Favourite Bunkroom?

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Which of these versions of the main Red Dwarf bunkroom is your favourite?

— Red Dwarf (@RedDwarfHQ) October 2, 2018

How the Back to Earth bunkroom has only a measly 7% is beyond me, but anyway.

[bloodteller]

The options you can pick being limited to only four kind of defeats the whole point of it, doesn’t it?

There’s the Obs Room/Sleeping Quarters in VI, Lister’s cabin in VII, the prison cell in VIII, and the bunkroom in XI/XII doesn’t really look much like the one in X, so that should be an option too.

If I had to pick a favourite though, I’d pick the BtE bunkroom. Feels like a combination of all the best bits of the different iterations of the room, and there’s a lot of detail in there.

Least favourite would be Lister’s cabin from VII- it feels incredibly empty and dull, like nobody lives in it. Why’s it always so tidy? There’s barely anything ever in the room aside from a pair of furry dice.

[bloodteller]

Not a fan of the X bunkroom either, really. It has the same problem of feeling far too empty and lifeless. From XI onwards they either made it smaller or added more stuff (or both?) so there it did at least feel like a place somebody might actually live rather than just a studio set.

[Seb Patrick]

The options you can pick being limited to only four kind of defeats the whole point of it, doesn’t it?

Not really, it’s just a fun little Twitter poll designed to give people something to engage with and chat about.

Also it specifically asks for your favourite bunkroom on Red Dwarf. The ones in VI and VII are on a different ship, and the one in VIII is a prison cell.

You could split hairs over the difference between X, XI and XII but they’re fundamentally the same setup, just with cosmetic changes – just as between I and II. Given that the poll only allowed four options it did rather make sense to combine them.

In short, don’t overthink it.

[Toxteth O-Grady]

The original bunkroom feels the most real and least “tv studio set”. I can actually believe in them sleeping and living in there.
The BtE one is severely underrated.
The X one I’m not particularly fond of at all.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

The bunkroom from X, XI, and XII is the same set, its just lit differently from series to series.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

The BtE one is severely underrated.

If we’d have seen that bunkroom more than just one episode, it’d be more liked and probably up there among fan favourites. Actually, fucking hell that bunkroom only appeared in one episode, what a shame.

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Also unpopular opinion maybe, I think the III-V bunkroom looks the worst. Its not bad, all the bunkrooms have good qualities, but the III-V one looks the most like a set.

[Ben Saunders]

I never would have thought this if you’d asked me without also showing me the pictures, but I have to go with the III-V bunk room. It’s spacious, bright, and looks like a great place to hang out as well as get some work/play done.

[Paul Muller]

The BTE bunkroom is honestly one of my favourites, the only thing that brings it down is the static display screens. It’s a nice mix of the S1-2 and III-V design aesthetic and benefits hugely from the addition of a Fucking Big Window™.

[bloodteller]

>Also unpopular opinion maybe, I think the III-V bunkroom looks the worst.

It does look quite a lot like it’s made out of cheese, which is a little off-putting. Cheese is nice but you wouldn’t want to live in it

[GlenTokyo]

>It does look quite a lot like it’s made out of cheese, which is a little off-putting. Cheese is nice but you wouldn’t want to live in it

That’s a very pale cheese.

The Wensleydale Bunkroom, which coincidentally, is a fantastic pub in North Yorkshire.

[Pete Part Three]

III-V. The only set I actually miss.

It looks like a set in that specific photo (you can er, see there’s no 4th wall), I don’t think it ever does onscreen.

[Dollar Pound]

i like the steampunkiness of the x set, but I don’t know about all the clashing reds and the shit monitors

[Dave]

I like the BTE set as far as it goes, but we maybe don’t see enough of it for it to have earned its place over the I-II bunkroom or Officers Quarters.

For me it’s probably the original for nostalgic reasons and the III-V one for the overall look and versatility – they managed to find lots of different angles on it to make the space feel pretty huge and varied.

[Warbodog]

There’s no beating Ron Cobb’s III-V ship sets generally for me. I mean Mel Bibby’s. That’s the homely Red Dwarf I used to dream about.

[International Debris]

1 & 2 is my favourite, fits the ‘working spaceship’ mood best to me. BtE is probably the most aesthetically pleasing. III-V does the job but given that they spend less time in it, it has less nostalgia for me than 1 & 2. Still not particularly fond of X-XII, and genuinely surprised anybody has it as their favourite.

[Dax101]

BTE bunkroom does look abit like a tardis.

[si]

The loyal traditionalist in me says the s1&2 grey bunk room, but s4 is my favourite series, and contains my favourite bunk room.

So there.

[tombow]

3-5 because it looks more 80s sci fi with it’s chunky design.

By the way, is there a canon reason why Lister and Rimmer share a room? Is it a condition of Rimmer’s hologram that it gets deactivated if he sleeps too far from Lister or something?

[bloodteller]

because they are friends

[Seb Patrick]

Me2 covers it pretty comprehensively, I think.

[Dave]

Plus, there are times when they don’t share, like when Rimmer goes on holiday or Lister has the space mumps.

[bloodteller]

Me2 is pretty much a perfect example of why Rimmer and Lister need each other, yeah.

There’s also that Rimmer does actually like having Lister around. In Stasis Leak, when Lister’s contemplating going back to the past, Rimmer is very clearly upset and almost straight-up says he doesn’t want Lister to go. Lister asks “Where are you coming from, Rimmer? You don’t even like me.” to which Rimmer eventually responds “I don’t like what you stand for. But for some weird reason…oh, I don’t know. What’s the point? Everything always goes wrong for me.” I mean maybe I’m looking into it too much, but that line always read to me as if Rimmer was about to say “But for some weird reason, I don’t want you to go.” or something like that.

Plus it’s just a whole lot easier to write bunkroom scenes if the two of them are sharing a bunkroom.

[Pete Part Three]

Kryten and Stasis Leak, too.

If you had to spend the rest of your in a ship the size of a city, three million years from home, you’d end up bunking with your worst enemy just for the company.

Driving Rimmer nuts is what keeps Lister going. Lording it over Lister is what keeps Rimmer going. These are their “jobs” now. The’re co-dependent on each other – and a lot of that is from co-habiting. If they had separate rooms they’d have to find reasons to socialise with each other each day and they have nothing in common beyond their “working relationship”.

[Pete Part Three]

Oh, snap Bloodteller.

[Plastic Percy]

I always figured that it simply hadn’t crossed their minds to not share a room. It’s brought up in ‘Bodysnatcher’ when Lister points out that the ship is big enough for the two of them to live on different sides of it and not see each other for the rest of their lives, although he does invite Rimmer to pop round for ten minutes on Christmas.

[Lily]

Got to be the officers quarters for me.

I notice on these twitter polls it’s always overwhelming in favour of the first two series. Seems odd to me that people who are bothered enough about dwarf to follow their twitter and vote on things but are firmly nostalgic for only series 1+2.

[Paul Muller]

Having flashbacks to this comments section: https://www.ganymede.tv/2015/04/high-low-popular-misconceptions/

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Its cause Lister and Rimmer are gay

[Ben Saunders]

I always thought Rimmer didn’t want Lister to go because it would mean he would either be switched off or undone by time shenanigans, but those explanations fit too

[Paul Muller]

Just been back and watched BtE pt1 to get a better look at the bunkroom set – it holds up pretty well, although it looks incredibly bright after watching XI-XII. In general, the proliferation of windows is nice – although I guess it’s a bit weird having all the action taking place right on the edge of the ship.

[Ben Saunders]

Their bunk room was on the edge of the ship in Series 1 as well, and if my memory of the geography is right, most of the action probably takes place near the edge of the ship in 1 and 2 as well

Can you see out into space from the drive room/captains office as well? Did anybody think about this?

[Warbodog]

Remastered has some establishing shots of a protruding structure on top of the CGI ship, I can’t remember if it was used for the Drive Room or just the Observation Dome or other scenes. Don’t know about the proper ship.

[Ben Saunders]

How come Rimmer and Lister, the two lowest ranks on the ship, get a window (S1+2 set), but the officers don’t (III-V), and iirc the Captain doesn’t? (VIII)

[Hamish]

Because in the case of a hull breach they would be the first to snuff it.

[Dave]

Plus the exterior rooms are probably pretty chilly. It’s cold outside.

[bloodteller]

>and iirc the Captain doesn’t? (VIII)

He does though, the original ending to Only The Good has the scene where Rimmer and Kryten wave out of the little window in his quarters as the fleet of shuttlecraft is drifting away from the ship.

You can also see it in the episode as-broadcast, when Rimmer is walking out into the corridor after the first scene

[NoFro]

The static/obvious sticker screen kills the BTE set for me somewhat. Other than that it’s lovely. I guess it does look good in photos. The window is ace.

[Ben Saunders]

>Because in the case of a hull breach they would be the first to snuff it.
Fair, honestly.

>It’s cold outside.
There’s definitely some kind of atmosphere, though

Also my bad bloodteller, I was thinking of the captain’s office, I forgot his quarters were elsewhere lol

[Dave]

I like the idea that Hollister has to sleep under his desk.

[Warbodog]

The Officers’ Quarters could have a window on the fourth wall. Whitewashing that set like Remastered is my only concern about the HD re-grading.

[Ben Saunders]

Eww, it’s not white it’s CREAM

Or at least an off-white; who’s idea was it to grade it as white? Did Ed think it looked a bit mucky?

[Plastic Percy]

<<How come Rimmer and Lister, the two lowest ranks on the ship, get a window (S1+2 set), but the officers don’t (III-V), and iirc the Captain doesn’t? (VIII)>>

The trade off I guess is the Officer’s Quarters have more amenities like a shower unit, a kitchenette and a bigger telly.

[Dollar Pound]

it just is iii-v

[Plastic Percy]

I keep meaning to check, but I think in pretty much every series, I – IV at least, the corridor outside the bunkroom changes.

In I it’s a grey corridor curving round and then in II it’s a wall of pipes and metal curving round. In III it’s the white crate walls with two corridors leading off at right angles, as seen in Warbofrog’s picture. Then IV comes around, and in Camille it’s a corridor made of the off-white archways used to enter the bunk room, but a panel is removed for all the other episodes in that series so there’s now a third corridor that leads directly into the archway. V I think is the same as IV, though.

[q u i n n _ d r u m m e r]

Why is the sign for the officers quarters above the door leading out of them? It should be on the outside, not the inside!

[Dax101]

Officers clearly wanna be reminded how important they are. compared to the lower technicians :P

[International Debris]

The original set includes a sign on the inside of the door saying ‘Technicians Quarters’, but in keeping with the rest of the design it was painted in grey.

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