Red Dwarf

For the type of star, see Red dwarf.

Red Dwarf
Created by	Grant Naylor (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor)
Starring	Chris Barrie Craig Charles Danny John-Jules Norman Lovett Hattie Hayridge Robert Llewellyn Chloë Annett
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 mins
Original release
Network	BBC2
Release	15 February 1988 – 5 April 1999

Red Dwarf is a British science fiction comedy franchise, the primary form of which comprises eight series of a post-watershed television sitcom that ran on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999, and which has achieved a global cult following. It was created and originally written by Grant Naylor (a so-called 'gestalt entity', in reality a collective pseudonym for the writing duo Rob Grant and Doug Naylor). The show had its origins in a recurring sketch, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, in the mid-1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show Son Of Cliché, also scripted by Grant and Naylor. In addition to the Red Dwarf television series, there have also been four bestselling novels, a pilot episode for an American version of the show, and a significant number of tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.

Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character driven comedy, with many off-the-wall science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. For example, in the early series, a recurring source of comedy was the "odd couple" relationship between Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer, the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other but are trapped together in an isolated deep space scenario.

Red Dwarf's highest accolade came in 1994, when an episode from the sixth series (Gunmen of the Apocalypse) won an International Emmy Award in the Popular Arts category. The show also won Best BBC Comedy Series at the British Comedy Awards during the same year, and attracted its highest ratings — of over eight million viewers — by the eighth series in 1999. In a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's best sitcom the show was voted 18^th out of 100 nominations.

The current status of the show remains uncertain, as Doug Naylor (now in sole control of the franchise following the departure of Rob Grant in 1995) is committed to writing and producing a feature film version of the sitcom. Naylor has also stated that he hopes one day to tie up the cliffhanger upon which the eighth season ended, perhaps with a one-off, feature-length television special although a ninth season has not been ruled out, depending on the success of the feature film.

Plot

See also: List of Red Dwarf episodes

File:RedDwarfCast.jpg

The cast of Red Dwarf as of Series IV. In the foreground from left to right: The Cat, Dave Lister, and Arnold Rimmer. In the background is Kryten, and on the monitors is Holly's feminine avatar.

The main dramatic thrust of the series is Lister's attempt to get back to Earth (indeed, in the novels, this was introduced as a desire of his, even before the accident that left him stranded three million light-years away). Along the way, however, are frequent distractions that usually see the not-so-intrepid Dwarf crew encountering strange races and lifeforms that have developed in the intervening millions of years. Most of these life forms are described as genetically engineered or robotic (or in some cases, both) and consequently Earth-based. Aliens never actually appeared onscreen, although the crew once described an encounter with a "pan-dimensional liquid beast" in passing.

The main dramatic thrust of the series is Lister's attempt to get back to Earth (indeed, in the novels, this was introduced as a desire of his, even before the accident that left him stranded three million light-years away). Along the way, however, are frequent distractions that usually see the not-so-intrepid Dwarf crew encountering strange races and lifeforms that have developed in the intervening millions of years (although originally a core tenet of the series is that there are no aliens anywhere in the universe — every element of the large and bizarre mix of intelligent life within the Red Dwarf universe is in one way or another derived from Earth, a result of developments in robotics or genetic engineering - this later changed with the introduction of the Gulf in season seven).

Furthermore, the crew roster changes as the years go by. During the second season, the "Dwarfers" encounter the sanitation mechanoid Kryten, rescuing him from a long-since crashed vessel. Initially, Kryten only appears in one episode of Season Two (as Rob and Doug did not want a robot as a main character), but by the beginning of Season Three he has become a full time character in the series. At the end of Season Five, however, disaster strikes when Lister loses Red Dwarf, having forgotten which planetoid he parked it around (he offers this as an excuse initially, but Kryten almost immediately informs the crew that Red Dwarf was stolen). This forces the crew to travel in the smaller Starbug craft for two seasons, with the added side-effect that they lose contact with Holly. And in Season Seven, Rimmer departs the crew to take up the role of his alter-ego from a parallel universe, Ace Rimmer, whose name has become a long-standing legend and a legacy passed down from dimension to dimension. Shortly afterwards, the crew find a replacement for Rimmer when they encounter another parallel version of themselves. In this universe, it was Kristine Kochanski — Lister's long-time crush and (because of merged realities) ex-girlfriend — who went into stasis, while Lister died and was brought back as a hologram. A complicated series of events leaves Kochanski stranded in mainstream universe, and she is forced to join the crew.

Finally, in the eighth (and so far final) season, Red Dwarf itself is reconstructed by Kryten's nanobots that had stolen it and broken it down into its constituent atoms. In the process, the entire crew of the ship — including Rimmer — are resurrected, but the Starbug crew all find themselves sentenced to two years in the ship's brig on a set of convoluted charges. The series ends, however, with Red Dwarf being eaten away by a virus and all on board evacuated, save for Rimmer who is left to face Death, for the second time. Unhappy with his predicament, he knees Death in the groin and runs away; although the cliffhanger ending leaves this open to interpretation.

Characters and actors

Main article: Red Dwarf characters

Regular cast

• Craig Charles plays Dave Lister.
• Chris Barrie plays Arnold Rimmer.
• Danny John-Jules plays The Cat.
• Norman Lovett plays Holly in Season I, II, VII and VIII. Hattie Hayridge plays the AI in Season III to V. The character makes no appearance in Season VI.
• Robert Llewellyn plays Kryten from Season III onwards. In his original one-off appearance in Season II, Kryten was played by David Ross.
• Chloë Annett plays Kristine Kochanski in Season VII and VIII. Kochanski was originally, in Seasons I, II and VI, a supporting character played by Altered Images vocalist Clare Grogan (credited as CP Grogan).

Recurring guest characters

• Captain Frank Hollister (played by Mac McDonald) appears in Season VIII, two episodes of Season I and one episode of Season II.
• Olaf Petersen (played by Mark Williams) appeared in three episodes and is mentioned regularly when Lister talks about the days before the accident. Typically Lister refers to this character by his surname only.
• Selby and Chen (played by David Gillespie and Paul Bradley, respectively) appeared in three episodes altogether.
• Kill Crazy (played by Jake Wood) and Baxter (played by Ricky Grover) appeared in several episodes of Season VIII.
• Warden Ackerman (played by Graham McTavish) appears in Season VIII.
• Bob the Skutter is a small maintenance robot and friend to the regular characters.

Guest actors

• Actors who played more than one role in Red Dwarf include Tony Hawks, Rupert Bates and Tony Slattery. Guest stars have included Brian Cox, Craig Ferguson, Nicholas Ball, Sarah Alexander, Arthur Smith, Gordon Kennedy, Mark Caven, Jack Docherty, Lee Cornes, Morwenna Banks, Don Henderson, Don Warrington, Angela Bruce, Daniel Evans, Koo Stark, Jenny Agutter, Maggie Steed, Jane Horrocks, Geraldine McEwan, Frances Barber, Ainsley Harriot, Ruby Wax, Timothy Spall and Gary Martin.

Production history

The first season aired on BBC2 in 1988. Seven further seasons have so far been produced, and a film has been in development hell almost continually since the last season in 1999.

Concept and commission

The concept for the show was originally developed from the sketch-series Dave Hollins: Space Cadet on the BBC Radio 4 show Son of Cliché in the mid-1980s, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Some of their influences came from 1970s movies such as Alien, Dark Star, Silent Running, and the television series Lost in Space; but their concept had a large element of British-style comedy and satire thrown into the mix, ultimately moulded into the form of a sitcom. Having first written the pilot script for Red Dwarf in 1983 during a stay at a Welsh cottage owned by Naylor's father, the former Spitting Image writers had hawked their unusual and original script around a number of places but it was rejected by everyone at the BBC for three years, as it was erroneously believed a sitcom based around science fiction wouldn't be popular.

However it was finally accepted by BBC North in 1986, a happy result of a spare budget being assigned for a second series of Happy Families that would never arise. The show was lucky to be remounted after an electrician's strike partway through rehearsals shut the entire production down, and the first episode, The End, finally made it onto screens on 15 February 1988. The creators have long admitted that without the persistence of producers and commissioners such as Paul Jackson and Peter Ridsdale-Scott, the series might never have seen the light of day.

Casting

Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina were two of the notable names that auditioned for roles in the series, with Molina actually being cast as Rimmer originally. However, after having difficulties with the concept of the series, and of his role in particular (it has been said by Doug Naylor that he was constantly wondering when his character would stop being a hologram), the role was recast and filled by Chris Barrie, a professional voice-actor and impressionist who had previously worked with both the writers on Spitting Image, and with the producers on Happy Families and various Jasper Carrot productions. Craig Charles, a Liverpudlian "punk poet", was given the role of Dave Lister. He was originally approached by Grant and Naylor for his opinion about the character 'The Cat' as they were concerned it may be considered by some people as racist. On the television programme 'Comedy Connections', Charles described the character as 'pretty cool' and after reading the script he decided he wanted to audition for the part of Dave Lister. Laconic stand up comedian Norman Lovett, who had originally tried out for the role of Rimmer, was kept in the show as the senile computer of the titular ship, Holly. A professional dancer and singer, Danny John-Jules, arriving famously late for his appointment, stood out as The Cat immediately. This was partly due to his "cool" exterior, partly due to his dedicated research (reading Desmond Morris's book Catwatching), and partly because he showed up in character, wearing his father's 1950s-style suit.

Other actors attached to the project with supposed major roles at some stage during the pre-production years of the show include Ronnie Barker, Hugh Laurie, and David Baddiel. Many who came close to getting leading roles were rewarded with guest parts, including Craig Ferguson, Lee Cornes and David Gillespie.

Writing, producing, and directing

Grant and Naylor wrote the first six series together (using the pseudonym Grant Naylor on the first two novels and later as the name of their production company, although never on the episodes themselves) before Grant left in 1996, leaving Naylor to write the final two with a group of new writers, notably including Paul Alexander and actor Robert Llewellyn.

For the most part, Ed Bye produced and directed the series. He left before Series V due to a scheduling clash (he ending up directing a series starring his wife, Ruby Wax), and Juliet May took over as director, but she parted ways with Grant and Naylor partway through the series for personal and professional reasons. Grant and Naylor took over direction of the series, in addition to writing and producing. Series VI was directed by Andy De Emmony, with Bye returning for the final two series.

Seasons I, II and III were made by Paul Jackson Productions, with subsequent series produced by the writers' own company Grant Naylor Productions, all for BBC North; all eight series were broadcast on BBC2. At the beginning of Series IV, production moved from the BBC's Manchester studios to Shepperton.

The theme tune and incidental music were written and performed by Howard Goodall, with the distinctive vocals on the theme tune courtesy of Jenna Russell. Goodall also wrote music for the show's various songs, including "Tongue Tied", with lyrics written by Grant and Naylor, which Danny John-Jules re-orchestrated and released as a Top 20 single. Craig Charles wrote, performed and sang "Cash" — from the episode "Timeslides" — with his band. Goodall's own voice can be heard in the version of the song "High Noon" in "Queeg" (Series II), and in the "Rimmer Munchkin Song" in "Blue" (Series VII). Chris Barrie purports to have been upset by not being invited to sing this song himself (Back from the Dead, series VII DVD); Howard Goodall, however, insists that Barrie was asked but turned the invitation down (Howard Goodall, Settling the Score, series VI DVD).

Hiatus, changes, and disputes

A period of three years elapsed between Seasons VI and VII, partly due to the imprisonment and subsequent exoneration of Craig Charles, but also due to cast and crew working on other projects (notably Chris Barrie in The Brittas Empire) and disputes over pay. When the series returned, it was filmised and no longer shot in front of a live audience (a common misconception is that canned laughter was used, when in fact the completed episodes were later shown to an audience), allowing for greater use of four-walled sets, location shooting and single camera techniques. Although some critics praised the higher production values, many fans disliked the series (see "Mixed reactions"), and when the show returned for its eighth seasons two years later, it had dropped use of the filmising process and restored the live audience.

Red Dwarf Remastered

Main article: Red Dwarf Remastered

In 1998, on the tenth anniversary of the show's first airing (and between the broadcast of Seasons VII and VIII), the first three series of Red Dwarf were remastered and released on VHS. The remastering included reformatting the series in 14:9 widescreen (albeit, only for the VHS releases. TV showings were in original 4:3), applying the same 'field-removal' film effect as Series VII, replacing model shots with computer graphics, cutting various small pieces of dialogue (and, in some cases, entire scenes), re-filming Norman Lovett's Holly footage, creating a consistent set of opening titles for use in all episodes, and updating music and ambient sound effects with a digital master. Grant Naylor explained:

We're basically remastering the whole of the first six seasons for BBC Worldwide (the video company) who feel that they would be able to sell it more easily in Europe and America if there was a more unified look and feel to the whole of the series. What this means is ... consistent opening titles; it means that in places we can replace and improve the model shots.

Red Dwarf Remastered was met with a generally poor fan reaction in the UK, but significant international broadcast sales - due mainly to the newer-looking visuals and the availability of isolated audio tracks for language dubbing. No further series were remastered and the later DVD releases of the same series reverted to the original versions; although the first episode of Series VII ("Tikka to Ride") would also include an alternative Remastered version, featuring upgraded CGI as the only difference to the original broadcast version.

The Remastered episodes are due to be re-released on DVD in October 2007, as part of the Red Dwarf : The Bodysnatcher Collection boxset.

Spin-offs

Books

The franchise has expanded to include four novels, written by the show's creators, Doug Naylor and Rob Grant (under the combined name of Grant Naylor).

• Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (published 2 November 1989) — Rob Grant, Doug Naylor — ISBN 0-451-45201-1
• Red Dwarf: Better than Life (published 25 October 1990) — Rob Grant, Doug Naylor — ISBN 0-14-012438-1
• Last Human (published April 1995) — Doug Naylor — ISBN 0-14-014388-2
• Backwards (published 2 May 1996) — Rob Grant — ISBN 0-14-017150-9

These novels contain deeper insights and more thorough backstories for the main characters, as well as more information on humanity's future state of affairs. Rather than adapting the show outright, the books provide yet another, possibly idealized version of the series' backstory. They reinterpret and reposition elements from past episodes, and even introduce ideas that would later be used in the show.

It was reported that both authors were working together on a sequel to Better than Life, called The Last Human, but after falling out with each other, and still owing Penguin Publishing two more Red Dwarf books, Grant and Naylor decided to each work alone on the novels. Two completely different, contradicting sequels were made as a result. Last Human (by Doug Naylor, who would go on to make two further television series) added Kochanski to the crew and places more emphasis on the science-fiction and plot elements, while Backwards (by Rob Grant) was more in keeping with the previous two books, borrowing more extensively from established television stories. The styles of these sequels vary wildly from the two predecessors and each other, and gave some insight into which author had been more responsible for different elements and characters in preceding works. While opinion differs strongly on which solo effort is superior, neither matched the widespread fan acclaim of the original co-written novels.

All four books were published in audiobook format, the first two read by Chris Barrie, Last Human read by Craig Charles, and Backwards read by its author Rob Grant.

The BBC World Service re-recorded the first two books as The Red Dwarf Radio Show, with Chris Barrie narrating and additional sound effects. The first series was broadcast from 3 December 1995 to 17 February 1996, and the second from 13 March 1997 to 28 March 1997.

An Omnibus edition of the first two books, including a few edits to the original text and some extra material such as the original script to the first episode of the TV series, was released in 1992 (ISBN 0-14-017466-4).

Other books include:

• The Official Red Dwarf Companion — 1992 — Bruce Dessau — ISBN 1-85286-456-7
• Red Dwarf VIII Scriptbook — 1999 — Doug Naylor (with Paul Alexander) — ISBN 1-85227-872-2
• The Making of Red Dwarf — 1994 — Joe Nazzaro (with photographs by Nobby Clark) — ISBN 0-14-023206-0
• Red Dwarf Programme Guide — 1993 — Chris Howarth & Steve Lyons — ISBN 0-86369-682-1 (with three subsequent revisions until 2000)
• The Space Corps Survival Manual — 1996 — Doug Naylor & Paul Alexander — ISBN 0-7493-2374-4
• The Red Dwarf Quiz Book — 1994 — Nicky Hooks & Sharon Burnett — ISBN 0-14-023662-7
• Red Dwarf Log No. 1996 — 1995 — ISBN 0-434-00370-0 (Diary)
• The Man in the Rubber Mask — 1994 — Robert Llewellyn — ISBN 0-14-023575-2 (Autobiography)
• Red Dwarf: The Role Playing Game — 2003 — Todd Downing, Mark Bruno, John Sullivan, Andrew Kenrick, Lee Hammock, Gavin Downing, Allan McComas & Samantha Downing — ISBN 0-97-108203-0

There have also been two script books — Primordial Soup (1993, ISBN 0-14-017886-4) and Son Of Soup (1996, ISBN 0-14-025363-7) — each containing six scripts; and an extremely rare short book entitled Scenes From The Dwarf (ISBN 0-14-600243-1) was released in 1996 as part of the Penguin 60s series, containing scripts of a handful of scenes from the series.

The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything (1997, ISBN 0-14-026862-6), a collection of humorous observations on a wide variety of topics written by Craig Charles and Russell Bell, was not affiliated with Red Dwarf, Grant/Naylor or the BBC. However, Charles was pictured on the cover in costume as Lister and, in the introduction, describes the book (tongue in cheek) as an attempt to compile a comparative list of scientific and sociological milestones in the development of the human race from the viewpoint of the last human being alive (i.e. someone very much like Lister). This book can therefore be considered an unofficial Red Dwarf spin-off.

U.S. version

File:RedDwarfUSA.jpg

Craig Bierko as Lister in Red Dwarf USA

A pilot episode for an American version (known to fans as Red Dwarf USA) was produced for NBC in 1992, though never broadcast. The show followed essentially the same story as the first episode of the original series, substituting American actors (including Craig Bierko as Lister, Chris Eigeman as Rimmer, and Hinton Battle as the Cat) for the British; exceptions being Llewellyn, who reprised his role as Kryten, and the British actress Jane Leeves, of Frasier fame, as Holly. It was directed by Jeffrey Melman and written and produced by Linwood Boomer of Malcolm in the Middle fame.

It was later revealed on the Season V DVD that Chris Barrie had been offered the chance to reprise his role as Rimmer for the US series, but turned it down believing he would be under contract "for years" afterwards if the show was a success.

It was also revealed that Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, with the support of the cast, convinced the pilot's producers to use a revised script of their creation, but in the course of production the American team reverted back to their original script.

As a result of this the two hastily put together an extremely low-budget network promo consisting of scenes from the first pilot and the British show edited in with newly-filmed footage (featuring a new Rimmer and, from a suggestion made by the network, a female Cat, played by Terry Farrell). This was also unsuccessful.

Clips from the first pilot can be found on the DVD of Season V in the featurette Dwarfing USA, along with interviews with the British cast and Doug Naylor. Bootlegs of the pilots are widely circulated among Red Dwarf fans, and sold at conventions, while some low-quality recordings can be found on the Internet for downloading.

Red Dwarf: The Movie

Since the end of Season Eight, Doug Naylor has been attempting to get funding to make a feature length film version of the show, but on every occasion so far has been thwarted by circumstances. He has long persisted with his conviction that the making of the movie (for which the script has been written for many years) takes precedence over any other possible future incarnation of Red Dwarf. On the Season VIII DVD documentary The Tank, however, he admits to being — perhaps mindful of the age and schedules of the principal cast — close to having to make a final, outright decision of whether to continue to pursue the film, make a Season IX or some one-off TV special(s) (as Only Fools & Horses did previously), or simply end the series as it is. Naylor sent a letter to the Red Dwarf fans at DJ XI, which mostly consisted of his failed attempts to create the film, such as a fake Duke of Manchester sending forged money to fund the film.

Tongue Tied

The song "Tongue Tied", originally featured in a dream sequence in the Season II episode "Parallel Universe", was rearranged and rerecorded by Danny John Jules (under the name 'The Cat') and released as a single in October 1993. It reached number 17 in the UK charts, and was expected to get higher, but a planned performance on Top Of The Pops never happened, thus halting momentum for the single. The single also included the actor's performance of the Red Dwarf theme song.

A video to accompany the release which starred Danny John-Jules as some of his Red Dwarf alter-egos, including Duane Dibbley, was also produced. This was primarily available to readers of the Red Dwarf Smegazine. It was based around a storyline written by Danny John-Jules and featured music videos for some of the remixes, with guest appearances from the rest of the Red Dwarf cast, along with Clayton Mark ("Elvis" in Meltdown) and Charles Augins ("Queeg 500" in Queeg). In addition an eight-minute "Making Of" documentary featuring the cast was included.

In the "Stasis Leak" episode, an "elevator music" version of "Tongue Tied" can be heard playing in the hotel lobby scene.

Specials

On February 14 1998, the night before the tenth anniversary of the show's first broadcast episode, BBC2 devoted an evening of special programming to the series, under the banner of Red Dwarf Night. The evening consisted of a mixture of new, specially-recorded content and existing material, and was introduced and linked by famed actor and Dwarf fan Patrick Stewart. In addition, a series of special take-offs on BBC2's famous idents, featuring the "2" logo falling in love with a skutter, were used.

The night began with Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg, a spoof of the popular cookery programme Can't Cook, Won't Cook, presented by that show's host Ainsley Harriott (who had himself earlier appeared in Red Dwarf, albeit under heavy make-up, prior to his career as a celebrity chef). Taking place out of the continuity of the series (not least as it features both Kochanski and the hologram Rimmer, who never actually met in the series, on-board Starbug), two teams (Kryten and Lister versus Rimmer and the Cat, although the Cat quickly departs to be replaced by alter ego Duane Dibbley) are challenged to make the best chicken vindaloo. The show was part-scripted by Paul Alexander, and part-improvised by the cast. Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg is available for viewing as a special feature on the Season IV DVD.

After a compilation bloopers show, featuring out-takes that had already been seen on the various Smeg Ups releases (see DVD and video) but new linking material from the cast, the next special programme was Universe Challenge, a take-off of the University Challenge (or College Bowl in the USA) format. Hosted by original University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne (following an introduction in which Chris Barrie mimicked current host Jeremy Paxman — who Gascoigne subsequently 'blew up' with a Bazookoid), the show saw a team of knowledgeable Dwarf fans defeat a team consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Chloe Annett and Danny John Jules. Universe Challenge has not yet been released on DVD due to copyright complications.

Universe Challenge was followed by The Red Dwarf A-Z, a half-hour documentary special that chose a different aspect of the show to focus on for each letter of the alphabet. Talking heads on the episode included Stephen Hawking, Terry Pratchett, original producer Paul Jackson, and Patrick Stewart, in addition to an appearance from two (officially-licensed) Daleks. Finally, the night ended with a showing of the Emmy award-winning episode from 1993, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse". The Red Dwarf A-Z is available for viewing as a bonus feature on the Season II DVD, and as part of some countries' Season VII VHS release.

Another one-off Dwarf special was produced in November of that year — a short sketch serving as a prelude to Series VIII that was broadcast as part of the annual Children in Need fundraising night. The sketch saw the Dwarf crew (again featuring both Rimmer and Kochanski — with Rimmer still sporting his holographic H to avoid spoiling the nature of his return) onboard the newly-redesigned Blue Midget, discussing fund-raising and telethons.

Stage Plays

Blak Yak Theatre, a theatre group in Perth, Western Australia, were also given permission by Grant Naylor Productions to mount stage versions of certain Red Dwarf episodes in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Most notably, the cast featured a Lister speaking with an Australian accent and a white Cat.

DVD and VHS

DVD Releases

All eight series are available on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, with each release from Series III onward being accompanied by an original documentary about the making of each respective series, and a bonus disc filled with extra material. The DVD releases have been praised for their particularly extensive bonus material, which includes cast commentaries, exhaustive deleted scenes, raw effects footage, previously-broadcast one-offs and specials about the show, outtakes and much more, including — in one instance — a special audio/part-animated version of an unmade episode, performed by Chris Barrie. There are also various country-specific releases, usually without extras, across the globe.

Regions 2 and 4 have also seen the release of two Just The Shows, digipack boxsets containing all the episodes from Series I–IV (Volume 1) and V-VIII (Volume 2) with static menus and no extras. In October 2006, meanwhile, an Interactive Quiz DVD entitled Red Dwarf: Beat The Geek was released. The quiz allows "hardcore fans" to compete against casual viewers, in addition to offering general knowledge questions for friends/family not au fait with the series. The DVD is hosted by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge, both reprising their roles as Holly. It is currently only available in regions 2-4, and in region 2 the initial release also included an internet treasure hunt competition called "Geek Chase", with a prize of £5,000. (Now expired, though the game itself remains available online.)

The Region 1, 2(UK) and 4 releases of series 1-3 are the originally aired versions of the show. Some European countries such as Poland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands have localised releases which contain the Remastered versions of Series I-III. Bonus features on these DVDs vary. An earlier release in Japan featured the NHK versions of the show - remastered and dubbed, but with significantly altered title sequences and shorter running times, reflecting the fact that these edits were originally created for showing on commercial television.

In December 2006, it was announced that a DVD boxset of Red Dwarf : Remastered was being prepared for release in October 2007. It was subsequently announced in April 2007 that the name of the boxset would be Red Dwarf : The Bodysnatcher Collection rather than Red Dwarf Remastered. The new title highlighted one of the set's other main bonus features: a storyboard construction of "Bodysnatcher" (the "lost" episode from series 1, performed by Chris Barrie as for the series VII extra "Identity Within"), notable for being an original 1987 script "finished" by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor in 2007, working together for the first time since 1993. The intention of the boxset retitling to was to ensure that no buyers or reviewers would mistake the set for a 'vanilla' edition of the 1997 Remastered series (akin to the Just The Shows sets) or even a new 2007 Remastering of the series. It was felt by GNP that the renaming would focus attention onto the array of bonus features that had not been financially viable when the early series were originally released on DVD.

VHS Releases

For the initial release of the VHS editions, the videos were named after the first episode on the tape, as were other BBC videos at the time. This was changed for the second half of Season I, as the BBC already had another series called Waiting for God (the title of the fourth episode in the series) so the video was named after the fifth episode, "Confidence and Paranoia". Because of this, the episode summaries on the back of the tape were mixed up with the second episode being listed first. The first video of Season VI was named after the third episode on the tape, presumably because the Emmy-winning episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" was seen as being more prestigious than "Psirens", the first episode of the series.

Boxed Sets / Speciality Releases: Prior to the DVD releases, all eight series had been available on VHS. All the videos are now deleted, but none — save for "Six Of The Best" — are particularly rare. Three episodes of Season VII were also released as special "Xtended" versions with extra scenes and no laugh track (these "Xtended" episodes would later be included on the DVD), while the remastered versions of Seasons I–III were released individually and in a complete box-set.

A special limited edition box-set, Six Of The Best, was released in 1997, featuring one episode from each (then-existing) series selected by the writers, and an audio CD of discussion and commentary by Rob Grant, Doug Naylor and Ed Bye (this discussion would later be split up and used as extras and easter eggs on the DVD releases).

Outtakes: Finally, two outtake videos were released, the famed Smeg Ups in 1994, and its sequel Smeg Outs in 1995. There was also a specially edited version of Smeg Ups for the Red Dwarf anniversary, which featured newly recorded links by Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, Chris Barrie as Rimmer and Craig Charles as Lister, the links were later released separately on the Season VII DVD. The original, 1994 version of Smeg Ups contained outtakes from Series IV–VI, with brand new specially-recorded links performed by Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, and featured the never-before-seen original ending of the Series VI finale "Out Of Time". Smeg Outs featured out-takes from the first three series, with more new links (now also featuring Craig Charles as Lister), in addition to the full-length video for "Tongue Tied". These videos were a strong commercial success, and Red Dwarf's outtakes remain among the most famous in television. All the out-takes featured on the videos have now been included on the relevant DVDs, but the links have yet to be re-released.

Releases on other media

Smeg Ups was re-released on UMD in June 2006, with Smeg Outs originally intended to follow 'for Christmas', but that release was subsequently cancelled.

Meanwhile, three episodes — "Marooned", "Quarantine", and "Cassandra" — are also available to view on selected mobile phones on a "ROK Chip".

Some episodes have also been made available to certain countries by the BBC for download through the Vuze client.

Notable series characteristics

Fans

Red Dwarf is known for its considerably large fan base and cult status, largely due to its position in the science fiction genre, and also due to the fact that it initially garnered low viewing figures (starting fairly strongly, but dropping off to the point where a second series may not have even been commissioned) but began to gain momentum on repeat showings and on video. That said, many have in recent years questioned its position as 'true' cult nowadays, since it is one of the most well-known sitcoms ever to come out of the UK: it ranked 18th in the BBC's 100 Best British Sitcoms, received over eight million viewers during its eighth series,, has been syndicated worldwide to great success, and has spawned conventions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Nevertheless, Red Dwarf does attract a certain kind of fan, often a hybrid of the science fiction geek and the comedy buff. Most-commonly known as 'Dwarfers' or 'Smegheads', Red Dwarf fans are also notable among the science fiction community for their large female proportion. Doug Naylor, in particular, has claimed that about half of Red Dwarf fans are women and that conventions often draw the very young and very old, but that the media like to portray the Red Dwarf fanbase as typically science fiction. However, Craig Charles has on several occasions commented that some Red Dwarf fans look like "they've just killed their parents".

Its official fan club is still going strong, some seven years after the show was last seen on air, and the annual convention "Dimension Jump" is consistently well-attended by fans as well as cast members. There are also still a significant number of active fansites devoted to the show.

Notable celebrity fans of the show include Bill Clinton, Stephen Hawking, Terry Pratchett, Tony Curtis, Ainsley Harriot and Patrick Stewart, who famously recalled during Red Dwarf Night in 1998 an incident whereby he was channel-hopping and came across an episode of the series, initially believing it to be 'a rip-off of Star Trek' and nearly about to call his lawyer, before it made him laugh and he became hooked.

Mixed reactions

The many changes that were made to the series' cast, setting, creative teams and even production values from series to series have meant that opinions differ greatly between fans as to the quality of certain series. Series VI was based around the supply ship Starbug. In the opening show of the series, 'Psirens', the reason given by Rimmer was that Red Dwarf was stolen after Lister had forgotten which planetoid he had parked it on. However there was a real reason for the change — too much of the Red Dwarf set did actually go missing. Series VI is often regarded as a highlight for lovers of one-line jokes but some saw it as a continuation of the 'Monster of the week' philosophy of Series V, which was nevertheless visually impressive. In Series VII and VIII there was a discernible shift away from both 'Monster of the week' and the stereotypical antagonism between Lister and Rimmer.

Season VII was seen by many as a disappointment — while much slicker and higher-budget in appearance, the shift away from outright sitcom and into something approaching comedy drama did not impress the majority of long-standing fans. Furthermore, the attempt to then shift back into traditional sitcom format for Season VIII was greeted with a response that was similarly lukewarm — and at times downright hostile — by many fans who felt that the level of humour in that series was far below that which they had come to expect from the show. There was also a significant amount of criticism aimed at the decision to resurrect the entire crew of Red Dwarf, as many felt this detracted from the series' central premise of Lister being the last human being alive.

On the other hand, there are many Red Dwarf fans who feel that Seasons VII and VIII, either individually or as a whole, are the equal of — if not superior to — the earlier seasons, and the topic is therefore the subject of constant fervent debate among the show's fanbase. Similar discussions revolve around the quality of Season VI (seen by some as the strongest series, but by others as a descent into formulaic comedy with an unwelcome change of setting), although not to the same extent; and there are even those who argue that the show lost its way with the significant changes made after Season II.

Within the context of British comedy in general, meanwhile, Red Dwarf occupies an ambiguous position. While revered by many — and still a successful programme, as recent DVD sales have shown (Seasons IV and V were the third and fourth best-selling BBC DVDs respectively in 2005) — it is also often looked down upon by those in the comedy fraternity (comedians such as Armando Iannucci and Lee and Herring have remarked on their dislike for the series). This could be the result of any number of factors — its niche content, the fact that its writers largely worked alone and are noted for little else in the industry, or the 'unfashionable' status of its main cast members (consisting of a dancer, a poet, an impressionist, and a stand-up comic, rather than previously-noted comedic actors) and the science fiction setting. Despite this, Red Dwarf consistently topped ratings (e.g. the Season VIII opener "Back in the Red" received 8.05 million viewers when first broadcast in February 1999), and remains the longest-running BBC2 comedy series.

Expletives

Red Dwarf famously employed a vocabulary of fictional expletives in order to avoid using potentially-offensive expletives in the show, and to give nuance to futuristic colloquial language. By far, the most famous example is 'smeg'. Variations of the word include: 'smeghead', 'smeg off' and 'smegging hell'. "Smeghead" and "Smeg-for-brains" are identical in meaning to the more contentious "retard" which, bar one instance in the Series IV episode "Justice", does not appear. The writers of Red Dwarf have stated that they invented the word "smeg", and that it has no connection with any similar real words, such as 'smegma' or the brand name that appears on the front of kitchen appliances. However, lexicographer Tony Thorne, in his 1990 Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (ISBN 0-7475-2856-X), reports instances of 'smeg' (and derivatives) being used as a term of 'mild contempt and even affection' among 'schoolboys, students and punks' as early as the mid-1970s — a decade or so prior to the inception of the Red Dwarf phenomenon — and unequivocally traces the etymology of the term back to 'smegma'. A character in the 1978 DEVO promotional video "The Men Who Make The Music" employs the term in the line "You're dying under Daddy's Cap, Smeghead."

Other invented expletives and euphemisms include 'goit' (one who is annoying or awkward) and 'gimboid' (one who is stupid or clumsy). Another term of abuse used in the show was the word 'gwenlan' (or 'gwenlyn'), the last name of Gareth Gwenlan, a former BBC head of comedy who had once passed on the show.

Normal expletives are occasionally utilised where no invented variant has been considered capable of generating the same impact of hilarity. "Crap", for example, was once required to cause an automated toilet to suddenly rotate into position, awaiting use. "Twat" has been used as a verb (Polymorph). Characters have also said "bastard" at times. However, stronger expletives have occasionally cropped up, such as "arsehole", "bollock" and on one occasion "shit" (Emohawk: Polymorph II).

Invented words

Red Dwarf, like other science fiction series, developed its own vocabulary. Words and phrases such as Dollarpound, Felis sapiens, Fuchal, Rogue Simulants, GELF, Space weevil and Zero G Football appear at various points during the series, highlighting a development in language, political climate, technology, evolution and culture in the future.

Parody and pastiche

While Red Dwarf is a comedy series, there is a mistaken belief that it exists solely as a 'parody' of existing science fiction shows. This, however, is untrue — the science fiction elements of the series were always treated seriously by Grant and Naylor, and indeed there were many concepts introduced by the series that would later go on to be used by more "serious" programmes. Nevertheless, like many sitcoms of its era, a number of its episodes contained references to other (not always science fiction) television shows, films, books and plays. These included spoofs of films and TV programmes as diverse as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Neighbours, Casablanca, Top Gun, RoboCop, Doctor Doolittle and Pride and Prejudice.

Continuity

Red Dwarf is particularly known for its creators' lax attitude towards continuity. As such, there were many facts and events that go contradicted (sometimes multiple times) from season to season. In the beginning, changing such things as the number of people on-board the ship, or the number of times Rimmer took his astronavigation exam, was a result of Grant and Naylor not bothering to check their facts because they assumed that no-one else would either. Perhaps the best-known example involved Lister having been said to have already had his appendix removed in an episode in Season II, only to suffer from peritonitis and have it removed during Season VI, an error that has received numerous attempts at explanation by writers and fans alike (most famously during the Smeg Ups video, when Kryten declared that Lister "liked the operation so much, he decided to have it again"). Once the show began to attract a quite large fan base, however, such errors began to be gleefully pointed out by fans the world over, to the extent that they became one of the series' most notable features. Most of the series' continuity errors are therefore now treated with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek reverence, and cheerfully ignored (just as Grant and Naylor ignored them when writing the show).

A cogent argument for explaining many of the series-to-series continuity errors is by exploring the possibilities of different series taking place in alternative dimensions. Indeed, this is often used as a general explanation for the many changes in style (and characters' histories) between Seasons II and III — with many fans taking the words 'THE SAME GENERATION... NEARLY' in the opening scrolling text of the episode "Backwards" as indicative of this. It was at this point in the series that Grant and Naylor began to introduce elements from the novels' continuity (such as Lister and Kochanski having actually had a prior relationship) into the series. Some speculate that this may be connected to the idea of multiple alternate realities combining in the aftermath of "Out of Time" (As mentioned in "Tikka to Ride"), resulting in the various contradictory facts present throughout the series.

See also

• Red Dwarf characters
• List of Red Dwarf episodes
• Red Dwarf ships
• British sitcom
• Britain's Best Sitcom
• List of television series that include time travel
• Chinface
• Hyperdrive

External links

• The Official Red Dwarf Website
• Red Dwarf at IMDb
• The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club
• DwarfWiki (3,000+ articles)
• "Tongue Tied" Wiki (100+ articles)
• Red Dwarf FAQ
• Red Dwarf at the BBC Comedy Guide

Cast links

• Website of Norman Lovett (Holly)
• Website of Robert Llewellyn (Kryten)
• Website of Chris Barrie (Rimmer)
• Robert Llewellyn's frequently updated YouTube channel

Fan sites

• Smegoo! - The Original Un-Official Red Dwarf Search Engine
• Ganymede & Titan - News, features, analysis and community
• Groovetown - The Music of Red Dwarf, also a discussion forum
• Red Dwarf entry on FanFiction.Net
• Red Dwarf Scripts & Fan Fiction
• The Red Dwarf Zone
• Total Red Dwarf - Scripts, multimedia, etc.
• Blue Dwarf RPG - Continuing fanfiction