The Dog.

[Ben Kirkham]

It struck me recently that when people talk about ‘Parallel Universe,’ there’s very little discussion about the Dog. Can we rectify this please? 

Topic

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Only if we can have a similar discussion about the Rat from ‘Skipper’ too.

[Dave]

Mr Rat gets all his good press.

[Dave]

As Future Producer just proved.

[Flap Jack]

My only take on Dog is that he’s not actually called “The Dog”. Not bothering with a name because you expect everyone to already know who you are is specifically a feline vanity thing, so surely Dog has an actual, regular name of some sort. We just happen not to hear it.

Similar deal with “Mr. Rat”, but I shan’t derail this Dog thread into a Rat thread.

[Warbodog]

A reject from Rude Dog & The Dweebs.

[Dave]

 surely Dog has an actual, regular name of some sort. We just happen not to hear it.

Well of course. Because that’s true of the Cat too.

[Flap Jack]

Right. But I mean he has a name that Lister, Rimmer and Hilly actually use when talking to and about him.

[IrisVinEverec]

The dog looks like his name is Duane. 

[Ian Symes]

I don’t see why this wouldn’t be the case for the Dog too.

[Flap Jack]

Well, the main reason is that it would be weird to call a dog “Cat”.

The other reason, as I suggested, is that Cat’s lack of a regular name is specifically due to his cat-ness, not just the fact that he’s the only one of his species on board, which obviously does not apply to a dog. After all, Kryten is the only mechanoid on Red Dwarf (until Snacky NEVER FORGET SNACKY) but they don’t just call him “The Mechanoid”.

[Slim]

The dog looks like his name is Duane. 

Yes. He looks like Duane Allman.

[Ian Symes]

See, I think he is just named for his species, I don’t think it’s an inherently feline thing. We actually see Lister coin Cat’s name, and it’s just after Holly says the word “cat” loads of times. Presuming that Hilly said to Debs that “his ancestors are dogs, he’s descended from dogs, he is a dog”, it’s not a stretch to imagine Debs coming out with “hello… Dog?”. They don’t call Kryten “The Mechanoid” because he introduces himself as Kryten. If the Cat (or the Dog) already had a specific name prior to meeting the rest of the crew, it was never communicated to them.

[Nick R]

Speculation: Rob Grant enjoyed writing the Dog so much that he decided to add all the hillbilly stuff to Backwards.

[Dave]

I mean, we’re all quietly avoiding mentioning Gerald Hampton here.

[Flap Jack]

See, I think he is just named for his species, I don’t think it’s an inherently feline thing. We actually see Lister coin Cat’s name, and it’s just after Holly says the word “cat” loads of times. Presuming that Hilly said to Debs that “his ancestors are dogs, he’s descended from dogs, he is a dog”, it’s not a stretch to imagine Debs coming out with “hello… Dog?”. They don’t call Kryten “The Mechanoid” because he introduces himself as Kryten. If the Cat (or the Dog) already had a specific name prior to meeting the rest of the crew, it was never communicated to them.

I guess it depends on how open you are to the information from the books being applied to TV canon. Infinity tells us directly that not using names is a specifically feline thing, and while that explanation doesn’t fit perfectly with The Promised Land, that just requires some adaptation. And it does fit perfectly with Waiting for God, where the Cat Priest is also there, and he was obviously not named by Lister, but he still never gets referred to by a name, nor does he use names when talking about Cat or his parents.

While it’s true that Lister coined “Cat”, if Cat’s personality was different and he came from a different society, then he would have had a regular name and he would have revealed it, and then everyone would have switched to using it. After or perhaps in between scenes in The End, Lister surely would have pressed Cat about what he called himself, and I presume he just reacted with a mixture of nonchalance and confusion, so they settled on just calling him Cat.

It’s not impossible that heavily evolved dogs also don’t use names amongst themselves (for different reasons), and so Cat’s counterpart is in fact just called “The Dog”, but I would regard that as a coincidence, not a certainty.

I’m sure that Deb did have a “hello… Dog?” moment, but it’s highly plausible to me that their follow up conversation also had a “Yep, folks call me Fido!” moment.

I just found it interesting that nobody in Parallel Universe ever referred to the character as “Dog” or “The Dog”. Deb says “it’s a dog” but that’s just a description. The audience is left to jump to conclusions about his name based on Cat’s, but if Dog’s species and personality are completely different to Cat’s anyway, why not his naming conventions as well?

[Ben Kirkham]

Perfectly happy to have a companion ‘Mr Rat’ thread. But the Dog (as I assume he’s named) never gets any press. Even the documentary never mentions him. It’s a dogs life, I suppose.

[Jonsmad]

Series II we see the creature evolved from dogs. 

Series III Lister states that dogs lick their own testicles. 

There is then very little discussion of the dog character ever again.

[Podey]

Dog may or may not get appear in a Smegazine strip at some point. 

[Renegade Rob]

Assuming the parallel female universe future adventures echo that of the prime Dwarfers, give or take some fully-grown twin sons added to the mix who may or may not explode in the Drive Room, I’d be interested to see the Dog version of Identity Within and the Promised Land. 

[Dave]

In the parallel version of The Promised Land there’s no need for an awkward conversation about the Dog getting a sex change operation, so the episode simply begins with him having Deb Lister’s baby.

[Renegade Rob]

Yeah but I’ve always wondered about that… Given how lecherous the female Rimmer is, one she gets hard light, there’s gotta be a non-zero percent probability that she tries it on with the dog, right?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

At no point are we told Cat doesn’t have a name. Lister refers to him as Cat and Cat just doesn’t correct him

i can kind of see that from Cat that he just doesn’t care enough tell these people his name 

or

He grew up mostly on his own so he doesn’t really remember what his name is. The Priest calls him “The Boy” which is exactly the sort of thing an aged dying priest would do. 

There’s absolutely no reason why in anything we see the priests name would be revealed to Lister in anyway. 

[International Debris]

A reject from Rude Dog & The Dweebs.

Put some of that on on YouTube recently and it’s somehow even less comprehensible as an adult than it was as a kid.

[Flap Jack]

At no point are we told Cat doesn’t have a name. Lister refers to him as Cat and Cat just doesn’t correct him

I mean… except for in that one Dimension Jump scene, as shared by Ian this morning? I suppose if you’re a Cat Name truther, you can dismiss that as just being the conclusion Lister reached after multiple failed attempts to get Cat to reveal his name, rather than the absolute truth.

But really, if Cat has a name that we never find out, and that nobody ever uses, is that not essentially the same as him not having it? What is a name if it’s never used, and maybe not even remembered? If Cat had a name at one point, maybe on some official felis sapiens birth certificate or something, then it’s as good as disavowed. We can debate whether he had a name (other than “The Cat”) but whether he has one seems cut and dry to me – he doesn’t.

So when I theorise about Dog having another name, I do mean one that Deb, Arlene and Hilly primarily use when talking to and about him, not one that he had in his childhood but nobody currently alive knows about.

[Frank Smeghammer]

I sometimes prefer to believe that Cat has such an embarrassing name, so Cat cliche, that he prefers to just be called Cat.

I.e. his real name is like Tiddles or Whiskers. And he’s smart enough to know how dumb that sounds to ape evolved humans despite it being quite common in the Felis Sapiens society.

[Renegade Rob]

In keeping with Cat-ness, I wonder if many evolved cats identify as just “Me” (like Arya Stark in Doctor Who), and if others need to give him a name, that’s their own business. So there would be “Me” and everyone else is “Not Me.” I mean how long before Cat actually started referring to other Dwarfers by their actual names? He’s often calls people an insulting name based on their appearance, and he marks things as his with cologne (and not a sign that says his name), so perhaps the idea of names is more a human thing than a Cat thing anyway? As to whether or not his parents gave him a name, who’s to say really, but seeing as his father was a jellybrain who ate his own feet, maybe they didn’t have the wherewithal to give him a name whatsoever. Otherwise the Cat Priest might’ve been like, “Hey Kevin, burn this sacred hat,” or whatever.

[Hamish]

I sometimes prefer to believe that Cat has such an embarrassing name, so Cat cliche, that he prefers to just be called Cat. 

[clem]

Perfectly happy to have a companion ‘Mr Rat’ thread. But the Dog (as I assume he’s named) never gets any press. Even the documentary never mentions him. It’s a dogs life, I suppose.

I’ve just looked up how the Dog fared in the World Cup of Guest Characters and what the fuck!?

The wrong two went through from that group imo (perhaps slightly coloured by what we now know about Clayton Mark). I’ve always really liked the Dog. He’s a bright spot in one of the weakest episodes in the 1-VI bubble, nicely played, gets a few good, admittedly somewhat obvious gags, doesn’t outstay his welcome. Knocks Epideme into a cocked hat. 

[loadoftottnumb]

He’s called Frank 

So is Cat and his parents 

And the priest 

And the dog priest we never saw 

And the dogs parents 

[loadoftottnumb]

And the Rat and the parallel universe female rat or whatever animal it was and its parents and priest etc 

Frank 

[Flap Jack]

But of course, in honour of the Holy Mother.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Hoe did Deb smuggle a dog on board?  A quiet cat, silently prowling around the ship, hidden in air vents and stuff I buy.  A fucking dog, barking and howling and running up to every one it sees tail wagging, stinking out the bunk room and everything else … it’s incredulous 

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

But of course, in honour of the Holy Mother.

The Holy Mother? The virgin birth? No-one believes that stuff!

[Ben Kirkham]

Hoe did Deb smuggle a dog on board?  A quiet cat, silently prowling around the ship, hidden in air vents and stuff I buy.  A fucking dog, barking and howling and running up to every one it sees tail wagging, stinking out the bunk room and everything else … it’s incredulous 

That’s a very good point I’ve never considered before!

[Warbodog]

Hoe did Deb smuggle a dog on board?  A quiet cat, silently prowling around the ship, hidden in air vents and stuff I buy.  A fucking dog, barking and howling and running up to every one it sees tail wagging, stinking out the bunk room and everything else … it’s incredulous 

[Flap Jack]

Because Lister’s pregnant dog – who I assume was a dachshund called Frankenfurter – was a good boy, that’s how. Can’t believe I’m seeing such disrespect for the mother/father of all canis sapiens.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

> was a dachshund called Frankenfurter

brilliant 

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Because Lister’s pregnant dog – who I assume was a dachshund called Frankenfurter – was a good boy, that’s how. Can’t believe I’m seeing such disrespect for the mother/father of all canis sapiens.

Actually, I think the official name for Deb’s dog, although not stated in the episode, was Dracula.

Also, Dog looks a little too hairy to be a dachshund. I’d lean more towards a terrier, maybe a crossbreed with something like a Collie.

[Jenuall]

I do think it’s interesting how ‘Cat’ effectively becomes his name by default over time. At first it’s much more common for them to refer to him explicitly as “The Cat” (hell, he even refers to himself as “the cat” in Polymorph!) – almost as more of a description than it is explicitly naming him. 

Over time “The” gets dropped and we land in the status quo of them just calling him Cat – a 100% improvement in the efficiency of his name which I applaud

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Maybe his name is Catherine and he’s just embarrassed 

[Dave]

[Flap Jack]

I never really considered the idea that “the cat” might just be a description compared to “cat” being an actual name. Maybe that’s just due to me being so used to treating it as his name, or maybe it’s due to the interchangeability of “Doctor” and “The Doctor” in Doctor Who, but either way, the capital letter in the subtitles agrees:

Another thing to note about this Polymorph scene – when Poly introduces themselves with the same format – “Hi! I’m the genetic mutant.” – Cat assumes they’re saying their name, hence “Jenny who?”. Surely it would be strange for him to treat “I’m the cat” as a description in the vein of “I’m the captain”, yet jump to the conclusion that an “I’m the… ” response is a naming?

So I take this polymorph interaction as soft proof that the definite article is just a formality, not an indication that “the Cat” is merely a description.

[International Debris]

He also says “glad to know you,” instead of something more usual like “nice to meet you,” so it’s hard to take anything he says too seriously.

Cue everyone on the board saying they use “glad to know you,” all the time.

[Warbodog]

Over time “The” gets dropped and we land in the status quo of them just calling him Cat

Cassandra refers to him as “the Cat,” not sure if there are more recent examples. Unless she doesn’t know his name and is just describing him by race. Or doesn’t know who “the Cat” is specifically, just knows the information that they survive. Actually, she can work it out by elimination, since she knows Kryten’s called Kryten and Rimmer describes who Lister and Kochanski are to her.

[Flap Jack]

Cassandra refers to him as “the Cat,” not sure if there are more recent examples.

According to the Smega-Drive there are 14 more recent examples, the latest of which was in Siliconia.

[loadoftottnumb]

The end credits refer to him as ‘Cat’ 

[Unrumble]

He also says “glad to know you,” instead of something more usual like “nice to meet you,” so it’s hard to take anything he says too seriously.

Cue everyone on the board saying they use “glad to know you,” all the time.

[Ian Symes]

Following a number of incidents in which I said “nice to meet you” to people who responded “we’ve met before”, I was advised to say “good to see you” instead, and it changed my life.

[Stephen Abootman]

G&T: Come for Red Dwarf, stay for the life hacks

[International Debris]

I’m trying to imagine saying “good to see you,” when meeting somebody for the first time and it’s already making my teeth itch.

Still, it’s better than “glad to know you,” which is far too presumptuous and should only be responded to with “you don’t know me.”

[Author]

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