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]

Bumping to fix the thread. 

[International Debris]

I still feel it should be the original. Not because of act of God, but because it was how the lives were going to play out untampered. I just personally feel that should count for something.  

I don’t think the life of the child born through time travel is any more or less valid than the child born through linear time. 

The problem is – and this is where conversations about time travel begin to get difficult – both timelines happen from the same point. You have two potential timelines starting at the point you go back to. If you decide to go back, that means some people won’t be born. But also your “interference” in the past will lead other people to be born. So deciding not to go back means you’re depriving those people of life. From the perspective of someone living at the point you arrive, neither timeline is better, unless you believe that one person is more entitled to life than the other. 

[Rushy]

I mean, ultimately you still have to pick one timeline, so that’s the one I would pick. 

[Technopeasant]

I think we get in trouble thinking about “original timeline” in regards to Red Dwarf because (as may have been already noted) surely Lister wouldn’t be in it, since it was an act of time travel that placed him under the pool table

Technically Lister didn’t know that for a couple more months.

[Nick R]

Inspired by recent posts about Demons & Angels in the Unpopular Red Dwarf Opinions thread, I wonder: what are the High and Low versions of Kryten’s spare heads like?

Do all the Low versions have Droid Rot?

[Warbodog]

They should have gathered all their friends, enemies, alternate universe selves and alternate timeline selves and infected Lister with mutated pneumonia again before they reversed the Triplicator to make the most of it. Then we could complain about all the alts not being fully rounded personalities in their limited screen time.

DEMONS & ANGELS & CONFIDENCE & PARANOIA & POLYMORPH & HUDZEN & ACE & WAXWORLD & HOLOSHIP & CAMILLE & THE INQUISITOR & PSY-MOON & LANSTROM & DON’T FORGET TAZ.

[International Debris]

Isn’t that the Alternate Personalities featurette?

[International Debris]

https://www.reddit.com/r/rant/comments/1qz4zgj/my_fucking_washing_machine_needs_my_gps_location/

M-Corp is quickly becoming the most prescient episode.

[Warbodog]

[Rushy]

How did Rimmer fool his mother into thinking he’s been made a Rear Admiral?

[Flap Jack]

The idea is that she’s gullible enough to take him at his word, but there’s a good chance she’s just playing along with the lie.

[Moonlight]

This is the same mother who joins multiple cults. She seems easy to persuade.

[Ben Saunders]

What exactly could fearless Lister do with Alphabetti Spaghetti that was so impressive?

[Technopeasant]

[Technopeasant]

The idea is that she’s gullible enough to take him at his word, but there’s a good chance she’s just playing along with the lie.

If Mr. Rimmer believes him then presumably its been awhile since Rimmer recieved any birthday presents.

[Warbodog]

Rimmer divorced his parents as a teenager, so I don’t know how close they’d have been after that to share information. Maybe they bumped into each other at church.

[Warbodog]

[Warbodog]

What exactly could fearless Lister do with Alphabetti Spaghetti that was so impressive?

Nip hoopla is as far as I want to go.

[Rushy]

Sweet to see Craig and Chris together again

https://x.com/CCfunkandsoul/status/2023341417985085663

[Jenuall]

Chris’ Norm Holly impression is getting more accurate than ever

[Rushy]

I give it 4/10

[Dave]

Sweet to see Craig and Chris together again
https://x.com/CCfunkandsoul/status/2023341417985085663

[Ben Saunders]

[Unrumble]

Bah, I knocked together the below, only to come on here and see this immeasurably better effort. All hail Dave. 

[Dave]

I dunno, I think your version is funnier.

[Technopeasant]

[Rushy]

If anyone here has read Sin Bin Island, I’m curious to know how Doug’s prose style has evolved in comparison to Last Human?

[Dave]

If anyone here has read Sin Bin Island, I’m curious to know how Doug’s prose style has evolved in comparison to Last Human?

It’s telling a different kind of story for a different audience, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but I thought it was a bit more straightforward and direct in its storytelling while still containing lots of Doug-isms.

[Rushy]

Why does Lister look like he ought to be bald and stroking a white pussy?
 

   

[Dave]

I always thought that Stoke’s premise of people buying that a knight had escaped from the AR machine into real life was really stupid. But then given how much other weird shit has gone on over the years, maybe it’s no more odd than Confidence & Paranoia suddenly appearing or Lister turning into a chicken, and they’re all just jaded by series VII.

[Rushy]

I always thought that Stoke’s premise of people buying that a knight had escaped from the AR machine into real life was really stupid.

I think Lister is just relying on Rimmer’s stupidity here. 

[Ben Saunders]

It’s a common criticism that I really don’t take seriously. Madder shit has happened. Quite often, in fact. On a pretty much weekly basis. Remember when they created two entire clones of Red Dwarf, complete with crew, with a machine built to duplicate strawberries, one at a time?

[Dave]

“A character has escaped from a game into the real world? Preposterous, now watch me step back in time by walking into a photograph.”

[Dave]

Talking of which, is the mutated developing fluid yet another “we still have it, but we’re just never going to use it again” thing to go alongside the Matter Paddle/Triplicator, the Time Drive, and Snacky?

[Rushy]

Talking of which, is the mutated developing fluid 

[Ben Saunders]

I was going to talk about how the photograph time travel thing is limited, but then I thought about Stasis Leak and how you could easily bring stuff from the past to the future without it dissolving like in Stasis Leak, but then I got really deep in the weeds of trying to marry/compare the “logic” of the two episodes and just gave up really. 

[Jenuall]

What annoys me really about Stoke is it relies on them somehow having a whole set of knight’s armour on board for Lister to play dress up in

[Technopeasant]

“A character has escaped from a game into the real world? Preposterous, now watch me step back in time by walking into a photograph.”

Sure, but do they junk the AR unit after realizing it is so dangerous?

[Warbodog]

What annoys me really about Stoke is it relies on them somehow having a whole set of knight’s armour on board for Lister to play dress up in

[sleepey]

Sure, but do they junk the AR unit after realizing it is so dangerous?

Lister knows it’s a hoax, Cat doesn’t care, and Kryten figures out it’s a hoax when Lister doesn’t make any attempt to replicate it with one of his AI girlfriends.

[Technopeasant]

[Technopeasant]

Actually that’s a good point. Holograms exist, later Holoships also exist, but they still prefer helmet/brain probing based AR to some kind of holodeck? Maybe for lack of hardlight I guess.

[Technopeasant]

and stroking a white pussy?

…nah. Let’s not.

[Rushy]

…nah. Let’s not.

You don’t think a fluffy pussy is cute? I just love to boop the pink nose

[Warbodog]

Actually that’s a good point. Holograms exist, later Holoships also exist, but they still prefer helmet/brain probing based AR to some kind of holodeck? Maybe for lack of hardlight I guess.

Would the hard light holo brothel replace the droid brothel?

Did Lister wear his Spider-Man costume when he had sex with Inflatable Ingrid?

[Warbodog]

[Technopeasant]

But was said science officer being cheated on Buchan from Holoship or Katerina from BTE?

And what did Miss Patricia Carling from Supplies think? Would she dress up as Catwoman? Perhaps her saying his eyes are his loveliest feature was an attempt to get him to not wear the mask.

I’d suggest that the point was the truth serum lowered Ackerman’s inhibitions enough not to care about hiding the affair, but that’s too smart for VIII.

[Warbodog]

I’d suggest that the point was the truth serum lowered Ackerman’s inhibitions enough not to care about hiding the affair, but that’s too smart for VIII.

I think there does have to be something to that so Hollister can blame them for the outfit, otherwise it’s just the slightly clumsy setup to the Tarzan joke, which surely wouldn’t happen in an episode as densely script-edited as Pete Part 1.

I wondered if it might also be suggesting something like he incited the affair with The Science Officer’s Wife (got to love another anonymous Series VIII woman who exists only for a sex joke) because he was under the influence and confessing his feelings/attraction that he wouldn’t otherwise, but that’s definitely reading too much between the (shit) lines.

[Warbodog]

It could have made more sense if they’d drugged Ackerman with something that had actively made him have sexy times rather than just a truth drug.

[International Debris]

But was said science officer being cheated on Buchan from Holoship or Katerina from BTE? 

Given that Katerina is just a hallucination, I wouldn’t put money on it being her.

It could have made more sense if they’d drugged Ackerman with something that had actively made him have sexy times rather than just a truth drug.

Not the single greatest prank ever, to be fair. “Let’s give him something that makes him have loads of sex, that’ll show him!”

[Author]

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