New, mildly spoilery XII synopses copy-and-pasted within

[cwickham]

The British Comedy Guide has sorted out its XII episode guide, and it seems they’ve been sent some official individual ep synopses because there’s new information in them.

Cured: “In the opening episode the Dwarfers search for some tech to fix Starbug’s faulty steering. They come across a Scientific Research Centre where several figures from history are recreated in the present and ‘cured’ of evil. Or are they?”
Siliconia: “For the very first time, the rest of the crew discover just how it feels to be Kryten when they’re arrested by the Mechanoid Intergalactic Liberation Front.”
Timewave: “The Dwarfers come across a ship where criticism is illegal.”
Mechocracy: “When all the machines onboard Red Dwarf go on strike a Presidential election is held between Rimmer and Kryten to look after their rights.”
M-Corp: “When the Dwarfers upload the latest software update they discover the Jupiter Mining Corporation, owners of Red Dwarf, have been bought by M Corp – a company that only allows products made by them to be visible to their employees.”
Skipper: “Rimmer gets hold of a Quantum skipper and skips his way across the multi-verse looking for a dimension where he’s not such a giant loser.”

Topic

[Me Own Stunts]

So I’m presuming M-Corp is the one where they upgrade to iOS 11 and realise their devices can’t play 32-bit apps like the Monkey Island 1 and 2 Special Editions anymore, even though they paid for them with their own money.

[Ben Saunders]

Ooh, somebody guessed right for M-Corp. Interesting.

Also there was an interview with N*r**n *o**t* in which he confirmed which episode he’s in. I won’t say in cast it breaks the SPOILER POLICY. But it’s obvious, isn’t it?

[Dave]

Does he get cured of evil?

[cwickham]

Another thought: it looks like we’re returning to the idea that opened up such a can of worms in Series X, that the Jupiter Mining Corporation still has some influence on the Dwarfers’ lives.

I’d thought that the historical figures in Cured were actually taken out of time, not replicas. Quite interested to see what the twist is – is it just as straightforward as they’re not actually cured at all?

[Moonlight]

Those all sound really intriguing.

[Phil]

Five of them sure do. Mechocracy scares me.

[Phil]

I should note though that the synopsis for Krysis scared me, too, and that turned out great. So I’m a fucking idiot.

[Hamish]

Both Lemons and Krysis scared me before broadcast, and yet Lemons is my favourite from X and Krysis is in my top three for XI. So I am also a fucking idiot.

[Hamish]

Possibly even in my top two after Give & Take and duelling with Samsara. As you can see I am also an indecisive idiot.

[Moonlight]

I personally love Samsara. And I think Mechocracy will be great.

[Dax101]

Yeah Mechocracy is the one that worries me the most.

Just sounds like an excuse to have machines with all different personallities arguing with the crew as I feel like I seen that same sorta thing in X and XI.

It’s using the machines to make up for the lack of other personallities on the ship.

[Warbodog]

Has it been pointed out already that there’s a real-life rebel/terrorist group with the unfortunate ‘MILF’ abbreviation (including the ‘Liberation Front’ ending)? In the southern Philippines, where I live.

Doug et al seem to be proud of that joke, since it’s shown up in all iterations of the synopses so far. It’s no ‘CLITORIS.’

[Pete Part Three]

Mechrocracy isn’t to be worried about.

I’m far more concerned at the moment about the quite worrying thing that’s happening in TimeWave.

[Moonlight]

I just think the idea of Rimmer running a political campaign sounds potentially hilarious. Like, seriously potentially hilarious.

[Dave]

I agree. I think there’s plenty of comedy potential there.

[si]

I just think the idea of Rimmer running a political campaign sounds potentially hilarious. Like, seriously potentially hilarious.

The idea of an incompetent buffoon potentially being put in a position of power is ridiculous.

[Ben Saunders]

Prediction: It will be pretty funny but people will still find fault with it and armchair script editors will tell you how they would have so very obviously improved the show

(this can apply to every episode)

[pfm]

Oh wow it seems Cured could turn out pretty controversial as well as ‘Timewave’……..

As for Mechocracy, it sounds straight-up fun and we’re all up for that, surely? :) Skipper is the kind of thing you would be sure the show had done before, seeing as it’s such a Dwarf-y idea, but nope they’ve never quite been there (the appearance of Ace is the closest, I guess), so I’m picking this, Siliconia and Mechocracy as the ones to look forward to. The others…..we’ll have to see! :o

[cwickham]

I have a very strong inkling as to who one of the historical figures is, and I really worry that it could turn out badly given everything that has happened in the world since recording.

[JamesTC]

If it is Hitler than I doubt it could do any worse than what Preacher (Ackerman’s new show) has done recently with him.

[Ben Saunders]

R***t w*****s are still c***s, though, so we can still laugh at their expense, even if they’re in p***r

[(deleted)]

To be fair, since early 2016, nothing has happened in the world to make Hitler any less dead or any less Hitler.

[cwickham]

I feel I should clarify that the actor playing the historical figure has had Red Dwarf on their CV ever since the show was recorded, including who he’s playing…

[pi r squared]

Oh wow it seems Cured could turn out pretty controversial

It is the one Andrew Ellard described before the shoot as potentially divisive. That said, it was the one I was in the audience for and I thought it was some of the best Dwarf I’d seen. I acknowledge that watching it live with hundreds of other RD fans can skew an opinion, but the set reports – both here and elsewhere – was all very positive. Plus, the feedback from those who saw the episode in Edinburgh is pretty positive too, although again I acknowledge that watching it on a big screen amongst hundreds of other RD fans can skew an opinion.

I am mostly confident that what we will have in two weeks’ time is one belter of an opener for the new series.

[Moonlight]

To be fair, since early 2016, nothing has happened in the world to make Hitler any less dead or any less Hitler.

Yeah, if anything we’re much further away from WWII than we were in 1989.

[Dave]

Although much closer to WWIII.

[Ben Saunders]

>Closer to WWIII than we were during the cold war

Granted I had to google when the cold war ended

[Moonlight]

I’m sorry, we were far closer to WWIII in the ’80s and especially the early ’60s. I’m not saying there aren’t tensions now, I’m saying the threat is microscopic compared to when tensions were high with the USSR. North Korera couldn’t nuke America if they tried.

[Ben Saunders]

The closest we’ve been (officially) to armageddon was the Cuban Missile Crisis, no?

North Korea couldn’t nuke America (and don’t seem to care about anywhere else) and America would be foolish to nuke North Korea, so right now it’s just sanctions and grandstanding.

[Ben Saunders]

My initial comment about WWIII should have been more clear that it was mocking the idea that we are closer to it now

[Dave]

My joke was based on the idea that if there eventually is a WWIII, we are literally closer to it now than we would have been in the past, simply because we’re further forward in time. It wasn’t meant as a political statement about current events.

[Ben Saunders]

What if WWIII involves time travel and is actually going to happen in the past in the future and we’re living in an aborted timeline?

[Ridley]

I prefer Wallace’s joke being a political statement about current events.

>’cured’ of evil. Or are they?

So that’s a no then, is it?

[Dave]

I prefer Wallace’s joke being a political statement about current events.

I am absolutely in favour of people interpreting it in the way they find funniest.

[cwickham]

Should the prospect of World War Three have continued after the Cuban Missile Crisis?

[Dave]

Why did you combine three World Wars into one though?

[Jimboid]

I know at least one of the evil historical figures as he’s being played by a friend from school.

He’s been a huge fan for years – many, many psi-moons ago I remember us playing Red Dwarf in the playground, so the whole experience has been very surreal for him. :)

[Seb Patrick]

I’m going to assume it’s the one who I also know to be a massive fan, unless more than one of them is!

He’s fantastic in the episode and I hope he gets the reception he deserves.

[clem]

> I remember us playing Red Dwarf in the playground

Adorable. Did you just act out scenes from the series or make up your own stuff?

[Jimboid]

> Adorable. Did you just act out scenes from the series or make up your own stuff?

Mainly just re-enacting the previous night’s episode (IV / V era) with the odd embellishment.

We wanted to perform Marooned for the school one Christmas but I think it was kiboshed by one of the teachers.

I’ve still got a photo of us doing the “Boys from the Dwarf” posse pose somewhere.

[Warbodog]

We wanted to perform Marooned for the school one Christmas but I think it was kiboshed by one of the teachers.

My extracurricular drama group was tasked with the opening bits of ‘Psirens’ (morale officer, etc), maybe because the teacher was a fan or just because it was the first thing in the Primordial Soup book. I was all for it, but it soon changed to Blackadder’s ‘Private Plane’ because someone was desperate to be Flashheart. I got to be Baldrick, at least.

Didn’t end up performing it, so it was just a group of 14-year-olds accurately playing Blackadder for 30 minutes a week.

[Dave]

At the same age, we did Blackadder’s ‘Corporal Punishment’. I transcribed the whole thing from tape.

(The only part my English teacher objected to was the bit about rogering the Duke of York with a prize-winning leek.)

[Hamish]

My brother did the whole “Archie Duke shot an ostrich ’cause he was hungry” bit from “Goodbyeee” in High School. Still the best scene Ben Elton wrote (well, co-wrote) outside of Inspector Grim’s Ism routine from Thin Blue Line.

And yes, it was the “‘Do you do it doggy-doggy?’ in Swahili” line that got the biggest laugh.

[Seb Patrick]

We had a thing as part of GCSE English where you had to perform five minutes of something in front of the rest of the class, in groups. We did the opening scene of Captain Cook. I lent somebody else my copy of Primordial Soup so they could do Marooned.

Our school also had an annual House Play competition where each of the four houses did a half-hour play in turn. The year I got to direct our house’s one, we did Bambi. I won Best Actor for my portrayal of Vyvyan. Obviously the ending represented a bit of a challenge, so we rewrote it to have the Footlights supporters storm the stage angrily, then suddenly veered into the “Oh, who cares” ending of Time instead.

Fun fact: the version of Bambi I had on video (and thus which we performed) completely omits the opening “Yellow Pages” conversation and goes straight to Neil arriving home. The Alexei monologue later on is shorter, too – it cuts off after “I never really wanted to be a train driver”. Which in hindsight is a shame, because we didn’t get to do the bit about perverse public school sexual practices while actually in public school.

I also have a definite memory of rehearsing Chains in the classroom but I have no idea if we actually performed it or whether the whole thing got called off. But another year – presumably inspired by our example – Michael Warren (sometimes of this parish) took up the reins for our house and did Goodbyeee.

[Dave]

What is it about Blackadder Goes Forth and school drama classes? I think between us few we’ve already covered almost every episode of the series.

I bet we all thought we were being really original and subversive, too.

[Seb Patrick]

>What is it about Blackadder Goes Forth and school drama classes?

It’s funny, appeals to smart-arsed middle-class kids, is likely one of the first “edgy” sitcoms our parents allowed us to watch, and is almost always set in small enclosed locations with a core cast of three or four people.

[Dave]

Plus, it’s got a historical angle so you can claim it’s educational.

[Pete Part Three]

Wibble.

[Seb Patrick]

>Plus, it’s got a historical angle so you can claim it’s educational.

And unless they were REALLY old-fashioned the teachers probably liked it too.

[Dax101]

UKTV Press Office twitter page just posted a picturing showing an article from SCI-FI NOW and if you zoom you can read some spoilers the cast give about the first episode and who the historical figures are.

[Author]

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