Red Dwarf Animated – Just The Scripts

[Carlito]

Hey guys, some of you may recall the brief Red Dwarf Animated fan project from last year which produced a couple of animated shorts. Well, I had written two scripts for a couple of ‘feature length’ editions but quite frankly producing these things is a massive undertaking, and a huge burden on Pete the animator’s time (he slaved over those things through every moment of spare time he had for months on end), and we kept losing contact with our cast members and… well, it’s highly unlikely to happen anymore. Most unfortunately, coz it was a great thrill for me to see those things come to life.

Anyways I spent hours and hours putting together a couple of full-length Red Dwarf scripts for the project and I didn’t want them to just never be seen so I thought I’d offer them up here in the spirit of this being a Red Dwarf fan site, which posts the occasional bit of fanfic, and give people a chance to take it or leave it as they choose. I’d love feedback on them if anyone finds the time to read, if not that’s fair enough. As an aspiring writer, I would find it helpful and be incredibly grateful.

They were written, and therefore set, post-Back To Earth except I decided to throw a dried-out Holly back into the mix simply because one of our voice artists did such a great Norman Lovett I HAD to.

Here are the two scripts:

TIRESIAS – https://docs.google.com/View?id=dgf4dn6_18d6rb5bcg
GHOST OF A CHANCE – https://docs.google.com/View?id=dgf4dn6_4cqpt3fhf

Topic

[redhead85]

Ahh. Good to see these getting an airing. ^__^ No idea where mine has gone. Perhaps I’ll check behind the sofa…

[ChrisM]

What happened there? I was disconnected then redhead’s post vanished….

*EDIT- And it’s back….*

Anyhow, I was thinking, maybe consider doing a comic adaptation of the scripts. You may run into similar problems in that you have to find people to work on it (an artist, a letterer…. although they might be the same person. Or yourself if you’re artistically inclined) but I’d imagine you’d require less people than the animation.

[Carlito]

That is a cool idea which I’d certainly be up for but I wouldn’t know where to start, unless anyone on here would be inclined to put something together? I know we’ve got some very talented comic book artists frequenting these here regions but I guess most people are more interested in bringing their own ideas to life than somebody elses which is more than fair enough.

[Carlito]

> No idea where mine has gone. Perhaps I’ll check behind the sofa…

I may still have a copy of it if you’d like it? My old PC died but I may have it in an email.

[redhead85]

If you’ve still got it, that would be wonderful, thanks. NO frigging idea where I saved it after my old laptop died…

[Seb Patrick]

Anyhow, I was thinking, maybe consider doing a comic adaptation of the scripts. You may run into similar problems in that you have to find people to work on it (an artist, a letterer…. although they might be the same person. Or yourself if you’re artistically inclined) but I’d imagine you’d require less people than the animation.

… although it is worth pointing out that writing a comic isn’t just a case of getting an artist to draw something that’s been written as a script. Different media work in different ways, and a good comic is a lot more than just a storyboard. There’s a whole different set of rules of storytelling and that sort of thing.

Not saying it’s not possible, obviously, but I do see a lot of cases of people seeing comics as an “easy” option, and unless you’re pretty versed in the form… it’s really not.

(And the other problem is that yeah, finding an artist who’s (a) good, (b) not already working and (c) interested in drawing your scripts rather than their own is pretty tricky. Artists are like drummers in bands when you’re a teenager – they’re always in demand, because there are fewer of them out there. My writing partner and I are trying to work on a couple of concepts at the moment, but we’ll never get them out there until we find an artist that’s willing to draw them, so that people can look at them as the whole package…)

[clem]

Both pretty impressive for fanfiction, especially TIRESIAS. I particularly like the flashback scenes at the beginning.
My one attempt at fanfic was an RD/Hitchhiker’s crossover – the story of how Lister ended up as a brain in a jar. If you know Hitchhiker’s you can probably figure it out.

[ChrisM]

… although it is worth pointing out that writing a comic isn’t just a case of getting an artist to draw something that’s been written as a script. Different media work in different ways, and a good comic is a lot more than just a storyboard.

I agree with that. I wasn’t suggesting the artist just draw straight from the screenplay script. (But then I know you didn’t state that I was.)
I think one can certain lend itself to the other, but yes, extensive reformatting would be required.

[Carlito]

> Both pretty impressive for fanfiction, especially TIRESIAS.

Many thanks :) Tiresias does benefit from being on around its 7th draft by now, whereas Ghost… never got past its first.

[Ben Paddon]

I remember reading Tiresias way back when and loving it. Just read “Ghosts”. Could be good with a polish, trim some of the unnecessary dialog and bulky exposition, give the jokes a thorough seeing-to. Tiresias is definitely the better of the pair.

If you’re interested in adapting one or both of them as a comic I could pop up my script for “Songs in the Key of Files” if you like. It’s written in a sort-of loose comic-book scripting format, might give you an idea of what you’d need to do.

[Frank Saunders]

Just watched the Christmas special. Wow! It was very funny in places, but also very touching. Working my way on to the scripts now!

[pfm]

Something HAS to be done with ‘Tiresias’!! The Rimmer/Lister dialogue is easily series-worthy. Wouldn’t you just kill to have Chris and Craig (circa 1988) reading those lines? Especially love the ‘GBH’ line, it’s so sitcom-y.

[Carlito]

Cheers guys :) Yeah, I would definitely LOVE to hear Chris and Craig delivering the lines, how cool would that be?!

Thanks Ben, would definitely be interesting to see how it’s formatted, though I’m not sure that I’d be able to get anything underway to adapt it, but it would be cool to see out of sheer interest alone.

[Author]

Replies