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

[Ian Symes]

This might not help your brain, but with soaps supposedly being designed for passive viewing while women did the housework, you could have it on as ambient wallpaper whenever’s suitable.

But then I’d miss all the little details, such as the bar where Deirdre Rachid meets fake pilot Jon Lindsay for the first time being the same location as the restaurant in Better Than Life.

[Jimboid]

I searched to see if this had been mentioned previously, seems not.  “Samsara” is a play on “Samskara” – the Hindu philosophy of actions and thoughts leaving impressions that influence future suffering or reward, i.e. the basis of Karma.

[Warbodog]

It’s also just spelled as samsara. I would have either looked it up or been told in a review, but you can tell from the title that it sounds a bit Indiany.

I hadn’t noticed this though:

the soul, finding itself awash in the “sea of samsara,” strives to find release (moksha) from the bonds of its own past deeds (karma)

It’s literally in the sea!

__B____

__R____

__A____

__V____

D_O_U_G

[tombow]

I can’t believe this is Deirdre. I don’t recognise her.

Coronation Street – Blanche Hunt Slaps Deirdre Hunt (21st May 1975)

[Ian Symes]

The dangers of smoking.

[Jimboid]

“Smeg Outs” has always seemed an odd title for the follow-up to “Smeg Ups”.

“Smeg Ups” works…with “Smeg” taking the place of a naughtier word.

But “Smeg Outs”?  Are they playing on “Outtakes”, in which case “Smegtakes” or “Outsmegs” would’ve been better options.  Still not very good.

Maybe  “Smegabyte Two”, “Smegpocalypse Now”, “The Alpha and Oh-Smega!”

Maybe not.

[Warbodog]

“Smeg Outs” has always seemed an odd title for the follow-up to “Smeg Ups”.

I saw the cover for Smeg Outs first, on the inner sleeve of another BBC video (probably VII Xtended). I wondered why they didn’t go with the obvious title of ‘Smeg Ups,’ it seemed so dumb. Eventually saw there was a Smeg Ups.

[Flap Jack]

Clustersmegs

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Have you never got together with the guys on a Friday night and had a smeg out?

[tombow]

Bet Lynch Meltdown (Blackpool Madame Tussard’s)

[Warbodog]

Lister presented the viewers’ choice vote in 1995, doing a piece to camera before Tikka, so he seemed like the backup.

All these things where they discuss their lives as if they’re in a TV show presumably take place in the Back to Earth hallucination/reality and this is the fictional actor “Craig Charles” playing Lister, not the actual Lister.

[Warbodog]

I got confused by two threads talking about Smeg Ups and replied in the wrong one.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

But why did you split one thread into two though?

Or something … it’s been a while 

[clem]

I got confused by two threads talking about Smeg Ups and replied in the wrong one.

You also said Tikka when you meant Back to Reality. Get the best ever episode right, Warbodog – there’s a bag of chips in it for ya. 

[clem]

Goodness me! It’s Marilyn Monroe!

[Warbodog]

That did look very confused, but I meant it reminded me of Lister addressing the camcorder in that episode.

[clem]

That did look very confused, but I meant it reminded me of Lister addressing the camcorder in that episode.

Ah, with you. 

[Nick R]

Clustersmegs

Smloopers? Blegger reel?

[Flap Jack]

Omnismegles

Smegregious errors

Stop smegging around and do the smegging scene already, for the love of smeg

[sleepey]

Auntie’s Smeggers

TV’s Smeggiest Blunders

It’ll Be Sorted Out In the Dub

[Technopeasant]

That did look very confused, but I meant it reminded me of Lister addressing the camcorder in that episode.

I mean, I got that…

[Warbodog]

[Moonlight]

If Confidence & Paranoia were made basically any time after Series II, they would both be played by Craig.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

If Confidence & Paranoia were made basically any time after Series II, they would both be played by Craig.

Does the same observation apply to Parallel Universe?

[Moonlight]

They’d probably cast Craig’s sister, who’s taller than him.

[Warbodog]

Craig would play Paranoia, but Rob & Doug would bring in a Craig Bierko type for Confidence to mess with him.

[Rushy]

It’s a bit depressing that men’s fashion never evolved beyond the business suit, judging by Rimmer and Kryten’s costumes during their presidential campaign. 

[Warbodog]

My latest thing I didn’t notice or think about before is that Kryten’s ears have that white, gauzy material so Robert can hear, and now I’m trying to spot his ears under there.

I think I can see cartilage. Don’t stare at the last picture too long or it starts to look like a human with a load of rubber stuck to his face.

[MANI506]

The first time I really noticed was Robert’s side on shower shot at the start of Krytie TV.

[Warbodog]

The first time I really noticed was Robert’s side on shower shot at the start of Krytie TV.

Looks like he’s trapped some screeching creature in there.

[Dave]

[Nick R]

It’s the Red Dwarf equivalent of the mouth within a mouth from the first Turtles movie.

[Moonlight]

This is bordering on nerdy even for this site, but I’ve always noticed there is is a very distinctly different sound to the acoustics of the audience in Series V vs. before. And VI doesn’t sound like it either.

[Ben Saunders]

All things considered, Kryten’s mask is bloody good. All of them, really. Because it never, ever to me looks like Robert Llewellyn in a mask, especially the classic era, whereas when watching Classic Who or something I’m fairly often having that moment where you suddenly see the actor underneath the makeup more than the character they’re portraying. But that never happens with Kryten, even when his mask is what we’d call a bit crap in VIII or X.

[Rushy]

You’re not wrong, but at the same time, I remember watching DNA and being like “wow, his facial acting is so good, I wish I actually got to see it in other episodes”

[Dave]

“wow, his facial acting is so good, I wish I actually got to see it in other episodes”

[Technopeasant]

[Rushy]

Now imagine how funny these would be if we could see his face

[Flap Jack]

I think that’s a bit of a backwards way of looking at it, because Robert is only pulling such extreme faces to show emotions that he could convey more subtly if he weren’t wearing the mask. He isn’t just trying to go as big as possible and then being held back by prosthetics. He’s getting the outcome he’s aiming for.

[Warbodog]

Also, be careful what you wish for.

[Flap Jack]

I did just mean in general, to be clear. In that particular Back in the Red scene I think Robert genuinely would always have gone as ham as physically possible. I’m sure it would have been twice as funny if he wasn’t constricted by the mask, as the DD shows!

_{0 x 2 = 0}

[Rushy]

I think that’s a bit of a backwards way of looking at it, because Robert is only pulling such extreme faces to show emotions that he could convey more subtly if he weren’t wearing the mask. He isn’t just trying to go as big as possible and then being held back by prosthetics. He’s getting the outcome he’s aiming for.

Yes, I fully agree, I’m not trying to say Robert is being held back in any way. He’s using a different toolbox, is all.

I just personally really like the little touches of character and humor that he was able to bring out purely through expression in DNA (and even The Last Day)

[Dave]

And let’s not forget Bongo.

[Ben Saunders]

What the fuck is taramasalata 

[sleepey]

I think he was the showrunner on Star Trek Picard.

[International Debris]

What the fuck is taramasalata 

It’s like hummus but made of fish eggs instead of chickpeas. 

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

In another ignorant kid moment, I believed Eddie’s claim that caviar was fish poo for at least a couple of years until a parent corrected me. It’s not like it would come up.

[Dave]

In another ignorant kid moment, I believed Eddie’s claim that caviar was fish poo for at least a couple of years until a parent corrected me. It’s not like it would come up.

I also had to be told this.

[Moonlight]

[Author]

Replies