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

[Dave]

I could, but I wouldn’t, because it’s a poor argument.

[Rushy]

I could, but I wouldn’t, because it’s a poor argument.

I love this phrasing. Pure Holly. 

[Podey]

DNA and Emohawk both end with two of the characters having been significantly altered and no explicit return to the status quo, only for things to be back to normal in the next episode with no continuation or explanation of what happened in between. 
Obviously both episodes imply how the situation can be resolved, but I do think it makes them slightly unsatisfying endings, like they don’t play by sitcom rules. 

This reminds me of how fun it was on South Park when, for the first time in the show’s history, characters started to remember what happened week-to-week and there was an episode where Cartman or someone went to greet one of the kids who it transpired was still pissed off at him because of what happened the week before and that was a huge “WHAAAAAAAAT?!” moment.

[Flap Jack]

I like Emohawk, it only bothers me that it steals Rimmer’s snidiness and Cat’s vanity for no particular reason. They’re not in a heightened state like in Polymorpth. It could have picked any random emotion but, surprise, surprise, it picks those. Just a bit lazy.

It didn’t steal Rimmer’s snideness or Cat’s vanity.

Cat’s vanity would have been a particularly crap choice, because that was literally the exact same combination as in Polymorph 1.

The actual ones aren’t much better though. “Cool” is NOT AN EMOTION. Bitterness is, but it felt too reductive to say that removing that one emotion would simply turn Rimmer into Ace (even superficially).

[gerrydelasel]

Marge, they’re just synonyms, okay.

[Dave]

[Dave]

Bitterness is, but it felt too reductive to say that removing that one emotion would simply turn Rimmer into Ace (even superficially).

Maybe he should have turned into a musketeer instead.

[Flap Jack]

Marge, they’re just synonyms, okay.

I wouldn’t say they are synonyms, and that’s part of the problem. For Rimmer, the Emohawk just sucked out a bunch of his bad qualities instead of focusing on a specific one. But bitterness is kind of the main one, because it’s the one he says first and repeats later, and it’s the one which is actually an emotion. Snidiness – or snideness, as the internet insists it’s spelled whenever I search it to double check I have the definition right – is more of a behaviour.

Fair’s fair, though, snidiness is on the list. I’m sorry for falsely correcting you on that.

[Warbodog]

Spaying polymorphs at birth makes them able to sap emotions more directly and to have a more glittery morph effect.

[Ben Saunders]

It could also be that they don’t actually know specifically what “emotion” got sucked out of themselves, because you wouldn’t be able to tell, would you? They just say bitterness and cool because that’s what it feels like. They aren’t tricorders. Rimmer could probably just check to be fair.

[gerrydelasel]

Gives me an idea for an episode where Lister is alone and has to reboot Rimmer, and decides to start messing with the combinations of traits he wants to upload into him. But every combination ends up being harder to live with than the original.

[Podey]

Gives me an idea for an episode where Lister is alone and has to reboot Rimmer, and decides to start messing with the combinations of traits he wants to upload into him. But every combination ends up being harder to live with than the original.

[gerrydelasel]

My version would be good

[Rushy]

It’s like modding a video game when you don’t know what you’re doing, and it just goes more and more haywire as you try to figure out where you went wrong. 

[Dave]

MINDSLIDES

Lister is alone and has to reboot Rimmer, and decides to start messing with the combinations of traits he wants to upload into him. But every combination ends up being harder to live with than the original.

[Podey]

I’m relistening to the novels before I hear Titan for the first time (after reading the print edition) and, for the first time, I’ve found myself preferring BTL to IWCD. Not sure why… the latter feels like a more complete story but I think the writing is a little better. 

I’m sure this probably came up in the DwarfCasts but I wonder why Chris did such a different voice for Talkie Toaster? I really enjoyed his performance (probably partly why I preferred BTL this time as there are a few jokes that work better in audio than on the page) but I can’t connect that cartoon Brooklyn accent to Talkie Toaster. 

[Warbodog]

The print book was released on 25/10/90, the episode was recorded on 13/12/90 and broadcast on 7/3/91. I don’t know when Chris recorded the audio, but it might have been before he heard Ross’ interpretation.

[Dave]

Even then I guess he’d have series 1 Talkie to match to (or not). Maybe he just wanted to do something different with it.

[Podey]

The fact I was listening at 2x speed probably helped but I actually laughed out loud when he was doing the time dilation bit.

[Warbodog]

I was a 1.5x/2x speeder back when I listened to a lot of audiobooks 10+ years ago. Probably wouldn’t do it for Red Dwarf though, the cadence is too familiar.

[Podey]

It is definitely the first time I’ve listened to them at anything other than normal speed but I read a lot more than I used to now and 2x just about matches up the reading to the speed at which I’d read the printed page so they feel GLACIALLY slow if I try listen at anything below 1.5x now.

[Rushy]

I’m always a bit upset when in Meltdown, nobody laughs at this: 

[Moonlight]

Considering basically every gag in the show gets a reaction from the audience, I’m always annoyed that this line gets abject silence.

[Moonlight]

 You haven’t had to force me to face the terrifying onward march of time, so you’re safe.

I spotted this Cappsy post at the bottom of the first page. This one’s for you.

Samsara aired 10 years ago today (in my timezone).

[Rushy]

Back to Earth is old enough to be a father next year. 

[Technopeasant]

I mean technically that was true by around the start of the pandemic.

[Flap Jack]

Back to Earth is old enough to be a father next year. 

Surprising choice of benchmark, because I think in the UK that’s only true if you’re talking about sperm donation specifically.

[Warbodog]

It only feels less long ago because there hasn’t been that much Red Dwarf since. Taskmaster was still on series 2 (now 22) and, as increasingly self-referenced, they looked way younger.

[Moonlight]

Back to Earth being really old doesn’t hit me as hard because I was barely 13 years old when it aired and that feels like a lifetime ago. Series XI happened when I was an adult.

[International Debris]

As someone whose first ‘new’ Dwarf was technically VI, everything makes me feel old.

[Flap Jack]

I realised the other day that it’s been over 5 years since I first visited the beach from that M. Night Shyamalan film. God I’m old.

[Jimboid]

It struck me today that the claymation in the full-length Tongue Tied may have been inspired by / meant as a parody of the 1986 video for Reet Petite, which was shown on BBC’s Arena and subsequently went viral (or whatever we used to call the equivalent back then).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CTs8a7dVa0&list=RD8CTs8a7dVa0&start_radio=1

The inclusion of the claymation bit in Back in the Red remains unexplained.

[Rushy]

Back in the Red remains unexplained.

[cwickham]

Saw Graeme Garden discussing his life and work in conversation with Samira Ahmed this afternoon, and his verdict on Astronauts was “it should have been more like Red Dwarf”.

[Dave]

I wonder if Craig was offended by his claymation counterpart.

[Moonlight]

He looks like somebody sat on an Easter Island head.

[Rushy]

This change of camera angle when it cuts back to Rimmer is weird.

[Dave]

This change of camera angle when it cuts back to Rimmer is weird.

There are quite a few slightly disjointed-feeling bits in V, which is maybe not that surprising given what was going on behind the scenes.

[Dave]

I was today years old when I realised that the riff on the Trojan horse at the beginning of The Inquisitor was setup for the manner in which Lister ultimately defeats the Inquisitor at the end.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I was today years old when I realised that the riff on the Trojan horse at the beginning of The Inquisitor was setup for the manner in which Lister ultimately defeats the Inquisitor at the end.

I can sort of see it. If that is the case its quite subtle, unlike the start of Holoship in the same series

[Dave]

The Holoship one is fun because it’s so overdone I suppose.

[Moonlight]

[Dave]

Or maybe Doug was playing a long game that didn’t pay off until the start of series X.

[loadoftottnumb]

It’s been noted that there are a lot of Franks in Red Dwarf but have you ever counted the Jim/Jimmys/Jimbos? I know Listers son was named after Bexley speed but there are still quite a few. 

[Ben Saunders]

I was today years old when I realised that the riff on the Trojan horse at the beginning of The Inquisitor was setup for the manner in which Lister ultimately defeats the Inquisitor at the end.

Never even thought about this. Amazed nobody else has ever mentioned it. I thought it was just a non-sequitur. 

[Rushy]

God, now we have to re-examine all the first act skits. 

See, Back in the Red starts with the ship shrinking down around the crew, symbolizing how their freedom is going to be taken away by the government machine of bureaucracy. The walls are closing in! 

[sleepey]

Meltdown opens on Rimmer tormenting Lister with stories about wargames, foreshadowing how the episode will be really boring (jk jk)

[Dave]

The End starts with “The End”, foreshadowing the end.

[Author]

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