Red Dwarf

[Jusenkyo no Pikachu]

It was my birthday a few days ago, so my cousin got me the DVD of Red Dwarf Series 6. I had to say she proved one good thing about me: that I still have good taste in British programming.

The show, for those who are unaware, is a British comedy about the lives of four...things...on a space ship three million years in the future. The entire rest of the crew was killed off in a radiation leak.

Dave Lister (Craig Charles of Robot Wars) is the last human alive. Unfortunately, our entire race has been survived by a rude slob who didn't even last long at art college. Lister survived the radiation leak by being put into stasis for bringing a pregnant cat on board.

Arnold J. Rimmer (Chris Barrie of Tomb Raider) is a hologram. He's a holographic representation of the biggest smeghead on the ship. He was Lister's senior officer before his death--which isn't saying much for his command skills. His other accomplishments involve a discourse on porous circuits which was too radical, unconventional and mould-breaking for the examiners to accept (read: he wrote I AM A FISH 400 times).

Our third crew member is a Felis sapien--a being evolved from a house cat. As such, he has no name and is only known as The Cat (Danny John-Jules). He's easily the vainest member of the crew--at one point, he refused to venture into a time hole just because the colour didn't go well with the suit.

Rounding out the crew of the early seasons is Holly (Norman Lovett, later Hattie Hayridge), the shipboard computer. S/he has an IQ of 6000--the same IQ as 6000 PE teachers. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been lost in the sands of time--a computer that could once rewrite Hamlet and make it even the slightest bit endurable now depends on its collection of singing potatoes to keep its sense of reality in check.

Joining the crew in Season 3 is Kryten (originally David Ross, now Robert Llewellyn), an android with a head shaped like an amusing ice cube. And an obsession with menial labour. He's also the most educated member of the crew.

The Universe has not been the same since.

Later on, Chris Barrie decided to leave. Although the character of Holly was no longer around (in between seasons 5 and 6, Red Dwarf was stolen and the crew went into cryosleep for 200 years, while Kryten remodeled the ship). So an episode was written in which Rimmer's counterpart from another dimension, "Ace" Rimmer, died and selected our Rimmer to replace him. He was replaced in the following episode by Kristine Kochanski (originally CP Grogan, now Chloe Annet), Lister's girlfriend from three million years ago--in an alternate universe, she went into stasis instead of Lister. I myself find her quite boring and agree with many fans that the series really went downhill in series 7 and 8.

And I hate to admit it, but there is something worse than Red Dwarf Series 8. Fortunately, it's never been shown on TV. It's the pilot for a US spinoff. What happened was that the original show's creators got to produce two pilots (referred to collectively just about everywhere). The first had a clean-cut Lister (Craig Bierko), an annoying Rimmer (Chris Eigeman), a super-egotistical Cat (Hinton Battle--most people here know him as Sweet from Buffy) and a rather unfunny Holly (Jane Leeves of Frasier). The second one replaced Rimmer and the Cat (who became a sexy female and was played by Terry Farrell). Both feature Robert Llewellyn as Kryten--and he's easily the only thing that's really funny about this version. Everyone else involved really smegged up. Big time. Stay away from this one. Well away.

[peachvampiress]

I LOVE Red Dwarf. It is one of only three shows (Traders and South Park being the others) that I watched religiously and have memorized. I've bought all of the DVDs so far on their released dates, so I have the first six right now. In North America, the DVDs came with a pack of cards that had the characters on them.

Seasons 1-6 were pure gold. Season 7 was okay. It had some really good episodes (Blue, Tikka to Ride), but the absense of Rimmer and the introduction of Chloe Annett (who I can NOT stand) really didn't help. I've only seen the last few episodes of Season 8 and read scripts for the episodes I missed. Oh Smeg. It's just painful to read it.

Jusenkyo no Pikachu, if you get the chance, buy the Season 5 set because it has a special on it about the American version. It has Doug Naylor and Robert Llewellyn talking about it (Robert is hilarious here) and has Craig, Chris, Danny, and Hattie saying what they thought about it. It's really interesting and informitive...and shows how ridiculous the American creators were.

Oh, and about the American pilot, this site has it for download. It was terribile, no doubt about it, but I actually liked the actor who played the new Lister. He was really funny and was a good actor. The others were terrible though (minus Robert). I could not stand the guy playing Rimmer. He wasn't even acting.

Yeah, that's my two fangirlish cents :P

[Strawbaby]

Oh goodness, I adore Red Dwarf. It was always one of those few shows our whole family could sit down and watch together.

What's your favourite episode? I've always loved "White Hole" and "Quarantine". Mister Flibble is very cross...

[Jusenkyo no Pikachu]

Oh goodness, I adore Red Dwarf. It was always one of those few shows our whole family could sit down and watch together.

What's your favourite episode? I've always loved "White Hole" and "Quarantine". Mister Flibble is very cross...

Probably Backwards, Polymorph or Gunmen of the Apocalypse.

"But we don't loot Space Corps derelicts. We just hack our way in and swipe what we need!"
"Lister, if this goes to trial, I demand separate lawyers."

Pi "Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas" ka