How has Red Dwarf changed your outlook on life?

[Jawscvmcdia]

Red Dwarf, at one time, was considered the most influential science-fiction sitcom of all time. The show had millions of fans across the globe and is seen as BBC Two’s most successful sitcom. As such, it has had a cataclysmic effect on the way we view science-fiction and space as a whole. Therefore, how has Red Dwarf changed your outlook on life? Has it made you look at things differently compared to before you watched it? Would you be the same person today, had you not discovered the series? Has watching the show resulted in you meeting friends and life partners, that you would not have done had you not discovered the show?

Topic

[MANI506]

So many ways but I randomly met my best friend at DJ 97 and he in turn introduced me to my wife on the occasion that we met up to watch The Beginning. Because of this I now live in Texas.

Going through the novels again, they are very adult and I think they helped me put life in a healthier (possibly) perspective than I may have done otherwise. I read the first two novels when I was twelve.

[Hamish]

Red Dwarf has certainly affected my vocabulary if nothing else.

[Ben Saunders]

I’m not quite sure how old I was when I first watched Red Dwarf – old enough to remember my first viewing, but young enough for the details to be lost to time (it was Series I or II on VHS before school.)

It’s difficult to quantify. It will have affected my vocabulary/the way I talk (especially when I was young, imitating lines like Lister’s “smart arse” to the toaster and “Santa Claus! What a bastard!”), but I’ve never really stopped to think about it. It was probably one of the first science fiction things I saw alongside Doctor Who and Star Wars, so all those helped to shape my tastes, and my sense of humour definitely. Perhaps it made me smarter, or more interested in science, and more capable of understanding the timey wimey plots that Dwarf and Who can throw at you.

I, like a lot of other people, grew up thinking I was a Lister, but over time, realised I was much more of a Rimmer. I’m still a slob who tries to be a nice guy, but a lot of the neuroses and the bleak outlook and the failures I see in Rimmer, I also see in myself. I have quoted “who’s together by then? You can still taste the toothpaste!” several times, even into my adult life.

I also go to art school and don’t consider it much of an education, so the line “No education?”; “I went to art college” also resonates with me.

As far as actual outlook is concerned, I don’t know. Maybe it taught me that some negative personality traits like slobbiness and jealousy are okay in moderation, as long as you try to be a decent guy. Maybe it helped me realise the value of true friendship, bravery, helped me cope with the ultimate loneliness and futility of existence, or some other Star Trek crap.

[Ian Symes]

My life would be completely different without Red Dwarf, and particularly this place. I would have a completely different set of friends, and I’d never have met my partner of the last ten and a half years.

[bloodteller]

it hasn’t exactly changed my outlook on life, but as a consequence of watching Red Dwarf, i now own one of those weird fur hats that Lister wears in V and VI. it keeps your ears nice and warm if you turn the flaps down, but you look a bit of a tit if you do that. so its best to keep the flaps up, really.

oh and also, because i watch Red Dwarf, i now visit this site quite a lot (i’ve been visiting the site since 2012, but i only made an account about a year ago). and i quite like coming onto G&T, its a mostly good website with mostly good people on it. it also makes me laugh sometimes

[Lily]

I came to Red Dwarf rather late to life compared to most. I was about to move in with my boyfriend of the time when he got really excited about this show coming back on TV and got me to watch it with him. Unfortunately, this was early 1999, it was series VIII, and I was not deeply impressed.

He got me to watch all his VHS tapes and I warmed up to the rest of the shows, having a strong preference for the first 3 series much to his disgust. Then the DVDs came out, which is when I became a real fan. I just LOVED all the extras, docus, outtakes, etc etc.

Has it changed or affected my life? Well … no. I have spent the last 7 years of my life with a man who is uncomfortably like Rimmer but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t caused by watching the show.

[Paul Muller]

As a graphic/video designer, it’s been a huge influence on my work, both aesthetically and in educational terms – you’d be amazed how much you can learn from sitting through those hours of behind the scenes documentaries and backstage material.

On a personal level, it presented a (by and large) pretty solid set of ethics and ideas which undoubtedly influenced my own at a young age, and some good general life lessons. In Lister and Rimmer, it presented a pair of characters whose attributes and flaws I could recognise in myself, and become more conscious of how to deal with them.

Also, I’ve been hanging out here, talking bollocks about Red Dwarf for god knows how long. Although I’ve never quite managed to get to Dimension Jump (I did design a logo for it), I’ve got to know people and had great experiences – thrashing a pub full of people at an RD themed pub quiz, nosing around modelmaking studios at Shepperton, the huge excitement of watching the show get recorded, delving into the show in an absolutely unhealthy level of detail – that I would have missed out on otherwise.

So yeah, thanks.

[Seb Patrick]

Would you be the same person today, had you not discovered the series? Has watching the show resulted in you meeting friends and life partners, that you would not have done had you not discovered the show?

Can’t think of anything, no.

[Ridley]

Why did you combine three separate.people’s opinions into one though?

[Phil]

I got to meet all of you. Or were you looking for positive changes?

[International Debris]

The Inquisitor introduced me to the concept of being judged by one’s own standards, rather than a dogmatic set of rules, which is an idea which immediately resonated with me and helped open my mind and be less angry at the world.

I also had a dream that John Hoare was giving me a guided tour of the West Midlands, including the inland sea near Birmingham. So there’s that.

[Ben Paddon]

So much of my appreciation of scifi comes from concepts in Red Dwarf, and Red Dwarf was a huge influence on Jump Leads. It’s probably safe to say that without it my life would be very, very different.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve always wondered if Steven Moffat is a fan of Red Dwarf, or took inspiration from it. Some of his Who stuff could fit into Dwarf quite nicely.

[Plastic Percy]

In all honesty, I don’t think it has.

I’d probably be about £100 better off, not having bought each DVD for roughly a tenner each over the years.

[Loathsome American]

I will say that I’ve stated my intent in life as to “slob around, have a few laughs” more than once.

[Moonlight]

Red Dwarf taught me the important of three dimensional characters in comedy. I’m so glad I discovered it as a kid. It’s really influenced me as a writer, and I think is responsible for my work getting as good as it has.

[flanl3]

I mean, it’s given me a couple extra websites to visit when I’m bored. And a couple people I know about but have never met. Yet.

[flanl3]

I mean, it’s given me a couple extra websites to visit when I’m bored.

Oh, chair, I could’ve phrased that better.

To clarify, I do not come to G&T just to tug the whistle.

[Author]

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