Better Than Life Podcast

[Spare Hand One]

Probably not right or fair for the main G&T gang to write about this on the blog, but we can talk about it in the forum, right?

Anyway, it’s pretty good. I like the hosts and the general concept: two hosts (one who loves RD actively and another who just remembers it fondly from back in the day) interviews a different comedian about RD each week. Great theme tune. There’s a “recast the cast” segment I’m not generally fond of but it does sometimes result in interesting takes on what exactly makes our characters who they are.

Stuart Goldsmith and Gemma Arrowsmith were particularly good guests: knowledgeable and keen. RD clearly means a lot to Stuart. Gemma works as a screenwriting teacher and she cites RD as examples/exercises in her class; her insight/analysis in this capacity was really interesting as well as her general fan voice being keen and delightful.

Bec Hill, Tom Price, Will Duggan were quite shit.

Anyway, it’s episode-by-episode and in order. They just did Bodyswap. New episodes drop on Fridays.

Very few guests seem to like VII-VIII so I’m looking forward to hitting those episodes to see what happens.

Anyone else listening to this?

Topic

[Warbodog]

Not an episode for every mood, but a great one when you’re pissed off.

[Moonlight]

Demons & Angels is a perfectly enjoyable episode. It’s just that a couple other V episodes are some of my favorite television ever made so it feels weaker by comparison than it might otherwise.

[Unrumble]

I would have said D&A is bottom half of all episodes but not bad by any means, then I checked the Coral Canvass and it’s sitting there at a whopping 21st! Better than DNA?! I am very mildly in disagreement.

DNAngels

[Technopeasant]

I did not say I did not like Demon & Angels. :P

[Nick R]

Why do you hate Demons & Angels so much, Technopeasant? :(

[Dave]

[Jenuall]

Series V is definitely the most consistently strong series for me. When something as good as Demons & Angels is considered your weak link then you know you’re dealing with quality!

[Unrumble]

[Dave]

[Technopeasant]

As has been stated by others before, the alters are rather generic and not terribly character specific (the highs especially). And the spinal implant gags are a bit mean spirited.

It’s fine though, honestly.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Oh sure, think of the series that started the Flanderisation of Lister.

[Technopeasant]

“Imagine a person with Dave Lister’s scruffy brown hair, a bit of stubble, and a worn leather jacket. His relaxed, somewhat rebellious demeanor is contrasted by Ned Flanders’ signature green pants, mustache, and cheerful, overly friendly smile. His stance is open and inviting, but his attire and attitude reflect a laid-back, rough-around-the-edges personality. This unique mix would create a fun, quirky fusion—combining Lister’s grunge with Flanders’ wholesome, church-loving energy!”

[Moonlight]

[Nick R]

[sleepey]

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

For the record I was talking about how Series VI started the trend of putting comedy before characterisation and in particular this caricature of Lister as a know-nothing curry-loving slob whereas in prior series he’d always been a fairly intelligent, discerning individual who merely lacked a formal education.

[Ben Saunders]

If I were to be generous, some of it is more of a return to their original characteristics after they were starting to become a little more generic, Cat in particular starts becoming more cat-like once Doug takes over. Lister was an idiot in Series 1 and they figured it would be a good idea to mine that original idea for more material. The real abberation is when he’s suddenly not stupid anymore. The break for the Dave era allows them to settle in to more rounded portrayals while still going back to things like Rimmer’s obsession with exams and becoming an officer, the overall feeling of loneliness, and Kryten gets some throwbacky stuff which I think is performed very well.

On my latest rewatch I noticed the show as a whole is deeply, deeply silly and happy to do whatever it thinks is funny at the time first and foremost, and it mostly succeeds. As long as I’m laughing I don’t really give a hoot that Lister has to be a bit daft to make me, it’s only when I’m not laughing (mainly through parts of VII and X) that something will bother me. And then again, it wouldn’t necessarily be any funnier if it was more “in character”, you would just lose the ability to blame inconsistent characterisation over good old-fashioned tedious gags.

Also, Kryten does a lot of reading his lines off of boards in Series 6, doesn’t he. Not just in Out of Time where they’re all doing it. Were Rob and Doug perfectionists who wouldn’t stop rewriting, or did they just not have their shit together anymore? How much of it is “oh we can do better” vs “oh we haven’t done anything”.

[Technopeasant]

I don’t know, I think sometimes it is just that Lister is impulsive and says the first thing that comes into his head, which fits rather neatly with the “brains you’ve never used” diagnosis from the Inquisitor.

And given II is my other favorite next to VI, you can’t say I do not value characterization at all. Also for the record, I grew up with Series VI on VHS (along with IV, with PBS off-airs for III, I, and late VII and early VIII from Showcase) but only watched II (and V) properly on DVD as a teenager, so you can’t even blame my preferences (entirely) on nostalgia.

[Flap Jack]

I had a “Did I lose my mind and just not notice?” moment listening to the most recent episode. In the closing section, even though the episode was about Demons & Angels, the topic of alternate versions of characters prompts Fergus to think of a question about Back to Reality. That question is,

“Why does Duane Dibbley have The Cat’s voice?”

He and John then earnestly discuss this as if it’s a genuinely baffling gap in the plot logic of the episode, and also that surely a character whose joke is that they’re uncool wouldn’t have an American accent. At one point John even says “every other alternate version of a character in this series uses a different voice”, which is kind of true (I mean not really, but kind of), except for, you know… ALL FOUR OF THE ONES IN BACK TO REALITY. (They also bring up Padre, as if they’re only just realising now that he wasn’t literally meant to be an alternate version of The Cat.)

They spend minutes talking about this, and eventually come to the conclusion that in spite of American accents being cooler overall, the reason Duane Dibbley is American is because it’s funnier for him to react to his new identity with The Cat’s voice.

At no point is “Because Duane Dibbley literally is just The Cat. He has his consciousness, his personality, and his memories. It’s just his body and his circumstances that have suddenly changed. This is in fact the entire premise of the episode, and accents are not biologically determined.” suggested.

Like I have come to expect these guys to fudge their Red Dwarf facts, that’s whatever at this point, but to so massively misunderstand the basic plot of the one of the best episodes of the entire show… that might be a new low.

[Ridley]

Like I have come to expect these guys to fudge their Red Dwarf facts, that’s whatever at this point, but to so massively misunderstand the basic plot of the one of the best episodes of the entire show… that might be a new low.

That’s not how Demons & Angels works. The episode clearly shows the involvement of a triplica

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Ah, I see what you’re saying. So that section of the discussion was performed by the Low versions of Fergus and John?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Ah, I see what you’re saying. So that section of the discussion was performed by the Low versions of Fergus and John?

The whole podcast is. 

[Moonlight]

[Flap Jack]

So I’ve caught up with the first 2 of the post Series V bonus episodes. This was my highlight of the Christmas episode.

And my highlight of the first Series V outtakes episode was Cariad Lloyd asserting that the in-universe reason for Holly’s gender change was because something happened to him to make him even more stupid, so therefore he had to become a blonde woman. Neither host takes the opportunity to correct her.

[Moonlight]

[Technopeasant]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

So I’ve caught up with the first 2 of the post Series V bonus episodes. This was my highlight of the Christmas episode. 

If only they’d joined the Discord Christmas quiz, they’d have known this. 

[Jenuall]

Caught up on this now – it’s a fun listen even if the aforementioned annoyances around accuracy and misinformation remain.

Anyone know why they haven’t done anything since January though?

[Flap Jack]

I’ve been wondering that too. This podcast is my only link to John and Fergus, so I couldn’t tell you with confidence that they’re even still alive.

I see the podcast has a Twitter account, but that hasn’t posted since January either.

[Jenuall]

Yeah I had a look on the Twitter account and a quick google to see if I could find any other social media presence but couldn’t really see anything informative. Hopefully all is well!

The last episode ended with them saying all the fun plans they had for doing series VI and implying it was coming imminently so it certainly doesn’t seem like this was a planned hiatus

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Maybe they lost their podcast equipment and had to go into deep sleep

[Moonlight]

Maybe when they return they will have gone back in time to steal their equipment from the past.

[Ridley]

Maybe they’re bored of it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.

[Ridley]

Series 6 is all recorded except for one ep which is clearly CURSED! We keep trying to make it happen and it keeps not happening. As soon as we can get than one recorded, we’ll be back in people’s podcast feeds.

From the Facebook last week.

[Flap Jack]

Good to know, thanks Ridley.

So Series VI is coming 6 months later than usual. Maybe Series VII will only come out after a 4 year hiatus and with just 1 of the original hosts?

[Moonlight]

Then in Series VIII they all get naked and are terrorized by a reptile.

[Flap Jack]

Hey, so this came back! Actually it’s been back for almost a month, but… you know.

The Psirens discussion was solid, and I thankfully didn’t spot any big mistakes. Obviously John and Fergus’s memories are still poor, but that’s fine. It’s only annoying when they’re confidently wrong about things.

The only blips were after the main discussion, where Fergus casually mentioned that Red Dwarf now has “73 episodes”, and in their briefer discussion of Series VI in general, guest Tom Neenan asserted that Gunmen of the Apocalypse cheaped out in a similar way to Back to Reality – that it kept cutting back to Starbug to avoid showing what would be some expensive or impossible to film action in the Western simulation. No it didn’t???

Anyway, I’m part way through the Legion episode now, and it started off well with a pretty incredible behind the scenes story from Phil Ellis.

[Warbodog]

guest Tom Neenan asserted that Gunmen of the Apocalypse cheaped out in a similar way to Back to Reality – that it kept cutting back to Starbug to avoid showing what would be some expensive or impossible to film action in the Western simulation. No it didn’t???

I can see that false memory coming from the galloping-with-helmets shot that’s also in the opening titles six times… even if the titles also show them riding actual horses, so they obviously weren’t doing a Monty Python.

Do the guests often not bother rewatching the one enjoyable 30-minute episode they’re going to talk at length about? Edit: Scrap that, this was about Psirens, wasn’t it.

[Flap Jack]

Yeah, it’s more understandable to make mistakes when talking about episodes the current podcast isn’t directly about, but I still don’t excuse it, because you shouldn’t confidently share trivia like that if you don’t actually know what you’re talking about.

Honestly it was kind of a weird choice to do a mini review of every Series VI episode at the end anyway, because it naturally prompted them to discuss things that surely they’d rather keep back until the dedicated podcasts.

[Warbodog]

The Phil Ellis story was fun and basically confirms that he was accidentally referencing or inspired by Red Dwarf in that “Toasty the toaster” Taskmaster outtake.

[Dave]

guest Tom Neenan asserted that Gunmen of the Apocalypse cheaped out in a similar way to Back to Reality – that it kept cutting back to Starbug to avoid showing what would be some expensive or impossible to film action in the Western simulation. No it didn’t???

You must be misremembering. 

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

Amazing.

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

[Author]

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