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

[Unrumble]

[Dave]

Should be 15 buckquid.

[Podey]

May I do a wee brag?  

If anyone is in WH Smiths in the next week, you can see my art on the front of the latest Judge Dredd comic.

I was going to frame this post as a way to take your minds off the election but, er, yeah..

(we should really have a ‘Random Chat’ thread…)

[Dave]

May I do a wee brag?  

If anyone is in WH Smiths in the next week, you can see my art on the front of the latest Judge Dredd comic.

I was going to frame this post as a way to take your minds off the election but, er, yeah..

(we should really have a ‘Random Chat’ thread…)

I just ordered that very issue yesterday! Fantastic. It’s a great cover.

I don’t always read 2000AD but I’ve been picking it up for the last couple of months, as I particularly love The Out and Ennis’s Rogue Trooper.

[Podey]

Thanks – I pitched it back in June but Tharg decided it would be a good election cover so I’ve had quite the wait!

[Dave]

Definitely. Should get people’s attention. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

<blockquote>  (we should really have a ‘Random Chat’ thread…) </blockquote> 

That’s kind what we use the Discord for.  Though I grant it’s not directly affiliated with G&T and not everyone has or wants to use Discord, but it’s there if anyone would like to join and post a lot of nonsense about anything in general.

https://discord.gg/NQWchJSp

[Warbodog]

Found another one of those Red Dwarf theme / ‘Loving the Alien’ chord progressions or whatever they’re called, from the 90s. Hope the time stamps work (1:10):

Less interesting than the 1984 one from page 6 of this thread (0:10):

Bowie for culturally-appropriating comprehensiveness (1:23):

[Warbodog]

I remembered the Bowie one being more similar than it is, or it’s been Mandela-effected (more likely).

[Moonlight]

Is this the only time in Red Dwarf where you can see the cameraman?

Meanwhile, in the universe where Remastered is good:

[Ben Saunders]

Is this the only time in Red Dwarf where you can see the cameraman?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Warbodog]

Maybe here?

According to Moviemistakes, among all the shadows, lenses and booms.

[Moonlight]

I definitely feel like I can see the crew in the monitor.

[solidbronze]

Recently watched the second episode of Silent Witness on iPlayer, at the link below. See if you recognise that music at 19m51s…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p032kjns/silent-witness-series-1-2-buried-lies-part-2?seriesId=p02zhtzh#t=19m51s

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Recently watched the second episode of Silent Witness on iPlayer, at the link below. See if you recognise that music at 19m51s…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p032kjns/silent-witness-series-1-2-buried-lies-part-2?seriesId=p02zhtzh#t=19m51s

It’s this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aYAaT40L0M&pp=ygUfUmVkIGR3YXJmIGJhY2sgdG8gcmVhbGl0eSBtdXNpYw%3D%3D

[Moonlight]

Why did this person add almost two minutes of silence to the end of the song?

[solidbronze]

Recently watched the second episode of Silent Witness on iPlayer, at the link below. See if you recognise that music at 19m51s…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p032kjns/silent-witness-series-1-2-buried-lies-part-2?seriesId=p02zhtzh#t=19m51s

It’s this

Exactly! :)

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Maybe the uploaded did it 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Why did this person add almost two minutes of silence to the end of the song?

Contemplation time 

[Warbodog]

I’ve been actively seeking 80s Action Cartoon Intro Rock, I didn’t think to check out actual stock music albums. Cowabunga!

[Warbodog]

Maybe it’s going for “can we have something like the Top Gun theme”?

And obviously there’s:

Love that soundtrack album. No interest in ever seeing the film.

[Dave]

Hearing that will always just make me think of Ace’s theme from Dimension Jump.

[Unrumble]

Is this the only time in Red Dwarf where you can see the cameraman? 

[Warbodog]

[clem]

[Rudolph]

[Technopeasant]

I don’t know Clem, that seems more to me like a shot of Kryten performing a summary execution.

[International Debris]

[solidbronze]

There’s clearly a person in a white shirt standing on the left-hand side of the screen in this shot in Polymorph.

[Technopeasant]

I mean, he would be attracting the heat-seeker’s, so…

[Ben Saunders]

There’s clearly a person in a white shirt standing on the left-hand side of the screen in this shot in Polymorph.

holy shit man run!!

[Warbodog]

The Manchester studio was haunted, not much they could do about it.

[Dave]

Make your bloody mind up.

[Flap Jack]

Or make your bloody body up.

[Ben Saunders]

What were they trying to tell us?

[Ian Symes]

[Dave]

[Ian Symes]

[Dave]

[Ben Saunders]

[Ben Saunders]

oh yeah i don’t know how to embed gifs on here do i

[Warbodog]

oh yeah i don’t know how to embed gifs on here do i

Add as a URL image.

[Warbodog]

Red Dwarf the increasingly improbable fly-on-the-wall 2000s sitcom

[Warbodog]

[Warbodog]

[Technopeasant]

[Moonlight]

[Dave]

[Moonlight]

[Author]

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