Closing Theme

[Ben Saunders]

Since when did Series III have a different version of the closing theme?! The VHS’s my dad recorded off the telly had all the credits cut out apart from the final one and any with episode-specific music, so I guess I just never had the opportunity to notice.

They’re using the original version now, aren’t they? Or are there more than two versions?

Topic

[(deleted)]

Yes, Series 3 has a different version of the closing theme recorded at the same time as the new opening. It also turns up in a few V and VI episodes and the multitrack is used as the basis of the Elvis version in Meltdown.

There’s no known information about why any of this is…

[Jonathan Capps]

I hear the closing theme has secret lyrics.

[Seb Patrick]

Which version of the closing theme do you think will be used?

[Ben Saunders]

Sheesh, people who can’t hear a difference between the two versions – there’s no piano, the bass is too loud and the vocal is different! Come on people!

[Ben Saunders]

Interesting thread though, thanks

[Ben Saunders]

Alright, there is piano, it’s just quieter, and neither the piano nor the brass do many of their little fills/flairs, if any at all. Could just be a different take and they just threw in the tape that said RED DWARF CLOSING THEME if nobody remembers re-doing it, as the conspiracy states

[International Debris]

The version used through most of the mid-era almost sounds like a rough mix or a demo to me, it’s so flat sounding in comparison with the more rich, spacious version of the version used on I-II, VII-XI & Remastered.
I watched my VI off-airs to death, so for a while my main Dwarf intake was Remastered, VII and VIII (bleak times, I know), so when I started buying the DVDs and heard the second version I was really taken aback at how bad it sounds.

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah I was immediately taken aback as well.

It gets more complicated, lads.

I was going to say “it sounds more spacious because it’s in stereo”, but in Series I and II, it ISN’T. It’s in stereo for Series VII, though. The same version/take of the song seems to be used in I, II and VII onwards, but in mono first, then stereo later.

It gets more complicated, lads.

Just checking Polymorph II, they use the shit series III take/version of the song – but now that’s in Stereo, too!

Am I going to have to listen to the credits of every episode to make some sort of list, or has somebody already done it for me?

The tambourine is loud as fuck in both stereo versions, it dominates the mix, I never liked that.

[Ben Saunders]

Just doing Series VI.

Psirens – Original
Legion – Alternate
Gunmen – N/A
Emohawk – Alternate
Rimmerworld – Original
Outoftime – Original

I think the stereo mix sounds different on Out Of Time?? Aaaaa

[Ben Saunders]

Alright, here’s the full list you smegheads. God knows why they kept switching between versions – ignorance?
Was the mix always in stereo, but TV was broadcast in mono before Series V?

ORIGINAL
Series I, Series II, Series IV (mono)
Holoship, Demons and Angels, Back to Reality (stereo)
Psirens, Rimmerworld, Out of Time (stereo)
Series VII, Series VIII (stereo)
Dave era (assumed; stereo also assumed)

ALTERNATE
Series III (mono)
The Inquisitor, Terrorform, Quarantine (stereo)
Legion, Emohawk (stereo)

[International Debris]

Remastered also uses the originals. I’d check if it’s stereo but I can’t be arsed.

[(deleted)]

There’s also a ‘fake stereo’ version of the mono mix – just mono with reverb applied – which appears from VII onwards. Presuming it was dubbed from an episode and Jem Whippey messed around with it. For the record there’s a fully ‘clean’ version of the mono at the end of Confidence & Paranoia.

The first time the ‘real’ stereo mix turns up is on Holoship, where it’s got a nice clean intro too. That one’s used on the whole of Remastered but not on VIII if I’m remembering right. Must check. There’s no version of the stereo mix without the explosion at the end, I know that.

I think when I sourced the 1989 version I got it off Emohawk, though I may have needed to filter a titter off the first note or two.

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah, some of them I was listening to and I was thinking hold on… IS this stereo? So it might have been the fake stereo version you’re talking about. I seriously cannot be bothered going into that much detail with its list, I’m sick of hearing “goldfish shoals, nibbling at my [slightly awkwardly too long pause) thoes” already.

[(deleted)]

I don’t think the real stereo version was ever supposed to be heard like that, it was just provided like that to give options for the dubbing mixer – other than the two tambourine tracks panned wide left and right, the rest of it’s basically mono, as (a) there’s so much track-bouncing and overdubbing that true stereo mixing wouldn’t have been practical and (b) it’s a parody of a producer known for his mono records.

My theory about the 1989 re-record is that it’s connected to the new musical brief to be more contemporary and rock/funk/dance orientated. Hence the new exterior stings with electric guitars replacing the cellos, the new rock title theme, and re-doing the closing with more feel/soul and kick, using the same arrangement (more or less) but servicing the song rather than the pastiche element. More along the lines of a Mari Wilson single.

[Ben Saunders]

I’d totally buy that “servicing the song”, “more feel” shtick if it wasn’t, you know, a bit shit

[Ben Saunders]

Having just heard it again after Polymorph, it isn’t THAT bad once you’re used to it – it’s the transition from Parallel Universe to Backwards that is really jarring and makes it sound pants

[Author]

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