Contradictions

[Dave]

Obviously the continuity of Red Dwarf is usually absolutely water-tight, but occasionally the odd flat-out contradiction does slip through.

Topic

[Dave]

[Dave]

[Dave]

[Dave]

That last one came out kind of weird but I liked it.

[Nick R]

DID YOU KNOW? Lister had his appendix out twice! 😮

[Warbodog]

There is some consistency with the book one when you accept Rimmer’s definition that it’s about ‘proper’ books.

He learns to read a kitten book, but gets Holly to translate the Holy Book (with Holly’s renowned sense of smell).

By Fathers and Suns, he’s back to admitting

Although he said he’d been reading a book in the prior episode:

[Warbodog]

(Big fan of proper books here, as someone who got away with doing his undergraduate English Literature dissertation on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation).

[International Debris]

Thankfully these two scenes are chronologically so far apart, nobody would notice.

[International Debris]

On the subject of Lister’s reading history

[Warbodog]

“A dog called Ben” always made me think of my primary school’s learn-to-read books, which the teachers always called “Ben and Lad books” because of this one entry, even though they weren’t recurring characters as far as I remember.

Except Ben wasn’t the dog, he was the lad.

[Renegade Rob]

[Unrumble]

Also, though you can argue it’s not ‘food’:

[International Debris]

Also, and I know this is a particularly pedantic perspective, he wasn’t conscious for most of those three million years, so for him that isn’t even really true.

[Warbodog]

Also, and I know this is a particularly pedantic perspective, he wasn’t conscious for most of those three million years, so for him that isn’t even really true.

[Unrumble]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

(Big fan of proper books here, as someone who got away with doing his undergraduate English Literature dissertation on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation).

If you watch with subtitles than I’d say it counts 

[Moonlight]

Is it fine literature to write fanfiction about what Tasha Yar and Data were getting up to in The Naked Now?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Is it fine literature to write fanfiction about what Tasha Yar and Data were getting up to in The Naked Now?

[Renegade Rob]

[Ian Symes]

(Big fan of proper books here, as someone who got away with doing his undergraduate English Literature dissertation on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation).

For my English Literature & Language A-level, one of the pieces of coursework was to take a piece of text and transform it into a different medium, eg adapting a short story into a poem, or a play script into prose, etc. I wanted to do She’s Leaving Home by The Beatles as a short story, but wasn’t allowed as it wasn’t “a valid literary source”, as it hadn’t been published in written form. So I did a Craig Charles poem out of spite. 

[Warbodog]

I wanted to do She’s Leaving Home by The Beatles as a short story, but wasn’t allowed as it wasn’t “a valid literary source”, as it hadn’t been published in written form.

The book The Complete Beatles Songs published in 1994 “contains a complete set of printed lyrics to all of the Beatles’ songs,” so your teacher was wrong and a grotesquely ugly freak.

[Dave]

For my English Literature & Language A-level, one of the pieces of coursework was to take a piece of text and transform it into a different medium, eg adapting a short story into a poem, or a play script into prose, etc. I wanted to do She’s Leaving Home by The Beatles as a short story, but wasn’t allowed as it wasn’t “a valid literary source”, as it hadn’t been published in written form. So I did a Craig Charles poem out of spite. 

We did a sort-of adaptation of She’s Leaving Home in GCSE drama, with the prompt being to continue the story from where the song leaves off. I’d love to say that our efforts were any good but I don’t think they were, we turned ours into a slasher drama with the man from the motor trade turning out to be a serial killer of some sort. It was like a prototypical version of Idea For An Episode.

[Flap Jack]

Exercise prompt – Eleanor Rigby’s Revenge.

[Warbodog]

For a similar adaptation task in a Literature and Film module at uni, I did Dream Theater’s Scenes from a Memory album as a cheesy movie stuck in development hell. Got out of reading literature again.

[Unrumble]

Genre Transformation module at uni, I decided to write a series of poems based around my favourite film, The Wicker Man.

[tombow]

just got this after asking Copilot AI about Mr Bean – 

“Since you love cult TV and quirky absurdity, Tom, I’ll throw you a twist: imagine if Mr. Bean had been written in the style of Red Dwarf. Do you think his bumbling innocence would survive in a more adult, sci-fi comedy setting, or would it completely change the character’s appeal?

Since you love cult TV and character psychology, Tom, here’s a thought experiment: if Irma had been given more depth (say, a subplot where she tries to “civilize” Bean or even date someone else), do you think it would have broken the cartoon‑like purity of the show, or added a richer layer of absurd drama, almost like Red Dwarf’s Kryten trying to be human?”

[International Debris]

I wanted to do She’s Leaving Home by The Beatles as a short story, but wasn’t allowed as it wasn’t “a valid literary source”, as it hadn’t been published in written form. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Sgt Pepper known for being the first album to include printed lyrics?

On the subject of high school English sequels, we were tasked with writing a scene with Withnail and Marwood return to the teashop. Me and a couple of mates came up with the idea that they were returning as multi-millionaires, and showered the English classroom with fake money. Most people used it as an excuse to swear a lot. The joys of having an English teacher who was a student in the 80s.

[Dax101]

I have complained about this enough, but the Cat not knowing what sex is in Can of Worms. I think Doug took the whole idea of the Cat being a virgin thing to 9-year-old levels of naivety. There has been moments throughout the previous 10 series that suggest he does have some idea what it is and how the sexual organs work.

[Renegade Rob]

I have complained about this enough, but the Cat not knowing what sex is in Can of Worms. I think Doug took the whole idea of the Cat being a virgin thing to 9-year-old levels of naivety. There has been moments throughout the previous 10 series that suggest he does have some idea what it is and how the sexual organs work.

…as well as the sound you make when you get them trapped in something.

[Warbodog]

Things they always do

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I have complained about this enough, but the Cat not knowing what sex is in Can of Worms. I think Doug took the whole idea of the Cat being a virgin thing to 9-year-old levels of naivety. There has been moments throughout the previous 10 series that suggest he does have some idea what it is and how the sexual organs work.

[Dax101]

[Technopeasant]

I did Evangelion as Hamlet for English 30-2.

[clem]

Cat not knowing what sex is in Can of Worms. I think Doug took the whole idea of the Cat being a virgin thing to 9-year-old levels of naivety. There has been moments throughout the previous 10 series that suggest he does have some idea what it is and how the sexual organs work.

He does have form for being naive about sex as well though, to be fair. 

I’d argue it’s inconsistent rather than Can of Worms contradicts everything up until then.

[clem]

Rimmer ragging on Jesus in Holoship and D&A, and then fanboying over him in Lemons. 

[Technopeasant]

See also lauding Shakspeare in Marooned and slagging him off in Lemons.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think it’s just in Rimmer’s character to be inconsistent. He probably doesn’t care about Shakespeare one way or another but given the situation he acts differently. 

[International Debris]

Yeah the vibe I get in Marooned is that he genuinely doesn’t care about Shakespeare and only has the book to look educated. In Lemons, he’s being lectured by Lister and thus has to adopt an anti-Shakespeare stance. Of course it’s a little more blurred given that Rimmer seemingly has an entire terrible stand up routine on the issue pre-prepared, but I think it works on a conceptual level. 

[Flap Jack]

[Warbodog]

[Moonlight]

I think you’ll find in every case here, anomalies have merged from both dimensions to cope with the paradox.

[Jimboid]

I know Ed Bye complained about someone raising that one…but when you have the means to immediately travel anywhere and anywhen, it does rather wreck the whole premise of the show.

[International Debris]

I just spent fucking ages calculating the smallest amount of time possible between The End and Back in the Red, based on what we see and time gaps mentioned, in the hope of it contradicting Lister’s “five, six years,” only to find it came to 55 months which would make that completely reasonable, even if you believe the Queeg lasted for five months theory.

[Rushy]

I know Ed Bye complained about someone raising that one…but when you have the means to immediately travel anywhere and anywhen, it does rather wreck the whole premise of the show.

Did anyone else find it really weird when Rimmer was being extremely responsible in Tikka, with all that talk about causality?
You could argue it follows up on his development in Out of Time, but I still don’t think it’s very in character for him. He sounds more like the Doctor than Rimmer. 
In retrospect, I would have liked it more if Lister bluntly refused to use the time drive out of fear of becoming like his future self. One could even say he’s punishing himself by choosing to remain three million years in the future. 
And then the Cat is the one who breaks Kryten, because he wants to go clothes shopping. 

[Dax101]

Thats why the curry supplies were destroyed so lister would be willing to look past it and do it. One small job wouldnt hurt right?

Although they kept the time drive since its used again to take baby lister back in time.

[Warbodog]

Lister’s “five, six years”

Lister saying he’s 25 in Future Echoes is the anomaly, and was probably just so “mid-twenties” could be more exact for the joke. If he was 23, his Backwards and Tikka ages are okay.

[Rushy]

It’s possible that he was 25 in Future Echoes, but there’s no new file after he was 23 because the nanobots reconstructed that version of Red Dwarf. 

Because if that wasn’t the case, then surely his Bodyswap file should be available

[Warbodog]

He could only really be 25 in Future Echoes if his age 23 file was made as soon as he signed up, he turned 24 shortly after, and there’s a longer gap between The End and Future Echoes than there seems to be, since he only served 8 months. But then the Backwards age doesn’t work.

[Moonlight]

He turned 28 right before the beginning of Series VII which really bunches up that “5, 6 years” figure in a weird way if we take for granted he’s 25 any time he gives that as his age.

[Warbodog]

Series V makes a couple of general references to “four years” since the start, Series VI is at least 6 months (adding up various “last month” and “a few weeks” references), so Lister could be 28 by the start of VII, then Ouroboros has a massive 18-month time jump (even though the following episodes don’t reflect that in the dynamics at all), which is corroborated by Nanarchy saying it’s been “two years” for them on Starbug overall. So 5-6 years seems okay by that working and Lister is probably 29 or 30 by VIII.

[Author]

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