First episode of Red Dwarf seen?

[anniescribe]

Not sure if this has been a topic … probably, but I can’t find it very recently, so here goes : What’s the first episode you ever saw, if you remember, and what about it made you watch more of the series?

I’m pretty sure mine had to be Me2. I remember the gazpacho soup factoid, which is not something I knew before then, but it could’ve also been Future Echoes with the droid fish. It was 18 years ago, so memory’s only a little muddied. ;-)

Anyway, it was an odd, hilarious little show and I was a big Trek fan, so I wanted to see what this Trek-parody-type show would do – and I kept watching and bought the first book shortly after (it was still being sold as a new novel at the sci-fi bookstore I frequented in a nearby town).

Topic

[si]

I’m never sure. I became a fan with series three, but recognised Kryten, and realised that Holly had changed, so I must have seen series two. I was nine years old in 1988, and my dad watched, so there’s a good chance I saw series one, too. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll say that my first episode was Kryten.

[Pecospete666]

“Waiting for God!” I was Enlighten by Doug’s or Rob’s take on Religion! It still resonates today!

[Danny Stephenson]

First ever memory of Dwarf: The Last Day
First full episode: Camille (on VHS)
First episode seen on first broadcast: Holoship. Then saw Young Ones on VHS with Norman Lovett and incidentally discovered Series I and II…

[Connell]

First ever memory of Dwarf: Pete (god knows which part)
First full episode: Legion (On Dave)
First episode ever seen on first broadcast: Trojan

The perks of Dwarf being slightly before my time. I was also living abroad when Back To Earth was broadcast so I had to watch online after.

[Pete Part Three]

Future Echoes, and mighty fine it was too.

[Hard Drive Full Of Resentment]

The End, a few years back, specifically just when they meet Cat. It was rather strange for me, since I didn’t even know it was supposed to be a comedy.

[clem]

Parallel Universe during the ’94 repeat run. I was 11. I’m pretty sure they were already in the parallel universe when I started watching, so I couldn’t have had a clue what was going on not having seen the show before, let alone the first part of the episode. I hadn’t even heard of Red Dwarf. I was definitely hooked right away though, and the next time I saw Red Dwarf was when Backwards was repeated and I made sure I saw it. (I think that was only a week or two later. Anybody have those ’94 repeat dates?) Then of course I was utterly confused by the dramatically different look, Holly/Hilly, and Kryten, but it was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and of course it was very funny. I was intrigued and became a big fan very quickly, got the videos, novels, found out about the fan club etc. and never looked back.

[Alex]

The last 5 minutes of Out of Time going out live in 93. I guess it could have been the repeat run as I was only 4 and too young to remember reliably, but I’m pretty sure I remember watching the repeat run afterwards.

[Carlito]

Holoship, on first broadcast. Somehow the show had completely eluded my radar, I’d never even heard of it before. I may have been 9 years old but I was pretty switched on to TV and especially comedy, so knowing it had run for years at that point it seems strange it took me so long. I had been watching Fry & Laurie in the same slot for the six weeks preceding (if my memory is correct) so was accustomed to switching to BBC2 at that time, was intrigued by the ‘next week’ trailer that aired following the final episode of F&L, and decided to check it out. Of course, I loved it and have done ever since.

[MANI506]

My brother was watching Better Than Life and I walked in during the restaurant scene. It was 1988 and I was 8. We videoed Queeg and watched it over and over until series 3 was aired a year later. I remember the shock of seeing Backwards for the first time!
Didn’t video series 4 but watched it go out, went BANANAS for series 5 though. Joined the fan club, got the smegazines, bought the videos – you name it.
Finally saw series 1 in 1993 when it was released on video although my brother definitely saw Me2 go out live. It was the talk of the playground apparently.

[MANI506]

That must have been series 3 of Fry and Laurie Carlito. The best series!

[Seb Patrick]

My memory is convinced it was Justice, but broadcast schedules tell me it was Camille. It’s not that I don’t remember watching Camille and DNA, because I do, but for some reason I have this mental picture of the opening scene of Justice being my first-watched Dwarf scene. My memory is bollocks, clearly.

[anniescribe]

Being a lifelong cat person, I was impressed at how Cat was so catlike without stereotypical feline markings – pointed ears, whiskers, fur, tail, four-footed – and I think that was my first hint at the intelligence of the writing behind Red Dwarf. I didn’t find out until much later the same team had come up with Spitting Image sketches, which I’d seen in bits and pieces in the 80s (and I guess, which probably influenced D.C. Follies, which I watched religiously on Sundays; I was a weird teenager).

I remember Red Dwarf used to be on right after or before Red Green, I guess on PBS, which is how I saw it. It was the mid-90s, I was just out of college and had a real career-type job and didn’t have to live with a roommate or parents anymore. Life was good, LOL – and there were these wonderful little shows that made it better. It’s fun to read these recollections, sometimes very specific “I know what I was doing and where I was” ones especially.

[Claire]

I’m honestly not sure as my elder sister was into it first. The earliest joke I remember laughing at is Talkie Toaster’s “So what else is new?” line in “Waiting For God”, but I’m not sure if that was the original broadcast.

I also have strong memories of the end of “Meltdown”, Low Rimmer’s appearance in “Demons And Angels” and “Parallel Universe”, which I loved (still do).

[Another Phil]

The first episode I have any memory of seeing was Meltdown, though I surely must have seen some of IV before it. I was definitely a regular viewer from V on. Oddly, the last episode of the first 36 I ever saw was Bodyswap, as it was the only episode I missed on the post-VI repeat run, for some reason or another. It was ages before I ended up actually seeing it and it became my ‘lost episode’ for a while.

[Phil]

Mine was Meltdown as well. (Just to further confuse people.) I absolutely loved it, and it was probably a good starter episode as a lot of the jokes had to do with characters not unique to the Dwarf universe. It was also absolutely brilliant, and I remember Lister’s speech at the end feeling like some truly great writing at the time. (Not that I don’t like it now…it’s just that having seen every episode, that part no longer feels like the standout it once did.)

Next episode was Holoship, and that just felt incredibly personal to me. It gave me a perfect grasp of the characters and told what I still feel is a very compelling and well-handled story. It’s the moment that the show really clicked with me, and while I may debate whether or not I like it best now and then, it could never possibly drop out of the top 3 for me.

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

I first saw Rimmer’s death video in Me2 on first broadcast, but my first full ep was Backwards. A full on brilliant intro episode, and converted me into a fan pretty much on the spot.

[NoFro]

The first clip of Red Dwarf that I saw was no more than about 30 seconds of “Emohawk” when channel flicking. I would guess that it was when I was about 8. Was there a repeat run just before VIII aired? Because it would have been around 1998/1999. It was the scene just after they’ve crashed (“Not even Mr Lister’s guitar…” etc.) and though I didn’t really take in what was happening, I was just amazed by the visual look of the show, in particular the Kryten make up. It made such an impact on me that, despite only seeing the briefest of clips, I could easily identify the scene when I bought the VI DVD half a decade later.

First full episode: “Backwards” which was on my mate’s brother’s 3 Byte 1 VHS. That was in 2001. “Marooned” and “Polymorph” followed (naturally) and me and my mate watched the VHS a hell of a lot for about a month.

A couple of years later I caught “Camille”, “DNA”, “Holoship”, “The Inquisitor” and “Legion” during a run on Gold. Having been reminded of that 3 Byte 1 VHS I bought Series 3 on DVD and watched it repeatedly until a couple of months later when I got IV and VI at the time of VI’s DVD release. Just carried on buying them from there.

First episode I saw on original broadcast: “Back to Earth Part 1”.

Saw both “Fathers & Suns” and “Lemons” being recorded.

[Ben Paddon]

My earliest Red Dwarf memory: Arriving at a family friend’s house after a long drive. They turn on the TV just in time to see Lister dashing out of the GELF village yelling “Change of plan! LEGGG IIIIIIIIIITT!” I had no idea what it was, but it made me laugh.

My earliest memory after that is being very excited about UK Gold marathoning the entire first series one Friday night, which suggests there’s an interim point during which I’d become familiar with the show. But I don’t remember it.

I do remember lying to my sister in ’99, telling her during the end credits of the Gimme Gimme Gimme series finale that the show had ended so a new series of Red Dwarf could be broadcast. I was then surprised when that Red Dwarf VIII trailer aired immediately afterwards.

[Ridley]

Stoke Me A Clipper.

Lured in by the Bondesque opening and AR stuff then kept watching. To the best of my memory.

[Dessie]

I remember my first memory of Red Dwarf freaked me out. I think it must have been Emohawk because i seem to remember cat shouting “It is the stick!” and the shot of him with the monster in his hand terrified me. I would only have been 5 at the time. The first episode i remember watching all the way through was Tikka to ride.

I remember i used to have series 1 and 2 on VHS and watched them over and over. The artwork on the VHS releases was amazing, i think it was the remastered versions though. Has anyone on here written anything about Red Dwarf artwork over the years? I’ve gone all misty eyed and nostalgic now, might have to try and dig em out just to see the cover art.

[Blisschick]

I’m not really sure, but I do recalling hearing the name of the series through the years and maybe saw bits and pieces here and there. I didn’t actually get interested in the series untill 2008 when the hubby started watching it on Netflix, and then I kind of got obsessed with it. I worked for him, so I got to watch I-VIII sitting on my butt at work over a week’s time.

[Ian Symes]

I’m sure this is already on the site somewhere, but…

My first introduction was my family going around the house sticking their teeth out and saying “Duane Dibbley” in silly voices. I was intrigued, naturally, so they showed me Back To Reality, which was on an off-air tape of Series V that my sister had borrowed from a friend. This was towards the start of the summer holidays in 1993, and from that point on I watched all six episodes *every day* for the entire six weeks – we even took it on holiday to Cornwall with us.

Naturally, the first episode I saw on first broadcast was Psirens in September of that year, which incidentally was also the first time I heard the theme tune in full, as my sister’s stupid friend had stopped recording as soon as the credits started to roll. Technically, however, I watched most of Series VI a few hours after first broadcast – I wasn’t allowed to stay up past 9pm to watch them, so I used to get up early the following morning to watch the recording before school. The exception is Emohawk, which broadcast during October half term, so I was allowed to stay up. As a few people have mentioned Emohawk, I wonder if this is also the reason that they saw it first?

[Renegade Rob]

First episode I ever saw was Rimmerworld, where it happened to be on and I happened to enter the room when the “you are a total total” scene was happening. So I kept watching… the “or we could use the teleporter” gag sealed the deal for me, and it was love at first sight. Then I immediately sought out to record the episodes in order and re-fell in love with the show from the beginning, as if it was brand new.

[peepingsignal]

The first episode I saw was most of the Re-mastered version of Better than Life back in January 2009. It looked like this amazing, creative and funny show, so I looked for more.

[Lexo Ross]

First memory of Dwarf – My mate owning the Series VIII scriptbook, the picture of the cast in their prison uniform was the first I ever saw of Dwarf
First full episode – Backwards
First episode seen on first broadcast – Trojan

[my brook is babbled]

First full episode, saw it on Dave (Thanks Dave you beaut) : Psirens

Was watching it, thinking this is funny and then Rimmer disappeared, because he needed to “recharge”, I was slightly perplexed, been watching ever since,

First Episode seen on broadcast: Back to Earth Part One

[Jonathan Capps]

My mum’s always claimed I was watching it from the beginning with her, but I’m now convinced she’s talking about the repeat run, and by that point I was already a fan.

I have a memory of sneakily watching it on the TV in my room (yeah, yeah, I had a TV in my room, so fuck you) and Dimension Jump being on (which must’ve been the original 91 run), but I have NO IDEA if that was the first time I’d seen it. Around the same time as that my grandma bought me Series III, Byte 2 and that’s definitely where the obsession started.

So, to conclude, it’s either Dimension Jump or Timeslides and my memory is shitballs.

[Karnie]

Mine was Kryten’s friendship speech in “Last Day”… I remember thinking, “what a total ripoff of Star Trek!” just before Lister uttered the phrase “Don’t give me that Star Trek crap! It’s too early in the morning…”

I’ve been hooked ever since.

In no particular order, my other earliest memories are the underpants scene in Polymorph, Rimmer telling Lister his bum was like two badly parked Volkwagens in Marooned, and (my personal favorite) Winnie the Pooh’s execution in Meltdown.

[si]

Other than the ‘I must have seen Kryten’ thing above, if anybody’s interested, I’ve a big Red Dwarf blog post (which I’ve no doubt linked to on many occasions before now) here: http://siandhisramblings.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/my-life-of-love-of-red-dwarf-and-week.html

Just saying.

[fozzibear1]

The End on video

[simon]

A friend mentioned the show so I decided to see what it was about and the first episode I think I saw was Polymorph in about ’94 but I also have an early memory of watching Kryten. So my memory is shit and I was hooked instantly

[Taiwan Tony]

Alright dudes.

First ever memory of Dwarf: Marooned – maybe on a friend’s video…
First full episode: (probably same as below)
First episode ever seen on first broadcast: Holoship

Age: 32

It’s fair to say I became a RD fan when the BBC started repeating the whole caboodle. Before then I was just a fan of BBC2 comedy. Mind you I was pretty hooked by Series VI…

[anniescribe]

The thing I’m getting out of this is it seems nobody was a fan of, say, Chris or Rob and Doug from previous work, and was waiting for the first episode to air in 1987-88 (unless I misread anyone). Which, is probably about right given all three were young and not mega-stars or anything.

Also, I get the feeling almost everyone else is a lot younger than forty. Except Pecos, LOL.

[Pecospete666]

Annie you are correct! I am greatly amused by all these younger people! It’s a good predictor of the future! I also make this statement “it takes one to know one”

[Pete Part Three]

Had seen Chris on The Brittas Empire, had seen Danny in Maid Marian (although didn’t recognise him until someone pointed him out, blowing my mind in the process), Craig had previously pissed me off on What’s That Noise.

[Alex]

Also, I get the feeling almost everyone else is a lot younger than forty. Except Pecos, LOL.

At 23 I’m used to being one of the younger fans, but I’m getting the feeling that quite a few of the newer users might be younger than I am.

[Connell]

I’m 17, very much a member of the younger generation of Dwarfers. No shame in it though, I’d say I was just about as knowledgeable as any other fan!

[si]

I’ll be 34 on Saturday. Feel free to send cash, although HMV or Blockbuster Video gift vouchers will be returned.

[takerdemon]

Mine was Statis Leak. I was 6-8 years old at the time and As I recall my dad was watching it on VHS on Christmas Day. I remember sitting with him and bugging him with question after question about it. Something about it instantly hooked me because those dingy VHS tapes of his that contained all of the first run two series recorded suddenly became mine.

[MANI506]

I’m 32, I remember What’s That Noise and I bet I’d bloody love it if I saw it again now!

[Blisschick]

I’m…old enough. I don’t wanna talk about it. *pouting*

[HelloMabel]

Good, I’m glad I’m not the only one whose first Red Dwarf memory contradicts actual known facts.

The actual fact is, my first episode was Future Echoes (high five, PP3!) on a homemade VHS recording from two friends who were hooked and intent on hooking me. But my memory of first viewing that and the rest of series I and II (and accompanying pledge drives), is lost in the sands of time except for faint shadows of Queeg saying “suckas” and two Rimmers exercising, while one of my friends glanced over to check whether I was really appreciating the show.

My first clear Red Dwarf memory is getting up at 1 a.m. in secret to watch and tape repeats of series III and IV (I didn’t know VCRs had timers,) then going to school and INSISTING to my two best friends that they needed to do the same thing. And I remember one friend’s concern that the words ‘Red Dwarf’ never occur in the theme song; however, she did enjoy the bongos in Meltdown.

[clem]

I’ll be 30 next month, four days after RD’s 25th in fact.

> had seen Danny in Maid Marian (although didn’t recognise him until someone pointed him out, blowing my mind in the process)

Yes, I remember suddenly realising IT’S BARRINGTON!! Don’t think I recognised any of the cast the first time I watched RD.

[Jonsmad]

I read the synopsis in the newspaper I think for The End. Which sort of set it up as the first episode. But I either thought “that sounds shit” or just forgot to watch it. Then at school the next day everyone was calling each other Smeg Head in my class and I hadn’t seen it. I think cus they could get away with the swearing and the teachers didn’t know what it was. So I didn’t miss an episode since then. Might have seen a few on black on white portable tv round a mates house of the first two series but I watched every episode on broadcast I think. But my massive interest in the show started with series III. That was when I was allowed to record TV off the telly myself for the first time, we had got a new VHS machine instead of the dying Betamax format, and I could afford tapes on my pocket money. So series III was the first I taped off the TV, that and Bottom.

[anniescribe]

No offenses, I wasn’t slagging off on younger folk – it just surprises me there are so many fans in their 20s and under, although I don’t know why it does. Lots of younger people watch Golden Girls reruns or Cosby too, and they’re older shows. :-D

[Clay Hickman]

Having just turned 36, I am ancient enough to have watched The End on original transmission. Hooked right away. Though oddly didn’t fire up the Betamax to start taping until Better Than Life. So S1 and Kryten took on a holy mystique in my 11-year-old brain right away.

I think my strongest memory of S1 was the end titles stopping for Rimmer’s shouts at the end of Waiting for God. I always loved it when programmes messed with the credits. I miss that.

Clay
X

[anniescribe]

“IT’S A SMEGGING ROAST CHICKEN!”

[Blisschick]

“It’s a garbage pod! It’s a SMEGGING GARBAGE POD!”

[Vimto]

The End.

When it was first broadcast.

Never missed an episode after that.

Fuck I’m old.

[Author]

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