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

[Technopeasant]

It hasn’t been good since Dave Hollins. I mean, a humanoid cat? Are you shitting me?

[Ben Saunders]

The thumbnail for this clip has for some reason been Michaela Strachan for at least 4 years now

[Warbodog]

That’s really wild.

[Dave]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Unrumble]

In Quarantine, when Lister says “Rimmer, why are you taking this so personal?”, I’ve always thought it sounded a bit off. As in, I would say ‘personally’ in that situation. 

I can perhaps picture it being said by Americans in this manner, but would any other UK dwellers say it this way, or at least consider it legit? 

[Warbodog]

[tombow]

so Sebastian Faulk’s recent “Seventh Son” novel is about an Elon Musk type figure who is obsessed with bringing back extinct species, tricking a couple doing IVF into having a half-neanderthal son so he can observe the boy though his life. In the novel one of the things that makes the boy different is that he can’t plan ahead or imagine the future, and Faulks gives a flashback of Neanderthals losing ground to homo sapiens because they can plan. Made me think of the Last Human novel’s thing of Lister “never planning ahead”…? Maybe Doug and Sebastian read the same book on Neanderthals (I know Lister isn’t one, but it could have been on his mind)

[Podey]

[clem]

[Nick R]

[RunawayTrain]

In Quarantine, when Lister says “Rimmer, why are you taking this so personal?”, I’ve always thought it sounded a bit off. As in, I would say ‘personally’ in that situation. 
I can perhaps picture it being said by Americans in this manner, but would any other UK dwellers say it this way, or at least consider it legit? 

Sounds legit in a Scouse accent to my southern British ears.  It would jar if written down though and probably in a lot of other accents.  It’s definitely not standard British English.

[Technopeasant]

In the novel one of the things that makes the boy different is that he can’t plan ahead or imagine the future, and Faulks gives a flashback of Neanderthals losing ground to homo sapiens because they can plan. Made me think of the Last Human novel’s thing of Lister “never planning ahead”…?

Which strikes me as nonsense, and how would you even prove such a contention? I have never understood this need to try and come up with some reason for Neanderthals to have vanished/merged into modern humans. It seems fairly straightforward that they were merely a victim of being overly specialized to Ice Age Europe. I think the idea of other humans just makes us nervous.

[Rudolph]

It’s mentioned in Holoship that the crew do a bit of scavenging from derelicts, which feels like more of a VI activity.

We know they’ve previously run out of After Eight mints, cow’s milk and Shake n’ Vac – and later strawberries in Demons & Angels – but it’s a bit interesting they do this whilst still living in relative comfort aboard Red Dwarf.

[Unrumble]

It’s a bit interesting they do this whilst still living in relative comfort aboard Red Dwarf.

[Rushy]

It’s probably more out of boredom and curiosity than anything else. Both Lister and Rimmer have mentioned several times how incredibly boring their lives are. “We happen to be in deep space, where there isn’t a hell of a lot to do”

[Dave]

Is Rimmer’s badge in Marooned the shonkiest looking prop or costume element in the entire history of the series? It genuinely looks like a child made it.

[Rushy]

Probably designed it himself, then realised it looked goofy and never used it again

[Dave]

Lister has one too, although it’s not quite as prominent. I’m just baffles as to why it doesn’t look properly produced but hand-made.

[Dave]

That’s right, I’m just baffles. For fuck’s sake.

[Rushy]

Lister has one too, although it’s not quite as prominent. I’m just baffles as to why it doesn’t look properly produced but hand-made.

Best guess is that they were made last minute, and tacked onto the uniforms. 

[clem]

Yeah I hate that. I don’t really like the logo appearing in-universe anyway, and that version of it is horrible. The badge looks like really low-quality unofficial merchandise.

[clem]

Best guess is that they were made last minute, and tacked onto the uniforms.

I wonder how Howard Burden felt about that, as I don’t imagine they were his handiwork. They must have been really keen to get the logo into the show, for some reason.

[Dave]

They must have been really keen to get the logo into the show, for some reason.

I guess the branding of the logo was seen as part of the show’s identity. There are other examples where it’s not quite as faithful to the show logo but looks better in-universe to my eyes.

[Moonlight]

I’m too lazy to hunt it down but I’m pretty sure Pete Part 2 features the logo on crates in the background.

[clem]

I’m pretty sure Pete Part 2 features the logo on crates in the background.

That’s the sort of thing I mean that takes me out of the show a bit. ISTR it’s on quite a lot of stuff in VIII, including those little metal badges on the crew’s ties that were available as merch. 

[clem]

I guess the branding of the logo was seen as part of the show’s identity. There are other examples where it’s not quite as faithful to the show logo but looks better in-universe to my eyes.

Yes I like how that version incorporates the ellipse but suits the no-frills design of those props. Whether that was deliberate or it’s just an early attempt at a proper logo for the show, it works. 

[Dave]

Yes I like how that version incorporates the ellipse but suits the no-frills design of those props. Whether that was deliberate or it’s just an early attempt at a proper logo for the show, it works. 

I was trying to remember when the ellipse logo was first introduced, but ended up cheating and looking at TOS. Apparently it debuted on the first novel – so given the timing, maybe these printed prop versions were based on earlier concepts before the final design was settled on, and then they rushed out the shitty badges in Marooned just to have something with the official logo in Series III.

[Moonlight]

I can’t think of any reason why she would say “the ’60s” instead of “the 1960s”. Going by Stasis Leak’s clock reading 2077 there was a totally different ’60s only a decade before the accident.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Maybe equal rights came later 

[Rushy]

I can’t think of any reason why she would say “the ’60s” instead of “the 1960s”. Going by Stasis Leak’s clock reading 2077 there was a totally different ’60s only a decade before the accident.

The 20th century was a period of massive development. We’ll probably be in the 2050s and still refer to the 1930s as “the 30s”. 

[Technopeasant]

And yet we all forgot the gay ’90s.

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

Even now when someone mentions the 60’s you know they aren’t talking about the 1560’s or the 1860’s, especially in the context of women’s (men’s) liberation.

Here’s a really mundane observation – that wasn’t Chicken Marengo. 

[Warbodog]

Here’s a really mundane observation – that wasn’t Chicken Marengo. 

If we pretend it’s deliberate and meaningful, it could have been another malfunction from the run-down machines like the lisp or maybe Rimmer’s fault when stocking things in the wrong place before his death.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Or cats just don’t know what Chicken Marengo is and ended up creating their an chicken based dish called Chicken Marengo 

[Dave]

Yeah, it’s quite culturally insensitive to Cat people to say that actually. 

[Ben Saunders]

What the hell is chicken marengo anyway?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Dave]

[Moonlight]

Even now when someone mentions the 60’s you know they aren’t talking about the 1560’s or the 1860’s, especially in the context of women’s (men’s) liberation.

Why would anyone be referring to those decades when they say “the 60s” though? The 1960s is the most recent 60s we’ve had and is in living memory for many people. You can use the shorthand because obviously that’s the only decade you would be referring to. My argument was that surely somebody in 2077 wouldn’t be calling the 1960s simply “the 60s” when less than a decade earlier there was another 60s happening that would have affected their lives far more directly.

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

Because the context was the Women’s/Men’s Liberation movement which would be a century out of date if talking about the 2060’s. 

[Spaceworm Jim]

The music from the opening shot of The Beginning sounds incredibly similar to The Golden Rose by Tom Petty.

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

The music from the opening shot of The Beginning sounds incredibly similar to The Golden Rose by Tom Petty.

Almost identical. 

[Rushy]

There should be a 2D Red Dwarf game in the style of FTL. The player could be Holly, controlling the ship’s functions and directing the crew. 

If you send Rimmer to a dangerous area, he’ll steal half a health bar from every other crew member before he goes.

“Rimmer?! You’ve stolen half me health bar, you smegger!”

“Well, forgive me for not entering Simulant space half-cocked. What does it matter, anyway? You hardly ever use your health bar.”

“I’m the last human alive! I don’t get a lot of oppurtunity, do I?!” 

[Rudolph]

Is Rimmer’s badge in Marooned the shonkiest looking prop or costume element in the entire history of the series? It genuinely looks like a child made it.

I’ve never liked that Cat has one on his jumper in Timeslides. I’m guessing Howard Burden was in a rush and had to stitch it on to cover up a brand logo.

[Dave]

Well now I bet Kryten feels left out that he never got one.

[Warbodog]

[Warbodog]

A young Monster High fan saw this thread and liked the vampire.

[Author]

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