Dax101

[Dax101]

After 30 years its now officially official.

[Dax101]

Seems unsafe.

[Dax101]

Series 8 has such a weird series ending. Many thought it was a cliffhanger, while im convinced Doug thought of it as series final before moving onto making movies. Which makes it even more weird that this was how red dwarf could have ended.

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Into the Gloop is up there with Red Christmas for me. Now I know Red Christmas is canon to some of you and I don’t want to take that away. But it’s not written to be anything more than silly. And I think that’s what’s Into the Gloop was written to be too. It’s just silly. It was written so some fans could pretend to be the characters for a little while. Both Rob and Doug are at their experimental phase of life.

It’s easy to read a lot into it as it’s Robs only Red Dwarf content in many years, but I’m not sure anyone should. And as for taking a jab at Doug, I suspect if he wanted to do that there are many ways he could have done it better, like getting the cast to do it instead of fans for example, as that was always going to be a little cringe. 

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Hollister makes a death bed confession and tells Rimmer that when the accident occured, Yvonne Mcguder was on planet leave so did not get killed. She was pregnant with Rimmers baby. 

So just like the Last Human novel.

And its got to be a very humorous death as its post Series 8 and Skipper Hollister. Dennis the doughnuts boy Hollister

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Im sure there were better ways to do that.

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Is it more or do the bunks look too small for the actors? Like they couldn’t actually fit in them.

As for what i like… I guess BTE has some of the best effects the show has ever had… Yeah i think thats all the things i like.

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Well that still goes against the idea Rimmer is “virtually indestructible”

Legion: Mr. Rimmer, in a hard-light body, you can do anything a human can do, with the added bonus that you are practically indestructible. Unless you are shot with a gun of course.

[Dax101]

Last Human to me as always felt like a book you would get in Star Wars and Star Trek universes. Its Doug creating his own planet of Gelfs of all different kinds to fill in as aliens so he could have a story thats very busy full of characters. To the point where it forgets its a sequel to Infinity/Better than life and doesn’t even remember Red Dwarf or Holly exists. 

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Well hard light doesn’t ruin anything really. If Doug was to bring Rimmer back to life and stop being a hologram then maybe it would feel like a change that shouldn’t be there. But Rimmer not being able to touch hasn’t had that big of an impact on the show that it would be seen as ruining things.

Although to be fair the rules of Hardlight were forgotten after Series 6. Everything after Series 6 has been hard light holograms and the impenetrable part has since been forgotten. Ace said he was hard light in series 7 and died from gun shot hitting his lightbee. Howard was presumably hard light to

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I feel like you can make in-universe excuses for Rimmer like he has a virtual brain or something. Its probably work aroundable

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It probably feels cheap because there is no moment of thought or realisation. Bit like “Kryten figured it out” in Cassandra. We don’t need to learn how Kryten came to this conclusion. it was just lets get this out of the way ASAP.

Its also like fixing Holly in The Promise Land. That really bothers me because the whole concept driving the first part of the story is that Holly was back to default settings and that put the crew at risk… jump later on and Rimmer fixes it so easy by saying Hey holly why don’t you do a system restore? Ok why didn’t they do that before? There is no realisation. They didn’t find a backup on Starbug they didn’t know existed. Its just a quick fix.

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I feel like M-corp is Red Dwarf version of Skynet. There is no way mankind survived that.

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By series 8 Doug reduced a lot of Kochanski’s series 7 characterisation to become more soft and open to whatever is going on by series 8. I assume the fandom wasn’t all that fond of her in series 7. 

I feel Kochanski didnt have much to her by Series 8

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Lemons seems like a very complicated concept to write. The moment you get into the concept of religion or Jesus, it really creates a lot of questions. So of course Doug thought it was best to write it.

But luckily i think Doug took it the best direction he could have by not confirming or denying and closing the story in a kind of reset.

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Paul Alexander. Wrong answer.

His novel is called Krytie TV.

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I’d like to see a sequel to backwards but i have a feeling we wouldn’t get it because its been so long that Rob probably doesn’t remember half the books continuity anymore.

Would a sequel to Backwards even need to rely on continuity? It ended with Lister and the Cat finding a pristine version of Red Dwarf with Rimmer and Kryten on it. 
You could just pick up years later and tell a fresh story. Even if there’s a continuity mishap, you can just chalk it up to it being a different Red Dwarf. 

Its also in continuity with Infinity and BTL too. It helps if you remember a lot of plot points to not risk forgetting and overwriting stuff already written. 

Lister and Cat are still meant to be the same characters from those books so they still have that continuity even if you want to say Kryten and Rimmer do not.

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I feel like i have seen enough of Dougs Red Dwarf to know how he writes stories. While with Rob there is a sense of the unknown as to what his modern take on Red Dwarf would look like. Id like to see what Rob does.

I’d like to see a sequel to backwards but i have a feeling we wouldn’t get it because its been so long that Rob probably doesn’t remember half the books continuity anymore.

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Rimmer kinda forgets that he would rather be a mechaniod the moment siliconia has 60 seconds of episode time left and has to rush to the finish. How Kryten managed to convince him to sit in the chair to have his mind out back into his body… Who knows. He seemed very reluctant before. I guess he suddenly become dumb, like what often happens with most the characters in the Dave era when it’s needed.

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Can of Worms biggest crime is that The Cat is the dumbest he has been ever. 

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The personallity tuck was there so Lister would have his give a shit emotion taken away. i dunno its been a while since i watched it. And that would force them to seperate so they could get into that polymorph stand off scene. Its a bit inconsistant since Lister should kill them all in that scene judging by the logic that made them seperate in the first place.

I suspect thats all that machine was there for. Otherwise why else would they run away from lister… and eachother

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Triple post. Thats what happens when you post messages using your phone. Things go wrong.

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One of the worst jokes in Timewave and maybe the series as a whole is when Ziggy does the ride off motion off screen and Kryten suggests they play along and do it to… and they do. Its so dumb and makes no sense. When you stoop so low for a gag.

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One of the worst jokes in Timewave and maybe the series as a whole is when ziggy does the ride off motion off screen and Kryten suggests they play along and do it too… and they do. Its so dumb and makes no sense. Also feels incredibly ou

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For me its got very little to do with messages or insensitive humour. Its got more to do with the fact i cringed all the way through it. Its not funny. Its all the worst pieces of Red Dwarf humour all wrapped in one episode. From the tutting guy to johnny vegas rubbing his nipples.

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As much as I like to complain about the Dave era lobbing series 1 DVDs into the audience instead of making them laugh I do think “The Beginning” refers to it being Rimmer’s origin story, at only a slight stretch

Well yeah Doug said it was just done so it would go full circle with the first episode title “the end”. Doug not knowing if there would be anymore after X.

Does the Skipper element not start untill 11 minutes in? Feels longer as its basically a long sketch before we get to the oh yeah other universes thing.

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The jokes at times feel less clever in the dave era. There are jokes in at least 1-7 that i didnt get as a kid that hit me as i got older. I could see kids finding modern Red Dwarf more funny as the jokes can often be spelt out for you. And then repeated incase you did not get it the first time. Very aimed and self aware at the audience watching.

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Im guessing either the movie jumped around as much as Dougs Dave era scripts and it included both the Cat people and those droids or Doug replaced the droids with the Cats to reduce the budget. Doug did say the budget they were asking for was getting lesser and lesser as the years went on.

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Considering the direction Rob and Doug were gradually taking the show in. By series 5 Rob and Doug were focusing a lot more on ambitious Sci-fi ideas, and while Norman would likely have complained far more than Hattie ever would, i’m not sure if Norman would have stuck around once series 5 happened. 

I don’t think Norman being involved would have changed that direction. I think that was just where Rob and Doug were in their career. Really pushing the show to rival other sci-fi shows

While today i think Doug is over ambitious in trying to do both Series 2 and series 5 at the same time. And what you get is a very rushed template of an average sitcom for 15 minutes to then ambitious sci-fi concept A,B and C for another 15 minutes

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That probably would have been complicated to do. Holly wouldn’t have been able to mix into the misery of quarantine the same way Kryten, Lister and Cat could. Which is probably a reason why Holly would just have been pushed aside to concentrate on those 3.

Which is something that did happen often in Series 2 also. There was no reason Norman couldn’t have been on the monitor more often during bunkroom scenes. But i guess it was felt Holly struggled to add anything.

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I think it often has less to do with finding something for them to do and more feeling bad that they don’t have a lot to do as part of the main cast. it could be argued in The Promise Land that Doug had to create something for Norman to do. Which i think there is only so many times you can do that until it starts to become forced and has an impact on the quality.

Series 2 had a good balance with how they used Norman, but i feel like Doug tried to do that same type of idea with Series 8 and it didn’t really work. Norman just came across as a joke machine who was often detached from what was going on. Which according to Doug, Norman didn’t like doing exposition and just wanted to do jokes.

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Well according to Doug, Rob was reluctant to change the formula but was also the guy who kept pushing for better quality jokes. In the documentaries Doug claims Rob would always be the one that said “No we can do better” and then they would spend more time on it. And looking at some of Doug’s Solo work… you can kinda see that missing. Doug has a lot to give because he has no filter or restraint. And also been allowed a lot of trial and error with the fandom.

And we also don’t have enough to go on when it comes to Rob Grants Red Dwarf. if you bank it all on his novel alone, then you would have to bank all Doug’s credential on his own Solo novel. But Series 7 onwards has been constantly shifting balance when it comes to Sci-Fi and Comedy. Some have described Series 7 as more Sci-fi Comedy Drama. While Series 8 is a more sillier, presumably because Series 7 was considered disappointing at the time. Trial and error.

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Into the Gloop is a experimental project where fans get to play the characters. Its hardly a passion project that Rob is using to jab at Doug. If anything the whole project isnt meant to be taken too seriously.

Unless you believe that Rob is so bitter that to him Red Dwarf is just a weapon to be used against Doug. Which i don’t believe at all personally.

It would be like taking Red Christmas as gospel for Dougs Solo material. Yno that mobisode Doug wrote where Santa Clause visits Red Dwarf. And yes i know to some of you its a 100% canon ;)

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Looking at the script again i don’t see that being emplied. Is it just because Rob Ignored all Dougs solo work and called it episode 6.0? Because yeah Rob doesnt watch any of Dougs Solo work so either way he wasnt going to continuity it. And considering how he ended it which was quite obviously a silly joke doesn’t suggest its anything but Rob messing around. 

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What about it was a petty jab at Doug?

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Well Into the gloop was a little sketch script made for some fans to play the roles of the characters at a convention. I don’t think anyone expected it to be anything special. Whether it’s better than series 8 or not probably says more about Series 8.

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 From Series VI, I think Cat became less cool and more stupid

While he has had his moments i don’t think the Cat has really returned to being cool. I feel like the balance has kinda shifted to Doug trying to make the Cat more kiddy. 

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I just don’t believe Lister would keep him switched on.  

I might be wrong but i suspect Lister has no choice but to put up with Rimmer. thats kinda the idea behind Red Dwarf isn’t it? Rimmer was brought back as a hologram to keep Lister sane. He wasn’t brought back because Lister and Rimmer get on like pals. its that they drive each other crazy and thats the whole point.

I believe only 2 episodes of series 1 gave the impressive Lister could switch off Rimmer. But that kinda gives Lister a power over Rimmer that makes him unable to challenge Lister and gives Lister full control.

I’d imagine for listers sake that Holly wouldn’t allow Rimmer to be switched off.

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It has 1999 nostalgia.
I can’t agree about the show being at its visual best, unless you mean some technical camera thing. I think the (otherwise lacking) 

 I just feel like you can see the extra money on screen. It looks like they could afford more varied sets and location shoots. The CGI allowed them to do more without a lot of restraints. The scene with Kill Crazy and baxter beating up Lister and Rimmer but nothing is happening to them is still quite an impressive visual and Rimmer running from an expoding hallway in Only The Good is also an impressive effect which i still wonder how they did that effect without hurting Chris.
Its just visually it looked more expensive. Which i’m not sure the show will ever have that advantage again.

Obviously the Dino and the dancing blue midget wasn’t cheap either.

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Series 8 may be the best the show has ever looked. Probably because it has the most budget the show will ever have again.

Dunno what else.

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Compared to the CGI Rat the blue midget dance is quality CGI.
You know Red Dwarf became a parody of itself when you realise the Rat was originally envisioned as a CGI Cat aka frankenstein. 

I prefer saying “became a cartoon” to “became a parody of itself” because the latter implies that this is an exaggeration of something the earlier series might actually do. And as for all the myriad times I’ve seen this criticism levied at the bunkroom scenes, I don’t consider “bad facsimile” and “parody” to be exact synonyms.

I think i was thinking of it more like mocking itself. Like oh remember frankenstien the cat? Mother off all the cat race? Well Starbug just went up her butt, lets make a joke about that. Even by Red Dwarf standards it feels like self parody is the best word to use for a comedy that makes fun of its own less comedic elements. 

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Compared to the CGI Rat the blue midget dance is quality CGI.
You know Red Dwarf became a parody of itself when you realise the Rat was originally envisioned as a CGI Cat aka frankenstein. 

Granted that would have looked even worse but at least we’d have been spared the “rat-arsed” gag.

I believe in the script book its said the joke after they go into frankenstein’s arse was going to Lister saying it was the holiest of all holes.

Whether that is better than the Rat-arse joke is debatable.

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Compared to the CGI Rat the blue midget dance is quality CGI.
You know Red Dwarf became a parody of itself when you realise the Rat was originally envisioned as a CGI Cat aka frankenstein. 

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The Blue Midget dance is visually impressive. At least for the time it was made. I’ts kinda fun.

I remember its surrealness did bug me a bit at the time, but its all a simulation so its got that going for it.

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I think it was £2000 for 30 seconds of Dino footage.

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My memory of series 8 was not liking it but really wanting to like it. Really trying to convince myself that i was just missing something and trying hard to like it. Just so i didn’t have a piece of Red Dwarf i didn’t enjoy. Not the most healthy approach to try and like something thats just not working for you.

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This is the guitar here

https://ukm.propstoreauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/299/lot/81035

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These are great. Id love to see more of these for the other series!

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The US version of “Life on Mars” had only 1 season but it did get a proper ending as they were aware they were not getting a season 2. Which is more than a lot of shows get.

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Series 8 was sorta sandwiched between the 10th anniversary and a potential movie. All the pieces are kinda to suggest the BBC were very happy with the show and that there was potential for greater success.

The movie had other issues as to why it wasn’t made. From studios having demands to independently trying to find 20 million to make the movie. Also might have helped if Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy done better at the box office.

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