Mundane observation dome

[Warbodog]

Do you have any miscellaneous insights on the series that may be worth contemplating for a few seconds before moving on with our lives? Here are some of mine.

1. The four regulars have names that can work any way around, though this would have been more obvious if David Ross had stayed and wouldn’t work if Chris Barrie used his real name.

2. The series’ lax attitude to continuity extends to the setting. Outside of Holly’s distress calls, I don’t think three million years is mentioned all that much after series I and before VI (not sure about later years). Instead, we get the extremely fudged “dead for centuries” and “travelling for thousands of years” – not actual retcons, but suggesting a more conventional setting for casual viewers tuning in and the sort of stories they’re telling. It’s only millions when they need it to be.

3. 200 years of stasis between series V and VI means that the earlier series took place in their equivalent of the early 19th century by comparison (e.g. Blackadder the Third). Since they didn’t run into a long-lived Camille or one of her great-great-etc grandchildren, it didn’t come up.

4. Although Lister is routinely slagged off in the series, he’s spared the level of seemingly authoritative character assassination that Rimmer gets, because the audience is aligned with Lister’s viewpoint most of the time. For example, we see Kochanski Camille belittling Rimmer’s interests, but we don’t get the equivalent of Hologram Camille reacting to Lister’s pickup lines, we’re left to form our own opinions on those. This flimsy point has not been considered much beyond this single example.

5. Cat’s costumes are overwhelmingly referenced more than anyone else’s in the series, but the least discussed by fans.

6. Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibbley were so seemingly ubiquitous in canon and tie-in merchandise through the 90s (Smegazine strips, T-shirts) that they still feel overused today, even though it’s been over 20 years since they appeared. Maybe they’re allowed back after all.

7. Only series III & V and maybe XI & XII (not as familiar with those) don’t have any sense of an arc whatsoever (though IV’s minor Kryten disobedience arc was already fucked up by episode shuffling). Series III is just about the only series where no episode directly references any previous episode, but it still has the Backwards scrolling text and general references to Rimmer having died and stuff.

8. One of the series’ most famous and quoted scenes – everybody’s dead, Dave – is a straight-up 2001: A Space Odyssey homage and would have been received that way at the time, but doesn’t work like that for most people coming to the episode later on or new viewers who are young or don’t watch old films.

9. Sometimes dismissed as lightweight and gimmicky today, Backwards was designed as an innovative interactive experience to reward extracurricular effort. As well as inviting fans to work out the backwards events and filming logistics, Arthur Smith’s eugolonom is teasingly long and “you scoundrels” is clearly a cleaned-up translation gag even before you’ve heard it. Unfortunately, by the time technology caught up with the intent and the ability to reverse media files properly on home computers became commonplace, Backwards Forwards came out and everyone just cheated with the walkthrough.

Imagine the quality of the musings I left out!

Topic

[tombow]

I suppose technically that makes the munchkin song an AI composition 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Kochanski must be really pissed off

Her Lister smuggles a cat onboard, she takes it and ends up getting put into stasis.

Her Holly brings back her Lister. The same man who presumably stayed quiet and watched Kochanski take the fall and go to stasis for having the cat onboard

She then ends up stuck in another dimension because another Lister ran out on a GELF on their wedding night (and stole and Oxygen Generation Unit)

She’s then thrown in prison because the same Lister crashes a Starbug into Red Dwarf and then stages a prison escape using information taken from the confidential files of a crew who were at the time, dead.

No wonder she did a runner at the first chance she got.

[Flap Jack]

And you didn’t even count Krytie TV or Only the Good…

[Rushy]

I always felt series 8 Kochanski was much more relaxed and shamelessly eccentric, like she was finally free to be her unguarded self. 

[Frank Smeghammer]

This is a big statement but one of the worst things about Series 7 & 8 is the inability to tell the love story between Lister and Kochanski.

Obviously, she loved “her Dave” and she’s stuck with this guy who looks and sounds like him, but is just missing some of the critical elements. Clearly she feels something for main universe Lister but she can’t quite ignore his flaws. She goes to great lengths to educate him in Beyond a Joke. To comfort him in Blue. To save him in Epideme and Nanarchy.

Yet, as Quinn says, there is supposed to be some surprise that she left. Well obviously she did, she hated your guts. Doug never bothered to develop the story as more complex than that.

[Rushy]

I don’t think Doug ever intended for Lister and alt-Kochanski to have a romance until he wrote Back to Earth, at which point he wanted to bring the show full circle. 

Having alt-Kochanski evolve into Lister’s love interest also eliminates any awkward questions about bringing Clare Grogan back. 

[Unrumble]

[Rushy]

Grungy Kochanski is underrated. Wowzee

[Frank Smeghammer]

I don’t think Doug ever intended for Lister and alt-Kochanski to have a romance until he wrote Back to Earth, at which point he wanted to bring the show full circle. 
Having alt-Kochanski evolve into Lister’s love interest also eliminates any awkward questions about bringing Clare Grogan back. 

I agree, maybe he didn’t intend for that. But in hindsight he should have done. He brought the character in with absolutely no idea where it was going, and then sort of book ended it with a character arc she didn’t have.

[Rushy]

He brought the character in with absolutely no idea where it was going, and then sort of book ended it with a character arc she didn’t have.

I mean, it’s a sitcom. None of them were ‘going’ anywhere unless Grant Naylor found something funnier for them to do.

[Podey]

Given he brought her in with a view to having a more diverse cast for the movie (not a bad idea imho), I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just thinking short term in terms of the series, since the movie was intended to have been a reboot, so it didn’t matter at the time if he didn’t have too much of a plan.

I am genuinely kind of gutted that her story will never be resolved, though. I don’t really want to see Kochanski back on the show full-time, but Chloe deserves better than that and I feel like she always got short swift from a lot of the fandom. It would have been nice to have had an episode to tie it off.

[Podey]

Was it here we were talking about RD lines we use in real life? I realised earlier I think “oh bloody buggering hell!” a lot when something goes wrong.

I also woke up the other day with “she’s outta my….. life” in my head, for some reason.

[gerrydelasel]

Too many to list!

[Rushy]

Do y’all associate Ace Rimmer more with his theme tune from Dimension Jump or Stoke Me a Clipper? 

[Dave]

Definitely the Top Gun-style music from Dimension Jump. 

[Warbodog]

The only VII music I remember is from the Xtended video episodes, the other VIIs I never owned and barely watched. I remember that Beyond a Joke has that techno(?) bit that always sounded really out of place.

[Dave]

Talk of Holly being transportable in another thread made me think of Backwards – because I think it’s some of the most bizarre Holly-writing in the entire series.

Holly is shown to travel with Kryten and Rimmer in Starbug to Backwards-Earth, and completely disappears from Red Dwarf (weird); she then seems to exist inside Kryten after their Starbug crashes (weird); and only sticks around long enough to explain Backwards-Earth to Rimmer and Kryten before vanishing entirely for the rest of the episode (very weird).

Why doesn’t she feature in any of the subsequent Rimmer-Kryten scenes, or the discussions once the whole crew is back together? It’s like she ceases to exist after Rimmer and Kryten get to the cafe.

All this in Hattie’s first episode too.

Very odd.

[Frank Smeghammer]

Don’t know if this is a mundane observation or just me being thick (or both)

I had always assumed that Cat referring to himself and dangerous and then singing “aowww dangerous!” was in reference to Michael Jackson.

I have just discovered that Red Dwarf Series 1 predates the song and album “Dangerous” by Michael Jackson

[Ben Saunders]

Do y’all associate Ace Rimmer more with his theme tune from Dimension Jump or Stoke Me a Clipper? 

It took me a second to remember the Dimension Jump one, but when I did, I was like oh yeah that tune is fucking great. It is just a Top Gun pastiche though, and I think the theme in Stoke is bloody excellent, and I love how it’s arranged to be heroic in the beginning and poignant at the end. Supreme stuff. It’s one of the first things I think of when I think of Ace Rimmer, along with this line which I think is the best example of the “unnecessarily long sentence” gag:

[International Debris]

The only VII music I remember is from the Xtended video episodes, the other VIIs I never owned and barely watched. I remember that Beyond a Joke has that techno(?) bit that always sounded really out of place.

Oh yeah, the bit where they’re hiding in the asteroid belt is proper late ‘90s video game music, kind of big beat-ish in sound. I loved that as a kid but yeah, it’s really out of place

There are so many interesting music choices from this era. I quite like the dramatic music when Starbug flies to the planet where they think the cure for Epideme will be, and the weird metallic percussion in the action bit at the end of Ouroboros I used to find quite exciting.

Ive also always been very fond of the string music while Lister’s in stasis in The End Remastered. 

The best Ace music is the bit in Stoke following the coffin.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Talk of Holly being transportable in another thread made me think of Backwards – because I think it’s some of the most bizarre Holly-writing in the entire series.
Holly is shown to travel with Kryten and Rimmer in Starbug to Backwards-Earth, and completely disappears from Red Dwarf (weird); she then seems to exist inside Kryten after their Starbug crashes (weird); and only sticks around long enough to explain Backwards-Earth to Rimmer and Kryten before vanishing entirely for the rest of the episode (very weird).
Why doesn’t she feature in any of the subsequent Rimmer-Kryten scenes, or the discussions once the whole crew is back together? It’s like she ceases to exist after Rimmer and Kryten get to the cafe.
All this in Hattie’s first episode too.
Very odd.

It would actually make more sense if she wasn’t with Kryten and Rimmer at all and joined Lister and Cat as part of the search party

[Dave]

It would actually make more sense if she wasn’t with Kryten and Rimmer at all and joined Lister and Cat as part of the search party

Yeah, definitely. I wonder why they went the way they did.

[Unrumble]

[Flap Jack]

Yeah, definitely. I wonder why they went the way they did.

Probably because they wanted the gag of Lister and Cat being too stupid to work out they’re on a backwards Earth, and if they’d had Holly with them she would have told them.

[Dave]

That makes sense I suppose.

[clem]

She goes with them because Kryten hasn’t passed his test yet and Rimmer can’t pilot Starbug because he’s a hologram.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

And then throws them into a time hole with no attempt to veer away from it 

[Dave]

The thing about time holes…

[Warbodog]

In the opening introduction scene on the VII Xtended video, Kryten makes a squeaking noise (about 0:36 in this video).

I used to figure this was some kind of mechanical glitch sound effect deliberately added for character, like Kryten never usually makes, or is it just the noise of Bobby or someone else shifting position or something?

[Rushy]

In the opening introduction scene on the VII Xtended video, Kryten makes a squeaking noise (about 0:36 in this video).

I used to figure this was some kind of mechanical glitch sound effect deliberately added for character, like Kryten never usually makes, or is it just the noise of Bobby or someone else shifting position or something?

It’s the seat creaking. 

[Dave]

It sounds like something added. Could it be some kind of squeaky reaction to the mention of the munchkin song?

[Podey]

Interesting that you’re all talking about Holly as if she’s only capable of being in one place at a time. I’d presume she would be able to be running on multiple screens, having multiple different conversations but simultaneously aware of them all.

[Dave]

Interesting that you’re all talking about Holly as if she’s only capable of being in one place at a time. I’d presume she would be able to be running on multiple screens, having multiple different conversations but simultaneously aware of them all.

Which would also ruin the plot of Backwards.

[gerrydelasel]

It’s Holly we’re talking about, not Siri.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

The books make clear pre accident Holly can be everywhere. 

The TV does seem to suggest pos accident Holly an only be in one place

We never see him in multiple places, and in Backwards is seen to be lost through the time hole

In Psirens she is seen to be lost when Red Dwarf is lost. 

[sleepey]

Whenever Holly’s not on screen he’s with one of the several other groups of survivors around the ship.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Whenever Holly’s not on screen he’s with one of the several other groups of survivors around the ship.

That would make for an hilarious idea. Ship the size of a city. Holly resurrects several crew members from stasis but keeps them separated in different massive areas of the ship.

[Rushy]

Holly was playing the Sims with living people all along

[Dave]

Whenever Holly’s not on screen he’s with one of the several other groups of survivors around the ship.

This is absolutely genius.

[Podey]

It’s Holly we’re talking about, not Siri.

Holly only predates Siri in our timeline, not in the show. 😝

[Podey]

Holly does seem to be aware of things happening in other parts of the ship when he/she is with the crew, is what I’m referring to. 

But granted, there are occasions when they have to “go away” to check something and then come back, so I’d guess they have been programmed with the ability to only manifest as a talking head in one location at a time. 

That would be an odd limitation to build in to your tech. 

[Nick R]

Whenever Holly’s not on screen he’s with one of the several other groups of survivors around the ship.

Perhaps including a group of… tail section survivors?

[Rushy]

Red Dwarf would be immeasureably better if an angry Michelle Rodriguez was wandering around pointing a gun at vending machines

[Podey]

I’m now casting the Dwarfies as the Losties in my mind…. badly.

Lister is Charlie. 

Rimmer is Ben.

Kryten is… Sayid?

Cat is Sawyer.

Kochanski is Nikki and Paulo.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Red Dwarf would be immeasureably better if an angry Michelle Rodriguez was wandering around pointing a gun at vending machines

Red Dwarf: The Other 33 Years. The next special chronicles the absolute horrors of the survivors of the radiation leak, sealed in the bowels of the ship. With no food, no water, no hope of reaching Holly, and no escape, they are terrorised by a a group of evolved feline sapiens kidnapping their children.

[Rushy]

Holly is Hurley

Captain Hollister is Bernard

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’m now casting the Dwarfies as the Losties in my mind…. badly.

Lister is Charlie. 
Rimmer is Ben.
Kryten is… Sayid?
Cat is Sawyer.
Kochanski is Nikki and Paulo.

Kryten is addition not from the flight 815, but another crash. He’s Faraday.

Holly is Jacob and has just been playing games with them the whole time 

ThePolymorph is the Man in Black

[sleepey]

Red Dwarf would be immeasureably better if an angry Michelle Rodriguez was wandering around pointing a gun at vending machines

[Rushy]

And the award for best Ganymeme of 2026 goes to… 

[Podey]

[Author]

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