Refresh For The Memory: Series 1 Byte 1

[Ian Symes]

You asked for it. Ahead of the forthcoming 35th anniversary poll, the G&T community is embarking on a big old rewatch, tackling half a series (or one feature length special) per week. This is your designated thread to make notes, share observations and start pondering your rankings.

This week, we’re watching THE END, FUTURE ECHOES and BALANCE OF POWER. Have at it!

Topic

[desbug]

So here’s my question on rewatching… was Lister’s future at the end of series six an intentional callback to the “things that go in jars” conversation in these early episodes? 

[International Debris]

The End – honestly I think the pre-accident stuff is some of the less funny bubble era material. There are good gags, but it’s fairly slow and broad on the whole. It’s wonderful to see pre-accident stuff as a fan, and I imagine the reveal would have been amazing in 1988, but as a piece of comedy, those first ten or fifteen minutes aren’t my favourites. I also grew up with Remastered and cannot get used to the lack of “yes God?” It’s a good line and it also fills a really weird gap.

Future Echoes – the most overtly Dwarfy of the first byte, and the best. The concept is great, the two Rimmers scene is superb, and there are plenty of great bits throughout. 

Balance of Power – I think popping the memorable sci-fi plot episode second makes sense in terms of it being a sitcom, but narratively this works so much better. I really like the idea of it starting slowly, and this definitely feels like the start of the post-accident timeline. I’ve always enjoyed this episode, but then ‘nothing really happens’ character-based episodes have often been my favourites in any show, so no surprises there. I don’t sympathise with Rimmer too much here, this is after all the episode where he recalls laughing heartily at Lister having a severe accident that left him in hospital. My girlfriend finds it hard to shift first impressions, and she never warmed to Rimmer the way most of us did because of how much of a cunt he is in the first series. Watching this today she asked “is Rimmer really your favourite character?!” I’m glad they softened him, because as funny and original as a lot of series 1 is, there’s more nastiness than I like and it would never have been my favourite show if one of the characters was repeatedly making light of the other being in hospital, facing death, etc.

 Craig has a couple of weak points but on the whole I’ve never found his performances here that bad. In fact, I think he does a lot of very good background acting whenever Chris is speaking. The initial hair scene in Future Echoes is a great example: he really feels like he’s responding to Rimmer and that hair for the first time. There’s a lot of this in the earlier series and I always find it adds to the texture of the show a lot.

My girlfriend pointed out a similarity to Hitchhikers after the toilet gag and I had to agree – I think it’s a shame that that kind of thing was quickly phased out. In general the worldbuilding dies off after the first couple of series, with fewer references to fictional figure things, daft technology and so on, and I think it’s one of the few bad decisions they made. 

The 1 & 2 opening titles will always be my preferred of the two. I love how epic it is, really adds to the lost in deep space concept. 

Lines like “should’ve never let him out in the first place” are why I prefer Norman’s Holly to Hattie’s. She’s just not given enough moments like that, her character becoming much more functional. Holly is my second favourite character in the first two series – maybe my favourite in the first – and I think just about every line he has is great. The aforementioned one is superb, it really makes him feel like a proper individual with a personality.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

> I also grew up with Remastered and cannot get used to the lack of “yes God?” It’s a good line and it also fills a really weird gap.

I’ve always felt the same.  It’s a great addition and really kinda boggles my mind they hadn’t thought about it first time around.

[Flap Jack]

I also grew up with Remastered and cannot get used to the lack of “yes God?” It’s a good line and it also fills a really weird gap.

I’ve always felt the same. It’s a great addition and really kinda boggles my mind they hadn’t thought about it first time around.

[Jonathan Capps]

[Dave]

Yeah as someone who started with the original, “Yes God” feels really wonky.

[RunawayTrain]

I’m glad they softened him, because as funny and original as a lot of series 1 is, there’s more nastiness than I like and it would never have been my favourite show if one of the characters was repeatedly making light of the other being in hospital, facing death, etc.  

When I did my first rewatch, ~10yrs after a friend initially introduced me to RD and prompted by seeing a repeat on Dave, I was shocked and very confused by how awful Rimmer is in this series.  It is extremely difficult to sympathise with him, so series II was such a relief during that initial rewatch!

[International Debris]

I can’t imagine thinking that “Holly?” -long, silent pause with no response- “set a course for Earth” could sound anything other than awkward.

[Warbodog]

I only had these three episodes in remastered form, and haven’t seen the others remastered since broadcast, so it won’t be an ongoing issue for me, but I do still get tripped up by some of the differences.

The most noticeable was Balance of Power’s white card / black card routine coming out of nowhere like a reinstated director’s cut scene, which just shows I didn’t choose to watch that episode on DVD so often.

Some remastered changes I’ve stopped noticing though, like that Cat evolution art in The End which I’ve only just remembered.

[paulf]

Every time I watch these episodes I’m struck by just what an awful shit Rimmer is at this early stage.  

The same thing stood out for me. In “future echoes”, miming carrying a coffin/internal memo. I always wait for the “don’t go” line from Rimmer and had to watch part of the episode twice before I remembered he only tries to stop him going to the drive room in the novel.

Very juvenile I know but old Lister laughing in Rimmer’s face is great.

I love “The End” but struggle to watch the actor playing George McIntyre as he looks so incredibly nervous.

Great lines in “Balance of power”. “It’s a mirror” and the sequence with Lister trying to convince Rimmer to let him bring back Kochanski.

Three great episodes.

 

[paulf]

 Blimey is it nearly 35 year since I missed the first episode going out? Can’t even believe it’s nearly 5 years since the best ever dimension jump. 

Does anyone know if a 35 year anniversary dimension jump is planned for next year? Nothing on the TORDFC site yet and it takes a bit of planning to make it over from Aus.

[steveg1988]

In series 1 we only ever get a reference to them being vending machine repairmen in the end. Had the original edit of the end gone out, we would have never had that scene, kind of interesting how the re-write of the end brought in one of the most known things about the show. 

[Stabbim]

count me as another person who misses the worldbuilding gags like the voice-activated AI toilet seen in Balance of Power.

Part of Red Dwarf’s charm for me is the way the future it predicts is neither utopian or dystopian (as is all too popular with science fiction), but “dumb” and sub-optimal in a way that is so recognizable from our real world.  Kitschy shit like the talking toaster.  AI doesn’t malfunction and become evil, it malfunctions and becomes neurotic.  Petersen’s smart shoes keep coming back to him.  The toaster can’t deal with you not wanting a bagel.  The vending machines flirt with you because they’re lonely and can’t move around.  And the toilet — why does a toilet need to talk? it doesn’t, it’s not “logical” to make a talking toilet, but it’s the sort of thing some programmer would do anyway, for the memes/lulz, so it exists — is desperate to not miss it’s cue.  The skutters are something that should have been programmed with voice capability, but weren’t; the sort of oversight or omission often brought about by trying to save money, or just not thinking things through (that and their having claw heads that are perfectly suited for flipping people off).

Even the anticlimax of Rimmer’s “aliens” turning out to be one of The Red Dwarf’s old garbage pods that it’s caught up with after turning around.

Red Dwarf happened to come along such that it was the first thing I ever saw/read/etc. that did that element so well, and I have a strong personal bias towards the episodes in those first two series when ranking my favorite episodes.

The 1 & 2 opening titles will always be my
preferred of the two. I love how epic it is, really adds to the lost in
deep space concept.

I think, as a little kid, on some level I thought that it implied Lister still was somehow obligated to do all the mundane (and dangerous) busywork/punishment detail he always was stuck with, even after he was the sole survivor and there was no captain/officer corps to actually make him.  Clean the toilets, peel the potatoes, paint the ship, pointless as those tasks now were. And I must’ve found that utterly hilarious.

and I love the forlorn music (though the “action” theme from Series 3 onward fits the new tone of the show perfectly)

[Warbodog]

It probably was over-simplification, or they’re just always being self-deprecating when they only describe their job in vending machine terms, but Kryten’s Justice defence singles out the drive plate repair as an unusual and unreasonable request.

Something that’s always stupidly bugged me in Future Echoes is old Lister sounding distinctly like series-1-aged Lister doing an old man voice. I can’t remember when his voice finally breaks.

[Dave]

It probably was over-simplification, or they’re just always being self-deprecating when they only describe their job in vending machine terms, but Kryten’s Justice defence singles out the drive plate repair as an unusual and unreasonable request.

That’s at least partly due to the rewrites that changed the nature of their work in that opening scene, isn’t it?

If they had been doing the engineering work that was originally written, it would make more sense for Rimmer to later be tasked with repairing the drive plate.

But once the opening scene was changed to them repairing dispensing machines, it was more of a mismatch that he was given such a serious job (but they had to keep it in the script as it was such a fundamental part of the story).

Justice does lampshade that whole issue, but ultimately we as viewers know that it’s true that Rimmer was given the task and messed it up and is ultimately responsible for the disaster, because we’ve seen it happen. Kryten is just a convincing enough lawyer to call it into question.

[Jonathan Capps]

Does anyone know if a 35 year anniversary dimension jump is planned for next year? Nothing on the TORDFC site yet and it takes a bit of planning to make it over from Aus.

I can’t say for sure but usually there’s around a 16 month lead time from announcement to event so one next year looks unlikely but you should also have plenty of time if / when the next one is announced.

[Stilianides]

The End – I think we’re pretty spoilt in terms of behind the scenes insights due to having both Rob and Doug’s commentary on the Original Assembly and Rob, Paul, Ed and Tony Hawks’ entertaining commentary on the broadcast version.

It’s a good pilot episode, has some fine character moments and gets through an awful lot of difficult exposition. You can understand why Paul Jackson asked for more jokes, though, as there could be a few more laughs along the way.

With that in mind, it probably turned out to be a positive thing that the apparent original idea of using Stevie Wonder’s Heaven is Ten Zillion Light Years Away for the funeral scene had to be abandoned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIE6unjkXmc

See You Later Alligator isn’t exactly subtle, but it gets a much needed laugh.

[Warbodog]

That’s at least partly due to the rewrites that changed the nature of their work in that opening scene, isn’t it?

Justice also specifically retcons the crew count to a number that makes such a ‘Z-shift’ plausible. Before that, I would have assumed the vending machines were just the most menial example for laughs.

[clem]

The End sets up everything masterfully. I’m really glad they didn’t go with the idea to get big names for the rest of the crew, so that killing them all off in episode one would be even more of a twist. Despite Lister’s somewhat nonchalant attitude to his situation I think you do get a good sense of the gravity of it, and someone like Ronnie Barker as Hollister would only distract from and undermine the whole premise of the show.

Danny is great right from the get-go.

I don’t think I’ve ever noticed this before but just before he meets Lister and Rimmer in the corridor, Cat passes a wall with ‘Storage Locker’ on it, and the wall wobbles. Hey Red Dwarf *did* have wobbly sets after all! 

I also don’t remember Hollister taking his chewing gum out and sticking it to his glass. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

That’s at least partly due to the rewrites that changed the nature of their work in that opening scene, isn’t it?
Justice also specifically retcons the crew count to a number that makes such a ‘Z-shift’ plausible. Before that, I would have assumed the vending machines were just the most menial example for laughs.

yeah “vending machine” is clearly used to undermine the work being done.  They maybe bottom of the pile but they are “technicians” and clearly as part of that work they would be required to fix other parts of the ship, including drive plates.  Whether Rimmer was capable in the position to do so is another matter.  But they clearly expect “technicians” to be able to do it.

[Flap Jack]

Ah, but Last Human clarified that it’s only third technicians who are restricted to just doing vending machine repairs, freeing up second technicians to be potentially called upon to repair drive plates.

Oh, but Rimmer is also a third technican, of course.

[clem]

I’ve always thought “technician” was meant to be a deliberately highfalutin term for the actual job, as borne out by Lister being assigned the rank in Infinity. I don’t think Rob and Doug ever really had all of that stuff properly delineated. Lister even says “the man who changed the bogrolls was higher than us” in BoP. And what do the “service robots” do?
Unexpectedly I’ve enjoyed BoP the most out of the three. Excellent Lister-Rimmer dialogue but I really like the Cat and Rimmer scenes as well. Some great physical comedy too, especially Rimmer with the wrong hips at the end.

[clem]

Might part of the issue with the, “Are you telling me everybody’s dead?” be that it was intended for a Chris Lloyd type and doesn’t fit with Craig’s version of the character?

Could be, yeah. One line that stuck out to me as possibly being a holdover from the way Rob and Doug originally envisioned Lister was “Would you put [the cat] back together when you’d finished?” 

[Jenuall]

Rimmer did need to soften/evolve for the good of the show, but I do love some of the increased tension between this version of him and Lister that we get from these early episodes – leads to some great (and funny) confrontations and Rimmsy gets a lovely line in insults from it. “Of course you’re tense you rectum faced pygmy!” Being a particular standout! 
Chris’s delivery always squeezed every ounce out the material which helped too! 

[si]

Really enjoyed watching Balance of Power this afternoon, it’s been a good couple of years since I last saw it, and I must say, I really like that exam room scene with Lister and Kochanski/Rimmer. Lister’s reaction to Kochanski’s appearance – dropping the dish and falling over his words – is great. And I think Clare Grogan’s Rimmer portrayal is much better than I realised. That is very Rimmer-y.

BoP also contains one of my favourite silly jokes:

Heh.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

For years I read that joke as Lister being shit at cooking … especially as we find out he fails the exams.  But in recent years (like the last decade) I’ve read it as Lister just being sarcastic, which I prefer more.

[Dave]

But in recent years (like the last decade) I’ve read it as Lister just being sarcastic, which I prefer more.

I’d never even considered that, but it fits. (Reminds me of “No, it’s a chicken.”)

[clem]

I like to imagine it’s the result of something going wrong with the magic microwave he uses in Polymorph.

[International Debris]

I can’t imagine how that would work as Lister being shit at cooking. It’s got fresh cream and fudge on it, why would it be roast beef?

I love in-universe jokes in sitcoms. Men Behaving Badly is full of them, one of my favourite things about it. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I can’t imagine how that would work as Lister being shit at cooking. It’s got fresh cream and fudge on it, why would it be roast beef?

That’s the point! He is SOOOO fundamentally shit, he made a cake instead of roast beef.  Its absurd.  Which is funny in and of itself.  But I still think it’s just meant to be sarcasm

[International Debris]

But if he was that shit, he wouldn’t be self-aware enough to point out that he got it wrong, especially in such a mild, off-hand way. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

In a comedy show he would be 

[International Debris]

A different comedy show, maybe. It doesn’t feel right for Red Dwarf, though.

[Rudolph]

Part of Red Dwarf’s charm for me is the way the future it predicts is neither utopian or dystopian (as is all too popular with science fiction), but “dumb” and sub-optimal in a way that is so recognizable from our real world.

I love that too. Red Dwarf’s future is just now, but with better gadgets. Rimmer and Lister aren’t any more particularly enlightened than the average twentieth century person.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’m not sure we have ever discussed this choice of shot?  What do you think the thought process was from a directorial point of view to shoot through a grate for the opening shot?

[Dave]

I think it was probably to convey the feeling of them being trapped/imprisoned in their situation, as well as to reinforce the grimy/industrial setting. I think it works well.

[Dave]

As an aside, when I first watched The End Remastered I rolled my eyes at the way they’d superimposed the grate so cackhandedly over the opening shot and obscured the action – only to later realise it was there in the original too.

[Unrumble]

I think it was probably to convey the feeling of them being trapped/imprisoned in their situation, as well as to reinforce the grimy/industrial setting. I think it works well.

Nice dimension to add, against all the grey-painted wood. Though for the record, despite the unrelenting grey-ness, I think the sets are perfectly good.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think it was probably to convey the feeling of them being trapped/imprisoned in their situation, as well as to reinforce the grimy/industrial setting. I think it works well.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen it as anything other than “hidden camera spying on the crew” … it doesn’t really give off trapped, imprisoned vibes.  Although I can see why you might view it as such.

It just feels so totally random and out of place for a show that doesn’t really do anything like this in terms of direction normally.  And its the very first shot.

[Dave]

Also, was it actually shot through a grate or was it just overlaid as an element over the footage? It’s always looked weirdly fake to me, although that could just be the lighting. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think overlay? You’d never get a clear shot through an actual grate would you?

[Dave]

I think overlay? You’d never get a clear shot through an actual grate would you?

[International Debris]

Wasn’t the original idea it was going to be viewed through a vent or something, but this was the closest they could get?

[Dave]

[Rudolph]

Wasn’t the original idea it was going to be viewed through a vent or something, but this was the closest they could get?

I think there’s unused footage from Remastered where the shot was reframed, so the shot of them through the grate was smaller, and we’d be looking in from one of Red Dwarf’s cargo bays.

[clem]

I actually thought that was there in the finished version of the Remastered episode. It’s in the raw FX footage on Bodysnatcher and, unsurprisingly, looks awful. 

I’m not a fan of the un-remastered grate either. Just looks incongruous and fake. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

That’s fucking awful. I’m surprised they didn’t use it.

[Jonathan Capps]

Points for trying, though. That’s ambitious.

[International Debris]

Whether it’s the focus or something I’m not sure, but the scale looks completely off and makes them look like micropeople. 

I love the way that didn’t get through but the skutter did.

[cwickham]

Is that actually how it would’ve looked in the final episode, or is it a similar case to the New Gordon deleted scene where it was unfinished and they spliced it together to give an idea of how it looked?

[Author]

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