Titan up the details News Posted by Ian Symes on 8th November 2023, 21:01 Just three short days ago, we got the first whiff of a potential new Red Dwarf project, and today more details have emerged thanks to Rob granting an exclusive interview to the Radio Times. You can consume it in both written and visual form, but the key points that answer the questions we’ve been puzzling over all week are: Set before the events of The End Being set “one universe to the side” gives them “leeway in how we can handle things” Lister and Rimmer are already bunkmates, and are on shore leave on Titan (so not a direct transposition of the first part of Infinity, rather a point in the timeline between Lister signing up for Red Dwarf and the crew being wiped out) Planned as a novel and a TV show – although whether that will be a live-action or animated TV show is yet to be seen, however… There will be a new cast, which does seem to imply live action, as the existing actors could easily play younger versions in voice-only roles The original cast are up for making guest appearances The recasting news will probably generate the most discussion, but it’s great to get clarification at this early stage on the exact setting in our characters’ timelines. I can see the “one universe to the side” excuse being wheeled out to cover for any manner of unforeseen inconsistencies, but it’s a great way to approach Red Dwarf: Titan in general – we’re not sure if it’s Red Dwarf as we know it, but it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out.
hear me out: Daryl McCormack as Lister. (to be clear this is not anything I overheard. It is from my brain.)
This all sounds rather promising. Oddly I feel most excited about the prospect of it coming out in novel form, that could be great. But I understand why Rob would want the visibility of a TV show too.
One universe to the side with a recasting does actually feel like the most sensible way to do this, especially if it’s live action. Fucking around with the show’s continuity isn’t something either writer has been scared of in the past, but this will obviously allow for a larger scope that won’t apply huge limitations to the show. Like when they try to do a story arc in Big Finish, but you know that it will ultimately have no larger impact because you’ve seen the TV episode that follows it. Instead, this can technically go anywhere. I always get a tiny niggle of doubt whenever there’s anything Dwarfy which loses the show’s initial premise of a mismatched bunch of people alone in space, as it loses the show’s unique starting point, but this definitely has some potential. Also I think I was the first person to suggest shore leave on Titan, so one G&T point for me, hurrah.
Recasting Lister and Rimmer after all this time will be weird. Couldn’t they compromise and recast Rimmer with a 28 year old, but still have Lister played by Craig Charles? The “one universe to the side” thing is interesting too. I can only assume that someone informed Rob and Andrew that if they set Titan in the main continuity, they wouldn’t be able to explain how Snacky could be a series regular without Rimmer and Lister recognising him later.
My money is still on animation. The populated setting sounds expensive to do in live action. I would prefer live action though. Although maybe something really hideously ironic happens like this show gets a way bigger budget than Red Dwarf Prime.
Red Dwarf: Titan a universe to the left of the beginning of the end and then 3 million years just before Red Dwarf 1&2 which are half a universe to the left of Red Dwarf III nearly which immediately veers off further another universe left through the Timeslide, then go past the bins and round the corner from Red Dwarf IV to VI until you get to Out of Times future, jump over the gloop, and don’t get confused at the crossroads of how the time drive now works and your just a vague ending of VIII and a 9 year gap away from the Dave era. Great. Go down coronation street, then come back, try to avoid the time wave, look out across the multidimensional expanse and mind the rats and cats and your sorted! At the next Red Dwarf Special. I think there’s enough room there between them. Who would have ever thought we could look forward impatiently to TWO iterations of Red Dwarf being stuck currently in long development. Marvellous.
The TV show bit feels like something that’ll never get made tbh. I just don’t see it when bankable Red Dwarf that’s been going decades with a beloved cast can’t even get made. Is Red Dwarf strong enough a prospect for a production company without the cast as a guarantee? I’m not sure, though personally I’m not against it.
The premise sounds like this would either be animation or, if it’s live action, a comedy-drama serial a la The Strangerers perhaps. Something more in that vein than an audience sitcom anyway. If Rob’s writing a new Red Dwarf novel I’d really prefer it to be set in the novel universe, ideally a sequel to Backwards.
Yeah, not really something I’m excited about TBH. From this recast talk and this novel idea being a way to imagine whatever you like if you ain’t interested in the recast. it sounds like he is thinking more live-action. If it was animated you wouldn’t need a novel to imagine whatever you like because the animation would do that for you. It sounds like a remake to me. Like a reboot but with the cast making cameos.Like the show ended already and this spin off is a way to keep it going. But to Rob this is probably seen as the case on his end of things. Id have preferred animated personally.
Animated wouldn’t require a recast, not really. Good to have more details! Though I can’t get too excited until it’s actually in production – although I seem to recall Ben Browder making something that ended up never being released, so his philosophy was something like to not get too excited about anything until it’s actually being broadcast.
Haya all! I’m actually pretty fascinated by all of this… If done right, it could distill things back down to a series 1+2 vibe, with mostly just lister and Rimmer. But casting is really going to be the linchpin of the whole thing!
Haya all! I’m actually pretty fascinated by all of this… If done right, it could distill things back down to a series 1+2 vibe, with mostly just lister and Rimmer. But casting is really going to be the linchpin of the whole thing! If anything, setting it on a space port will make it a bigger, busier, more populated universe than Red Dwarf has ever been
If anything, setting it on a space port will make it a bigger, busier, more populated universe than Red Dwarf has ever been Maybe it’s going to be like The End and the first episode has a big twist where they accidentally kill everyone at the space port.
Maybe it’s going to be like The End and the first episode has a big twist where they accidentally kill everyone at the space port.
If anything, setting it on a space port will make it a bigger, busier, more populated universe than Red Dwarf has ever been Maybe it’s going to be like The End and the first episode has a big twist where they accidentally kill everyone at the space port. I would absolutely applaud the balls on Rob if he basically just rebooted Red Dwarf with a full on bait and switch like that.
Red Dwarf: Titan a universe to the left of the beginning of the end and then 3 million years just before Red Dwarf 1&2 which are half a universe to the left of Red Dwarf III nearly which immediately veers off further another universe left through the Timeslide, then go past the bins and round the corner from Red Dwarf IV to VI until you get to Out of Times future, jump over the gloop, and don’t get confused at the crossroads of how the time drive now works and your just a vague ending of VIII and a 9 year gap away from the Dave era. Great. Go down coronation street, then come back, try to avoid the time wave, look out across the multidimensional expanse and mind the rats and cats and your sorted! At the next Red Dwarf Special. But is it in a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly?
Out-of-continuity would be more gutsy, but in-continuity would be more impressive from a writing point of view. Having said that, it would be funny if one of the episodes were a direct adaptation of “Lister’s Father”.
Just saving time by pasting what I’d said in Rob Grant interview thread: Life on Earth pre-accident or within the Despair Squid dystopia seems to be where the most mileage lies outside of doing more TV episodes [edit: oh and novels]. Whatever you guys are picturing for a wonderful animated series will not be within a British budget… I imagine.
1 Int. Red Dwarf corridor. Grey walls, machinery here and there, you know the drill. RIMMER is carrying a clipboard; behind him comes LISTER, pushing a trolley full of tools and spare parts. LISTER: (Singing) To Titan, yes sir, I’ve been around… RIMMER: Lister. LISTER: Huh? RIMMER: Have you ever been forced to read the 2019 Labour party manifesto? LISTER shakes his head no. RIMMER: No? Stop that and push the trolley. LISTER: (With a mock salute) Yes, sir, Rimmer! They approach a food dispenser. RIMMER: Right. Corridor 159. LISTER begins taking the knee RIMMER: Lister, stop doing that! LISTER: I’m only taking the knee! RIMMER: Well *don’t*. It’s *woke*. LISTER stops taking the knee and continues by virtuing a signal. RIMMER: Lister, don’t take the knee and don’t virtue a signal. LISTER transitions. RIMMER: Lister, one more sound, anything, and you’re on report, my laddo. What job number’s this? LISTER mimes talking without making a sound. RIMMER: Right! That’s it! (Begins writing on his clipboard) “Lister, D., Third Technician. Pronouns they/them/slob. Offense: obstructing a superior technician by humming, clicking, and being quiet.” When the Captain sees this you’re dead.
Do the novel version for that thread everyone was really excited about for about a week and then forgot.
If Grant is the half of the 10%ers guy and Marshall is the 2.4 guy, then what is the value of X? (Answer: About $40bn less than when Elon Musk bought it)
Other than Doug trying something a bit different doing more drama comedy with Last Human and VII, it’s just blatantly not true is it. Plenty of not most of solo Doug work is funny in some way, even VIII in really really generic comedy ways. And what has Rob done that suggests he is funnier than Doug?
And what has Rob done that suggests he is funnier than Doug? Left after VI would be the thinking, Shirley?
After Backwards, Last Human, VII and VIII, it seemed like a reasonable assumption (and it’s one I made before I discovered others had). After Dark Ages, The Strangerers and Dave-era Dwarf, it doesn’t stand up at all.
I’d say I’m not sure anyone still using the “Rob was the funny one, Doug was the sci-fi one” has actually watched a single episode of Red Dwarf since Back to Earth, but even Series VIII aggressively breaks this statement. It’s just one of those informed opinions people mindlessly repeat because it gives a veneer of objectivity to their dismissal of the bits they dislike. But also they DEFINITELY never watched Series 11 or 12. They’ve seen BtE and part of X at absolute most. I’d put money on it.
Red Dwarf: Titan a universe to the left of the beginning of the end and then 3 million years just before Red Dwarf 1&2 which are half a universe to the left of Red Dwarf III nearly which immediately veers off further another universe left through the Timeslide, then go past the bins and round the corner from Red Dwarf IV to VI until you get to Out of Times future, jump over the gloop, and don’t get confused at the crossroads of how the time drive now works and your just a vague ending of VIII and a 9 year gap away from the Dave era. Great. Go down coronation street, then come back, try to avoid the time wave, look out across the multidimensional expanse and mind the rats and cats and your sorted!
I’d say I’m not sure anyone still using the “Rob was the funny one, Doug was the sci-fi one” has actually watched a single episode of Red Dwarf since Back to Earth, but even Series VIII aggressively breaks this statement. I dunno, VIII feels like it backs up the idea that Doug wasn’t very good at doing comedy.
I’d say I’m not sure anyone still using the “Rob was the funny one, Doug was the sci-fi one” has actually watched a single episode of Red Dwarf since Back to Earth, but even Series VIII aggressively breaks this statement. I dunno, VIII feels like it backs up the idea that Doug wasn’t very good at doing comedy. right! lord love it, red dwarf hasn’t been funny since 1993. but that doesn’t mean (some of it) hasn’t been good
lord love it, red dwarf hasn’t been funny since 1993 Nah, there are laughs to be found in VII and VIII even if they’re patchier than in previous series. And the Dave era has lots of big funny moments.
I dunno, VIII feels like it backs up the idea that Doug wasn’t very good at doing comedy. VIII is light on good sci-fi and heavily going for broad comedy. Whether it succeeded is irrelevant. Either way the idea that Rob and Doug didn’t overlap is ludicrous. People can’t even decide who did what when they say this.
I always thought Doug was the more adventurous and Rob was the more sci-fi. Doug stories often feel inspired by high concept movies and Rob seems inspired by sci fi in general. We have had so little solo Rob Grant material for Red Dwarf that it’s kinda hard to say where he stands in terms of comedy. But Series 8 seems to be Doug’s type of humour and you can still see it in modern Red Dwarf.
VIII is light on good sci-fi and heavily going for broad comedy. Whether it succeeded is irrelevant. Nah, I think whether it’s succeeded is the key thing. I saw VIII’s failure as Doug trying to do a straight up comedy but it being shit because it wasn’t his forte. My thinking was he always came up with the plots and concepts and Rob wrote the jokes, so on his own he either went sci-fi narrative heavy (VII) or tried to do joke heavy and failed (VIII). Again, obviously bollocks, but VIII definitely fits the theory if you see it as a failed experiment.
Many many people would argue VIII does succeed in doing the broad comedy thing though. Just because it isn’t necessarily to the taste of Red Dwarf fans expecting a different type of comedy doesn’t mean that the jokes aren’t there and are t working for a lot of people. It’s not as though Doug (with Rob) didn’t have a career of writing non-sci-fi comedy prior to Red Dwarf, including Spitting Image. These guys can both write really well. Red Dwarf clearly works better when it’s Grant Naylor writing as a combo, there’s just some magic in that. But Doug clearly can write decent sci-fi and decent comedy solo in some form. Aside from a few stumbles early on, (Last Human is just non-sense most the time, VII is trying to be something else but you can’t deny Tikka is a strong sci-fi drama peppered with comedy) most of his solo work bears that out in some way.
Many many people would argue VIII does succeed in doing the broad comedy thing though. Just because it isn’t necessarily to the taste of Red Dwarf fans expecting a different type of comedy doesn’t mean that the jokes aren’t there and are t working for a lot of people. Oh yeah, definitely. I’m just trying to explain how VIII can still fit the theory. Ultimately, I think a big part of the “Rob does the comedy” thing came from those people not finding VII and VIII funny, as much as it is a style thing.
Many many people would argue VIII does succeed in doing the broad comedy thing though. Just because it isn’t necessarily to the taste of Red Dwarf fans expecting a different type of comedy doesn’t mean that the jokes aren’t there and are t working for a lot of people. Oh yeah, definitely. I’m just trying to explain how VIII can still fit the theory. Ultimately, I think a big part of the “Rob does the comedy” thing came from those people not finding VII and VIII funny, as much as it is a style thing. Oh yeah absolutely. I wonder if Doug has just focused on making a couple of great 6-8 episode series in the same style as the first 6, and then tried something a little different how it would have been perceived.
