Spot the odd one out!

[thomasaevans]

http://fanderson.org.uk/images2/sfm_ds.jpg

Topic

[Dave]

Is he a replica of himself?

[John Hoare]

The design of Starbug is probably the best single piece of design to come out of Red Dwarf, isn’t it?

[Pete Part Three]

Yeah, there’s nothing else like it.

[Dave]

The original Enterprise is beautiful thing, the TARDIS is a wonderful conceit but Starbug is the best spaceship design ever.

[ChrisM]

I wish I’d grabbed the Starbug playset from play.com when I had the chance. It was going for under around ?17 -18 at one point.

It can still be picked up though, but rarely for that price.

[Steve Harris]

The ‘playset’ is one of the nicest models I’ve seen, it looks brilliant…

Sadly, once it’s out of the box it falls flat on its arse (literally)..

This model is so fragile it should be stored on cotton wool, the front landing legs just fall off, the sound is crap as well.

It is a huge pity considering the look of it and all the design and effort that’s clearly been put into it.

10/10 for looks but 0/10 for useage.

The word ‘play’ in playset is close to being in breach of the trade description act in my view..

[John Hoare]

Agreed 100%. It really didn’t stand up to repeated use at all. Ridiculously fragile – one of my legs has snapped off, and I hardly used it. And I *still* don’t know how the sound managed to be so screwed up! Why did nobody notice?

It was a great idea, and as you said, a lot of effort had clearly gone into it – but in the end, it was a huge disappointment. My review really doesn’t take into account actually *playing* with the thing…

[Seb Patrick]

It’s still something of a bugbear of mine that the sound problem was never adequately addressed. But, eh. I still think it looks lovely on the shelf, and there’s a hell of a lot of work and effort gone into it. Fantastic attention to detail.

[Steve Harris]

Indeed, it looks good on my shelf now I’ve glued both legs back on.

The point that it’s advertised as a play set bugs me and the one leg broke when I merely pressed the sound button…

[Mr Flibble]

Ridiculously fragile – one of my legs has snapped off

How is hopping working out for you?

[ChrisM]

So… a ‘play-set’ which actually works out better as a model for enthusiasts rather than something for kids?

Oh well.

I’ll still keep my eye out though, but I won’t look to pay too much what with the problems and all.

I thought it interesting comparing it with the little corgi starbug (another little gem.) It seems to me the dimensions are different.

“Duh! The playset is bigger, of course the dimensions are different.” I hear.

That’s not what I mean. I mean the comparative dimensions between the cockpit and cargo/thorax sections. I.e. the difference in size between the back and cockpit seems greater than the playset version. The same seems to be true of some of the models and CGI I’ve seen on the show too. It’s like the play-set was going for the series 3-6 look, the model 7-8. (Although there is some overlap with reused shots etc.)

This might be a complete optical illusion however as I’ve only seen the playset in pictures. Those of you who have both model and playset though, I’d be interested to learn if I’m right.

Is it the sign of the geek that I’m fascinated by such level of minutia?

That’s the second time I’ve used that word lately…

[Baz]

The proportions are different you mean. And yes, they are. The corgi model’s legs are much larger compared to the playset as I recall. I’m on my second starbug playset as well, the first one broke bits of antennae just carrying the damned thing home, the probe launcher stuck at home and trying to get the probe out I snapped one of the legs. Thinking of turning it into the battle damaged/crashed starbug playset instead.

Having an extra set of figures is nice though, good for Smegupoly or putting in “surprise buttsex” poses for when aunties visit.

I wish they’d do a just a simple model kit for starbug, blue midget and Red Dwarf itself though. The first two to scale, the last possibly slightly smaller…

[ChrisM]

Proportions. Yes. Thats the term. I had a bit of a Baldrick (Blackadder Goes Forth) “How did the war start?” moments there didn’t I?

[pfm]

> The design of Starbug is probably the best single piece of design to come out of Red Dwarf, isn?t it?

I love how it’s sort of a parody of the Klingon Bird of Prey and yet not so much that you actually think of it when you see the Bug.

[John Hoare]

I love how it?s sort of a parody of the Klingon Bird of Prey and yet not so much that you actually think of it when you see the Bug.

You know, I never thought of it like that!

I can definitely see how it could be seen as a parody (green, shaped like a creature)… but was that really the intention? After all, there’s the oft-told story about how it was going to be White Midget, and then Rob and Doug chose a design that looked like an insect, and then they decided it should be green… which feels fairly organic, not a deliberate choice to do a specific parody.

[pfm]

Yeah, Rob and Doug obviously didn’t set out to parody it, it’s just the way the design fell. But I’ve managed to convince myself that I heard SOMEONE from the model team mention the Bird of Prey at some point. I suppose it’s the green mainly, but the cockpit exterior has similarities too.

[TheLeen]

>> I love how it?s sort of a parody of the Klingon Bird of Prey and yet not so much that you actually think of it when you see the Bug.

> You know, I never thought of it like that!

Me neither, but surprisingly, it works for me.

[ChrisM]

To my mind the klingon ship is more modeled on a bird, (hence the name, although the Romulan Bird of preys get their name from the picture emblazoned on them rather than the shape of the ship) and Starbug… Oh I won’t say the obvious. Coincidental similarity, but a minor similarity nonetheless.

I love the look of the klingon bird of prey. Difficult to find the right words why without falling on cliches like, “iconic” or the all encompassing “cool”, but those words fit very well in this case.

[Dave]

>> I love how it?s sort of a parody of the Klingon Bird of Prey and yet not so much that you actually think of it when you see the Bug.

I like that, the Bird of Prey’s shorter, fatter cousin.

This thread seems like the perfect opportunity to post this again:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1863/zrdstarbug3aq5.jpg

[peas_and_corn]

“Bird of prey, we have just arrested your older, balder, fatter cousin”

[Danny Stephenson]

This thread seems like the perfect opportunity to post this again:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1863/zrdstarbug3aq5.jpg

The antennae seemed to have been copied from the hydraulics of the front left leg, yes?

[Dave]

>The antennae seemed to have been copied from the hydraulics of the front left leg, yes?

No, it was the other way around

[ChrisM]

I had a search on the web last night and those playsets are still about! (Unless the ads are out of date, and they just didn’t bother removing em.) They’re all more than the price play used to charge though, the cheapest about ?25. Which granted isn’t too bad I guess.

[Author]

Replies