DwarfCast 100 – 100th DwarfCast Special DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 1st September 2019, 13:16 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes That’s 100th DwarfCast. Not 100th PodCast like you and Skeletor think. Very nearly thirteen whole years ago, a group of young and self-important Red Dwarf fans decided to tip their toes into the barely-chartered waters of podcasting, unleashing their verrucas into the world with the first edition released on October 1st 2006. The fact that it's taken this long for the hundredth episode to come out should be a source of embarrassment and regret, but instead, brace yourself for the most self-indulgent and smug thing we've ever done: a documentary about ourselves, which runs for nearly an hour and a half. Join Jonathan Capps, John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Daniel Stephenson and Ian Symes for a look back on the history, highlights and lowlights of what is undoubtedly a podcast about Red Dwarf, ably assisted by a former regular making a one-off guest appearance many years later, reddwarf.co.uk editor Seb Patrick. We discuss the origins of DwarfCasts, the evolution of our style from ill-informed dickheads to slightly-better-informed dickheads, how the Back To Earth weekend nearly tore the group apart, and the difficulties faced when one of your hosts is on the verge of death in intensive care when he's supposed to be doing a live podcast. There's also music, testimonies from loyal listeners, and tonnes of clips of our best and worst moments - including snippets from the proto-DwarfCast episode commentaries recorded by a barely-pubescent Ian and John, previously not heard in the last fifteen years. Thankfully. Read more →
DwarfCast 99 – Emohawk: Polymorph II Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 2nd June 2019, 11:18 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes May 2019. Broadcunting House lies abandoned, a layer of dust coating its various microphones, laptops and indigenous cats. Suddenly, a door opens, a switch is flicked, and a light bulb slowly stutters into life. From the shadows emerge four mysterious, yet sexy, figures. An ancient warning system is triggered, issuing a familiar call to arms. "Awooga", it cries, "this is a DwarfCast". And it bloody well is. It's only the third one since Series XII finished, and the first regular episode commentary that we've bothered to release since September 2017. We are back. Read more →
DwarfCast 98 – Dimension Jump XX Special DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 13th October 2018, 15:43 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes It's been eight days since the start of the twentieth Dimension Jump convention, honouring the thirtieth anniversary of Red Dwarf, and to be honest we still haven't fully recovered. If you're looking for a comprehensive, chronological and coherent guide to what happened over the weekend, you won't find that here (Gazpacho Soup's social media roundup does a good job of that). Instead, we waited until the early hours of Monday morning, when everyone was at their most tired and emotionally involved, and gathered whichever attendees and team members were still around, regardless of their levels of energy or sobriety. It offers a fairly accurate snapshot of the mind of your average Red Dwarf fan having come to the end of such a special weekend. Our random anecdotes and memories include our reactions to the weekend's bits and bobs for Dwarf news - ie. the current status of the Blurays and Series XIII, behind the scenes goss about the time Jo accidentally stalked Charles Augins, speculation as to the contents of a "honeymoon video", adventures in urinals with three former Red Dwarf producers, complaints about a lack of biscuits, and a very rude story about Clare Grogan and a glass of milk. Read more →
DwarfCast 97 – Live 30th Anniversary Special DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 16th February 2018, 16:39 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes To celebrate Red Dwarf's 30th anniversary, we took the airwaves (and indeed to the booze) to have a bit of a party. In a rambling, meandering and slightly shambolic show weighing in at well over two hours long, the entire G&T team - Cappsy, John, Tanya, Danny and Ian - plus special guest Jo Sharples, gathered to discuss the Pearl Poll results in very fine detail, reveal how our own preferences stack up to the general consensus, attempt our first live episode commentary on The End, and open the show up to the listeners in a chaotic phone-in free-for-all, which touched on subjects such as the Smegazines, the differences between the solo novels, Red Dwarf USA, and one hundred duck-sized Norman Lovetts. Read more →
DwarfCast 96 – Mac McDonald Interview Xtended DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 16th November 2017, 21:35 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Last Friday morning - a mere twelve hours after Skipper had landed on UKTV Play - a DwarfCast splinter group consisting of Ian Symes, Danny Stephenson and Jo Sharples descended on returning guest star Mac McDonald's house, and he foolishly decided to let us in, for the second time in as many years. Later that night, we played you a brief snippet during the Live DwarfCast, but our conversation was long and rambling, so here's the full-length uncut version. Our rambling chat touched upon all manner of Skipper-related topics, such as last-minute script amendments, the similarities between Mac and Hollister, the benefits of budget constraints, Doug's approach as a director and what happened to Hollister after Series VIII. We also touched upon such diverse topics as lost luggage, being cast in Batman, Donald Trump, pornography, moustaches and tales from the rehearsals of the Red Dwarf Movie. Read more →
DwarfCast 95 – Live Skipper Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 11th November 2017, 13:22 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes It's the final live DwarfCast of the series, and this very special occasion is marked with an almost full set of G&Ters gathering in the same room at the same time. John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Danny Stephenson and Ian Symes, along with returning guest star Jo Sharples of the Red Dwarf Fan Club, came armed a whole heap of opinions on the series finale, and a few surprises up our sleeves, the most exciting of which is an exclusive interview with... Read more →
DwarfCast 94 – Live M-Corp Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 4th November 2017, 14:00 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes In what is possibly a first for G&T, a consensus has been formed regarding the quality of a new episode, and it's not negative. To document this momentous occasion, 80% of the team - namely Jonathan Capps, John Hoare, Tanya Jones and Ian Symes - congregated to explain exactly how this has come about, along with our excellent guests Jo Sharples and Shelley Smith, both of the Official Red Dwarf Fan Club. Join us for noticeably jollier than average discussion about all things M-Corp, including perception filters, word counts, virtual worlds, puppetry, birthday presents, startup sounds, vibrators, radio jingles, and whether or not cats wank. We also round up Richard Naylor's revelations on Mechocracy, find ourselves once again pondering the possibility of a Red Dwarf Movie, and look ahead to what appears to be a jam-packed series finale. Read more →
DwarfCast 93 – Live Mechocracy Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 28th October 2017, 14:21 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Dust off your rosettes and buff up your ballot box, it's time for the strong and stable podcast that caters for the few, not the many. Mechocracy is this week's political hot potato, but G&T failed to return a majority, so John Hoare and Ian Symes entered into a coalition of chaos with Joey Newsome and Carrie Parsons of the Fan Club, and independent member Curtis Threadgold. Topics on the agenda include manipulative mopping, surprise re-appearances, how many times Rimmer has killed himself, smear campaigns, the women of Doncaster, and how many letters there are in the names of various colours. We also find time to squeeze in Some News, look ahead to M-Corp and end on an impromptu examination on how the Dave era is perceived. Read more →
DwarfCast 92 – Live Timewave Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 21st October 2017, 13:06 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Who'd have thought it: the episode about a place where criticism is illegal is the one that's attracted more criticism than any other this series. Join John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Danny Stephenson, Ian Symes and the Fan Club's Jo Sharples for a spot of criticising, castigating, chiding, blaming, harping, panning and scoffing at Timewave. It's not pretty at times, but I'd like to think we at least covered the reasons why we reacted so badly to the episode, and we were aided by two fantastic guests - Shelley Smith and Dan Pendleton - to give their perspectives on some of the trickier topics. The brilliant subjects that we really enjoyed discussing to death included the problematic portrayal of the Enconium's crew, Cat's problematic attitude to women, unresolved plots, repetitive jokes and speedy resolutions. Plus, for the second week in a row we discuss the word "clitoris" and Operation Yewtree, although not at the same time. On the plus side, there are positive comments at a rate of roughly one every twelve minutes, a brief preview of the next episode, and... well, the intro music's pretty catchy this week. Read more →
DwarfCast 91 – Live Siliconia Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 14th October 2017, 14:46 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Whose idea was it to do a live DwarfCast on Friday 13th? This was supposed to be the first glorious coming together of the entire G&T team this series, but while Jonathan Capps and Danny Stephenson successfully dialled in to join Ian Symes and "guest" Jo Sharples at G&T Towers, John Hoare and Tanya Jones were stuck in traffic as a result of a local stabbing. Would they make it to Broadcunting House in time to discuss all things The One Where Everyone's Kryten with us? Tune in to find out, as well as discovering which side of the "best episode in years"/"worst episode in years" axis we all sit, the implications of Rimmer's dream of being a fish, the difference between a MILF and a clitoris, and the origins of Baby Don't Be Ovulating Tonight. Plus, we round up all the latest news we've neglected to write about properly, give our thoughts on the latest UKTV Play controversy, and do a live audio-only taste-test of some actual Leopard Lager. Read more →