Refresh For The Memory: Series VI Byte 1

[International Debris]

Gunmen
More strong female representation in the show.  

Wouldn’t the groinal attachment get… gunked up?  

Bloody hell, Rimmer and Lister at each other’s throats for the first time in the series.  

Why would a Simulant have a moustache?  

The Vindalooian Empire scene has lost its novelty over the years but I can’t deny it’s a piece of superb comedy.  

What was the simulant expecting? The last human in the universe is disappointing?  

The variant on the Space Corps Directive feels really awkward, the staging is really flat, the way the Simulant pauses to let them have the conversation, and the fact that POWs and car parking spaces are next to each other in those accords (I know, I know, that’s overthinking it).  

One fluke hit destroyed the whole Simulant ship?!  

I love Chris leaning on Kryten’s table before realising he’s meant to be a hologram and swiftly removing his arm. 

I wonder what the Red Dwarf theme actually is, in-universe. The skutters play it at the end of Dimension Jump, and now it’s playing in Kryten’s head.  

“The thing you should bring is silence” is a superb one liner, feels quite V-ish.  

The production quality of the western stuff is brilliant, everything feels spot on, the music is lovely.  

The Riviera Kid isn’t that funny at first, I think it’s the repetition of the unnecessary flamboyance that makes it so good. The audience don’t actually react that much to it, though.  

Bear Strangler McGee is a fantastic name.  

The guns signifying peace, the mule being called Dignity, these feel like the same kinds of metaphors as the ones in Terrorform, only without the interesting character stuff behind them.  

Yeah, the love of the bullet ricocheting is absolutely justified. Perfect gag.  

Smee Hee makes its third appearance. Is it officially a catchphrase now?  

The question is: why didn’t they bother with chopping Lister’s finger off and crushing his ribs, shooting Cat in the head and melting Rimmer?   

I love Rimmer’s, especially his little nod at the end. 
I swear Loredo wasn’t this muddy when I watched it as a kid.  

Superb closing theme. I particularly love the way it goes into the Red Dwarf theme at the end.  

Yeaaaah. I mean it’s pretty funny and obviously the second half is a very memorable set piece, but it’s never been one of my favourites. Strip the novelty of Loredo out and it’s another artificial reality episode without any of the character stuff we had in Better Than Life or Back to Reality. 

[Unrumble]

Bear Strangler McGee is a fantastic name

As is the term ‘beans up’, which I don’t recall hearing anywhere else, ever.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Someone mentioned earlier Psirens reintroducing the idea of Lister as the ‘main’ character. 

It was Warbodog.

– Lister’s reappointed as main character. It’s overdue and was the sense I had starting with this series generally, though still very much a team effort.

[Stilianides]

Gunmen of the Apocalypse

A brilliantly innovative episode and one that deserves all of the plaudits that it has received.

Wonderful production standards throughout, including in the opening VR sequence. Also, what a brilliant way of deriving humour from some fairly mundane exposition. Kryten’s lines about discovering millenium oxide could have been pretty dull if they’d been delivered in Starbug, but the context and Lister’s “I’ll keep my hat on” response mean you get the perfect blend of story and comedy.

Several memorable moments in the following scenes, including “I didn’t even know they’d met him”, “Who’s the least human looking?” and, of course, Lister and the Cat’s use of Kryten’s eyes.

Denis Lill makes for a really sturdy villain and it’s nice that he plays it straight.

There is a harsh cut after Rimmer says, “…38 minutes” that has always stood out to me.

The scenes in the Western town are superb with some of the best visual comedy that the show ever attempted. I’ve also often quoted Kryten’s, “the buzzards’ll be fighting the lizards for my gizzards.”

I love Howard Goodall’s new takes on the main theme.

The final lava model shot is a fittingly impressive way to end the episode (if I were being picky, the earlier laser cannon model shot doesn’t entirely convince).

[Dave]

There is a harsh cut after Rimmer says, “…38 minutes” that has always stood out to me.

Yes, it’s jarring that bit. I think it’s because the music cuts out so suddenly and the audience laughter feels a bit canned.

[Moonlight]

File that alongside a few times where the audience randomly laughed at something that isn’t even gag-adjacent, like Rimmer’s “We’ve got to” in Marooned.

[Warbodog]

I just realised Cat’s VIth sense basically makes him the Deanna Troi, giving everyone an invaluable early warning of danger a couple of seconds before the instruments do.

More strong female representation in the show.

Thanks to Hattie’s absence, Legion is the greatest sausage fest since Queeg. I think half the series doesn’t have any women in it, depending on your position on GELFs.

[Flap Jack]

Legion – Very good episode, and overall even better than the last one. The gestalt entity concept feels very under-baked, but the physical comedy and the cockpit banter definitely makes up for it. Generally the high gag rate is really working for the rhythm of the show, even if it would be best if this could be unified with the slightly more complex character development of previous years.

– So… are space weevils aliens? Probably not, but they’re clearly less concerned about stopping to justify these sorts of things now, after Psirens being GELFs in the last episode was just a throwaway line.

– While the one liners are generally great, a low point is that The Cat gets multiple “We’ll be deader than… ” fashion similie jokes. Those should really be limited to once per episode to stop it feeling so artificial. Shades of Last Human here, which is never desirable.

– Legion created the hardlight drive, so if we see any more hardlight holograms in the future, they may well have met Legion in the past. Small universe. (Or other people invented the technology independently, but that’s not a fun nitpick.)

– Rimmer being able to eat with hardlight feels kind of off to me. For some reason light being solid I’m cool with, but if you have a light-stomach, light-intestines and a light-rectum, then him being a hologram ceases to have any drawbacks whatsoever. Might as well just give him a body at that point.

– I know it’s just going off “one per episode”, but Rimmer saying they’ve met exactly 31 individuals is nonsense. Even if you don’t count the examples that involved going to their own past, Backwards and Meltdown alone should take them above that number.

– Rimmer saying “What on Io is going on?” feels like overworked dialogue. It’s not a plot hole for Rimmer to use a figure of speech that invokes Earth even if he’s not from Earth, any more than it makes no sense for an atheist to say “Oh my god!”. (Plus, if you’re going to remind us he’s from Io, then surely he should know that the Ionian Nerve Grip isn’t a thing, huh.)

– Easy gag, but the reveal that Lister’s escape plan is just “smash Legion over the head with a statue” is very funny. And it’s the cherry on top to hear Legion say “Revenge of the Surfboarding Killer Bikini Vampire Girls”.

– Legion just standing there and watching as they very slowly work out how to beat him is a serious weak point in the episode. I can only imagine that he was frozen in place due to being so upset that his guests would go to such lengths just to get away from him.

– It is a bit of a missed opportunity not to try making it so Legion actually recognisably exhibited a blend of character traits from all 4 regulars, but the performance worked for what it was I guess. And I’ve never really objected to the VFX for Legion’s multiple faces. It’s not great but it’s OK enough. Credit for the attempt, when the episode has nothing else to showcase the idea that Legion is a gestalt entity.

– I hope they also ransacked some of Legion’s apparently limitless food supplies, given how serious the situation with food was getting at the beginning of the episode.

[Warbodog]

Running gags, episode by episode (you’re going to have to open in tabs to read). Probably should have been next week, but I did it already.

I might have missed some, and there are probably some other themes that are less easy to identify based on keywords (e.g. Lister being disgusting and barely human, Starbug not being top of the line).

[Warbodog]

Observations:

– These gags were most prominent in the three episodes recorded first (Psirens, Legion, Rimmerworld)

– The two strongest episodes have the least reliance on these gags

– Cat doesn’t make as many fashion quips as I thought

– I’ve thought about doing a beat for beat comparison of Legion vs Emohawk cockpit scenes before, maybe next week

– I’m not searching for “than” to collect all the similes

[Flap Jack]

Running gags, episode by episode (you’re going to have to open in tabs to read). Probably should have been next week, but I did it already.

Ah, interesting stuff, thanks Warbodog.

Although I’d argue that each “human saying” instance is part of its respective “cat saying” rather than being a separate reoccurrence of the gag.

The fact that the “deader than… ” gags aren’t even in half the episodes makes it seem even weirder that they burned through 2 of them in Legion.

[Warbodog]

Although I’d argue that each “human saying” instance is part of its respective “cat saying” rather than being a separate reoccurrence of the gag.

That was just me including the gag in full, quickly abandoned when I moved on to the directives.

[Flap Jack]

Gunmen of the Apocalypse – As disappointing as it is that the BBC have chosen to repeat Quarantine on Sunday rather than this, I’ll take watching Gunmen on the 29th anniversary of Gunmen as a good back up option! This is just a hugely fun episode all round, and it has a surprisingly fast pace too. We go so quickly from the simulant attack to Kryten coming up with his idea to them joining him via AR in what feels like no time at all. It’s a thrill ride.

– “What is the name of Lister’s character in the film noir AR game?” would make for a good difficult trivia question. I wonder if that’s in either of the official quiz books, or the Smegazine.

– Between this and Psirens, Lister sure is horny this series.

– Funny how the video game terminology is all in 2D – “pixels” and “sprites” – even though they’re playing a photorealistic virtual reality game hundreds of years more advanced than the PS5.

– If them realising they’re in simulant space is an emergency, they totally could have just turned off the AR machine while Lister was playing. Classic Kryten, always too courteous.

– The Simulants hate all humanoid life, yet they’re humanoid themselves. It was already a bit suspect that they kill people for sport, but now I learn they’re hypocrites too? I’ve totally gone off them tbh.

– Re how the Simulant “had hoped for so much more” – maybe he meant that he’d hoped they were actually Vindaloovians who shared his fanatical hatred of humans?

– I’m glad the female Simulant comes back later, because she was really underserved by this episode.

– The simulants are embarrassingly easy to defeat when it comes to it, which does undermine them as a threat. Guess there must have been a fair amount of luck involved, but still, they seem like such idiots for not seeing it coming that the crew they’ve just given laser cannons might attack them.

– I always forget that the virus is the Armageddon Virus, not the Apocalypse Virus. After all, they’re the Apocalypse Boys! Gunmen of the Apocalypse! Also, it being called Apocalypse Virus in the novel doesn’t help.

– I agree that the “38 minutes” cut is jarring, and it’s a shame that I’ll never be able to un-notice it now.

– Lister losing the escape pod due to laziness and incompetence feels too out of character for him at this point in the show. Practically the escape pod plan would have just prolonged the inevitable anyway, considering they have nowhere to actually escape to, but still.

– I like The Cat coming up with 2 genuinely good plans. Another justification for his front row cockpit seat.

– Strange that Rimmer needs to switch to hardlight and physically put on the AR gear rather than just being loaded into the game directly, but obviously it’s worth it so we get the line-up of the three of them galloping.

– On the subject of hardlight, if Rimmer had been in hardlight mode the entire time, would the simulant’s gun have worked on him?

– Not much to say about the actual Western, other than that it’s all amazing. (Outdoor shots are a bit overly bright though.)

[Warbodog]

I’m not searching for “than” to collect all the similes

‘than’ / ‘as’ / ‘like’ jokes from this byte, not including more general turns of phrase like ‘stubborn as a mule.’

Psirens

– turned inside out quicker than a pair of Lister’s old underpants

– bigger than King Kong’s first dump of the day

– deader than corduroy

– crashed more times than a ZX81

– as plain as a Bulgarian pin-up

– shaped like an amusing ice cube

– shaped like a genetically flawed lumpfish

– like the ghost of Hendrix

– like a Yukon bear trapper on his annual visit to the brothel

– led here like lambs to the kebab shop

Legion

– vibrating faster than the springs on a Spaniard’s honeymoon bed

– deader than tank tops

– deader than A-line flares with pockets in the knees

– a longer yellow streak than a stampede of diuretic camels

– tougher than vindalooed mutton

– beginning to taste like Dutch lager

– like Herman Munster’s stunt man (missed this one earlier)

– returning to a limbo state of non-existence seems like promotion (not even sure if this counts any more)

Gunmen

– faster than a toilet stop in rattlesnake country

– like a dog that’s missing his master’s leg

– like a couple of porcupines on their wedding night

Gunmen’s notably low on this stock gag too.

[Formica]

Never mind XI endings, why weren’t we all on about VI endings this whole time?

[Flap Jack]

OK, I forgot that Gunmen had a fan commentary on the DVD/Blu ray, so I didn’t listen to that until this week, but I was shocked to hear one of the commentators shit-talking the Sega Mega Drive in it. I’m surprised this didn’t result in some sort of civil war in the fanbase back in the 00s.

[Dave]

I’ve never listened to it and now I’m glad I haven’t. 

[Warbodog]

The only thing I think I remember from the Gunmen fan commentary was the claim that the flies around Pestilence were the show’s first use of CGI, or something like that.

[Dave]

Not White Hole? 

[Warbodog]

I wimped out and edited “erroneous claim” just in case, but it always smelled bullshitty.

The Despair Squid shadow’s earlier, for a start.

[Flap Jack]

Haha, on the whole the competition winners are about as well informed as the cast. There are way too many cast commentaries where Robert says that model shots are CGI.

Although in the Gunmen one they do have a habit of talking too much about episodes other than the one they’re watching. The official fan commentaries are enjoyable enough, but they’re not quite DwarfCasts.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I wimped out and edited “erroneous claim” just in case, but it always smelled bullshitty.
The Despair Squid shadow’s earlier, for a start.

Well now I want to know what is the earliest use of CGI in the show? The Enlightenment perhaps? Or no, Dave might be right and the “pool table” in White Hole.

[Flap Jack]

The chess graphics in Queeg?

[Warbodog]

I wondered about series 2’s alert screens when watching. I don’t know if that’s a computer or just some kind of Teletext thing, and if there’s a difference.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

The chess graphics in Queeg?

That’s clear a practical effect. Someone is just moving chess pieces.

[International Debris]

I think someone should tweet Robert, he’s clearly the best at spotting CG when it’s used. 

[Dave]

I guess it depends how literal you want to be with the description. Anything that appears on a computer screen on set, as far back as Series 1, is computer generated imagery. But in the sense we think of it – as an object that isn’t there in reality while filming, and is created by a computer and inserted into the footage, the White Hole pool table display is the earliest example I can think of. Or maybe the bazookoid “bullets” in Polymorph?

[Flap Jack]

That’s clear a practical effect. Someone is just moving chess pieces.

Ah.

OK, so either they spoke about trying to do computer graphics for that but ultimately going practical in a behind the scenes doc, or I’ve just lost my mind. Both equally possible.

[clem]

It didn’t get used but there was an attempt to re-do the chess game for Remastered. You might be thinking of this bit of the Re-Dwarf documentary

[Flap Jack]

Oh, quite possibly! Thanks clem.

[Moonlight]

OK, I forgot that Gunmen had a fan commentary on the DVD/Blu ray, so I didn’t listen to that until this week, but I was shocked to hear one of the commentators shit-talking the Sega Mega Drive in it. I’m surprised this didn’t result in some sort of civil war in the fanbase back in the 00s.

[Author]

Posts