Where are all the miners

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

For a ship that supposedly a mining vessel, not one member of the crew that we are introduced to or is mentioned but not seen is a miner.

Captain Holister
Navigation Officer Kochanski
Todhunter is just “officer”
Flight co-ordinator George McIntyre
Lister and Rimmer are technicians

There’s Kochanski’s ex Tm who is a chef
Petersen is also in catering

I don’t think we ever find out what Selby and Chen’s jobs are.

None of Rimmer’s potential replacements in Holoship are miners

None of the “officers” at the dinner Holister holds in series 8 are miners

Brannigan and McClaren are psyiatrists or counsellors

There’s more obviously but I can’t think of them all off of the top of my head at the moment

For a mining ship of only 169/1169 crew … you’d expect at least one of the crew seen or mentioned to have something to do with actual mining.

[(deleted)]

I assumed it was entirely automated.

[flanl3]

I’d think all the mining technicians work on a different part of the ship.

[Hamish]

Minors not miners!

Sorry, someone had to reference it.

[Karnie]

Chen worked in the kitchen as well, as per Series VIII.

I just assume that the miners were housed in a different section away from the operation of the ship, much like the engineers and mechanics who ran older cruise ships were kept away from the passengers. Since they weren’t actually mining anything any time we saw Red Dwarf, we wouldn’t have seen them since we were only following the stories of enlisted personnel.

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

If the mining was automatic, I’d expect most of the ship to be automated and need very little, if any crew.

I can kinda buy the fact they’re all lower desk crew as it were, but Lister seems like the sort of guy that would hang out with them. Much more likely to get on with that bunch then the officers he works with.

[flanl3]

But he signed up with the Space Corps, which are contracted to provide the crew which run the ship, not another company/organization which is contracted to provide the miners. The JMC just own the ship.

[Stephen Abootman]

Out golfing

[JamesTC]

They don’t need many miners because they all use voice operated mining equipment.

[Paul Muller]

I blame Thatcher.

[International Debris]

Given the asteroid embedded in the ship, they must have been mining. There is obviously a lot of ship space and crew seemingly not dedicated to mining, which does seem a touch odd – the various science rooms and so on – but obviously it’s all there just to add a sci-fi touch. I think the only real mining we ever encounter is in Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers.

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

Ha yeah thats the other thing, what it Red Dwarf doing with a prototype matter paddle in the science room on Z deck?

I can kinda believe that we only focus on the crew hired to get the ship around the solar system, just feels a little odd that not one miner is ever referenced in the whole show, when the ships function is to mine.

[flanl3]

You can also perform space experiments in space. There is no reason why you wouldn’t put a small lab on board each ship.

[Jonsmad]

They make the prisoners on floor thirteen go out and do all the dangerous mining, after checking its a safe mine to be punished breaking rocks in.

[Jonsmad]

They mine with lasers, thats established in series 9.

[Plastic Percy]

Perhaps they were amongst the extra thousand that appear out of nowhere in Justice? If the inmates in the Tank make up 200 of that number, and maybe say 100 wardens to guard them, you could potentially have 700 miners waiting to be dropped off on Triton.

[Paul Muller]

On a related note, if you’d actually like to watch some mining on Jupiter’s moons, check out the 1981 movie Outland.

Here’s a trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8WBk6nrYC0

I always think of it as being contained within the RD universe – the aesthetic is very similar, even the spacesuits are the same, presumably pilfered by the BBC costumer dept after production ended.

Also, it’s worth a watch just for the hysterically creepy performance of Sean Connery’s onscreen ‘son’.

[Dollar Pound]

the idea that the mining is totally automated but they still need a whole team of people to fix the vending machines! that’s really funny and interesting. remember when there were automated carwashes? and now it’s just guys with rags…

the idea the prisoners do the mining: but the prison is secret…

[Dollar Pound]

outland looks very red dwarfish (red dwarf is outlandish).

[Dave]

Careful, you’ll get Rob and Doug hounded for Outland Revenue.

[Dollar Pound]

keep a cloche on it

[Moonlight]

The moons probably already have specific mining colonies already set up. Mining ships like Red Dwarf would delivers new equipment and supplies, and transport the mined ore to its intended destination. If you just contracted miners who were already on the moon itself to continue working, every couple years they could have a Red Dwarf-sized mining ship show up and collect all the ore.

It’s probably a lot cheaper to just make one big trip with fifty thousand fucktons of ore (and drop off the latest Starbugs and Blue Midgets and White Giants) than to constantly send smaller ships to pick up 0.5 fucktons at a time.

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

Something about a large corporate mining ship flying from rock to rock collecting the spoils of colonist miners and just buggering off again makes me a little uncomfortable.

[si]

to pick up 0.5 fucktons at a time.

Fuckton is my new favourite unit of weight.

[Moonlight]

It’s the Metric equivalent of Imperial shitload.

[Dollar Pound]

it’s not automation because the automation is pathetic and behind our own times. it’s not the prisoners because they have to play rock albums and get into time paradoxes. or some other section of the ship because lister would know them as someone said. the colonial idea is the best explanation – but doesn’t that just make it a cargo ship? presumably they would have needed to do some mining to get the nanobots some raw materials to rerebuild the ship as well.

[Dollar Pound]

jupiter macguffin corporation

[Dave]

“Or macguffins! We don’t like macguffins round here.”

[Moonlight]

It’s a mining ship so as long as its primarily transporting mining equipment and ore. So I guess as of Series X it’s a vending machine ship.

[flanl3]

I think it’s actually mostly transporting air, therefore it’s an airship.

[Moonlight]

Red Zeppelin.

[flanl3]

“Red Zeppelin”

–KyoSo, 2 May 2017

[Dollar Pound]

maybe the miners are in a mine

[Stephen Abootman]

Your place or mine?

[Ben Paddon]

Not here, it’s too sandy.

[Dave]

It’s a mining ship so as long as its primarily transporting mining equipment and ore.

And/or what?

[Ben Paddon]

Third base!

[si]

Where are all the miners

“They’re all dead. Everybody’s dead, Dave.”

Have any of you people *seen* this show?

[Dollar Pound]

what show?

[International Debris]

I started watching the first episode, but then had to pack to move abroad about halfway through. Didn’t get back into the country until some way through series 8. Wasn’t very funny so I stopped watching after a few episodes.
Who’s dead?

[flanl3]

I don’t know who’s dead on this show, but I do know that I’m not, and that you’re not, if you’re reading this.
Or are you?

[Dollar Pound]

fictional miners also went on strike in the 80s

[Dollar Pound]

paul muller already did that one sorry

[Dollar Pound]

they could only afford to get actors for major roles

[Plastic Percy]

Where are all the Miners?

I dunno, is it somewhere near Uruquay?

[bloodteller]

the USA pilot establishes it’s only “going between Earth and Saturn transporting raw materials which are badly needed by someone” so i’m guessing they dont actually need any miners

pic: http://imgur.com/a/4a4j8

[Dollar Pound]

the saga clochetinuums

[clem]

THE SAGA CLOCHETINUUMS…

[Dollar Pound]

kyoso was right, or at least thinking along the same lines as the team behind rdusa

[Dollar Pound]

so what are the mining lazers for? in case any knights escape from the ar machine

[Phobos And Deimos]

My grandfather was a miner.

Don’t recall him serving aboard any outer planet vessels, nor did he ever mention dying in a massive radiation leak.

Or living past 1994.

Which is handy as he pegged it before witnessing the long, drawn out death rattle of Red Dwarf.

[Plastic Percy]

I presume the bazookoid mining lasers are for breaking up rocks and getting to the ore. Like when we see Lister using one to break up the rocks Starbug’s leg is embeded in during Psirens.

[JamesTC]

They fire a mining torpedo from Starbug in Officer Rimmer.

[Dave]

My grandfather was a miner.

Don’t recall him serving aboard any outer planet vessels, nor did he ever mention dying in a massive radiation leak.

Or living past 1994.

Which is handy as he pegged it before witnessing the long, drawn out death rattle of Red Dwarf.

At least he was spared having to read your forum posts.

[Moonlight]

How dare this show continue to exist and bring joy to its fans. Especially since in doing so it retroactively ruins the first six series for some reason that currently escapes me.

[flanl3]

I absolutely hate in when a show continues and literally cancels all its earlier seasons simply by doing so.

[JamesTC]

>I absolutely hate in when a show continues and literally cancels all its earlier seasons simply by doing so.

To be fair The Brittas Empire kind of did that.

[Moonlight]

You know how an early Brittas episode copied the “Lemming Sunday” routine almost word for word? Turns out it was in case Red Dwarf Series III was rendered unviewable by the production of future series and people still wanted to hear that joke.

[flanl3]

Is this an appropriate time to point out that Futurama flipped its stance on Star Trek like five times?

[Moonlight]

To be fair they came up with the idea that it was banned like four seasons in, and the pilot is really the only other time I remember them very explicitly mentioning Star Trek or having a cast member cameo.

[Author]

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