10 little questions…

1. A re-imagining from the start.

2. Replacements.

3. Red Dwarf

4. Old Red Dwarf

5. The Crew gone/were never there

6. Rimmer Hologram

7. Kochansky dead.

8. See #2

9. Both.

10. Leave it open.

I/ Series IX

II/ Originals (plus new Kochanski. Oop and Kryten)

III/ Both probably

IV/ NEW

V/ Erm… they all got scattered across the universe somehow.

VI/ Hologram. Series VIII Rimmer does die in only The Good but gets brought back and they get his personality off Starbug’s black box. Or something. ;)

VII/ Still there and asking why she was Scottish in this reality etc. Rimmer convinced he’s highest ranked member still aboard because she’s from another reality.

VIII/ Lovett I guess. Though there IS that “other version” of him.

IX/ Stand alone probably.

X/ And left open.

>But I think a nanobotically remade original Kochanski & Lister are somewhere out there still, too.

Why would there be another Lister out there? Surely the nanobots created the “new” crew from the remains of the old one.

Write another comic? :P

The interesting thing is that some of the crew members, if rebuilt from dead cells, wouldn’t necessarily have to have been on the ship at the time of the radiation leak. And vice versa (like non Dwarf Space Corps. personnel)

Were there be bits of Camille, Jim or Bexley lying around that could and were revived? The polymorph(s)? The Mayor of Warsaw? The mutated pneumonia that made him solid? It’s not like we were shown much beyond what was happening on Floor 13.

1. The Story. A re-imagining from the start or continuing, with Series 9?
A continuation. I am interested in seeing the material of the film done in some way at some point, but for another series, let’s continue as we go.

2. The Cast. Originals or replacements?
Original.

3. The Setting. Starbug or Red Dwarf?
Both.

4. The Ship. Old Red Dwarf or the new version?
It’s a continuation, so lets keep to the new version.

5. The Crew. Did the 1000+ crew survive or have they gone/were never there?
Since the others left the ship in the last episode, lets keep it mainly based around the usual cast. However, other crewmembers could make an appearance here and there.

6. The Smeghead. A living Rimmer or a Hologram?
Keep to human Rimmer at start, but let’s have the Ace holo-rimmer turn up. But make him a more rounded character than the cheesie original Ace (amusing though he was.)

7. The Foami? The Girl. Is Kochansky still with them or returned to her dimension?
Keep her. Regardless of how many seem to dislike her, she is now part of the crew. Besided she’s lovely.

8. The Computer. Hattie or Norman as Holly?
I like the dual personality thing. Have them switch.

9. The Series. Story arc or mainly stand-alone episodes?
Kind of both. Have individual stories but an ongoing arc running through the series too. (It’s not the contradiction it might appear.)

10. The End. Finish the story for good or leave it open.
I don’t mind them leaving it open if we had more series, but otherwise finish the story. Let’s find Earth at some point.

1. The Story. A re-imagining from the start or continuing, with Series 9?

With the Movie, as it’s a different medium, I’m happy the idea was to do a reboot. But if it’s for telly, I don’t see the point in that – a continuation is best.

2. The Cast. Originals or replacements?

Originals. Although I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with with the idea of a spin-off series, set in the same universe, with different characters and actors – that could be rather good. (But for the rest of these questions, I’ll presume we’re talking about a continuation of the original series.)

3. The Setting. Starbug or Red Dwarf?

Both.

4. The Ship. Old Red Dwarf or the new version?

Old. Although I wouldn’t mind a third version, either – I *loved* some of the unused design sketches as seen on the Bodysnatcher release.

5. The Crew. Did the 1000+ crew survive or have they gone/were never there?

Gone. Not that interested in having them back, as I prefer the dynamic of just having our crew there (even though Hollister was responsible for some of my favourite moments in VIII) – but not interested in rewriting history, either.

6. The Smeghead. A living Rimmer or a Hologram?

Not sure it matters too much, but if I had to choose – our Rimmer, the hologram.

7. The Foami? The Girl. Is Kochansky still with them or returned to her dimension?

GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE. GONE.

8. The Computer. Hattie or Norman as Holly?

I’d be happy with either, I think – but I’ll go towards Hattie, purely because Norm’s acted like a bit of a dick. If I thought Norm was going to be that much better, I’d go with him and ignore personal reasons – but I don’t think that’s the case. (I think Norm gives the better performance in Beat The Geek – but I think that’s because he played Holly a lot more recently than Hattie. (Life In Lame doesn’t count, because she won’t have had time to get into the character properly, unlike a proper series of Dwarf.)

They’d *really* have to start writing her better, though, and get a handle on the character. If that can’t be done, then it should be Norm.

9. The Series. Story arc or mainly stand-alone episodes?

I don’t think it matters as long as its good – but I think the best episodes of Dwarf have been the standalone ones (with the exception of Out Of Time, and that’s not massively arc-based), so I’d go for that.

10. The End. Finish the story for good or leave it open.

Difficult. If the series was great, I’d want more. If the series was terrible, then I’d be glad there wasn’t going to be any more!

I’d plump for what Buffy did at the end of each season, though – make it a suitable ending, but also give it a way to carry on if they decided to. Which is really how VIII should have ended.

I?ll tot up all the answers in a few weeks and see what the overall consensus was.

We’ll soon see how totty it is, laddie.

1. The Story. A re-imagining from the start or continuing, with Series 9?
Series IX, but Episode 1 should carry on regardless, and a later episode can sort out the cliffhanger.

2. The Cast. Originals or replacements?
Originals

3. The Setting. Starbug or Red Dwarf?
The Dwarf

4. The Ship. Old Red Dwarf or the new version?
I don’t care

5. The Crew. Did the 1000+ crew survive or have they gone/were never there?
They’ve moved on, in various Starbugs & Blue Midgets all affected by the chameleonic microbe and they all need rescuing. Maybe. Maybe not.

6. The Smeghead. A living Rimmer or a Hologram?
The living one, unless we get an Ace spinoff.

7. The Foami? The Girl. Is Kochanski still with them or returned to her dimension?
Still here.

8. The Computer. Hattie or Norman as Holly?
Hattie. With a better wig.

9. The Series. Story arc or mainly stand-alone episodes?
Stand alones

10. The End. Finish the story for good or leave it open.
No more ‘To Be Continued…’s, but not a definite Earth ending either.

11. In the top ten question list, why were there eleven questions?
Doug, if it happens, call me. I’ve got ideas that will curl your nostril hairs.

> > > But I think a nanobotically remade original Kochanski & Lister are somewhere out there still, too.

> I never understood this logic – and it comes up a lot. Why would the ?bots, as commanded by Holly, rebuild Lister and Kochanski when they?re already knocking around? For that matter, why not a second Cat?

The Red Dwarf was re-built according to its original plans (see shape, Holly’s head, etc.) One complete, whole, originaller-than-original (missing asteroid in ship etc) Red Dwarf would have contained an original, THIS universe, Kochanski.

Cat clearly was not part of the original plans, or original crew (and neither was Kryten). He wasn’t even around pre-leak. *If* any cat would’ve been resurrected, it would’ve been Frankenstein…

As far as I’m concerned, this is the logic of the nanobots.

> One thing I?d have done with VIII is rebuild one or more members of the cat race, who?s leftovers must also be available somewhere, for a one-episode story mid-season. Though as I ALSO always figured the crew?s memories came from the hologram memory database, they?d not really be eligible for that?

See above :(

>Cat clearly was not part of the original plans, or original crew (and neither was Kryten). He wasn?t even around pre-leak. *If* any cat would?ve been resurrected, it would?ve been Frankenstein?

Wasn’t this the intention for the horrendous rat-arsed sequence?

> The Red Dwarf was re-built according to its original plans (see shape, Holly?s head, etc.) One complete, whole, originaller-than-original (missing asteroid in ship etc) Red Dwarf would have contained an original, THIS universe, Kochanski.

It makes kinda sense if this were totally undirected resurrection, but (and this seems to get forgotten a lot) they were under Holly’s control. We learn this in BITR3, and as such there’s no reason for him to add a second Kochanski and Lister to the mix.

Plus, hey, a personnel list isn’t on the ship blueprints, and crews would rotate constantly; who says which members of Red Dwarf were part of the very first line-up. The ship’s been running for years before The End, it’s already dilapidated and used. Is Caroline Carmen also on board? McIntyre, alive and well? Or is he a hologram?

Aside from anything else, there patently aren’t rebuilt versions of Lister and Kochanski on board – the crew would have mentioned that two crew member’s dopplegangers are being incarcerated after blowing up a Starbug. Petersen, Chen, Selby, Hollister, Rimmer – they’re all aware of the incident. Wouldn’t one of them have mentioned “Hey, how can you be getting locked up when you’re also at work?” Lister goes back to his shared bunkroom – wouldn’t he have bumped into himself?

> As far as I?m concerned, this is the logic of the nanobots.

Which would be fine, if it was them making the call. But it wasn’t. Plus, as I say, Holly’s not exactly reliable – he didn’t just hit the reset button, the rebuild was clumsily tailored to Lister. We’ve no reason to believe the changes are accurate, flawless – leaving plenty of scope. (Remember Lister gets a few lines about how the rebuild ISN’T accurate.)

> Plus, hey, a personnel list isn?t on the ship blueprints, and crews would rotate constantly; who says which members of Red Dwarf were part of the very first line-up. The ship?s been running for years before The End, it?s already dilapidated and used. Is Caroline Carmen also on board? McIntyre, alive and well? Or is he a hologram?

Caroline and George, heck, why not alive and well? Everyone else is. Did Holly specifically name each crew member to be ressurrected by the nanobots? Did he order the nanobots to resurrect the prisoners? What reason would he have had to do so? So the nanobots could well have decided some things on their own… or just resurrected everyone they knew of.

> Aside from anything else, there patently aren?t rebuilt versions of Lister and Kochanski on board – the crew would have mentioned that two crew member?s dopplegangers are being incarcerated after blowing up a Starbug. Petersen, Chen, Selby, Hollister, Rimmer – they?re all aware of the incident. Wouldn?t one of them have mentioned ?Hey, how can you be getting locked up when you?re also at work?? Lister goes back to his shared bunkroom – wouldn?t he have bumped into himself?

I think nano-Lister and nano-Kochanski ran off together into the wild, maybe on the planet where the Hollywatch was found ;)

Yeah but that was this universe’s Rimmer and not the nanobotical Rimmer, so there’d still be only two in this instance of universe.

Also, exploding Rimmer could die because he was alive because they’d changed the past and he’d somehow survived the radiation leak, so he didn’t actually even die twice but only died later and differently.

> It makes kinda sense if this were totally undirected resurrection, but (and this seems to get forgotten a lot) they were under Holly?s control. We learn this in BITR3, and as such there?s no reason for him to add a second Kochanski and Lister to the mix

Lest wee forget “My job is to keep Dave sane. True, I’m not that good at it, but I do my best. That’s why I create these little diversions to keep him occupied”

The little diversions put Lister through the wringer, but I think replacing him would be a step too far even for Series VIII’s Holly

> I just always assumed the nanobots consciously decided not to duplicate Lister and Kochanski because they were already there.

Well, they knew for a fact Holly was already there and yet…

Oh sod it, most of “the rest of Dwarf” is one big blur to me. Meski forgetski.

This is how I’d make a new Red Dwarf series at some point in the future:
1. Start again from the start. I’d try and make a “definitive version” by “blending” the first series and first novel.
2. Hate to say it, but replacements would be the way to go.
3. Red Dwarf, of course! With Starbug appearing regularly too, of course.
4. The original shape of Red Dwarf. Mel Bibby-style interior set design.
5. Original crew die, as it was in the original story.
6. Living in the first episode, then hologram. Of course.
7. Kochanski dies, then is brought back later. Not sure if I’d do it like in Ouroboros, in the Better Than Life novel, or some original way.
8. Female Holly.
9. I’d structure it like what tvtropes.org calls a “Half-Arc Season” – i.e. mainly stand-alone with an arc subplot. Incidentally, I think I’d make it 45-minute episodes.
10. The ending… You know how Back to Reality ended? And how the original ending of Only the Good went? I’d end it like that – open for more, but a suitable ending if it turns out to be the last one.

Now, if I were in charge of a new series eight years ago:
1. Series 9.
2. Originals.
3. Red Dwarf, with Starbug featuring in almost every episode. It’d be the Starbug they spent 200+ years flying around in (still wrecked in the landing bay, until they repair it, so it’s their only shuttlecraft until they salvage more.
4. It has to be the new version, really, but I’d try as hard as possible to get back Peter Wragg etc. so we can have model shots rather than CG.
5. Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten, Kochanski and Holly are on Red Dwarf. All the rest of the crew are on the fleet of Starbugs and Blue Midgets. (Possible spinoff?)
6. Living Rimmer. It seems cheap to kill him off again just so he can be a hologram.
7. Kochanski is still there. I actually like her character, especially as written in Series VIII.
8. Well, I’m guessing it’d have to be Norman, but I’d rather have Hattie back.
9. Stand-alone episodes (except for the first episode, which ties up Only the Good) but with a a continuity to them so they can’t just be mixed & matched. Like “Spaced”, I suppose.
10. Not a fucking cliffhanger! Again, I’d close it Back to Reality style.

Things I’d put in: more Gelf tribes, the reappearance of the Cat species, and I came up with a story once which had mechanoids who had rebelled in the Mechanoid War showing up (except for the TV series this would be between Lister’s time & Kryten’s time, rather than before Lister’s time as in the novels) so I think I’d put that in there.

Looking at your list you have a lot of performers that would lean toward a more Hyperdrive-style show.

Plus Richard Ayoade as the Cat? Even at his most confident he’s still Duane.

I’d go for unknowns again.

Phil Jupitus as Holly!

Errr….

In the lift, he said ?Presumably they?ve all been resurrected as well? (or something to that effect)- meaning he didn?t totally direct the rebuild

True but he did direct who wasn’t built. As in the main living characters.

Well, to be fair, the FIRST nanos built the ship – of which Holly is part – the second lot, under his control, made the crew.