Bargain Bin Holly

[Bargain Bin Holly]

Take 2

As you may know, X released a host of publicity photos of each individual main character (Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten) for public perusal. Here’s an example:

However, I’ve encountered difficulty in acquiring any publicity photos of the boys from their XI & XII incarnations. I know they exist in some form, as they’ve made appearences in group photos, on billboard advertisements, and on the covers of SFX back in 2016. Example:

Anybody have these? It’d be good to have a new front-shot of Kryten that doesn’t feature his X-era hook nose and eye bags. Plus, I gotta have this Rimmer photo:

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The End would also be a Lister-centric episode, since he’s the POV for almost the entire episode.

I think its more interesting to see that most episodes are either focused on Lister, Rimmer, and Kryten or are ensemble episodes of the three including Cat; very rarely is it not this.

Holly-centric episodes
– Queeg
– White Hole (A stretch but she by herself is a major part of the plot)

Cat-centric episodes
– Waiting for God (A stretch but his species at least is a major part of the plot)
– Can of Worms

Lister-centric episodes
– The End
– Confidence and Paranoia
– Ouroboros
– Epideme
– Nanarchy
– Back to Earth Part III (Possible to argue the entire special but III is the best example)
– Fathers and Suns
– Dear Dave
– M-Corp

Rimmer-centric episodes
– Me²
– Better Than Life
– Justice
– Dimension Jump
– Meltdown (Possible to argue otherwise but the plot is partially based around and entirely resolved by Rimmer)
– Holoship
– Terrorform
– Quarantine
– Rimmerworld
– Stoke Me a Clipper
– Only the Good… (Turns into a Rimmer-centric episode by the half-way point)
– Trojan
– The Beginning
– Officer Rimmer
– Skipper

Kryten-centric episodes
– Kryten
– The Last Day
– Camille
– D.N.A. (Possible to argue otherwise but he is a major part of the plot)
– Beyond a Joke
– Krytie TV
– Krysis
– Siliconia

Lister/Rimmer-centric episodes (Where the plot is almost entirely focused on Lister and Rimmer and/or their interactions with each other)
– Balance of Power
– Thanks for the Memory
– Marooned
– Blue
– Pete I & II

Lister/Kryten-centric episodes (Same thing but with Kryten instead of Rimmer)
– The Inquisitor

Ensemble episodes (Where all crew are impacted and the plot doesn’t primarily focus on one character exclusively)
– Future Echoes
– Parallel Universe
– Backwards
– Polymorph
– Timeslides (Though more focus is given to Lister in the first-half and Rimmer in the second-half)
– Demons & Angels
– Back to Reality
– Psirens
– Legion
– Gunmen of the Apocalypse
– Emohawk: Polymorph II
– Out of Time
– Tikka to Ride
– Duct Soup
– Back in the Red I, II, & III
– Cassandra
– Back to Earth Part II (Since it revolves around the crew exploring the “real world”)
– Lemons
– Entangled
– Twentica
– Samsara
– Give & Take
– Cured (Though it can be argued Cat takes a certain precedence in this episode)
– Timewave
– Mechocracy

I need a life

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I wish they’d have the cast names in comic sans font and light up in different colours in the new intros.

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Fuck the BBC

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lol

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If they built a small set for the Starbug stairs that lead to the launch-pad it’d probably add to the scale. I’d rather we try and discuss how to make it better instead of completely scrapping everything for CGI.

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If only this was an episode of Red Dwarf we’d have formed a general consensus by now

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Series III reused that shot of Starbug crash-landing into the snow planet from Marooned a lot (Bodyswap springs to mind)

Plus the chase in Bodyswap features the same shot of Starbug crashing into a rock twice, same camera angle too.

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Stoke is a good episode, but yeah, starting with it is like starting Doctor Who on The Parting of the Ways

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I really hate that the fans spent all those years going “No more CGI! We want models!”, then as soon as they get models there is a ridiculous amount of nitpicking and complaining, followed by “No more models! WE WANT CGI!!!”

Yep, I mean not only do I think a CGI Red Dwarf would still look like shit, I think the current Red Dwarf model is excellent. It just needs better shots and not zoom-in on the logo everytime. Is it impossible to get a crane again?

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We should’ve drafted Mac McDonald

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Thatcher was referenced in the background in Eccleston’s Father’s Day, but doesn’t really count considering it was a decade after her government I suppose.

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That would’ve been my second request.

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McSpazatron is said twice in the Spongebob Squarepants Movie (Maybe three times, can’t remember)

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I remember Rimmer says bullshit in Last Human, but I think that was more to make the situation more serious and bring it to reality a bit.

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Okay, so I watched every Cyberman episode from Tennant and Smith (Exception of Smith’s last story with the wood Cybermen, but come on that’s fucking stupid anyway) so I have zero frame of reference for Capaldi’s Cyberman episodes; but good christ did they fuck them up. Never once was any episode with them good.

Worst ones:

1. Closing Time (James Cordon defeats them with the power of LOVE; give me a fucking break. Dumbest episode of Smith’s era)
2. Nightmare in Silver (Clara was a shit companion and should’ve been retired)
3. Doomsday (QUICK, we gotta make the Daleks look badass, give them some fodder to murder)
4. The Next Doctor (I’m waiting for the Power Rangers to show up anytime now)

Siliconia was the best Cyberman episode modern Doctor Who never had,

1. Humanised converted former humans; took time to actually watch and see them slowly lose their personalities (I know with Cybermen this is instantaneous except that one brief moment in The Age of Steel, but still the whole point of Cybermen is they were previously unwilling humans)
2. Made the enemies actually a force to be reckoned with by the main protagonists (I swear to God, every Cybermen story I’ve seen its just a bunch of army dudes blowing them up, OH LOOK AT OUR BADASS CLARA)
3. When the formerly human converts actually DO lose their personality, they are threatening (Cat especially, that voice Danny does is fucking ace) and they don’t act like robots like modern Cybermen but an uncanny middle-ground. Modern Cybermen is them clanging their feet and marching in rows all the bloody time in complete unison, no meat to bite into, yeah you can say its creepy that they are just indistinguishable from each other, I disagree you need some hints.

Yeah, Siliconia’s ending is practically a deus ex machina, but goddamnit does everything else about that episode work so well. Well anyway rant over, talk about Jodie and stuff.

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I quite liked Tennant (Of course, Eccleston beats him, but still), a lot of his stories stick with me as really good like Midnight, Turn Left, Waters of Mars, Human Nature, etc.

Though the number of times Tennant’s doctor went “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” good christ, and his last story was just fucking terrible and he came across as such a whiny cunt “I DESERVE MORE” (If I was a Doctor Who fan, probably go down in my top 5 worst Doctor moments)

But overall, he was quite good and I enjoyed him.

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I thought Matt Smith was rubbish, that’s about as far as my opinions on Doctor Who goes before I stopped watching it.

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Its cause Lister and Rimmer are gay

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Wish I could be there, but unfortunately that shall not be the case. If Doug announces XIII (and XIV?) while there tho, I shall cream me pants.

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Also unpopular opinion maybe, I think the III-V bunkroom looks the worst. Its not bad, all the bunkrooms have good qualities, but the III-V one looks the most like a set.

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The BtE one is severely underrated.

If we’d have seen that bunkroom more than just one episode, it’d be more liked and probably up there among fan favourites. Actually, fucking hell that bunkroom only appeared in one episode, what a shame.

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The bunkroom from X, XI, and XII is the same set, its just lit differently from series to series.

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Eh its ok, Quarantine was a shit episode

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We only use Zavvi to calculate when the Red Dwarf blu-ray might get released

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tombow gets his balls busted: the thread

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I used to write lists (as all good SF fans and general geeks should) of titles in chronological and alphabetical order, with transmission dates and allsorts

Fuck, I’ve been doing that several times over the past few months with Red Dwarf now, I need to go to rehab

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Even then, if you just want your friends to see a random episode of Red Dwarf and not one to hopefully get them into the show; the episodes where the crew either deal with a specific threat or go on an adventure to a new place like Gunmen, Legion, Twentica, Polymorph, etc.

Work well.

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Same reason I think Gunmen of the Apocalypse isn’t a good episode to start with, they’re think they fight in giant space battles every week.

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Basically a lot of Red Dwarf episodes are better if you’re familiar with the show

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If I were to show somebody Red Dwarf for the first time, the episode I’d show them first is Cassandra. It’s got a little bit of everything-A Holly/Lister scene, some bunkroom banter, a sci-fi plotline about exploring a derelict ship, and lots and lots of funny jokes. It’s not the best episode ever, no, but it’s like all the different elements of Red Dwarf combined into one episode and you don’t really need to have knowledge of prior episodes to understand what’s going on

Understandable, but I don’t want the person to have to say their first series was Series VIII lol. Tho there is the problem of them being surrounded by other humans, which is a rarity most of the time in the rest of the show.

I think The Inquisitor is a pretty good one to introduce the premise and the characters, as well as a fun sci-fi idea. Or maybe Future Echoes.

I can see Future Echoes, but The Inquisitor is better if you’re already familiar with how much the crew have been wasting their lives getting no further in their goals than two series previous.

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Never seen the IT Crowd and incredibly little of Back Books to comment, but another Linehan show, Father Ted, I’ve seen all the way through and I enjoyed parts here and there of it.

Best bit that stuck out to me is when Ted is talking with Dougal and he starts cursing at him, and Ted is in disbelief and asks him to repeat himself. Always made me laugh.

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Trojan as a first, yikes. I know a girl who decided to try out Red Dwarf after me banging on about it for years, and sat down to watch the first episode of Series X as it first aired. She switched it off at the ad break. I like the episode but I don’t think it’s the best, or a great “welcome to Red Dwarf”, despite the moose gag. It’s another one where that gag is funnier because you already know Cat is an idiot, and the stuff with Rimmer’s brother is obviously more affecting if you’re familiar with the backstory.

Granted, first time I got into Red Dwarf was watching Series I to Series X from beginning to end back in 2012. So I can’t really say what would make a good first episode since I watched it all in-order (Only time I haven’t watched a Red Dwarf episode in sequence was Officer Rimmer when I got out of RD a few years back and just heard Series XI got released, and watched that cause the episode description sparked my curiosity).

But yeah, thinking about it again Trojan doesn’t quite set up all the elements of Red Dwarf too well I suppose.

Rimmer is set up well for a first impression, I believe, the scene with him getting the exam results with Kryten is basically a summary of his neuroses, incompetence, and prone-to-fail character for any new viewer watching for the first time to get familiar with. Though I suppose everyone else kinda takes a backseat and their trademarks aren’t highlighted, since Trojan is a Rimmer-centric episode to begin with.

And Fawlty Towers is just a bunch of wacky shit happening and people screaming about it, innit? The specific episode we watched was the infamous “don’t mention the war” one; perhaps it’s a similar issue of that one not being a great starter.

Might’ve been funnier at the time, since most Germans nowadays probably have no personal connection to WW2, so Basil’s insensitivity is lessened. I watched all Fawlty Towers episodes, and I think the one about the door getting replaced by a wall by the renovators was the funniest, but that was only cause I have experience in ordering something that turns out to be complete opposite of want I wanted.

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Legion is the funniest episode.

Goes without saying, if I was ever to show any of my fellow Yank friends Red Dwarf for the first time, it’d be that episode cause all the jokes land and are hilarious.

The End is funny cause it subverts expectations, but it isn’t the funniest episode by miles. Back to Reality, while good, would make for terrible first viewing cause the jokes are better when you are already familiar with the characters especially for the bit in the Recuperation Lounge. Gunmen of the Apocalypse would probably give them the wrong idea about Red Dwarf, as it did to Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek-parody”).

Legion and maybe Trojan would be my first choices to get someone into Red Dwarf.

I found Fawlty Towers loud and ridiculous and boring

I think its funnier if you have had experience with incompetent management and/or management that doesn’t give a shit about you prior to watching it.

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I liked that deleted scene in Cured where Rimmer and Kryten are discussing fictional characters with beards and suddenly out of nowhere Rimmer’s atheism is reestablished. I thought it was funny.

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I think they’d at least try it for one of the novels just to test the water, like all companies they like money I assume.

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I remember this one deleted scene that made me laugh more than anything in the show now that I remember it. Its the deleted scene in Holoship right after Rimmer is told he’ll have to face-off against e member of the ship for a position, is the funniest thing ever.

The thing that sells it is the Captain’s dramatic walk towards Rimmer, how Rimmer is so confident, Chris Barrie flinging his fucking legs in the air, way funnier than that Ministry of Funny Walks or whatever stupid bullshit from Monty Python. Amazing, never laughed harder.

Also Timewave was a good episode, fight me.

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Of course I would, I do ship them after all

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I can’t tell if that one BBC Two ident of playing pool was supposed to be a sexual innuendo or really fucking stupid

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Can’t remember my reactions to the classic series, but oddly enough the joke to get the biggest laugh from me was the size doesn’t matter gag from Can of Worms.

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I just want to hear Chris deliver Rimmer’s speech to McGruder, one of my favourite parts of the novels there.

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I’m not so much asking why didn’t Chris do it back then, more so why doesn’t he do it now.

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Can’t wait for the episode where Rimmer goes bald.

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U=CACKHEAD

Always had a blind-spot for Rs

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RIP Birdman profile image

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It’s funny how an aspect of Red Dwarf’s most loved episode is one of the show’s most hated characters, lol.

(Yes, I get it, he works in that episode but doesn’t in every subsequent appearance; tis a joke)

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– I think its a fun idea, though he’s more meant to be James Bond than Batman, which if you consider Bond a super hero I guess is the case.

– Considering the real size of the universe let alone a multiverse, an entire planet of Ace coffins is quite modest.

– Its done as well as you could hope really, like I said you either factor in how Rimmer acts in the final 5 minutes of Out of Time, how he is in Tikka to Ride, and this… or just take this which is fine too I guess.

– It really depends on how you view the crew dynamic. Do they care about each other? Do they hate each other? Do they tolerate each other? Its up in the air as far as the show is concerned, but I wouldn’t call Kryten and Cat’s relationship with Rimmer on equal footing with that of Lister and Kochanski.

– If you’re factoring Out of Time with this is it works in that he did try to save the crew of selflessness when he could’ve been killed by the falling debris while doing so.

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I always factor it in with Rimmer saving the crew at the end of Out of Time, coupled with him being the one to chastise Lister for abusing the Time Drive in Tikka to Ride, as a series of events leading to him becoming Ace. That might not have been intentional but it has always worked for me.

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I don’t mind it, Ace isn’t touched much in RD media when you really think about it. so I liked the experimentation done since the end product was quite nice terrible CGI aside.

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