Smugle or Strugle? – Dispatches From Smegle

[Flap Jack]

Howdy doodly do, folks! As we’ve now had 2 weeks of the Difficult Daily, I thought it might be prudent to move discussions of the day’s puzzle and our scores to a dedicated thread, so we’re not just bloating the comments of the “Reintroducing Smegle” post all the time. Let that be for more general feedback (or bug reports).

And of course, if you get any share-worthy frames in Casual Continuous, feel free to post those here too!

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To start us off,

01/05/2022

5/6

Somewhat tricky, but once I’d got the right series I felt confident I could narrow it down enough not to fail.

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Also, what do you think: should this thread be spoiler-free, or not? I’m leaning towards not – because I generally prefer to do the Difficult Daily myself before hearing about others’ scores anyway, and it would be cool to speak openly without having to wait until the next day – but only if there’s consensus on it.

Topic

[Flap Jack]

then it was a case of thinking back over which episode most likely fits the colour balance on show as the look of the headshots evolves a fair amount over time

… the colour balance of the Holly headshots changes over time.

You’re operating on another level, Jenuall. 🤯

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

BURN THE WITCH

[Warbodog]

Such a bold claim demanded investigation. Here are the first full Holly shots from each episode:

I know visual Holly was added into The End and Balance of Power (at least) with later reshoots, not sure if Waiting for God was another of those, but he’s on set monitors for most of that. Maybe the paler ones from Future Echoes & Confidence and Paranoia were the earliest version? My bullshit also demands investigation.

[Dave]

Are those from the smegadrive? Am I right in thinking that it uses the Blu-Ray as the source? I wonder if those colours were tweaked much for the new transfer.

[Flap Jack]

Tired: Remembering which outfit Cat wears in each episode.

Wired: Remembering which hexadecimal colour values Holly’s monitor background and face skin are in each episode.

[Warbodog]

Here’s a version using an older source, with less distinct variation:

I’d say Waiting for God (bottom left) looks like the telltale prototype there.

[Dave]

Wow, there’s quite a lot of difference between that and the first set.

[Jonathan Capps]

Yeah the Blu-ray versions look quite rubbish by comparison! We used those as they work better for memes as they’re brighter, but some of the grading choices really re questionable.

[Dave]

Yeah you’d assume they did it to try and get a more consistent look, but the BR ones are all over the place. Weird.

[Flap Jack]

Honestly I don’t find the change problematic (and it not being as bright actually looks a bit weird to me now), but it is strange that the Blu ray flipped things around so Holly is at his whitest in Future Echoes and Confidence & Paranoia, and makes him less white in Me^2 as well so the difference is even more obvious in this comparison.

[Flap Jack]

Ohhh, hang on a sec: once I’d realised I was looking at Series 1 Holly, my next guess was Me2! Did my subconscious remember his DVD face colour???

I mean probably not, but still.

[Jenuall]

Let’s face it, Holly colour grading hot takes and deep dives are the content we all come to G&T for!

The evolution of the pixel effect is quite fun to see over time as well, by Me² it’s significantly more subtle

[Flap Jack]

06/05/2022 

4/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟩

I’d correctly identified the type of scenery by Guess 2, but getting the episode wrong (I put Backwards) made me second guess myself for 3.

[clem]

🟩

Piece of piss. 

[RunawayTrain]

06/05/2022 

⬛🟩

That’s more like it.  Had a complete and utter brain block for literally a few minutes after the second square was revealed though – I knew *exactly* which episode but couldn’t think of the title!!  Strange feeling to have a total blank about Red Dwarf.

[Warbodog]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 06/05/2022 

I managed to identify the blurry material in square 1, so went through the rustic ones.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 06/05/2022 

⬛🟩

That’s a bit better. Clem how the hell did you recognise it from the first square? 

[Dave]

Yeah, this one was much more gettable – I got it on guess two too.

[Jenuall]

3 for me today, kicking myself as I should have got it from the hat! 

[Unrumble]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 06/05/2022 

⬛🟩

Same 😎

[clem]

Clem how the hell did you recognise it from the first square? 

That didn’t really help. It was just that there were quite a few brown squares and Gunmen’s the brownest episode. At least I think of it as such, possibly because of the VI DVD cover mainly. 

[Dave]

There’ll be a day when it’s a sea of bright pink and everyone gets it on the first attempt. 

[Jenuall]

There’ll be a day when it’s a sea of bright pink and everyone gets it on the first attempt. 

Or fails and it turns out to be a close up of cats pink suit! 

[International Debris]

The hat gave it away for me.

[clem]

⬛🟩

Another one where the colours were a big help. 

[Warbodog]

Another one where the colours were a big help. 

It didn’t look/feel like several of the series do, so I went for the other options.

[Dave]

Took me 4 today. There’s a lot of shots/scenes from TPL that just haven’t got lodged in my mind yet, and that’s one of them.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 07/05/2022 

🟩

BOOOOOM!

[International Debris]

I think my guesses were the same as Warbodog’s.

[Flap Jack]

07/05/2022 

4/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟩

Seems like Dave and I are somewhat alike in mind with this one! The scene just didn’t occur to me – even once the hand holding an implement and the helmet were revealed and I guessed correctly, I was thinking of the scene where they’re using the vegan forks for some reason.

The white squares threw me too. Turns out there weren’t any actual white things in shot, just some reflective things (LIKE MOONLIGHT OMG).

Also, if it’s The Promised Land, then as long as you recognise the frame shape you’re guaranteed to get it in 5. So if you’re not feeling confident then the strategic play is to guess other series first.

[RunawayTrain]

07/05/2022 

🟩

I’m shocked!  Didn’t recognise the brown from anywhere, so as a shot to nothing guessed TPL, and here we are  :D

[clem]

[Flap Jack]

08/05/2022 

2/6 ⬛🟩

Ahhh, that’s more like it. Thought it was that one part of their AR trial in Back in the Red at first. Although even now I can’t remember why or how there was a solid white background there.

[RunawayTrain]

Payback for yesterday?

08/05/2022 

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

(But, as a very niche aside, after coming across highlights on YouTube of an archaeological excavation with Stewart Ainsworth, in a trench, *digging* – something I never ever though I’d see, to the point that I actually laughed out loud in disbelief – nothing can dampen my amusement tonight!)

[Unrumble]

08/05/2022 

⬛⬛🟩

First guess was M-Corp, as there was a stark white background. When that failed, I thought it might be something from outside in Better Than Life. Then it was clear it was the Holly watch, and well, rather obvious.. 

[Dave]

First guess was M-Corp, as there was a stark white background

Ditto. I ignored the aspect ratio at my peril.

I eventually got it on guess 3.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 08/05/2022 

🟨🟩

my first thought from the immense amount of white and mix colours in the centre was the opening shot from Tikka. That at least gave me the series but the second square reveal was clearly the Holly Watch so it could only be one episode then. 

[Flap Jack]

It’s funny, despite being the one to warn against not paying attention to the aspect ratio, I very nearly guessed M-Corp too. It was like an instinctive response.

And oof, that is some diabolical bad luck, RunawayTrain. I assume your last 2 guesses were for Series VIII and Series 2 (in either order)?

[RunawayTrain]

And oof, that is some diabolical bad luck, RunawayTrain. I assume your last 2 guesses were for Series VIII and Series 2 (in either order)?

I guessed series 2 fairly early on.  It was clear from the second guess it was something with Holly, then by guess 4 or so that it was a watch, but I couldn’t for the life of me think where – Epideme and Nanarchy are even less-watched for me than VIII – which in retrospect should have been a clue, but hey *shrug* 

[Warbodog]

It’s an image I’ve seen often enough outside of the episode (memes, maybe a G&T banner?) to recognise it.

I figured it wouldn’t be a flash frame explosion or something like that, since I assume these are random frames G&T get that they decide to smegle up, so there’s more chance of a lingering shot.

[clem]

⬛🟩

How’s everyone’s streaks doing three weeks since the launch of the Daily Difficult? I’m currently on 4 having made it to 17 then been foiled by the Duct Soup one a few days ago. 

[Flap Jack]

I’m on 11, just today beating my previous longest streak of 10.

[Jenuall]

I assumed they were cropping these so that you couldn’t guess via aspect ratio! 

[Flap Jack]

lol, while I can understand being able to immediately narrow it down to 22 or 52 episodes might make it feel “too easy” for some (definitely not me), cropping images to make the aspect ratios uniform would be extremely unfair. Smegle is meant to be testing your recognition of actual frames from Red Dwarf.

[Warbodog]

I found it hard to identify the ratio a couple of times, especially with the number of reveal squares (6×4) being the same. I’ve learned to spot it by whether the squares are actually square (BBC) or rectangles (Dave).

I’ve got a full 22 days, I don’t know how many of us are left waiting to be picked off.

[RunawayTrain]

Streak?  More like a smudge – my longest is 4.  Equalled or bettered by my longest losing streak, no doubt.  [It’s actually quite liberating having no real achievement to protect though, in all honesty.]

Warbodog, that is mightily impressive!

[RunawayTrain]

Ooh, redemption perhaps

09/05/2022 

⬛🟩

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 09/05/2022 

🟨🟩

I was doing fine up until that blasted Duct Soup one. I also missed a day so my streaks have been all over the place and I haven’t really been paying attention to my longest   Apparently currently on 5

[Dave]

Got today’s in 3. I initially thought that hair was someone else.

[Unrumble]

09/05/2022 

⬛🟩

I renounced series 6, and chose the righteous path of stubbles…

[Author]

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