Subtly changing Red Dwarf

[Warbodog]

Minor dialogue changes can significantly affect how the characters come across. Observe:

V1: Curious

V2: Creepy

V3: Random

V4: Distracted

Topic

[Warbodog]

You know, if the images showed. Update: Fixed with Copy Image instead, so nothing can stop my hilarity.

V1: Informal

V2: Inappropriate/Non sequitur

V3: No longer acceptable reference

[Warbodog]

[Technopeasant]

[Unrumble]

[Ian Symes]

[Unrumble]

[Warbodog]

[Unrumble]

[Nick R]

Normal: 

Admiring an exemplary example of someone with a certain name:

Asking about the gender of someone being discussed:

Who was the SI unit of power named after?

A spectacular point in rugby:

Wasn’t Charles Laughton great in Mutiny on the Bounty?

Expressing his admiration for Ace in a more specific way:

A Geordie meeting his friend:

James Bond is good at his job, isn’t he?

That pigpen is impressive! 

That infected spot on your eyelid is impressive!

Proposing a way of cooking a meal:

Offering a suicide pact:

And now, this final question is for £1 million. What was the first name of the Gunpowder Plot member who was also known as “Guido Fawkes”? Is it:

A: Guy

B: Robert

C: Craig

D: Norman

What phrase is used to exclude certain people from an application? 

Can I ask an intrusive question? 

Did your plan fail? 

“Who did Peter Kay play in Phoenix Nights? Brian something… Potter, was it?”

Say “pottery” in a very bad, exaggerated Brummie/Black Country accent. 

Where does your solar power come from? 

Please mildly insult someone in an old-fashioned way.

Can you name a feature on the coastline of Newfoundland?

Marsupial spotted!

[clem]

[International Debris]

[Flap Jack]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Given we know Mr Rimmer gave Arnold the hologram to play when he had made it, and given Arnold keeps telling Mrs Rimmer passed his exams and is a Rear Admiral, it’s easy enough to draw a line to that Mr and Mrs Rimmer believing Arnold has played the hologram and that Mrs Rimmer’s letter actually refers to Bongo 

[Flap Jack]

Interesting idea, but it seems unlikely that Rimmer’s mum would go from never directly acknowledging him as Rimmer’s father at all to referring to him as “your father” in correspondence without any in-between.

Also, you mean Dungo. Bongo is too young to be Rimmer’s dad, plus he’s from a different universe.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I do mean Dungo, yes 

Unfortunately he name isn’t Frank so it’s easy to forgot. 

[Nick R]

[Warbodog]

given Arnold keeps telling Mrs Rimmer passed his exams and is a Rear Admiral

I never liked that detail (of the otherwise impeccable scene). I don’t know why Rimmer would inform her each time he took an exam (unless she just knows it’s procedure for officers every year to advance, or something?) It seems implausible that she’d never know the truth all those years, since any family members who did know would delight in informing her. Plus, I just want her to despair of him.

[Rudolph]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Flap Jack]

[Nick R]

[Jonathan Capps]

[Jonathan Capps]

[Flap Jack]

[Jonathan Capps]

[Technopeasant]

[Warbodog]

[Nick R]

Minor dialogue changes that spoil the punchlines:

[Jonathan Capps]

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

[Technopeasant]

[Technopeasant]

 Also, you mean Dungo. Bongo is too young to be Rimmer’s dad, plus he’s from a different universe.

Also, if he’s been married 35 years then he isn’t too young. New conspiracy unlocked.

And in fairness to Quinn, this thread has provided ample prompting to have Bongo on the brain.

[Nick R]

In honour of the YouGov poll on swearing, I’m going to try upgrading some Red Dwarf slang and euphemisms to the next tier of offensiveness:

(I notice that scene’s Smega-Drive subtitles have inconsistent ellipsis punctuation!)

[Warbodog]

Generously going with the airdate, since Bobby was still in the womb 35 years before the scene was recorded.

[Jonathan Capps]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Technopeasant]

Generously going with the airdate, since Bobby was still in the womb 35 years before the scene was recorded.

He definitely seems written as an older man in Backwards.

[Technopeasant]

And here I thought todger meant arse

[Warbodog]

And here I thought todger meant arse

I thought “tits” referred specifically to nipples (“teats”) for a while, and that people really admired those specifically.

[Technopeasant]

You mean you don’t?

[Unrumble]

[Warbodog]

Necrohijacking for a different interpretation of the thread title.

Fun Guide to Roleplaying Existing Red Dwarf Episodes

Reading a guide for playing multiplayer RPG adventures solo, that involves knowing how the whole story plays out in advance, got me thinking about how other familiar stories could be broken down and messed around with without taking them off course.

This creative writing activity or solitary pseudo-game involves changing the specifics of Red Dwarf scenes while still enabling the rest of the episode (and series) to happen.

Example

‘Pete, Part 1’ seems like one of the best candidates for trying to improve or just taking the piss, since it’s largely based around random shit happening. But even then, there is some basic structure that should be followed:

– Scene 1: Lister and Rimmer are called to the Captain’s Office for a reprimand

– Scene 2: They face their unfair punishment, but cheat to succeed

– Scene 3: They’re called to the Captain’s Office for a reprimand again

Etc.

In each of these scenes, you might have better or worse ideas for what exactly happened in ways that don’t derail or even really affect the rest of the episode, e.g.

– How did they prank Ackerman? Or did they do something else?

– Do they play a basketball match, or something else?

– Do they give the guards boners, or something else?

– Etc.

You may notice that those examples aren’t actually examples. ‘Solo’ means you don’t have to face public scrutiny, only judgement by yourself when the Inquisitor calls.

Random tables

To pretend it’s a real game, you could note down a few different ideas and roll a die to see which one happens. You don’t have to come up with 6 different ones, as numbers can double or triple up.

If you’re stuck for ideas, or want more randomness, you could create further random tables to select a subject character, objects, actions and other things involved.

MAIN CHARACTER TABLE (if not present, substitute with another character present or mentioned)

Roll 1: Lister

Roll 2: Rimmer

Roll 3: Cat

Roll 4: Kryten

Roll 5: Holly

Roll 6: Kochanski

But if you’re getting advanced and creating a D100 Items Found in a Space Corps Derelict random table, you should maybe consider writing your own episodes from scratch.

Success and failure

You might then want to see how the characters fare in the new/changed scenario by rolling for tests, setting an appropriate level of difficulty. If the characters are supposed to fail at this point in the story, rolling a 6 could mean they succeed against the odds, but this success may need to be tempered in some way for the story to continue.

CHALLENGE TABLE (adjust for appropriate difficulty)

Roll 1-4: Failure

Roll 5: Partial success

Roll 6: Full success

Making adjustments

Some reckless decisions could risk breaking an episode (“kill jester”), but you could think of ways to work around them.

Having Barbara Bellini come out of the pod changes ‘Justice’ significantly, but maybe she’s gone crazy or possessed and wants to kill them all anyway (more likely than not).

Lister shouldn’t really ever die, you maniac, but if he does, he can get better or be secretly resurrected in a replicant body that his crewmates swear to never mention again, as long as it still gets to the credits on time.

Asking questions

If you want to delve deeper into your imaginary scenes, you can ask questions about any aspect and get answers from the Oracle. Don’t get excited, it’s just dice again, or a coin toss. And as long as your question can be phrased as a yes or no.

ORACLE ANSWERS (adjust for appropriate difficulty)

Roll 1-3: No, and… (worst outcome)

Roll 4: No, but…

Roll 5: Yes, but…

Roll 6: Yes, and… (best outcome)

Now you are ready to imagine things. Imagine that!

Am I going crazy in unemployment?

Roll 1: Yes

Roll 2: Yes

Roll 3: Yes

Roll 4: Yes

Roll 5: Yes

Roll 6: No, but…

[Rushy]

[Warbodog]

[Rushy]

I sometimes wish we had an upvote thingy

[Nick R]

[Warbodog]

[Rushy]

[International Debris]

Why do I get the feeling Rimmer’s doing the same face as Kerry Shale did when he was voicing Taiwan Tony?

[Author]

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