How large is the Red Dwarf ship these days?

[Me Own Stunts]

I tried to create this thread yesterday, but it appears to have vanished somehow. So I’m starting it again because I’m interested in what you guys think. The question is “How large is the Red Dwarf ship these days?” Essentially: is it the same size as it was back in Series 1-5, or is it considerably smaller?

We all know that to create the Red Dwarf model as used in series 10, 11 and 12, a ‘shipectomy’ was performed on the massively long pencil that was used for Remastered and Series 8. They cut out the middle bit and joined the front and back ends together, creating a shape that more or less resembled the ship we grew up to love between Series 1 and 5 of the show.

Now we could assume that the ship is simply back to its old dimensions. Five miles long, or if you accept the description in ‘Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers’, 6 miles long, 4 miles tall and 3 miles wide.

I really want to do that, but the scale of the windows on the new model tells us it can’t be this large anymore. It distracts me quite a lot actually. On the original Red Dwarf model (and the rebuilt version used for Series 5) you can’t even see the windows. It gives a sense of enormous scale that the individual windows are lost once you pull out so far.

But looking at the current model, the windows are plainly visible:

I can’t do the maths very well but with each window representing the height of one of the floors of Red Dwarf, the ship as a whole comes across more like a tall tower block than something four miles tall. During the Remastered series were we to assume the ship was five miles long and only something like a quarter of a mile high? In which case, with windows suggesting the same height, we can only have a ship now that’s about half a mile long. Quite a shrinkage!

During Series 10 in particular I felt the interior of Red Dwarf was far smaller than we’d ever seen before, with our experience of the ship limited only to a few sets (the drive room that resembled a cockpit, the bunk room which doubled as living quarters and kitchen, a white science room space and a corridor set that was being reused over and over again), which was understandable given the budget, but think for a moment about the sheer scale Series 1 achieved. All those spaces – a cinema, a canteen, corridors formed from lighting gantries, that space where the Cat priest was found, the place where the garbage pod was kept, the stasis booth bit, the exam rooms – and then by Series 2 we even had the lobby and corridors of a hotel used to expand the impression of this vast, sprawling interior. These things really helped to create the atmosphere of those first two series. Despite some people comparing Series 10 with Series 1 because it had stories that were more constrained to the ship, it was the sense of the ship’s vast interior that I missed. Not so much an issue in Series 11, but still – the scale of the windows niggles.

Anyway, this is probably a very silly thread, but I was wondering how big everyone else thinks the ship is now. Did it reach its current state by shrinking lengthways, just as the model itself was, or is it back to its old dimensions of Series 1-5? And if it’s the latter HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THE SCALE OF THE WINDOWS?

Thank you. This was going to be my first post but it ended up not being my first post in the end; hello.

[Warbodog]

Model window scaling is like massive water droplets, I just try not to pay attention or think of them as actual windows. At least there aren’t side-by-side model shots to confuse things like in Star Trek TNG and DS9, that scaling was all over the place.

[bloodteller]

maybe they just have really big windows? but yeah, the scale of the ship seems a bit iffy in X and especially XI.
case in point- http://imgur.com/a/ifHA1 .either starbug is abnormally big or red dwarf is tiny.

[International Debris]

Yeah, the whole nose section is a bit odd really, with the windows and the very small name, in comparison with the original model in which there’s almost nothing on it other than the massive logo.
That said, I think it could be easily passed off as large windows that span several floors, or even lit up vents or such. I don’t think they have to be single floors.

and then by Series 2 we even had the lobby and corridors of a hotel used to expand the impression of this vast, sprawling interior.

Nah, those scenes are set on the Ganymede Holiday Inn, not on the ship.

[Moonlight]

case in point- http://imgur.com/a/ifHA1 .either starbug is abnormally big or red dwarf is tiny.

Or Starbug is just really close to the camera?

[Ben Saunders]

In that particular shot the perspective just makes Starbug look too big/Dwarf look too small.

Not to be a negative Nancy, but there was one model shot towards the end of Series XI, of Starbug flying into the Red Dwarf hangar bay, that looked dreadful – it was shot from a really weird angle we’d never seen before and either composited oddly or the perspective was strange.

Most of the rest of them were decent, though

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Are you thinking of the shot where it’s looking up at the landing bay from a 90 degree angle, Starbug flys up the side of Red Dwarf then levels out by doing a sharp turn and flys into the bay?

If so, that is a reeeealy odd shot. And I think it’s because it’s composed of two different shots.

That angle is used earlier in the series showing something I can’t remember now fly directly into the bay. They’ve then reused it and seemingly superimposed Starbug on top flying at a weird angle.

Granted space doesn’t have any up or down, but I can’t see why anyone would approach the landing bay at that angle so close to the ship.

[si]

Or Starbug is just really close to the camera?

The classic ‘small/far away’ situation.

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah, that one I think. Interesting that it’s a composite of two shots – that explains why it looks so SHIT

[GlenTokyo]

The models depress me a bit because I think of the model unit on set helping out with other practical stuff, but not being able to do the actual model shots because Dave can’t afford them to.

Some really decent model sequences last series, but man there were some clangers, particularly when it comes to perspective and focus.

And the Starbug model is bad now, those stupid legs and the buboils

[GlenTokyo]

*Bubbles for the cowls. Ugh.

[Lilly Queen]

The original model did actually have some windows that size but you couldn’t see them from most angles they shot it from. You can see them towards the end of the end credits shot though. I think there probably weren’t so many on that model because it’s detailing was just really rushed.

I do think the windows, when they light them from inside look really cool but yeah, when you try to think about the scale it’s nuts. But then it’s the same with Lister’s size when painting the F. In fact that’s better with the new model, since the letters are smaller.

[Author]

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