Ben Saunders

[Ben Saunders]

There are too many brilliant episodes past Series 5 to have such a doomer outlook on it. Even the shit ones have a certain je ne sais quoi to them that vanished when Capaldi walked off into the sunset. Except maybe Kill The Moon and Into The Forest of the Night.

[Ben Saunders]

EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER

[Ben Saunders]

Good news folks, we’re retconning everything past 2009

[Ben Saunders]

“Focus on character and don’t rely on established Dr Who lore”

Well at least someone at the BBC has their head screwed on.

It feels like whoever wrote this understands the appeal of the show, and if whoever is up next follows these guidelines then it might actually be good. But then they could easily give it to Alex Kurtzman or something. I’ll make my mind up in 2028.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 17/09/2026 

Bodyswap, DNA, TFTM, Parallel Universe, saying WHAT out loud

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[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 16/09/2026 

14

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 15/09/2026 

13

[Ben Saunders]

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 14/09/2026 

Tikka

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[Ben Saunders]

Ohh, it was IQ. I dunno if the string is too short so there are too many results or something, but searching IQ yields 0 results.

[Ben Saunders]

I spotted an error the other day. I searched for something and it didn’t come up. I can’t remember what it was, though. Sorry.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 13/09/2026 

Terrorform

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[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 12/09/2026 

Balance of Power, Dimension Jump, Psirens

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[Ben Saunders]

It could also be that they don’t actually know specifically what “emotion” got sucked out of themselves, because you wouldn’t be able to tell, would you? They just say bitterness and cool because that’s what it feels like. They aren’t tricorders. Rimmer could probably just check to be fair.

[Ben Saunders]

You could argue that Rimmer’s snideness and Cat’s vanity are always at a heightened state

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 11/09/2026 

G&T, Mechocracy, Siliconia, Timewave

9

[Ben Saunders]

Arguably Emohawk could have been funnier if Rimmer and Cat were acting like Ace and Duane without any physical changes.

I think the biggest laugh they get out of it is Cat being like “what the hell has it turned me into”, then the reveal that it’s turned him into Duane. You don’t really get that big moment if he just sort of acts like him

[Ben Saunders]

So there was a society of humans who survived all of the 3 million years leading up to the events of Psirens, only to die mere hours before the Dwarfers turn up? Talk about bad luck!

[Ben Saunders]

Why not? It can shapeshift, which requires some form of altering the state of matter, so it can alter the state of the matter composing/surrounding its subjects. Also, either that happens in Polymorph too, or Cat takes the time to intentionally dirty himself up and ruin his own hair and clothes in a few minutes, and Lister does the same. Where would Cat go to acquire such raggy clothes? Rimmer could at least just ask Holly to make him shit.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 10/09/2026 

8

[Ben Saunders]

>Holograms can travel faster than light? Ok, that’s vaguely believeable.

Light can travel faster than light?

What about the bloke(s) the Psirens kill, the one who leaves a message using his kidney as a full stop? He would have been killed recently, right? Or did it happen a long time ago? Is it all an hallucination?

[Ben Saunders]

It’s pretty funny when Duane pops his head up from under that counter, actually. And it’s pretty funny when Ace recommends killing him. It’s not phenomenal stuff on the level of Holoship or The Inquisitor, but it’s fun. In isolation, I’ve never had any problem with them bringing those two back for Emohawk. I don’t mind bringing back Ace for Stoke either, because it gives Rimmer/Chris Barrie a nice sendoff. Once they do the Dibley family bit in BitR though, then it’s a bit fuck off.

Duane being exaggerated a bit also works for Emohawk specifically, and for the reveal sight gag. Remember it’s not actually Ace and Duane who have come back, it’s still Cat and Rimmer, they’ve just been turned into their conceptions of those characters by a weird alien space lizard thing.

[Ben Saunders]

New one: Rainbow Dwarf.

4/4, ohg V bayl ernyyl tbg Evzzre pbybhef naq Ubyyl nyregf, gura V whfg chg gur 4 bowrpgf gbtrgure naq vg tnir zr gur ynfg gjb yby

[Ben Saunders]

Speaking of red herrings

V qvq gel gb ybbx sbe “guvatf lbh veba” 

[Ben Saunders]

A relatively easy one, I think.

Red Dwarf themed Connections wait for no man.

V tbg ubyb-guvatf, ohg jung gur uryy vf n ubyb-ynzc? V tbg vqrnf erivfvgrq va Rzbunjx, ohg V whfg jrag sbe “guvatf gung funcrfuvsg”, rira gubhtu TRYSf qba’g. Vg fgvyy pbhagf! V tbg yvtug orr pnzrbf, ohg bayl orpnhfr gurer jrer rknpgyl sbhe hapynvzrq rcvfbqr gvgyrf. V qvqa’g trg chapuyvarf va Yrtvba.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 09/09/2026 

Polymorph (astounded it wasn’t), DNA, Back to Reality

7

[Ben Saunders]

Alright, one last one from me, until I make another one at least.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve done one that I think is probably fairly easy. See how you get on with this.

V tbg -urnq onfrq vafhygf, naq V zhfg unir gevrq rirel pbzovangvba bs guvatf sbe “guvatf gur Cbylzbecu gheaf vagb” rkprcg gur npghny pbeerpg nafjre. Qvqa’g pybpx gur bgure gjb.

[Ben Saunders]

the group of episodes that could also have included Justice

V sbetbg Ubyyl fcrnxf jvgu gur ibvpr bs gur Whfgvpr pbzchgre, vg’f fhpu n fvzvyne zbzrag gb gur bar va QAN. 

[Ben Saunders]

An easier one. There’s an art to these I’ve yet to master.

[Ben Saunders]

4/4 on both Flap Jack and Dave’s newer ones, let’s gooooo

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah, them all being episodes of Red Dwarf makes it quite hard I think, because it could be anything really. But then if one is episodes, one is actors, one is things that happen etc it becomes too obvious. Maybe this is why Only Connect is general knowledge and not all about one TV show.

[Ben Saunders]

Here’s mine. Took me ages to make, finding connections with exactly four answers, plus I had two with duplicates and was about to post that before realising you can’t really do that.

[Ben Saunders]

One that might be guessable even if you didn’t know what it was doing.

0/4 because I’ve only just started ernqvat Vasvavgl.

I made one. All episode titles.

0/4 because this shit is too hard for me.

I’m trying to make my own right now but this is actually really hard, to find a unique connection shared by only four episodes. I’ve found so many with three or five.

[Ben Saunders]

Sorry, we’re 237 pages into this thread and only now is it coming up that basically none of us really understood its title?!

I’ve been saying “smoogle or stroogle” for 237 pages

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 08/09/2026 

Kryten

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[Ben Saunders]

V gubhtug nabgure tebhc zvtug or “punenpgref Yvfgre unf xvffrq” – fb V xrcg vapyhqvat Crgr Genagre’f Fvfgre (be ng yrnfg ure Cfvera irefvba) naq Xbpunafxv.

Me too! My query is, Jnf Uvgyre n zrpunabvq? Ner lbh ersreevat gb Jnkjbeyq Uvgyre (abg n zrpunabvq) be Pherq Uvgyre (abg ubfgvyr).

[Ben Saunders]

0/4 again. I’m good at this.

I have a quibble with one of the answers. G&T should have spoiler tags so I can bring it up.

[Ben Saunders]

“-dle” is used as a suffix for daily games such as Wordle and Scrandle. Smegle is smeg-le, rather than smeg-dle. That’s how I see it.

After typing that out, I realise that’s not what you’re all talking about, and I don’t get it either. What the hell does smugle mean?

[Ben Saunders]

I didn’t realise it was Dwarfcast related, just thought it was Dwarf related, so I immediately got one of the groups because there’s a very simple and obvious connection for it, which I won’t tell you but you should be able to notice. I failed to get anything else obviously since I thought it was in-show stuff.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 07/09/2026 

5

[Ben Saunders]

The man with the dirty mag who discovered America?

[Ben Saunders]

He certainly has his fans, that’s for sure. And I’m happy that others find magic in him, he’s just not for me. Troughton on the other hand, possibly my favourite. The bumbling fool persona that’s actually secretly always one step ahead of you is really quite special. I was thinking about The Ice Warriors the other day, just for no real reason, how he gets himself caught by them and is seemingly at their mercy, but it’s really a reconnaissance thing with him checking on Victoria, gathering data about the Ice Warriors and relaying information back to the base. It’s all a big ruse, a master plan, but he plays the fool so well he could convince anybody.

And then there’s Tomb of the Cybermen which is much more overt and obvious, he straight up gets them into that situation on purpose, letting Klieg’s perverse lust for knowledge/power take the attention away from his machinations, and using him to revive the Cybermen for him, cold-bloodedly letting him die in the process after deciding he’s truly evil/deranged. Good shit.

[Ben Saunders]

This behind the scenes photo from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ video for Give It Away looks like a modern remake of The Chase

[Ben Saunders]

I think there’s a secret sauce to the first four Doctors that they never quite manage to ever recapture the essence of, when Doctor Who was groundbreaking and revolutionary, like nothing else and so itself, as opposed to trying to play catch-up with Star Wars and Alien and Buck Rogers. They do seriously step things up a gear immediately starting with Paradise Towers, but it never really captures that weird and wonderful experimental frontier feeling of the 60s and 70s. Greatest Show and Fenric are standouts, but it’s a different show by that point.

[Ben Saunders]

McCoy’s performance starts to get a little ridiculous when he starts trying to do the epic, shouting, authoritative stuff. It always put me off Battlefield because of it, but I noticed he does it a little towards the end of Remembrance as well. I just don’t believe him as that sort of person, he’s much better in the quieter, more calculated or warmer moments. I’m convinced much of his reputation is filled in from retroactively applying what people liked from the books to what we got in the show.

I would have to rank him at the bottom alongside Davison pre-Frontios, Whittaker, Gatwa and (sit down for this one) Tennant at his worst. Ranking a favourite Doctor is nearly impossible because 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 11 and 12 are all so brilliant, but my least favourite would have to be 7 or 13. Revisiting 7 did nothing to change my mind, but maybe if I ever revisit 13 they’ll come out better for it. We didn’t spend enough time with 15 for me to really have an opinion on him. He’s obviously quite a good actor, as is Jodie Whittaker I gather, from other stuff she’s in. Davison also is a good actor, he’s just playing a wet sock for most of his run.

[Ben Saunders]

Skipped Remembrance because I’ve seen it so much, but went back and watched it there. Lovely to see Peter Halliday. I don’t know if the stuff about Mike giving the Hand of Omega to Ratcliffe is very well presented, or if I just wasn’t paying attention, but I don’t remember him actually doing it. The “no coloureds” scene is great, but then Ace doesn’t really mention it or anything until after Mike betrays them. Was she still willing to give him a chance, in an “I can fix him” sort of way?

I can’t get over how any time we’re shown Dalek on Dalek action post-Resurrection, they just awkwardly stand in a line four feet from each other and continually miss. It’s so lame. I feel like nobody really knows how to direct the Daleks once they switch to colour, or maybe they just look shit in colour. But by the new series they suddenly get better at it, so it can’t be that. The special weapons Dalek is always cool.

It’s interesting how Remembrance works so well as a finale to all Dalek stories for Classic Who – the Daleks are wiped out, Skaro destroyed, the Renegade vs. Imperial plot tied up, everything put to bed with a neat bow on top. Obviously they didn’t know they were going to be cancelled at that time, but it’s as if they did. 

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 06/09/2026 

BtE 1, though my gut instinct was the correct answer

4

[Ben Saunders]

It’s so awkward seeing a gif of Holly waiting for the audience to quiet down so he can continue with his line when you can’t hear the audience. It’s his computer senility I guess.

[Ben Saunders]

The post is late/slow. By around 3 million years. 

[Author]

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