Regarding Starbug’s support legs

[Tonguetied]

Now come series 7 we not only had a larger Bug but also it’s thruster capability/velocity was immeasurably increased. Now this could have all been left to changes to interior changes which wouldn’t be noticeable on the outside; However Douglas and chris veale had other ideas – ”Wouldn’t it be cool if we could show the changes on the outside, have Starbugs support legs horizontal, it would be cool and sleek and the fans will love it!” Well chris sadly not, just like we despised the Blue Midget dance( which was sadly a changed design..cough Andrew). What I’m saying is, I feel that the Bug look considerably worse off than better, it looked like something more out of another Sci Fi show. The old look should have been retained, and I know that in Back to Reality Starbug had a one off, change of angle of support legs, under water, so no one is going to get me there saying ”But Tonguetied it wasn’t a big mistake on Doug or Veales part because it was in a series 5 episode. Now what are your own humble views on this matter. Ian included.

[Seb Patrick]

I like the angled legs, actually. It makes it look more like some kind of flying insect.

[Ian Symes]

It was fuck all to do with Chris Veale. At DJ last year, I was speaking to Alan ‘Rocky’ Marshall about it, and he said it was a decision made at the model-making stage to make it more insect-like. The idea was that they’d be vertical when Starbug was at rest, and horizontal on take-off.

[Andrew]

But Tonguetied it wasn?t a big mistake on Doug or Veale’s part because it was in a Series V episode. And then done to the VII models, along with the viewscreen alternations. Chris just copied the model – as the DVDs raw FX reel (not to mentions hots from the eps themselves) show.

[Tonguetied]

You spoke to Rocky Ian, that is quite a pleasure indeed. Regardless the more insect like just didn’t pull it for me. I mentioned the episode in series 5 Andrew.

[Ian Symes]

But Tonguetied it wasn?t a big mistake on Doug or Veale?s part because it was in a Series V episode. And then done to the VII models, along with the viewscreen alternations. Chris just copied the model – as the DVDs raw FX reel (not to mentions hots from the eps themselves) show.

Never mind all this, when are you going to update the Blue Midget page?

[Andrew]

> I mentioned the episode in series 5 Andrew.

Really? That might explain why I was able to copy the wording exactly…

[Dave]

The more insect-like the better

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1863/zrdstarbug3aq5.jpg

[Tonguetied]

Your copy and paste skills are so honed Andrew, what other skills do you possess? Perhaps you could share your incredible insight, tell us how you perfected your impeccable wit. So when are you updating blue midget, you still refuse to answer,why is this so? It’s your duty as a Official Siter to answer questions posed to you is it not sir? You know I’ll keep asking until the cows come home, so why not just settle it now my feathered friend?

[Dave]

When here, Andrew owes us nothing, he is duty free.

[Tonguetied]

That’s what he thinks.

[John Hoare]

Andrew doesn’t have to answer the question if he doesn’t want to. The fact that he DOES answer pretty much EVERY question on here, apart from one from you, might give you some pause for thought as to how to behave around here.

Now drop it.

[Pete Part Three]

Yeah. Leave him alone, you big bully.

[Tonguetied]

I asked him a question which I’m entitled to and I will continue to do so in my efforts to fight for justice. How d’em apples?

[Tonguetied]

Go climb a tree. He should still reply.

[Pete Part Three]

And he’s perfectly entitled to ignore you.

If a stopped clock is right twice a day, how often is a perfectly functioning clock right?

[Pete Part Three]

When are you going to answer my question, Tongue Tied?

[Pete Part Three]

God damn it, you rude bastard! Answer me!

[Pete Part Three]

The nerve of some people…

[Tonguetied]

Oh ha ha.

[Tonguetied]

Witty to the bitter end my liege.

[Ian Symes]

If you’re going to start being sarky to perfectly good people for no reason, you can piss off.

[Tonguetied]

Indeed, here here. Are you the back up?

[Tonguetied]

And hey, ha, as if he wasn’t being sarky to me but yeah he can get off with it. Clever, very clever. Rethink my friend.

[mick]

What. The. Fuck.

[John Hoare]

Right, Tonguetied, this is your first warning – for being unable to participate in the site constructively, and for not listening to site admin. Any more and there will be a second warning. Any more after that, and you’ll be banned.

[Phil]

Any more after THAT, and you’ll get a third warning.

[Danny Stephenson]

> Any more after THAT, and you?ll get a third warning.

“You are really not helping…”

[mick]

Black card.

[Tanya Jones]

I hate you, Phil.

[Paul Muller]

Wow, that was like Jeremy Kyle or something.

[Paul Muller]

Although no-one mentioned the words ‘on NATIONAL television”, or was told to tuck their shirt in and take their hat off and act like a real man.

Which is a shame really.

[Dave]

>Although no-one mentioned the words ?on NATIONAL television?, or was told to tuck their shirt in and take their hat off and act like a real man

Or headbutted their wife’s lover.

I presume

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

> Or headbutted their wife?s lover.

Speak for yourself

[Paul Muller]

Would I be correct in saying that the Blue Midget entry on TOS is still awaiting an update, eleven years later?

I don’t recall seeing any entries before the current one: http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/database/index.cfm

If so, that’s brilliant.

[Pete Part Three]

Given that God is infinite, and that the universe is also infinite, will the Blue Midget page ever be updated?

[Moonlight]

Frankly I just want to see any reference to tap-dancing removed.

[Paul Muller]

I’m building a 3D model of Blue Midget at the moment and I’ll be fucked if I’m putting arms on the thing. As far as I’m concerned it never happened.

[GlenTokyo]

The arms were the moment Red Dwarf jumped 12 megalodons, 4 great whites and a couple of hammerheads. Even though there’s an argument that arms are more useful than legs in a mining vehicle, where are they coming from? At least the legs were designed in and had a place. Also the arms and the way they move seems to imply that Blue Midget either has a character/soul/AI or would be best operated like a Jaeger from Pacific Rim. It needed a bit of time off to reflect on its mistakes.

If we’d have had a series IX in 2000 I bet they’d have turned Starbug into KITT and given it a two parter.

[Moonlight]

Why the fuck would a shuttlecraft have legs? It’s all stupid.

[Pete Part Three]

So it can do a little dance.

[bloodteller]

for the lulz

[q u i n n _ d r u m m e r]

For that silly drunk walking gag in Thanks for the Memory is the real answer right?

But I think the arms and legs thing make it more of a mining too than just a shuttle craft.

[Ben Saunders]

Pneumatic legs would be useful for getting out of mud/some crash type situation, especially if they were detachable. Imagine if Terrorform, Starbug could just fucking jump out of the gooey mindlake or whatever.

Blue Midget running around like a rabbit and stumbling about as if it’s drunk, however, is a bit silly.

It could also be used as a sort of lunar rover as well as the craft to actually get you to the moon, but then didn’t the original BM have caterpillar tracks which could be used in the exact same way?

[q u i n n _ d r u m m e r]

I was thinking more like, taking it down into a deep excavated cave. Legs would offer more mobility and stability and also allow you to reach higher up. It’s like an enclosed working platform, with arms to do the work in low / no oxygen atmosphere.

[bloodteller]

Blue Midget is essentially a cool mech suit, then? neat

[q u i n n _ d r u m m e r]

It’s like a bigger version of that contraption Ripley climbs into in Aliens. Only blue, and with less guns

[Dave]

Less guns than something with no guns?

[International Debris]

It has un-guns. They suck bullets out of people. Like sawn-off-sshotguns.

[Ben Saunders]

>Blue Midget is essentially a cool mech suit, then? neat
Now you mention it, Blue Midget’s redesign looks a bit like that stop-motion robot from Robocop
http://robocoparchive.com/info/ed209-22.jpg

[Dave]

‘that stop-motion robot’! It’s ED-209, call it by its name!

Or ED-209 2X4B 523P to give it its full name.

[GlenTokyo]

I always thought the whisk attachment on the front of the new Midget was a drill of some description, so legs would let it get a good angle on something like an anglepoise I suppose, but it could only start drilling because that whisk is probably about 8ft long if you scale it to a person, so it’d get the hole going and then the Red Dwarf equivalent of Thunderbird 2 would come down and drop the Mole.

I feel like maybe you can explain away giving something that flies another way of getting around if it saves on fuel and fuel is a thing in the universe, the OG Blue Midget looked like it had a big diesel engine too for the tracks, some kind of future synthetic diesel is probably cheaper than whatever the rockets use or cheaper to get into the engines than something like Hydrogen which is abundant but hard to gather. The legs must be a bit of a drain on power though.

[Taiwan Tony]

If Chris Barrie wore the Blue Midget mech suit, he’d be Pacific Rimmer.
Thanks very much I’m here all week.

[Author]

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