This bloody cover has been a thorn in our side since we first saw it at the beginning of April. If you’ve been following the story, you’ll know that we initially dismissed the cover as a fake, but then saw it crop up on various retailers over the last few days, with the explanation that it had been supplied by a distributor. ‘How could this be?’, we asked ourselves, and our investigations lead us to the top – Grant Naylor Productions. We contacted Andrew Ellard, the associate producer of the DVDs, and he told us this:

No, the DVD cover seen on the net is not real. It’s a fake, though I have no idea where from. I’m amazed anyone’s buying it – but, hey, if it helps the pre-sale, why not?

So, now we know that the cover is a total fake, and not a mock-up by GNP. We still don’t know how it got into the hands of distributors, or who is responsible for it. If the person who made it is reading this, get in touch. As much as your prank has confused us, we have to admire the way you’ve fooled so many people.

We at G&T are so fed up with the negative atmosphere surrounding the movie, that we’ve been forced to write an article about how the movie will be good. We’re using this article to launch yet another new section of the site – the aptly-named Movie section. We’ve also written an update to the Edit News feature that we uploaded on Monday, which contains a lot of info that we rather stupidly forgot to include then. Not only that, but we have revised the Links page. Expect another great update tomorow, obviously.

Well, no. Not exactly. Following the news that Blackstar.co.uk were using the fake Series III cover in their listing, we thought that it would be a good idea to get in touch with them and find out what the hell is going on. We got several very helpful replies back from Johnathan Hamill in their customer care department, and here’s what he had to say:

The cover scan that we have is that supplied by the distributor. This is the image that we do have to use and it will remain in place on the site until it is updated. However, we do have to rely on the distribution company to forward any updated material to us.

Rest assured that when we are supplied with the finalised cover scan this will be placed on site ASAP. This will probably be about the same time that the release date is officially relayed to us.

Of course, all of this is not the official stand on this – just Blackstar’s take on the situation. What makes this even more interesting is that DVD.CO.UK also now has an entry for the Series III DVD – again, using that same, fake cover. It is of course concievable that Grant Naylor Productions sent it out, but the dodgy editing on the black bar at the bottom of the cover seems to preclude this – along with the many other problems explained in previous news items. It would appear that a dodgy cover image is being passed around by at least one distribution company. We’re continuing our (admittedly, rather sad and pathetic) investigation, and we’ll keep you posted.

In more Series III DVD news – well you’ve got to hand it to them – although we spend ages putting together this site, The Red Dwarf Zone is often first with the scoop. Not only did they find out the DVD.co.uk entry above (which, incidentally, gives a release date of the 3rd November 2003 for the Region 2 release – the first time an exact date has been mentioned, though this is as yet unconfirmed by GNP), but they’ve also been rooting around on the BBFC site and found information on the first extra submitted for classification – Backwards Reversed. Running at 27 minutes 26 seconds, this would appear to be the entire episode backwards, rather than simply a few backwards scenes reversed. At first I thought this was just a ridiculous idea, but I’m quite warming to it now, because it’s a ridiculous idea. And we’ll get to see all backwards scenes reversed, rather than just the bits with funny dialogue. In other words: excellent.

Meanwhile, we have more G&T updates for you. Firstly, the Book Plot Inconsistencies Project is now online here. Written by Annette McIntosh, the last version of this was in the middle of 1996. It covers all four novels very well, and as we’re currently busy producing the PIP Addendum, and, indeed, haven’t got anything to add to the BPIP, we aren’t going to produce an addendum document for it at the moment. We may well do at some point though, when we’ve reread the novels.

Also online is the Directives document, which details all Space Corps Directives, Rimmer Directives, All Nations Agreements, and Articles mentioned in Red Dwarf. It’s also possibly the most anal thing I’ve ever done. Also, the contact page has been updated with a handy form, to make it easier to contact us. Also added is a new e-mail address: news@ganymede-titan.info. I think you can guess what we want you to send to that address. As well as pointing out news that perhaps we’ve missed, you can also send us information about anything Red Dwarf related you’ve been up to, and we’ll cover it. As long as it’s newsworthy. Taking a piss whilst wearing your Red Dwarf baseball cap doesn’t count, for instance.

More updates tomorrow, naturally. Until the end of time itself.