isn’t much in the actual story to doubt, right?
“basically a Tory” was hyperbole on my part, but if you’ve previously voted for them then it’s not exactly a stretch is it?
Maybe, but if it is an expression, then there isn’t much in the actual story to doubt, right? As I said above, the point of the story is that he turned on Red Dwarf, initially thought that it was going to be a Star Trek knock-off and then realized it was a comedy. That’s it. “I almost called my lawyer,” is simply exaggeration for mild comedic effect. I remember Andrew Ellard saying the same thing on the official site many years ago.
“I almost called my lawyer,” is simply exaggeration for mild comedic effect. Maybe, but he’s stretching the exaggeration pretty far by describing himself holding onto the symbolic phone momentarily before putting it back where it was. Maybe I just don’t get Patrick’s wild, ironic humour. Since I first saw the clip as a kid, the idea that he’d be so sensitive about defending the IP of a franchise he just acts in seemed bizarre, which is why I think it needs that entirely speculative angle of ripping off a specific episode he personally directed to be possibly credible. We’ll have to wait for the Patrick Stewart interview DwarfCast to get to the bottom of it.
“I almost called my lawyer,” is simply exaggeration for mild comedic effect. Maybe, but he’s stretching the exaggeration pretty far by describing himself holding onto the symbolic phone momentarily before putting it back where it was. Maybe I just don’t get Patrick’s wild, ironic humour. Since I first saw the clip as a kid, the idea that he’d be so sensitive about defending the IP of a franchise he just acts in seemed bizarre, which is why I think it needs that entirely speculative angle of ripping off a specific episode he personally directed to be possibly credible. We’ll have to wait for the Patrick Stewart interview DwarfCast to get to the bottom of it. Ah, but that’s not what he says. He mentions that he was, “already reaching for the telephone” to call his lawyer. That’s a common expression and is not meant to be taken literally. Then he says, “I left the telephone where it was.” Meaning that he didn’t actually pick up the phone and that he quickly knew it was a comedy. He also says, “within a few moments I had got what the show was.” Realistically, there is no way that he could have watched an audience sitcom for more than a few seconds without having realized that it was a comedy. Now if people haven’t heard that expression before, I can understand the confusion, but that’s why it seemed bizarre to you as a kid. The idea that in the few seconds between audience laughs, he became so enraged that he literally picked up a phone to call his lawyer is bizarre.
I love that this silly embellished luvvie anecdote is now being dissected like it’s the Zapruder film.
Realistically, there is no way that he could have watched an audience sitcom for more than a few seconds without having realized that it was a comedy. Only because Timewave hadn’t come out by then.
“basically a Tory” was hyperbole on my part, but if you’ve previously voted for them then it’s not exactly a stretch is it? I mean it is when 85% of your professional output as a broadcaster is taking the Tories to task. He quite regularly brings up the fact that he once voted for Boris and regrets it, it’s hardly a dirty secret and part of his whole shtick is “there’s no point in having a mind if you’re not willing to change it”.
I mean it is when 85% of your professional output as a broadcaster is taking the Tories to task. He quite regularly brings up the fact that he once voted for Boris and regrets it, it’s hardly a dirty secret and part of his whole shtick is “there’s no point in having a mind if you’re not willing to change it”. That doesn’t mean much to me. Everyone like him have their ‘bit’ that they’ve identified as being beneficial to their career. He’s the one on LBC who shouts about Tories and gets clips shared on Twitter by centrist dads. It’s not a million miles away from those on the right wing using their views as their grift, because that is what is profitable for them. What matters isn’t him copping to voting for Boris or getting red in the face because of Brexit, what matters are his material actions. Like, you know, voting for a Tory. One of the worst Tories. He’s of my generation, should remember Thatcher and should know fucking better.
I get where you’re coming from, but I personally feel that that the good his radio show has done (and I’m talking on the whole, not just the tweetable clips) in terms of pushing the country towards a more progressive mindset far outweighs a single regretted vote in his past. I honestly could not give a monkeys who somebody voted for over a decade ago, it’s who they are today that matters.
If he was 18 a decade ago or whenever he voted for Boris it might be a bit of a different situation, but he was probably in his 40s and in possession of a fully formed personality and belief system. I’m not overly familiar with him outside of the twitter clips, but he seems like a progressive sort, but if you truly believe in the things the progressive left does, how did he vote for Boris? I can’t countenance ever voting for the Conservatives, makes me ill just thinking about it.
Yeah, I’d forgive edgy teenagers pretty much anything because selfishly I was one and had some terrible positions on things, but even at the time people were sounding massive alarms about Boris and any non-Tory adult should’ve known better. Two years later the Lib Dems sold out the whole country for a plastic bag tax, thus proving that even if you don’t technically vote Tory there are plenty of things you can be doing to actively help them unintentionally even if you’ve since grown past voting for Boris for a laugh.
If we agree that there’s no justification or defence for his Tory past, then this is a philosophical argument about redemption. Is it that there’s nothing he could do to make up for it, or that his actions since then just haven’t been enough? I like to think that people are capable of changing who they are for the better, even later in life. But of course that doesn’t mean they’re owed trust or forgiveness when they do. And if they react badly to people not giving it, then that’s a strong sign the change of heart was performative. How we all feel about this subject may become relevant to the actions of a certain Red Dwarf regular, who I notice has yet to apologise for anything…
I never noticed the inconsistent font size on the DVD sleeves…now I’ll never un-see it. Despite that, great podcast! With all the Red Dwarf A-Z talk I’m impressed you managed to resist mentioning a certain cast member’s foaming twat…
Ah ha, I knew the idea had been coined here before but I couldn’t remember when. Apologies. Do you agree that Timewave deserves to be included in the law now, either in addition to or instead of Series VII? It feels like we go to that well for similar reasons as Series VIII.
Ah ha, I knew the idea had been coined here before but I couldn’t remember when. Apologies. Sorry Flappo, that’s enough to go on my ‘basically a Tory’ list. It’s getting pretty full.
