Get your pedant hats on, then…

[Seb Patrick]

Website that isn’t G&T in “writing about RD” shocker

Topic

[Andrew]

Ooh, I have a query, actually:

> Also infamous as the episode that legendarily had Patrick Stewart on the verge of calling his lawyer (so similar was the setup to TNG’s A Fistful Of Datas) until he realised it was a sitcom.

I’ve not seen any reference to the specific episodes – or if I have I don’t remember. What’s the source for that info?

Nice to see the classic debates going on in the comments. It’s oddly reassuring to see the lack of clear consensus…

[Nick R]

I’ve also wondered which episode Patrick Stewart was referring to. A clip of “Gunmen of the Apocalypse” was shown at that point in the Red Dwarf A to Z, wasn’t it – is that the only reason his comment is associated with that episode?

[redhead85]

Nice job, Seb ^__^

[ori-STUDFARM]

I didn’t think Cat was the last of his species either. I had toyed with the idea of doing a fan-fic based on Cats search for the other Ark…

…is it just me, or could you scream at some of the comments posted?!! Even the comments contradict each other!!

[hummingbird]

It’s Den of Geek. ‘Nuff said.

[Andrew]

Well, Seb wrote it. So there’s that to say…

[ChrisM]

Cat is the last of his species on the ship though (and possibly in the universe- we’ve yet to find out otherwise*) so it’s not an altogether incorrect statement.

*I hope we learn more about the other Cats in new Red Dwarf. Quite possible if their trajectory is towards earth…(Mind you Lister’s laundry list could have taken the Cats anywhere…)

[Plastic Percy]

I wonder if anyone else was mentioned in the Cat Bible. Perhaps Rimmer has become their figure of Satan (Lister is their god, and back in the days of Frankenstein Rimmer was pretty much Lister’s adversary).

[Seb Patrick]

I?ve not seen any reference to the specific episodes – or if I have I don?t remember. What?s the source for that info?

Hmmm… looking back (as it was actually quite a while ago that I wrote that…), it looks like I got it from the Wiki entry on Gunmen. But now that I look, it seems like it’s a bit of a case of dots-joining – the Times article linked to mentions that Stewart was annoyed by similarity to an episode, and the Wiki piece draws the comparison to the specific TNG ep. So, er, it might not actually be 100% correct ;-)

But, y’know, I do use the word “legendarily”, so it’s not like I’m saying it’s a definite factual story ;-) And naming the episode makes me sound less vague…

[hummingbird]

> Well, Seb wrote it. So there?s that to say?

I was referring to some of the comments, rather than to the article itself :-)

[Seb Patrick]

It’s okay, that’s what I’d assumed ;-)

DoG does appear to sometimes attract almost Ain’t It Cool levels of commenters… although the ones on the Dwarf piece so far haven’t been all that bad.

[peas_and_corn]

Isn’t ‘Nuke the Fridge’ a film term?

[JamesTC]

>Isn?t ?Nuke the Fridge? a film term?

Yeh, I thought “Jump the Shark” would be the correct phrase.

[Jonathan Capps]

Both terms are shit.

[Seb Patrick]

Wasn’t my choice to include it, I was going by a pre-existing format ;-)

[Jonathan Capps]

> Wasn?t my choice to include it, I was going by a pre-existing format ;-)

Yeah, thought so. I’m actually impressed that they managed to actually devise a format that didn’t include putting an ascending or descending number next to things.

[Seb Patrick]

[ori-STUDFARM]

>I wonder if anyone else was mentioned in the Cat Bible. Perhaps Rimmer has become their figure of Satan (Lister is their god, and back in the days of Frankenstein Rimmer was pretty much Lister?s adversary).

Something that has never crossed my mind, but what a fantastic thought!! I love this idea.

[Danny Stephenson]

Doug (or even Andrew and Rob) needs to write the Cat Bible…

[Ben Paddon]

Personally, I really liked the fridge-nuking sequence in Crystal Skull. I mean, everything after that was utter shash, but the fridge-nuking was fun.

Really, the phrase should be “Making the Janitor from Scrubs an FBI agent”.

[Andrew]

I liked the nuclear test town itself, but the fridge? Ugh.

http://www.noisetosignal.org/film/2008/06/indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull.php

[Ben Paddon]

I don’t think anyone would’ve had a problem with the fridge-nuking if it had occurred in “The Last Crusade”.

[Seb Patrick]

>Really, the phrase should be ?Making the Janitor from Scrubs an FBI agent?.

“Allowing Rimmer To Leave Moment”

[Andrew]

> I don?t think anyone would?ve had a problem with the fridge-nuking if it had occurred in ?The Last Crusade?

Well you’re wrong. I certainly would have, and I’m pretty sure I’m someone. It’s fine to have Indy fluke it a little, but for the climax of a sequence to rely on the hero making it by luck rather than nous is moronic screenwriting of the first order. You can jump the cart tracks with luck, but you have to stop the cart with IQ. You can have a lucky landing, but you have to take the last plane out with an umbrella and seagulls deliberately.

[Ben Paddon]

So, in “Shaun of the Dead”, you’d rather Shaun, Liz, and Ed had been eaten behind the bar of the Winchester, then?

[Pete Part Three]

That’s not Edgar and Simon writing themselves into a corner and using luck to solve it though. It was just more interesting for the fire to cause the bullets to fly, then for Shaun to use the bullets to shoot the zombies. The gun and the bullets were set up to be used, they just decided to use it in a less cliche and more surprising way.

[Ben Paddon]

Fair point.

[Andrew]

Pete’s spot on about SOTD.

But also, finding an example – which I’m sure you could – of it happening it one point in one decent movie doesn’t somehow prove it’s dramatically satisfying in general.

And no, in that instance I wouldn’t prefer the characters to die – what kind of sense is that? I’d prefer they be written out of their situation through their own ingenuity not sheer good fortune.

Seriously, fixing scripts is what I do for a living. I’m pretty sure I know my own mind on the subject of whether or not I’d have accepted the fridge scene in a previous Indy movie.

[pfm]

“Also known (by about three of us) as ?the Steven Moffat-esque one'”

rotfpmmfsl

OK, you’re right, but is everything that’s remotely wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey complex, and also a bit good, now going to be compared to Grand Moff Tarkin? It’s gonna be interesting to see how non-Moffat-esque his 6 episodes of series 5/31/1 turn out to be…except I’m just being an idiot and they’ll probably be amazing, especially the River Song/Weeping Angels 2-parter. As amazing as Jekyll…

Btw *throws general praise Seb’s way for article seeing as no-one else seems to be doing, oh apart from the lovely redhead*

[Ben Paddon]

> Seriously, fixing scripts is what I do for a living. I?m pretty sure I know my own mind on the subject of whether or not I?d have accepted the fridge scene in a previous Indy movie.

Well there we are, then. Any script-fixing I do at this stage probably falls into the realms of the hobbyist, but for what it’s worth I reckon there is a small degree of ingenuity in considering the possibility of a lead-lined fridge. I’m sure we could debate this until we’re blue in the face though, so let’s just lay it to rest.

(I should probably point out that my views on Short Circuit have softened somewhat lately after a repeat viewing. It’s still cheesy as all Hell, but it holds up a lot better than I’d initially given it credit for. I’m actually a little bit worried about the remake now.)

So… Seb wrote an article?

[Ridley]

Apart from too many CGI prairie dogs (oh and the way the soldiers watch the fridge) I like everything in KotCS up to Indy watching the mushroom cloud.

[Author]

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