Comedy, Chaos – And Cowboys! The Red Dwarf Companion Review Reviews Posted by Dave on 5th March 2025, 09:35 As a community, Red Dwarf fandom has always been pretty good at knowing when anything Dwarf-related is about to drop. We’re there for new episodes, whether they’re premiering on TV or showing up a week early on an app; we know when to expect new DVDs and Blu-Rays to drop (even if Play.com doesn’t exist any longer to get them to us days ahead of release); and we have a pretty good idea of any Red Dwarf books, badges, T-shirts, mugs, magazines, posters, models and figurines that are coming our way. (Ahhh, so you’re a keyring man!) It was a surprise, then, to learn from thomasaevans in the G&T forums at the start of this year that BearManor Media was publishing a new Red Dwarf book, Comedy, Chaos – and Cowboys! The Red Dwarf Companion by Joe Nazzaro. And not only that, but that this book would be a detailed account of the making of Red Dwarf Series VI, based on notes taken for the contemporary (well, 1994) book release The Making Of Red Dwarf. And not only that, but that this new book was also already available to order and read immediately. For whatever reason, this book had gone completely under the radar of most of us, with even the most enthusiastic Red Dwarf fans unaware that it was even on the horizon. But is it worth your time and money? Let’s find out. Maroondud First impressions upon receiving the book and flicking through it are that it looks pretty cheap, especially given the not-inconsiderable price – just over £20 for the softcover that I purchased, with an alternative option to pay just under £30 for a hardcover version. An Amazon print-to-order job – nothing wrong with that per se for a small-press, limited-interest title like this one – the book is a couple of hundred pages long and is made up almost entirely of text. And minimally-formatted text, at that, with the main body of the book – a diary of the making of Series VI – not broken down into chapters or other similarly digestible chunks, but instead just interrupted occasionally by capsule interviews (which would presumable be sidebar items in a more snazzily-designed volume). Meanwhile, there’s only one cast photo in the entire book: a horizontal promo shot from Emohawk that’s bizarrely chopped in half and recomposited into a vertical image for the book’s cover, surrounded by a duff solid-maroon border. (The photo does reappear inside fully intact – albeit in black-and-white.) Oh, and the thin cardboard cover quickly becomes more curly than Kevin Kennedy eating a packet of Quavers while watching the Three Stooges. But evaluating a tome on the basis of its outer casing is the kind of mistake that a snappy idiom should really be coined to warn against. Because once you get past the somewhat cheap first impressions, the book has a lot more to offer. Bookwords After a brief introduction that sets the scene and establishes Nazzaro’s seemingly unimpeded access to the production during the making of Series VI – as well as explaining that this book is essentially a full account of the notes that were massively condensed down for The Making Of Red Dwarf – we launch straight into the diary with details of filming for Psirens on location at Bankside Power Station. And immediately, you get the sense of an account of the making of Red Dwarf that’s quite different to any other, with a level of depth and detail that simply doesn’t exist for any other series of the show. I’m not going to spoil most of the details of this book, as the primary enjoyment of reading it comes from the myriad tiny discoveries that you make as you’re reading through Nazzaro’s accounts of how certain sequences were filmed, and when. And obviously, the degree to which you’re surprised by many of these details will depend on how well-versed you are in the behind-the-scenes details of the show. But even as someone who pays attention to this stuff, there was plenty here that was new to me. Whether it’s finding out that the thing on Rimmer’s belt in Series VI is a Space Corps Directive computer (ultimately never referred to as such within the show), hearing about Clare Grogan’s awkwardness on set while filming her Psirens cameo, reading the deleted history of Kryten’s connoisseur chip or discovering yet another Covington Cross connection, there are countless small details revealed here that might not exactly blow your socks off, but could conceivably cause a lightweight scarf to flap around a bit. For me personally, much of the interest came from reading additional details that I’d never heard before on how some of the effects in the show were achieved – like the process that the cast had to sit through to record their contributions to Legion’s face-morph effect, or the various ways in which Rimmer’s disembodied light bee is brought to life. It’s also always revealing to hear about certain sets or props being reused in a way that isn’t immediately obvious on-screen, like the simulant ship bridge that doubles as its own escape pod, or the teleporter that also functions as an AR machine. And even for the production elements that are more familiar, there’s still a pleasing time-capsule quality that comes with seeing now-classic moments of Red Dwarf lore – say, something like the “Mr Guitar” smeg-up – reported contemporaneously, as a live event captured by an on-set witness. As well as these specific details, in places the book also touches on some of the more well-worn aspects of Red Dwarf in general and Series VI in particular. This includes the notably more formulaic approach to joke-writing – an element of the show that, if someone were deranged enough, could become the subject of a 5,000-word article – as well as the evolving interplay between the actors, with the book not shying away from now-hoary old tales such as Chris being annoyed by Craig spooking the horses on the set of Gunmen. But given that it’s presented contemporaneously – in an as-it-happened diary format rather than with the distance of the 30+ years of history that have come and gone since then – it still feels like these aspects are spontaneous commentary rather than simply rehashing what is now received wisdom. And inevitably, there were quite a few stories in here that were new to me, even if they might not be new to all Red Dwarf aficionados. There are details of the temptresses scene in Psirens being perceived to be a bit pony (and being reshot, only for the original version to be used after all); there’s a slightly unsettling account of Danny’s shock at being hit by discharge from blanks fired during the filming of Gunmen; and there’s an account of how the peanuts from Legion came back to haunt the set while filming Rimmerworld. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating that pieces of information are repeated across the book – whether it’s facts about filming, descriptions of elements of the setup, or quotes that turn up both within the set diary and as part of the separate interview segments – but not to the extent that it’s a huge distraction. More distracting, though, is the occasional sense of snide snarkiness or condescending irritability in the tone of the writing. I’m sure that there were moments when Nazzaro felt frustrated or annoyed on-set, but given that the main readership for this book is going to be people that would love to have been given the opportunity to catch even a glimpse of what he was able to experience for several weeks – and for a paying job, no less – it can sometimes seem a bit churlish for him to seem so pissed off at being there. Thanks For De Emmony? As well as the various nuts and bolts of the filming process, a wider picture also emerges of the general sentiments of the cast and crew around the filming of Series VI – and I found it interesting that the contemporary impression differs quite a bit to the memories that have been shared by the cast since. Compared with The Starbuggers documentary on the Series VI DVD, for example, it paints the picture of a more disorganised and chaotic set, with the actors often critical of Andy De Emmony and his approach to some of the setups. More than once, there’s an implication that a lack of experience or lack of confidence on De Emmony’s part has contributed to the filming process being longer or more difficult than necessary, and there are also suggestions that his directorial emphasis is sometimes misplaced – that he doesn’t quite understand the tone of the show and its balance of sci-fi action and drama with sitcom comedy, or doesn’t quite grasp key aspects of the characters. It makes you wonder whether the ultimate end result of Series VI – not only one of the highest-rated series of Red Dwarf among fans, but also the series that won the show its International Emmy Award – was so positive that a lot of these criticisms were quickly forgotten in the aftermath. Which is what makes a contemporary set report like this all the more interesting, of course. It’s a more raw, more critical take on the production process, and it gives the book a unique point of view compared to other documentaries that have gone over the same ground. Cans Of Worms Those criticisms of De Emmony and the production process aren’t the end of the bitching, either. There are multiple indications here from cast members of their dissatisfaction with the show, and again it makes for a fascinating contemporary account. Some of these gripes are fairly familiar and well-worn by now: Robert Llewellyn bemoaning the uncomfortable (albeit improved) mask and costume that he has to wear as Kryten, or Chris Barrie complaining about Ace Rimmer’s wig not being quite right this time around, and affecting the performance. Meanwhile, some of them are a little less well-known but still unsurprising, such as Chris’ feelings about how unsatisfactory the production process has been without Ed Bye at the helm, voicing sentiments here that evoke the Starburst interview where he shared the complaints that ultimately led to him leaving the show in Series VII. But some of them are wholly new – to me, at least. These include the serious possibility of Danny John-Jules (and Cat) leaving the show altogether over a pay dispute – with Rob Grant and Doug Naylor supposedly having begun to write a version of Series VI without the character – only for the situation to be saved by a late-in-the-day phone call between Danny and Rob. When you’re so familiar with the cast’s retellings of the behind-the-scenes process over the years – especially Danny’s general warmth and levity – it’s pretty arresting to hear stories of him having been told in the past that the role of the Cat would be recast if he didn’t agree to low pay (in comparison with some of his co-stars), and especially so to hear him coming out with quotes like “I’ve been working with a foot on my neck from day one” or suggesting that “Robert had been promoted above me” since Kryten joined the show. Elsewhere, the interviewees also share various comments about the egos of Rob and Doug, complaints about late scripts and frustrations with organisational aspects of making Series VI, and even criticisms of the writing – such as Chris’s carping about the relatively brief and superficial use of Ace Rimmer in Emohawk. (Which only makes it all the funnier that the two writers then incorporated many of these cast gripes into the “morale meeting” scene that kicks off Out Of Time.) And it’s not just the cast who get detailed interviews. As well as dedicated conversations focusing on elements such as production design and costume, Rob and Doug also get their own interview – in which they tell a slightly different story about aspects such as script lateness, including teasing a couple of ideas that were planned for Series VI but never made it to the screen. And De Emmony also has an interview in which he’s able to put forward his own personal take on the filming process, even as he’s still in the middle of it. It all makes you realise that no matter how much we’ve been spoiled with the documentaries on the DVDs – and more recently, on Dave – outside of the footage shot during the filming of the show itself, we very rarely get direct, contemporary accounts of the making of the show. We’re always hearing about making Red Dwarf after-the-fact: stories and anecdotes that have been honed to their most palatable form and shorn of the raw strength of feeling that’s evident in these pages. It’s a far cry from the relatively sanitised making-of tales that you hear in most documentaries, and it all makes for the most unvarnished, warts-and-all account of making Red Dwarf that I’ve ever read – and that alone makes it essential reading for any fans of the show. Having said all of that, despite the book providing maybe the most detailed overview of Series VI that we’re ever likely to get, there’s also a sense of things being missing from it when it comes to the larger context. Most fans who are willing to spend twenty quid on an all-text making-of book about a specific series of Red Dwarf are probably going to have some awareness of other aspects that inform the production. Not just the previous history of the show, but also stuff like the problems that beset the production of Series V, or the then-recent attempt to remake the show in the US; as well as the future developments that are only vaguely foreshadowed here such as the split between Rob and Doug, Chris’s temporary departure or the recasting of Kochanski. But aside from a couple of oblique references to some of these ideas in interviews, there isn’t really any acknowledgement of that wider context at all. It’s all presented as-is rather than being rewritten from a more contemporary viewpoint, which means that readers will have to make a lot of these wider connections themselves. But when you put this book together with all of the other sources at our disposal – the documentaries, the books, the aborted Series VI making-of documentary that we saw snatches of on the DVD, even the Smegazines coming out at the time – you can piece together a picture of how Series VI came together that is perhaps more complete and comprehensive than any other era of Red Dwarf. And for any fan, that has to make it worth a read. Future Egos But wait: there’s more. Because the very final pages of this book depart from the set-report format and tell the story of what came next in the production – not of Series VI, but of the very book that you’re reading. As I mentioned at the top of this review, the extensive notes presented in this book were eventually whittled down to become 1994’s glossy account of the production of Gunmen, published as The Making Of Red Dwarf. But as it turns out, the story of how this book became that book is almost as interesting as the production of Series VI itself; and the “story about the story” that makes up the final pages of this volume is as revealing as anything in the main body of the text. Again, without spoiling the whole thing, we hear accounts of the general workings of GNP that feel pretty revealing of the chaos of the time – again suggesting that there were big egos at play when dealing with Rob and Doug, as well as a dysfunctional approach to Red Dwarf’s book publishing interests that also takes in the upheaval that was then happening with the (ultimately abandoned) third Grant Naylor novel. Given his accounts of how he was messed around by GNP and his book effectively torn up and rewritten, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Nazzaro comes out of the experience sounding pretty disheartened – which makes it feel all the more cheering that his original extensive account did eventually make it to print, albeit 30 years later, and is now available for all to read. Edit-eme Now, I’ve saved this final section for the end because I didn’t want to continually harp on about it during the discussion of the book’s content. But one major drawback for this title is that it is riddled with errors. The occasional error is forgivable, but these errors are a lot more than occasional. And they run the gamut from factual errors (fairly rare, but still irritating), to all manner of other problems that really should have been caught in editing: typos, formatting errors, misspellings, sentences that just break off entirely and leave you It isn’t nitpicking to call out these errors, because some of them really affect the book’s readability: when Q&A sections have questions from the interviewer in bold and answers from the interviewee in standard type, an unbolded question makes you wonder who else is speaking. When certain lines are repeated wholesale, it makes you wonder whether there’s been a printing or editing error and you’re reading the same section again. It’s no exaggeration to say that it feels like an old text file of the original notes, dumped into a book with little to no editing or proofreading, and sold on to fans for twenty quid. I have no idea whether the market for this kind of niche-interest book makes it financially viable to pay for extravagant indulgences like a proofreader or editor, and I’m sympathetic to anyone trying to get a small-press book like this published on a shoestring budget – but frankly, the errors still feel a little hard to justify given that there are people in the G&T community who would have done it for free. So while (as I’m sure you can tell from what I’ve written above) I don’t regret paying for what I got, there’s also a sense that a little more care could have helped this book to feel special in a way that it struggles to achieve in such an unpolished state. Maybe that thrown-together quality makes it a fitting tribute to Series VI, a series which this book makes clear had one of the most ramshackle production processes of the show’s history. And I don’t want to sound entitled or ungrateful for what is still a very interesting read. But with a bit more effort and a bit more polish, Comedy, Chaos – and Cowboys! The Red Dwarf Companion could have ended up as a truly great read, rather than the merely good read that it turned out to be.
Very interesting! I’m torn as to whether I should get it or not. It sounds right up my alley but twenty quid? Hm. And “there are countless small details revealed here that might not exactly blow your socks off, but could conceivably cause a lightweight scarf to flap around a bit” is a damn fine line! Great article on an interesting topic.
Very enticing, looking forward to it eventually if I find it cheaper, since I’ve had a few too many indulgent purchases this year already. Some Del Boys are already trying to upsell it for £45 on eBay.
£20 sounds like a bargain compared to some of the prices I saw on a google search. Where’s best place to buy this from?
It’s £20.57 on Amazon, if you don’t mind forking out the extra 57p. Or the ebook is just under £8 for a budget option – as Dave points out, you’re not going to be missing out on an amazing physical product.
Do you like that one? Gunmen? I like Back To Reality. I thought that was really good. I imagine Cat would be the easiest character to write out but no thank you.
Brilliant – I went for the kindle just to catch up on the 1993 gossip! I’d find £8 more palatable, but can you confirm that it is actually readable in e-book format? I’ve been stung before buying books containing pictures and illustrations on Kindle, occasionally it’s a bit of a mess…
Very interesting! I’m torn as to whether I should get it or not. It sounds right up my alley but twenty quid? Hm. And “there are countless small details revealed here that might not exactly blow your socks off, but could conceivably cause a lightweight scarf to flap around a bit” is a damn fine line! Great article on an interesting topic. Thanks! Yeah, £20 is a bit steep for what it is, but there are plenty of interesting nuggets in there.
I’ve been stung before buying books containing pictures and illustrations on Kindle, occasionally it’s a bit of a mess… There are relatively few illustrations and images in the book, but there are a few so yeah, it might be worth checking this in advance.
Danny being removed or recast is a bonkers idea. Yeah, it’s a bit unclear how seriously it was ever really considered in the past or whether it was just something that was always held over him in pay negotiations, but certainly the way Danny talks about the run-up to VI suggests that having a Cat-free series was being considered as a realistic option if a pay deal couldn’t be worked out. There are more comments in that section too that imply general bitterness around pay equality dating back to the earliest days of the show – with Danny suggesting that one cast member was on a higher salary to the rest from the start (presumably Chris as the more established TV performer) and that this caused a bit of resentment.
I was always going to get it at some point anyway but this has whetted my appetite afresh, so thanks for the review Dave.
Well they had a precedent for getting rid of cast members with both Hollys and arguably the first Kryten. I can see why you might worry about being removed when you are now the most-removable cast member, let’s face it.
Well they had a precedent for getting rid of cast members with both Hollys and arguably the first Kryten. I’d argue that the first Kryten was a one episode guest character, so was no more got rid of than the Cat Priest, Confidence, Paranoia etc.
I mean, how you can write out The Cat in a way that isn’t deeply unpleasant is a good question. The Cat ark showed up and he hitched a lift?
The Cat stole Red Dwarf and ran off to find the other Cat people, and that’s why they’re chasing it in VI.
Spot on review. That’s exactly my experience reading the book, being at a similar level of DVD/Book/Mag knowledge on series VI. I was wowed often with the content and had to compare it to the original published book. I’m so glad we now have the DVD documentary, the original coffee table approach and many years later this bitchy and raw self published data dump of a book to experience all the highs and lows of series VI. Your review is better written for sure than the book isn’t. Enjoyed reading it. I’m even now wondering if Andy deserved as good a ride in the documentary for VI as Julliet didnt get in V. As you say the Emmy did help that probably and sure Andy wasnt fired, but this account and Chris leaving half of VII do feel more connected to trouble on ship than comes across in that DVD doc.
Spot on review. That’s exactly my experience reading the book, being at a similar level of DVD/Book/Mag knowledge on series VI. I was wowed often with the content and had to compare it to the original published book. I’m so glad we now have the DVD documentary, the original coffee table approach and many years later this bitchy and raw self published data dump of a book to experience all the highs and lows of series VI. Your review is better written for sure than the book isn’t. Enjoyed reading it. I’m even now wondering if Andy deserved as good a ride in the documentary for VI as Julliet didnt get in V. As you say the Emmy did help that probably and sure Andy wasnt fired, but this account and Chris leaving half of VII do feel more connected to trouble on ship than comes across in that DVD doc. Cheers. Yeah this definitely provides a different side to the story, and makes the production of VI feel almost like a continuation of the chaos and frustration that occurred with V, which definitely isn’t the impression you get from the DVD documentary.
Danny successfully rode the unicycle at the Legion recording – confirmed! I can’t remember which Dwarfcast speculated on this.
About a third of the way through now, and it’s certainly a delightful goldmine for a behind-the-scenes nerd. Honestly, have barely noticed any quality issues. Maybe my brain just does that thing of unconsciously glossing over/filling in the gaps, but I can only recall maybe one or two typos that jumped out. Definitely not the potentially distracting mess I was expecting, based on the last section of the review. Perhaps reading it on Kindle helps in that respect?
I might just be an unusually pedantic twat, but I noticed quite a few problems. (Or maybe some of the editing issues were subsequently fixed on the Kindle version?)
I might just be an unusually pedantic twat, but I noticed quite a few problems. (Or maybe some of the editing issues were subsequently fixed on the Kindle version?) To be fair, in the couple of hours since I posted, I have read on and noticed a few more grammar/spelling errors (e.g ‘filled’ instead of ‘fitted’) and a couple of instances of the same information being repeated within a couple of pages, though in those cases it could be argued that he’s reiterating the info before giving a fuller account. E.g. “Lister comes to Kryten’s rescue, and with some fancy knife throwing, pins Jimmy down. Steve Devereaux, the actor playing Jimmy is filmed holding his pistol out and then bolstering (should be holstering?) it. The shot will be played backwards making it look as though the actor’s arm has been pinned to a wall. The scene requires numerous takes before Andy gets a shot he likes.” Then on the following page we get “In order to show the other knives pinning Jimmy’s arms to the saloon wall, the shot actually has to be recorded and played backwards.” followed by a more detailed description of how the effect is actually achieved. There was also a couple of references to the ‘Polyhawk’, which might be an error, or a deliberate conflation by the author, or might actually be what the crew/script were referring to it as on set?
There was also a couple of references to the ‘Polyhawk’, which might be an error, or a deliberate conflation by the author, or might actually be what the crew/script were referring to it as on set? OK, but Polyhawk is actually a better name than Emohawk. It even eliminates the need for the “Polymorph II” subtitle.
OK, but Polyhawk is actually a better name than Emohawk. POLYHAWKS When the pub compere from Backwards Earth teams up with the guide from Better Than Life, only Caligula can stop them.
When Q&A sections have questions from the interviewer in bold and answers from the interviewee in standard type, an unbolded question makes you wonder who else is speaking. Yes, OK, just reading the chat with Steven Wickham and Ainsley Harriott, and have encountered this phenomenon.
Barrie: “I’ve worked with Andy on Spitting Image, and I know what kind of bloke he is, and I think he did bloody well to do all that on Red Dwarf. It’s a very difficult situation. People who feel that strongly about their own scripts should either direct them themselves, or just go right away from it and let a strong director, or someone like Andy get on with it.” Wonder if Rob and Doug ever saw this, and if it prompted a chat with Chris (I haven’t read the original ‘Making Of’, assuming from the review this wasn’t in it…)
I love the way that quote implicitly criticises not just Rob and Doug but also De Emmony (“a strong director… or someone like Andy”.)
(I haven’t read the original ‘Making Of’, assuming from the review this wasn’t in it…) I don’t think any of the really juicy stuff made it through to the 1994 book. Understandably given that it was intended as a glossy making-of to promote the series.
I love the way that quote implicitly criticises not just Rob and Doug but also De Emmony (“a strong director… or someone like Andy”.) Yes, I hope the man himself didn’t read that! Though Chris’ description of their rubbing up against each other suggests he might not have been that surprised. For a long time I’d have said ‘Rimmerworld’ is the weakest of VI, though I have come to look less favourably on ‘Emohawk’ over the years, with the broad Duane/Ace callbacks, and it seems potentially telling in the interviews, that everyone working on the show -bar one or two- seems to generally omit it, when asked what they think the best episodes are likely to be (interviews having mainly been done prior to final cut/broadcast). One person essentially calls it ‘Terrorform II’, which is an opinion I’m certain has been bandied about on here. Chris’ complaints about Ace aside, ‘Emohawk’ seems to be rather highly thought of, with the Duane aspect being heralded as a massive highlight.
I think the fan-service element makes it both popular and criticised. Yes, it’s fun to see Ace and Duane again, but an episode that’s simultaneously a sequel to Polymorph, Dimension Jump and Back To Reality while also feeling like a retread of stuff like Terrorform in places is inevitably going to feel a bit light on new ideas. And it’s not even like they really do anything new or interesting with those established ideas, the Polymorph stuff is more or less the same as the original but with better (or at least, more sophisticated) morphing effects and both Ace and Duane are just sort of ‘there’.
Ace and Duane are just sort of ‘there’. I think that’s quite a succinct way of putting it, especially Ace. It makes some sense that Chris talks about his performance being affected by his dissatisfaction with pretty much every aspect of the character’s return. As an aside, rightly or wrongly, I’ve always slightly cringed at “Davey-boy!” repeated twice in 5 seconds.
I’ve always felt like Rimmerworld is just Terrorform II. Honest. But it at least has enough funny bits to pull you along through the rehash. Same with Emohawk, really. I actually think they do well enough with the return of Ace and Duane that it doesn’t feel like 100% out-of-ideas laziness, just more like 60%. Ace immediately deciding to kill Duane without letting him know about it is pretty good.
Emohawk feels like an anniversary special. And if you look at it like that, it works. bringing back 3 faves from the previous 3 series at that point in one episode. I think as a one off its fine and is really fun. I mean, how you can write out The Cat in a way that isn’t deeply unpleasant is a good question. The Cat ark showed up and he hitched a lift? They would probably just say they lost Red Dwarf The Cat was on it. Same way they wrote Holly out. I doubt they had an particular plan for the future so they would have kept it all open.
Man, having read this now and also having unpicked Psirens in comparison to the details here the Soup version (what they seemed to have done in Soup is printed the shooting script rather than conform it to the episode) – I’d love to see earlier an earlier draft. of that or of some of the VI episodes. or any, really. has anyone done a longitudinal analysis of a red dwarf script?
I think Emohawk gets a bit of an unfair kicking personally. Yes it is undeniably leaning heavily on some aspects of earlier episodes but some people seem to talk about it as if it has nothing to offer in terms of new ideas or content of its own which is, with the greatest of respect, complete and utter shash. The Polymorph doesn’t turn up until over 12 minutes runtime and Duane and Ace don’t appear until we’re into the final third of the episode. There’s a load of good stuff in the build up – the red alert scramble is a great opening, the space filth encounter and escape is more excellent cockpit content (with some excellent model work as well!), bartering with the GELFs, Listers’ realisation and eventual escape – “change of plan, LEG IT!” is all great stuff in my book. And even when it does become more fanservice-y in the back half I think it keeps the quality pretty high and handles the returns with quite a deft touch – it’s certainly a league above the kind of callbacks we would see not too long after… 😬
I’ll admit, I’m as persuadable as the next guy, and my more recent reassessment of Emohawk is undeniably influenced to a degree by ‘received wisdom’. However I certainly don’t watch it and think “this is a step down from the rest of VI”, it’s still plenty funny, I think any perceived weakness comes more when I take a step back and think about it more critically. All the stuff you’ve declared great, is great. Not sure the touch is that deft in the second half, though there’s still good moments in the Ace/Duane bits (the bit in the airlock for one), it’s far from a bad episode.
The bit at the end where Ainsley Harriott rolls over to reveal the “contents: 2” tattoo is classic dwarf
I found Emohawk disappointing when getting to see it again in the DVD era, but the GELF stuff particularly is classic and nostalgic. I enjoy Rimmerworld more as filler that embraces being filler, a bit slower and serialised, which suits that series. All of VI Byte 2 is less coherent than Byte 1, with “then this happens, then this happens” plotting, but obviously Out of Time pulled itself together rather well in the end.
Yeah I think the first half of Emohawk is fine, it’s just the back end where it feels like a slightly lacklustre “greatest hits” approach.
Emohawk was solidly good in my memory for the longest time, but when I got to it in the pre 35th anniversary rewatch, it was impossible to ignore what a mess it was, and not even a consistently funny one at that. Coral Canvass 5/10 (coincidentally the same score as Can of Worms – Polymorph III), 2nd weakest bubble era episode. “Rimmer, it would never work out. She’s obviously an Aries. And me and Aries? Forget it.” is a great line though.
Yeah, the first half is very good, but the second half I really struggle with. It feels very forced to me, for a show that was, up until that point, always looking forward and really unbeholden to the past.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/father-ted-at-30-it-dismantled-every-sacred-cow-we-ever-had-from-the-eurovision-to-the-rose-of-tralee/a1514799818.html Features several quotes from De Emmony.
I’ve never really felt Rimmerworld lived up to its premise. Half the episode is spent getting there, then when we arrive, we get the scene with Emperor Rimmer, the original Rimmer in his prison cell, and then they all just leave and go home to Starbug.
Rimmerworld is an episode title Rimmer World is the proper noun of the planet full of Rimmers Same as how Bodyswap contains body swaps.
Time slides are the time-travelling photographic slides & Timeslides is the Greek philosopher who inspired their creation
Emohawk – Polymorph II is the tale of a small shape shifting creature that feeds on people’s emotions. Emo Hawk – Poly Morph II is the name of the second spectacle boxing match between a little plasticine man who prefers to date multiple people at the same time and a bird of prey who’s into My Chemical Romance.
I appreciate Rimmer world for its concept alone. The premise of a world full of Rimmer’s who will continue to progress through history in the same ways ours does. I feel that’s more the unique idea here more so than the notion of this world just having loads of Rimmer’s. Now I never liked that Rimmer had been there for hundreds of years though, that’s not something that can be shaken off by the next episode. But hey.
I appreciate Rimmer world for its concept alone. The premise of a world full of Rimmer’s who will continue to progress through history in the same ways ours does. I feel that’s more the unique idea here more so than the notion of this world just having loads of Rimmer’s. Now I never liked that Rimmer had been there for hundreds of years though, that’s not something that can be shaken off by the next episode. But hey.
Thank you for an interesting review that gave me a lot to think about. My main reason for this book, as you’ve pointed out, was to perhaps correct the record a bit by putting out an accurate and unvarnished account. While my narrative might differ from others, I’m happy to stand behind this version, especially since I still have the original notebook and tapes to prove it. As far as your comments about the book’s physical quality, I do apologize for any problems in that regard. Any errors and typos are certainly mine, and it would be cowardly to say, ‘Well, they should have done a better job editing it!’ As far as formatting problems, those WERE a bit of a revelation, as they appear to have come about during the process of putting the book out, and thus an unpleasant surprise that I didn’t discover until a finished copy arrived. One problem I’ve been discovering with smaller-press publications is there are some very real limitations to what you can accomplish. While it’s great for people to finally read a story (like this one) with a potentially much smaller audience, there just aren’t that many publishers out there these days that will give you that opportunity. The ones that do, especially if they’re using print-on-demand, are going to be more expensive and with less oversight, so I suppose it’s a trade-off. But what I’m discovering at the moment, are some very real problems in the publishing world that are probably just going to gt worse. If you want to do a big illustrated coffee book (as I’ve done in the past), the reality is it’s probably going to be printed in China, with no control over tariffs adding to the price, and no idea when that shipment will reach an American port. So if you want to get a book printed and distruted by Amazon here in the US? These are the problems you might face. None of this is probably of interest to the average reader of course, but you’d better be prepared to pay more money in the future (almost none of which ends up in my pocket, by the way). As for any comments about a general level of snarkiness or dissatisfaction on my part that might have come across, I will definitely take the rap for that one. Perhaps it was me being too clever, or maybe the context of an experience that took place over three decades ago needed to be clarified a bit after so much time. The truth is, this experience took place at the very beginning of my career, and I couldn’t have been happier for the opportunity to chronicle a production from start to finish. I’m fairly certain that opportunity no longer exists anywhere in film or television, so I don’t want to bite the hand that fed me; in the words of William Miller in Almost Famous, I just tried to be honest and unmerciful, and in that I hope I was successful.
Hey Joe, thanks for the long and considered response. Hopefully I was fair in my write-up of what I thought was a very interesting book, even if there were also some criticisms. I completely appreciate that some of those limitations come with small-press publishing, but wanted to try and be as fair and complete as possible in reviewing it. As someone who bought (and enjoyed) the original version of this book back in the 90s, it was great to finally read the full unvarnished version here, so thanks for making this book happen. The best of luck with it!
I should note one of the comments above about this book covering season six specifically and maybe not other seasons including season five, as well as the US pilot, that was certainly my intention. I began covering Red Dwarf at the end of season five, when I convinced Starlog to let me cover the series to ‘introduce’ it to our American readers, so I talked to everybody I coul, including the late-lamented Juliet May. I also talked to a number of people from the American pilot including showrunner Linwood Boomer, so I think I have a pretty good idea of context, but I felt I needed to concentrate on S6 or there would be a complete lack of focus. I’ve still got thousands of pages of interviews, so I suppose there’s always the chance of another book someday…
I’ve still got thousands of pages of interviews, so I suppose there’s always the chance of another book someday… That was a very eventful period for the show, so I’m sure there’d be interest.
While you’re here Joe, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you. Reading the original Making Of book as a youngster left a deep impression, and was the start of me beginning to analyse TV in general, and Red Dwarf specifically, more closely. That ultimately led to me starting this place a few years later, and all the wonderful things that have come with it. Furthermore, it made me decide that I definitely wanted to work in telly when I grew up, which I’ve somehow been doing for twenty odd years now. Perhaps if the original book wasn’t the sanitised version of events, it would have put me off! But thank you, you were one of the people responsible for lighting a spark in me.
