Doug’s Thoughts On More Dwarf

[RickLee84]

When asked on Twitter about further Dwarf, he responded with:-

“If I was a betting man I’d say: definitely, 100% yes and yes.”

<p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>If I was a betting man I’d say: definitely, 100% yes and yes. https://t.co/qz770kf8j3</p>— Doug Naylor (@DougRDNaylor) June 7, 2020

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[Dave]

Stage show confirmed.

[By Jove its holmes]

Red Dwarf XIV: Searching for a Zimmerframe

[bloodteller]

this is a bit impatient surely, it’s only been 2 months since the last Red Dwarf and you’re already asking for more. how much do you want

[Ian Symes]

I think Covid-19 has killed Red Dwarf. It takes them years in between productions at the best of times, and this is the worst of times for TV production. By the time they’re able to legally and safely work with a full crew, especially considering the majority of the key players are in a higher risk category due to their age and/or medical history, and any sort of live audience is allowed, and there’s the studio capacity for it, and the green light from a broadcaster who will presumably prioritise quicker and cheaper programming initially, I fear it’ll be too late.

[Dave]

I have had the same worries myself. But if they’re still up for it in a couple of years, who knows? A lot depends on what the world looks like in the next couple of years, and no-one really knows at this point.

[si]

I think Covid-19 has killed Red Dwarf[…]

Well, someone’s a cheery fucker today.

[Dax101]

We will get another special. even if it starts filming late 2021.

[Shoes Have Soles]

I think Red Dwarf is the sitcom equivalent of the Rolling Stones.

Give them a few more monkey glands to chew on and slap on the extra makeup, they will be good for a few more years.

[Plastic Percy]

I’m grateful for any new Red Dwarf we get. I’m just glad that even if this is the end, it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger like VIII did.

[International Debris]

To be fair, given the time between production blocks at the minute, I actually think COVID won’t affect it that much. It was probably going to be a couple of years before the next one anyway, by which time one would hope we’re back to normal enough to mount two studio blocks with audience.

[Paul Muller]

I think the willingness of the cast and/or age is probably the main deciding factor at the moment. I get the impression Robert is (understandably) not too keen on getting encased in latex for hours on end these days. The pandemic certainly won’t have helped, either.

[By Jove its holmes]

Red Dwarf On Ice?

Red Dwarf: The Animated Series?

Red Dwarf: The Next Generation?

[RickLee84]

Well the link in the OP didn’t work, thought it was supposed to be a nice view of the tweet itself. Fuck.

[bloodteller]

again though, why is everyone being so impatient? it’s only been 2 months since TPL. so just wait a while surely? and if something happens it happens, and if it doesn’t then that’s it. im just confused at this requesting for more so soon after the last one. there’s usually gaps of multiple years between new stuff. have patience

[GlenTokyo]

I think it’s just because a few members the cast are knacked out, meaning the window for more in the current format is closing.

Craig has had a heart attack, Robert was very ill in hospital and is officially a pensioner come March 2021, I know if it was a family member of mine who’d been ill, I’d be saying to him “Maybe don’t let them put a silicone bag over your head and stick you under some studio lights for hours a day” and he might be thinking that himself too, judging from the sort of soundbites that come from him along the lines of ‘I love it but I’m not sure how long I can keep putting up with it’.

[Dax101]

I think Craig, Chris and Danny know they have to stop at some point, but they clearly want to keep going for as long as they can. and the cast ain’t exactly in their 70s or 80s. you can do a sitcom no matter how old you are. but for them, it’s not a case of how long can they do it. its a case of how long can it work for before they become too old for it to work?

With Robert it is abit different due to the make up involved. but i suspect Robert would do more as long as the other cast agreed to do more.

[By Jove its holmes]

I agree that Last of the Summer Dwarf wouldn’t exactly bring in the crowds.

[Stilianides]

Robert said only today that he and the rest of the cast would still all love to do a stage play…but he doesn’t know how they’d do it.

[Ben Saunders]

To be fair, there’s often so long between production on series of Red Dwarf that a global plague could easily come and go between series and it wouldn’t affect the show at all since they won’t have begun to mount it before it had already gone away for some time

[RunawayTrain]

Well, he’s working on it:
a reply to the above tweet, in part said
“Please, Doug
Stop Tweeting and get on with it”

To which he simply responded, “I am”

I am.

— Doug Naylor (@DougRDNaylor) June 7, 2020

[Flap Jack]

Wow, I don’t know if that Twitter user was intending to come off as an ungrateful prick, but it sure worked out that way.

[Manbird]

What about a Big Finish-style continuation of Red Dwarf? Would people go for that?

[Flap Jack]

What about a Big Finish-style continuation of Red Dwarf? Would people go for that?

Apparently Big Finish themselves did propositon Doug in the past, but he wasn’t interested. Struggling to find more direct reporting of it though.

What if Big Finish did Red Dwarf?

[International Debris]

The problem with Red Dwarf and Big Finish, as has been pointed out in above thread, is the writer’s voice. We all know what happened with Rob left, and the show took some time for Doug to really find his own voice that doesn’t feel totally at odds with the show’s classic era. Getting other writers in to do Dwarf would either require them to do an impression of Doug (and Rob), or do something that’s very different and doesn’t actually feel like Red Dwarf. Both of these rarely work well in fan fiction, and haven’t worked too well in the actual show (when Doug is trying to ape an older episode / joke / style). In fact, I’d say Dwarf is the type of show that would fare particularly badly because not only do you have to get the storytelling and characters right, you also have to get the humour right. VII had some good stories but the humour was often off; the Dave era is frequently funny, but in need of tighter plotting or more narrative consistency. If Doug himself struggles with these, then handing the whole thing over to a varied group of writers would take an absurd amount of script editing to get even close to the Red Dwarf we know and (usually) love.

The other option would be Doug doing it himself, and given his interest in directing, visuals, effects, etc., it’s clear that he sees the show as a visual entity. Should the show take a knock in some way or another – Craig loses an arm in a bizarre DJing accident, Chris becomes allergic to cameras, Dave pull funding – then maybe Doug would consider doing a series of audios, but I also doubt it. He’s got so many plot ideas, apparently, but is saving them for screen versions.

[Dave]

If anything, Craig losing an arm would represent a welcome tightening-up of long-term Red Dwarf continuity.

[Flap Jack]

Compromise: Big Finish do Red Dwarf, but only spin-offs. Such as

• The Erotic Adventures of Ace Rimmer
• Talkin’ Toast with Talkie Toaster
• Young Lister
• Cats: The Quest For Fuchal
• The Snacky Chronicles

All written by Paul Alexander.

[cwickham]

I still thinking adapting existing material such as the novels, the Smegazine comics or unproduced episodes would be the only viable proposition for a Big Finish version of Red Dwarf.

[si]

The Smegazine’s Jake Bullet strips would be interesting.

[Flap Jack]

Definitely. Though I’d settle for being able to easily read the original versions.

Anyone fancy doing a crowdfunding campaign to digitize and re-release all the issues of Smegazine?

[International Debris]

I suppose there’s precedence for the smegazine strips, too, as they’re doing Doctor Who ones.

[By Jove its holmes]

a dark Big Finish series about people trying to avoid being changed under the rule of Sebastian Doyle.

[si]

It’d be better than what we’ve got right now.

[GlenTokyo]

I think Red Dwarf audio stories in the style of the novels would work, but not in the style of the show.

I think the universe of Red Dwarf has a lot going for it if not undermined by continuity errors, so I’d be open to something in the universe that’s not necessarily about the main 4. They could link in somewhere but there’s plenty of meat on the lore bone if set in the right period.

[By Jove its holmes]

Glen: A wider glimpse by Big Finish at Lister and Rimmer’s Earth might be interesting. For example, we know from Rimmer in “Meltdown” that Wax Droids had already been created by his time.

[Dave]

Glen: A wider glimpse by Big Finish

For a minute I though this was a suggested title and was trying to work out what on earth it would be about.

[si]

there’s plenty of meat on the lore bone

I like it.

[Dax101]

Let Rob Grant write some Red Dwarf stuff for Big Finish. I imagine Doug has greater ambitions for the show than Big Finish.

[International Debris]

Pff, like what? 90 minute specials on national TV?

[Jonsmad]

Red Dwarf XIV: Searching for a Zimmerframe

He will never need a zimmer

[By Jove its holmes]

will never need a zimmer

Just maybe those pills that Grampa Simpson swiped from Matlock ;)

[Author]

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