DwarfCast 112 - Twentica Commentary featured image
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With the BBC episodes well and truly commentaried, we now turn our insatiable appetite to the Dave era, starting with Twentica. Danny Stephenson, Ian Symes and Jonathan Capps once again preside over discussions as they find out if one their favourite episodes from the series has stood the test of time before digging into another pile of Waffles.

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DwarfCast 85 - Series XI Semi Retrospective Byte One featured image
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Yes, DwarfCasts are finally back, following a four month wait between the end of Series XI and a day on which almost all of us could be in the same room. Has this additional thinking time enabled us to process our thoughts on the series enough to provide a coherent and insightful analysis as to where it went right and where it went wrong, or will it be the usual mix of ranting, swearing and giggling? Join Jonathan Capps, John Hoare, Tanya Jones, Danny Stephenson (down the line from our Yorkshire branch) and Ian Symes to find out.

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Ah, the BBFC, they’ve served us so well over the years, with episode title reveals and confirmations of DVD extras aplenty. As expected the forthcoming DVD and Bluray release has now been through classification and so all episodes and extras can be found on their website. I’ll be keeping this rundown spoiler neutral, although be warned that some of the BBFC’s notes might reveal details about the rudeness levels of future episodes.
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DwarfCast 79 - Live Twentica Reaction featured image
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Message incoming: G&T are back with their first live DwarfCast in nearly four years. Consequently there's a bit of rustiness, and an inexplicable moment where the host gets the name of his star guest wrong even though he's reading from a script, but there's also a tremendous amount of laughs, breaking news and searing insight, as Jonathan Capps, Danny Stephenson and Ian Symes are joined by guests Alex Newsome, Joey Newsome, Tom Pyott and Jo Sharples to discuss all things Twentica.

As well as the biggest and smallest talking points from the episode, we also cover the fan screening event, first impressions of Red Dwarf XI: The Game, some preliminary spoiler-free previewing of Samsara and to cap it all. an exclusive interview with Big Bang Beryl herself Rebecca Blackstone, presented for the first time at an audible level.

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Yes, in what doesn’t feel like an anti-climax at all, tonight’s the night that Red Dwarf XI debuts on your actual television. Twentica airs at 9pm on Dave, and this is the thread for all those of you that have resisted the temptation to watch online over the last seven days (Are there any of you? Show of hands…). And as this is the first thread with the shiny “Dave” banner on the top, I’d like to remind those of you who have already seen the episode to not spoil things for people in the comments, as per our spoiler policy.

Anyway, once you’ve finally watched the episode, you can catch up on the content you’ve missed from the last week, namely the episode’s talking points, Cappsy’s review, an analysis of the title sequence, and an interview with one of the episode’s guest stars. And everybody is welcome, regardless of at what pace they’re watching the series, to join us for our first Live DwarfCast of the series from 10pm (BST) tonight. We’ll be bringing you our analysis of the episode, along with a report from tonight’s fan screening of the first two episodes, and an exclusive interview with another Twentica guest star. It’s not to be missed – the link will be posted here on G&T (to the right there, where the countdown currently is) and on Twitter soon after the episode finishes airing on Dave.

EDIT: The guest cast for Twentica have now been listed on TOS, so it’s no longer a spoiler to say that tonight’s Live DwarfCast interviewee is Rebecca Blackstone!

In the meantime, the Red Dwarf XI game is now out! Well, at the time of writing, it’s in the iOS App Store, but presumably by the time you’re reading this it’ll be in the Play Store for Android devices too. It’s a tricky one to discuss, as the game does contain spoilers for Twentica, plus people may want to play through without having any surprises spoiled. So, feel free to discuss the game in vague terms here, but for the time being let’s keep all specific discussion of the game’s content to this forum thread.

One last thing. Samsara is going to be available on UKTV Play at some point today. We’re not sure when, but we’re assuming that it won’t be until after Twentica has been on the telly. If that’s the case, expect a discussion thread not long after we finish DwarfCasting. If it’s any earlier than that, remain calm and wait for the thread to appear before any spoilery discussion.

It’s all very complicated this time round, isn’t it?

The Kevin Eldon Interview featured image

Here's an unexpected delight. A friend of a friend of a friend got in touch with Kevin Eldon on our behalf, and old 4 Of 27 himself was only too happy to answer some questions via email. There are some extremely minor spoilers for Twentica below, but thankfully Kevin decided to take a somewhat literal approach to many of our questions. You won't find much in the way of hard fact here, but you'll hopefully laugh a fair few times. Our endless thanks to Jonathan 'Jonsmad' Young (who, along with setting the whole thing up, collaborated with us to provide the questions) and Harry Pye, without either of whom this wouldn't have been possible.

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Talking Points: Twentica featured image

By now, most of the people who have chosen to watch Twentica ahead of broadcast will have done so, and there's a hell of a lot to discuss. But there's a problem. The nature of the online release means that not everyone watches at the same time, and so it's tricky to give a structure to these discussions that would otherwise be covered by a live DwarfCast. To that end, and to plug the gap before our full written review in a few days' time, here's the first edition of our new feature.

Each week, usually on a Friday morning but we're making an exception for the first one, we'll summarise what we consider to the five biggest talking points from the episode. We'll then use your responses to kick off the debate in the forthcoming Live DwarfCast, which will follow the Dave broadcast. Obviously, these are by no means the only talking points - just the things that are in the forefront of our minds after just the solitary viewing. So without further ado, get stuck into these...

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Yes, it seems like despite having waited for nearly four years for a new episode of Red Dwarf to come along, the big day has crept right up to our astonished faces. A week ahead of Twentica‘s debut on Dave, it’s going to be released online “by this afternoon”. We don’t know when exactly, but we’ll update this post with a link when we spot it. In the meantime, make sure you’re registered and signed in on UKTV Play, to avoid delays.

EDIT: IT’S ONLINE. IT’S BLOODY HERE. BLOODY HELL.

Of course, the above only applies to those of you who aren’t saving yourself for the TV broadcast this time next week. From this point on, things get a little bit confusing. We’re doing our best to cater for all fans over the next seven weeks, so all posts will be clearly marked with a big friendly banner, as you can see above, telling you whether or not it’s safe to read. Our spoiler policy has been updated, and it’s more important than ever that you acquaint yourself with it.

Put simply: before it’s broadcast on telly, you can only discuss Twentica on threads with the blue UKTV Play banner. If you see a Dave banner, or no banner at all, don’t discuss the episode there. We’ll keep the extracts on the home page spoiler free, but if you’re waiting for the Dave broadcasts, don’t click on posts with the blue UKTV Play banner, and don’t read comments on those posts. You’ll see a nice “you can read this” Dave banner on posts starting next week.

It’s still a bit annoying that the audience is split up in this way, but at the very least, we’ll be making it as easy as possible for people to catch up with any episode-based content they’ve missed, with new navigation options waiting to be unveiled as soon as they’re necessary. In the meantime, those of you who can’t resist watching the episode online can discuss it on this post right now, and look out for a brand new feature either later tonight or early tomorrow (depending on when the episode is live), running you through the biggest talking points that Twentica turns up.

Good luck, everybody. Here it comes…

There is to be a screening of both Twentica and Samsara, taking place on 22nd September (ie. the day the series launches on the telly) at London's fashionable Prince Charles Cinema, which was also the venue for the Series X premiere nearly four years ago. The organisers have very kindly got in touch with us to provide more details, along with five pairs of tickets to give away exclusively to registered G&T users. Hurrah! Here's the blurb:

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