DwarfCast 174 – The Smegazine Rack – Issue #13 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 14th December 2024, 15:50 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Flicky Mint Cake" Welcome back to the Rack! The latest installment in our periodical drama takes us back to March 1993, a time when perhaps too much information about the forthcoming Series VI is being made public, Rob and Doug's relationship is definitely absolutely fine, and the elephant in Hattie Hayridge's room goes unaddressed. Join us as we witness a space monkey genocide, "enjoy" a double length Androids and contemplate life as a living fridge, a sentient armchair and a big fish-frog thing. Plus spend far too long indulging in nostalgia for analogue-based editing systems. Seriously, that's most of the podcast. In order for any of the above to make sense, you'll need a copy of the mag to refer to, which you can find via archive.org or Stasis Leak. Read more →
DwarfCast 173 – Bottom Parade – Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 18th September 2024, 14:59 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes U&UKTVPlayG2U&Dave&Knuckles Righty dokey matey bloke flap old salty seadog amigo skip-jack jockstrap piano tuners, we're back with another in our occasional series of Dwarf-adjacent commentaries, this time covering Bottom Series 2, Episode 4, Parade. Not only is the series produced and directed by Ed Bye, this particular episode guest stars both Robert Llewellyn and Lee Cornes, which is as good an excuse as any to rabbit on over this episode and tackle your Bottom-shaped waffles. We cover pretty much all the affiliated spin-offs - the live shows, the Fluff video, Guest House Paradiso - as well as discussing what happens when TV schedules are affected by real life events, how Rik and Ade could have fitted in to Red Dwarf and trying to figure out if there's any modern equivalents to this madness. Read more →
DwarfCast 172 – The Smegazine Rack – Issue #12 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 21st August 2024, 11:35 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Clifford the Big Bastard of a Dog" With apologies for the delay, it's finally time to get back on the rack! Our Smegazine odyssey reaches February 1993, a very interesting time in Red Dwarf history, as the magazine's news page documents. In this episode, we uncover the origins of Entangled, some foreshadowing of The Promised Land and the first ever use of the smeg hammer. Other super relevant and definitely on-topic discussion points include the Bottom Exposed documentary, various 1990s adventure game shows, and the state of the Hitchhikers franchise after Douglas Adams's death. Oh, and the results of a caption competition from two years ago. We may not be fast... Read more →
DwarfCast 171 – Re-Disc-overy: Series VI DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 28th April 2024, 14:51 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Nic Farey is why we have to take off our shoes in airports" Even by the standards of the Red Dwarf DVDs, the series VI release was special and probably represents the arguable pinnacle of the original set of releases. As such, Cappsy, Danny and Ian had a marvellous time reliving an absolutely packed release of musical insight, more SFX behind the scenes goodies, plus a very amusing and previously unknown tale regarding Craig and horses! Read more →
DwarfCast 170 – The Smegazine Rack – Issue #11 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 15th February 2024, 11:58 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "There's two scythes to every story." In this very exciting instalment of our journey through all things Smegazine, Cappsy, Danny and Ian are joined by two very special guests - Chris Barrie's nipples. Listen along as the five of us discuss neural networks, yuppies, Kochanski's giant forehead, Norman Wisdom's popularity in Albania, whether or not Back To Reality was actually any good, and how The Inquisitor is accidentally responsible for the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. It's best to have the magazine in front of you as you listen. If you don't have an actual copy, scans are available on archive.org or Stasis Leak, you freeloading bastard. Read more →
DwarfCast 169 – Christmas Wafflemen Special DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd December 2023, 16:28 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "If it wasn't shit, it would be perfect." We thought we ought to do something slightly out of the ordinary for our landmark 169th episode, so here's two specials in one - it's time for some Christmas Waffles. Once again our lovely listeners slash readers provided us with a veritable smorgasbord of tasty topics, which we gobbled up whilst writing fan-fiction about the ship's Secret Santa, sharing our ultimate Red Dwarf Christmas wishes, pondering the best box sets of all time, weighing up the current state of the fandom, and coming up with a really good idea for a Christmas special. Plus, like all great festive episodes, we end on a good old sing-song. We apologise for nothing. Read more →
DwarfCast 168 – Re-Disc-overy: Series V DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 19th December 2023, 17:16 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Disgustingly Northern" As we continue our series revisiting the now decades-old DVD releases, the main thing we re-disc-over this time out is that Series V tempts us down conversational side roads like nothing else. So join Cappsy, Danny and Ian as we discuss Juliet May's short-lived tenure as director, attempt to get to the bottom of conflicting stories about Red Dwarf USA, and uncover more examples of institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police. We also speculate as to what the visual effects workshop smelt like, hunt down pictures of Timothy Spall dressed as a pig, and confess the real reason behind our lukewarm response to the fan commentaries nearly twenty years ago. Strap yourself in, this is a waffley one. Read more →
DwarfCast 167 – The Smegazine Rack – Issue #10 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd November 2023, 10:08 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Magnum Ed Bye" It's been far too long, but we are finally back on the Rack to continue our odyssey through the wonderous world of early 90s publishing. Join Cappsy, Danny and Ian as we take a deep dive into the epic Jake Bullet story that graces the cover, welcome another legendary Red Dwarf fan writer to the fold, marvel at the versatility of Chris Barrie's face, discover an obscure sci-fi writer that none of us have heard of, and attempt to figure out why a parody of Red Dwarf USA bears absolutely no resemblance to Red Dwarf USA. Mostly though, we rip the absolute shit out of everyone who took part in the all-episodes survey. Without looking, see if you can guess what the people of 1992 thought the second worst episode ever was. The 1992 idiots. Read more →
DwarfCast 166 – Re-Disc-overy: Series IV DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 6th October 2023, 13:57 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Ribs and Pipes and Penises (oh my!)" Our voyage of re-disc-overy continues, as we tackle a most unusual release; the one that was out in the US before the UK, and that Young Cappsy managed to review before Young Ian for once. We rake over this bitterness as well as embarking on not one, not two, but three commentaries, forgoing the tradition of focusing on one big extra in favour of covering a handful of little bitty ones, the regular features that would otherwise be glossed over. Once again, we ensure that every single aspect of the release is discussed, and along the way we re-evaluate Hattie Hayridge's return to the role of Holly, try to get to the bottom of why the cast commentaries are so difficult to get through, and attempt to comprehensively solve the issues of both war and racism. Read more →
DwarfCast 165 – Father of Dwarf: Son of Cliché at 40 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd August 2023, 08:45 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Doctor Fitzwilliam: Village Rectologist" At 6:30pm on Tuesday 23rd August 1983, unsuspecting Radio 4 listeners were ambushed by the very first episode of a seminal new sketch show. Featuring a hugely talented cast, performing the work of two writers who were on the fast track to greatness, it was notable not only for its inherent quality, but for what it would eventually spawn. The programme was, of course, Son of Cliché, without which this podcast would not exist. So in a break from the usual format, we present our fortieth anniversary tribute in the form of a documentary, showcasing some highlights from the series, analysing what made it so great, and of course focusing on the moments that had the biggest influence on Red Dwarf. Think it was just Dave Hollins: Space Cadet that Rob and Doug drew upon? Think again. Read more →
