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Maintained by Patrick M. Berry (pat@interpath.com)
Updated 23 July 1999
Welcome! This is the FAQ List for alt.tv.red-dwarf, the newsgroup dedicated to discussion of the British science-fiction comedy TV series Red Dwarf.
Recent changes:
You can obtain the current FAQ List by several methods:
World Wide Web: The HTML version (which is updated continually) resides at http://home.interpath.net/pat/rd/faq.html.
Usenet: A plain-text version is created from the HTML on the first of each month. The current plain-text version is posted every 30 days to alt.tv.red-dwarf, alt.answers, and news.answers.
FAQ archive: The most recently posted plain-text version is archived at:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/red-dwarf/faq
ftp://ftp.faqs.org/faqs/tv/red-dwarf/faq
E-mail: You can request a copy of the archived version by e-mail. Send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the following as the body of the message:
send /pub/usenet/news.answers/tv/red-dwarf/faq
Please don't ask me to mail you the FAQ List. You should have no trouble obtaining it from one of the sources listed above, and I don't have time to mail a copy to everyone who wants one.
The knowledge collected in this FAQ is not the product of one person's wisdom. It is a product of the group discussion process. If your question isn't answered here, the FAQ maintainer probably doesn't know the answer. For best results, ask your question in the alt.tv.red-dwarf newsgroup. It's better to give your question exposure to multiple people who might know the answer than to ask only one person who almost certainly doesn't.
Compilation Copyright (C) 1993-1999 by Patrick M. Berry. Copies of this document may be transmitted by electronic mail or posted to Usenet newsgroups. This document may not be mirrored or archived on World Wide Web sites (except for those that automatically archive postings in the *.answers newsgroups), or published in any permanent form (such as books, magazines, or CD-ROMs) without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
This FAQ List was originally created by Michael J. Montoure and Renee Ann Byrd.
What is alt.tv.red-dwarf?
What is Red Dwarf?
Did Red Dwarf start on radio?
Is there an American version of Red Dwarf?
Who is Grant Naylor?
What does "smeg" mean?
What does "LEVEL NIVELO" mean?
What is "vindaloo"?
What are the other foods mentioned on the show?
Aren't there a lot of inconsistencies in Red Dwarf?
How did Holly become female? Why did Kryten change?
What happened to the Red Dwarf and Holly?
What's the title of the last episode of Series 2?
What are they really saying in "Backwards?"
What's in canister 1121?
Who played Baby Lister in "Ouroboros"?
What are the Space Corps Directives?
Are there aliens in Red Dwarf?
What are the lyrics of the theme song?
What are the lyrics of "Tongue Tied"?
What are the lyrics of the Rimmer Munchkin Song?
Is Red Dwarf being remastered?
What was "Red Dwarf Night"?
What's new in Series 8?
Is a Red Dwarf movie in the works?
Will there be a Series 9?
What happened to Rimmer? How is Kochanski alive, and why does she look
different?
Where can I see Red Dwarf in the United States?
Where can I get videotapes of Red Dwarf?
What are the "Smeg Ups" and "Smeg Outs" tapes?
Where can I get other Red Dwarf merchandise?
Is there an episode guide for Red Dwarf?
What other Red Dwarf documents are available online?
Where can I write to the cast and crew of the show?
Was Craig Charles arrested for rape?
Are there books about Red Dwarf?
Are there Red Dwarf fan clubs?
Are there IRC channels for Red Dwarf fans?
Are there Red Dwarf mailing lists?
Are there Red Dwarf magazines?
Has Red Dwarf won any awards?
What other roles have Red Dwarf actors played?
Would anyone like any toast?
alt.tv.red-dwarf is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to the discussion of Red Dwarf.
There is a Web page for readers of the newsgroup at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~gimbal/index.html.
Warning: Read the alt.tv.red-dwarf Primer before posting to the newsgroup! The Primer explains how the newsgroup works and provides some informal rules. Everyone who posts to alt.tv.red-dwarf is assumed to be familiar with the Primer, and people who don't bother to read it tend to get yelled at. So take a few moments to look it over.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~gimbal/primer.htm
Red Dwarf is a British TV show that has been airing on the BBC since 1988. It's a half-hour science fiction comedy that tells the story of the last living human being and his nonhuman companions in the distant future. The premise of the show is best summed up in the opening narration (by Holly, the ship's computer) used in the first series:
This is an S.O.S. distress call from the mining ship Red Dwarf. The crew are dead, killed by a radiation leak. The only survivors are Dave Lister, who was in suspended animation during the disaster, and his pregnant cat, who was safely sealed in the hold. Revived three million years later, Lister's only companions are a life-form who evolved from his cat, and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram simulation of one of the dead crew.
Accompanied by the Cat, Rimmer, Holly, and an android named Kryten, Lister pursues his dream of returning to Earth and settling down with his long-lost girlfriend. Along the way, he encounters parallel universes, time warps, genetic mutants, holes in space, and a moon shaped like Felicity Kendal's bottom.
The regular cast of the series is:
| Dave Lister | Craig Charles |
| Arnold Rimmer | Chris Barrie |
| Holly | Norman Lovett (Series
1, 2, 7, 8) Hattie Hayridge (Series 3-5) |
| The Cat | Danny John-Jules |
| Kryten | Robert Llewellyn (Series 3-8) |
| Kristine Kochanski | Chloe Annett (Series 7-8) |
Red Dwarf is also a series of novels based on the TV show. The novels greatly expand on, and are greatly different from, the show. Many of the same ideas appear in the novels, but these ideas are put together in new and interesting ways. Four novels have been published so far:
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
by Grant Naylor
ISBN 0-14-012437-3
Penguin, 1989
Red Dwarf: Better Than Life
by Grant Naylor
ISBN 0-14-012438-1
Penguin, 1990
Red Dwarf: Last Human
by Doug Naylor
ISBN 0-67-085255-4
Penguin, 1995
Red Dwarf: Backwards
by Robert Grant
ISBN 0-670-84574-4
Penguin, 1996
The first two novels have been reprinted in a single volume:
Red Dwarf Omnibus
by Grant Naylor
ISBN 0-14-017466-4
Penguin, 1991
This combined rerelease also contains the script for "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet" (one of the Son of Cliché sketches that started it all), a reproduction of the beer mat on which the idea for Red Dwarf was allegedly first written, and the original script for "The End" (the first episode of the series).
Not exactly. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor wrote the short-lived radio series Son of Cliché (broadcast in two six-episode runs on BBC Radio 4 in 1984). In an ongoing series of sketches, a space cadet named Dave Hollins was trapped alone on a spaceship with a slightly senile computer called HAB. (The voice of HAB was provided by Chris Barrie, the actor who plays Rimmer in Red Dwarf.) Many of the ideas and jokes from these sketches were later incorporated into Red Dwarf, but there is no direct connection.
The script for one of the "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet" sketches is included in the Red Dwarf Omnibus.
Audio book versions of the Red Dwarf novels exist, and one of them (Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, read by Chris Barrie) has been aired on BBC radio. Sound effects were added and the recording was divided into parts for broadcast, but the show was otherwise identical to the audio book. The result is available for purchase as Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers: The Radio Show.
No, not really. The NBC network expressed interest in an American version of the show and two pilots were made by Universal, but no series was ever produced.
The first pilot was written by Linwood Boomer and filmed on 22 January 1992 at Universal City Studios in Los Angeles. The cast included the following actors:
| Dave Lister | Craig Bierko |
| Arnold Rimmer | Chris Eigeman |
| Holly | Jane Leeves |
| The Cat | Hinton Battle |
| Kryten | Robert Llewellyn |
| Kristine Kochanski | Elizabeth Morehead |
| First Officer Munson | Michael Heintzman |
| Captain Tau | Lorraine Toussaint |
Grant Naylor served as technical consultants. Robert Llewellyn (from the BBC cast) reprised his role as Kryten. The plot was a retelling of "The End", with some elements of "Future Echoes" thrown in for good measure. Some surprising and odd changes were made: Lister was transformed into a clean-cut and well-dressed Caucasian, and the H on Rimmer's forehead was replaced with a silver marble. (You can see a transcription of the first pilot at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7439/ams.htm.)
After this version was rejected, Grant Naylor filmed a second pilot with the following cast:
| Dave Lister | Craig Bierko |
| Arnold Rimmer | Anthony Fuscle |
| Holly | Jane Leeves |
| The Cat | Terry Farrell |
| Kryten | Robert Llewellyn |
The second pilot was not a complete episode, but rather a promo that combined scenes from the first pilot, bits from the BBC series, and newly filmed segments spotlighting the new cast members. This pilot fixed some problems (such as restoring Rimmer's H), but had more odd changes, such as a female Cat. (Terry Farrell went on to play Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.) The second pilot was also rejected, and the proposed series was shelved indefinitely.
[Does anyone know who wrote the second pilot, or when and where it was filmed? -- PMB]
Neither pilot has ever been aired or released on videocassette, but bootleg copies can be found at science fiction conventions.
A redesigned Kryten suit (of somewhat better quality than the old BBC version) was made for the U.S. pilots by Joseph Kerezman and Mike Moore of JK2 Costumers. After the pilots were rejected, the BBC created a new Kryten suit (based on the U.S. one) for Series 6.
"Grant Naylor" is the collective name used by the creative team of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who created Red Dwarf, wrote and produced Series 1 through 6, and wrote (individually or as a team) all of the Red Dwarf novels.
In 1996, Rob Grant resigned as coproducer and cowriter of the show. When asked why, he told the Radio Times, "We wrote the pilot for the series in 1983 . . . It's been a long time and it's taken up a lot of time . . . I thought, 'Enough's enough; I want more than just Red Dwarf on my tombstone.'"
Grant plans to write two additional Red Dwarf novels, and may also be involved in the Red Dwarf movie planned to follow Series 8. He is currently working on a new science fiction comedy for Sky One called The Strangerers. The show, which will premiere in 2000, chronicles "an attempted invasion of Earth by utterly incompetent aliens".
The "About the Author" note in the first two Red Dwarf novels has this to say about the creator(s) of the series:
Grant Naylor is a gestalt entity occupying two bodies, one of which lives in north London, the other in south London. The product of a horribly botched genetic-engineering experiment, which took place in Manchester in the late fifties, they try to eke out two existences with only one mind. They attended the same school and the same university, but, for tax reasons, have completely different wives.
The first body is called Rob Grant, the second Doug Naylor. Among other things, they spent three years in the mid-eighties as head writers of Spitting Image; wrote Radio Four's award-winning series Son of Cliche; penned the lyrics to a number one single; and created and wrote Red Dwarf for BBC television.
They have made a living variously by being ice-cream salesmen, shoe-shop assistants and by attempting to sell dodgy life-assurance policies to close friends. They also spent almost two years on the night shift loading paper into computer printers at a mail-order factory in Ardwick. They can still taste the cheese 'n' onion toasties.
Their favourite colour is orange.
Grant Naylor's number one single was "The Chicken Song," a Spitting Image spinoff. Philip Pope composed the music and produced the record, which was released in 1986 by Virgin Records.
It's a word made up by Grant Naylor for the characters to use as an all-purpose profanity. Some fans have theorised that it was derived from "smegma" (a particularly unpleasant bodily secretion), but Rob and Doug deny this. In the interview on the CD included with the Six of the Best box set, they state that "we wanted to invent a futuristic curse word which had the right sort of consonant and vowel arrangement to make it sound like a genuine . . . curse word." In an online chat session, Doug Naylor said "I think it's Latin for clean, also there's an Italian washing machine company called Smeg. Also each of the letters S-M-E-G stand for smelting metal and something to do with the washing machine process." A detailed list of "smeg" references in the show is available at http://www.bristol.u-net.com/smegweb/docs/smeglist.html
Red Dwarf is a bilingual ship, with English and Esperanto as the two official languages. "Nivelo" is the Esperanto word for "level". The signs in the corridors of the ship simply indicate (in both languages) what level you're on.
Esperanto is a real language, developed in the the 1880s by Polish ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenhof. The episode "Kryten" establishes that Lister, Holly, and Kryten all speak at least some Esperanto. Rimmer doesn't seem to have mastered the language yet; he's shown trying to learn it from a videotape without much success.
The name "Esperanto" means "one who hopes," a fact that is alluded to in "Back to Reality." (It's a blatant clue, innit?) If you would like to know more about the language, http://www.esperanto.net is a good place to start.
A very, very hot Indian curry dish that happens to be Lister's favorite food. Vindaloo can contain almost any sort of meat, so there are references to "mutton vindaloo," "chicken vindaloo," etc., in various episodes of the show.
Denis Cage has compiled the Red Dwarf Food and Drink Guide, an extensive guide to every dish and beverage mentioned on the show or in the novels. You can find the Guide at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6061/.
Many viewers have noticed that the details don't always match between one episode and another. The subject even comes up on the "Smeg Ups" tape when Kryten reads the Most Asked Questions About Red Dwarf, most of which have to do with one inconsistency or another. Annette McIntosh and Damone have compiled an exhaustive list of inconsistencies and contradictions within the TV series. This document is called the Red Dwarf Plot Inconsistencies Project (PIP) and can be found at http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~bjev/pip/pip_text.html.
Annette McIntosh maintains a similar document, the Red Dwarf Book Plot Inconsistencies Project (BPIP), which lists inconsistencies within the series of Red Dwarf novels: http://www.cobalt.demon.co.uk/alt.tv.red-dwarf/bpip.html
The original actor to play Holly, Norman Lovett, left the series after a dispute over his salary. In an interview with Red Dwarf Smegazine (issue 9, November 1992), Lovett said that he asked to be paid the same as the other actors on the series, but his request was turned down. Hattie Hayridge had appeared in "Parallel Universe" as Hilly, Holly's female counterpart. "When Norman said he wasn't doing another series, I auditioned," she recalls. The character of Holly kept the same name and personality despite the recasting.
Kryten's original actor, David Ross, wasn't available to commit to a series when Grant Naylor decided to make Kryten a continuing character, so he was replaced by Robert Llewellyn. (Ross later returned in "White Hole" as the new voice of Talkie Toaster.) There were also several changes in the show's look between Series Two and Three, including changes in costumes, sets, and miniatures, particularly the addition of the Starbug and its hangar bay.
Most of these changes are more or less explained by the following words that scroll rapidly up the screen at the beginning of "Backwards":
Three million years in the future, Dave Lister, the last human being alive, discovers he is pregnant after a liaison with his female self in a parallel universe. His pregnancy concludes with the successful delivery of twin boys, Jim and Bexley. However, because the boys were conceived in another universe, with different physical laws, they suffer from highly accelerated growth rates and are both eighteen years old within three days of being born. In order to save their lives, Lister returns them to the universe of their origin, where they are reunited with their father (a woman), and are able to lead comparatively normal lives. Well, as normal as you can be if you've been born in a parallel universe and your father's a woman and your mother's a man and you're eighteen years old three days after your birth. Shortly afterward, Kryten, the service mechanoid, who had left the ship after being rescued from his own crashed vessel, the Nova 5, is found in pieces after his space bike crashed into an asteroid. Lister rebuilds the 'noid, but is unable to recapture his former personality. Meanwhile, Holly, the increasingly erratic computer, performs a head sex change operation on himself. He bases his new face on Hilly, a female computer with whom he'd once fallen madly in love.
It is possible to read all this, if you have a VCR with good freeze-frame capabilities. Try it.
Throughout Series 6 and 7, the characters travel aboard Starbug; the Red Dwarf and Holly don't appear at all. This tends to confuse viewers who missed the explanation in "Psirens".
Briefly, what happened is this: Lister parked the Red Dwarf in orbit around a planetoid, and then forgot which planetoid it was. "They're all the same, those little blue-green planetoids. Blue-green and planetoidy." Subsequently, Red Dwarf was stolen "by persons or lifeforms unknown." Starbug followed the ship's vapor trail for over 200 years, with Lister and the Cat in deep sleep and Rimmer switched off to conserve power. At the first opportunity to actually catch up with Red Dwarf, Kryten revives the others, and the saga continued . . .
The real reason for the change was to eliminate Holly from the show. According to Hattie Hayridge, the parts for both Holly and the Cat had been getting smaller. Grant Naylor decided to drop one of the characters and expand the other. It was easier to drop Holly because many of her lines could be given to Kryten instead.
In "Nanarchy," Starbug finally catches up to Red Dwarf, and Norman Lovett returns to the show as Holly.
"Parallel Universe," according to the Radio Times and the BBC videotape. No title was given in the episode, which began with a musical number instead of the usual titles sequence. The title does appear on screen in the BBC videotape (and is on the label as well).
Most of the reversed dialogue in the episode "Backwards" is pretty much either what the subtitles say it is or what you'd expect from context; some of it actually appears to be random noise. There are two notable exceptions, however.
When Lister and the Cat steal a bicycle, its owner yells after them, "You scoundrels! Return my bike immediately!" -- at least, according to the subtitles. What he actually says, however, is, "Oi! Hey! Oi, you robbing bastards, that's our tandem!"
Later, when the stage manager comes in to yell at Rimmer and Kryten, he appears to be blaming them for starting the fight. Here's what he actually says:
You are a stupid, square-headed, bald git, aren't you? Eh? I'm pointing at you, I'm pointing at you. But I'm not actually addressing you. I'm addressing the one prat in the country who's bothered to get hold of this recording, turn it round, and actually work out the rubbish that I'm saying. What a poor, sad life he's got! . . . Frankly, your act's crap. Anyway, anybody could have done it. I hate the lot of you. Bollocks to you!
According to the Red Dwarf Quiz Book, it's the remains of Kristine Kochanski. When Lister comes back to life on the backwards Earth, he discovers that he's married to an elderly version of Kochanski. Presumably, treating the canister with gamma and X rays was part of Holly's plan for restoring her to life along with Lister. (If none of this makes any sense to you, you haven't read the ending of the novel Better Than Life.)
The original script for "The End" included a scene (cut from the final version) in which Lister placed the powdered remains of each crewmember in a separate canister and ejected them all into space (and this is done with George McIntyre's remains in the aired version). It's reasonable to conclude that Lister did this, although nothing is said about it in either the episode or the novel. The number of canisters floating in space ("something in the region of ten thousand") is consistent with the size of the crew given in Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers ("eleven thousand, one hundred and sixty-nine").
Alexander John-Jules, Danny's nephew. When asked about this, Danny said: "When we saw the baby who was supposed to be playing Lister, we all realised that he was too dark to be a believable Lister, so I said 'My nephew looks a lot like Lister,' and that's how he got the job."
Charles Daniels has collected all of the SCDs, Rimmer Directives, and All Nations Agreements into a comprehensive list: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6122/directiv.htm
No. One of the premises of the show is that life never evolved anywhere in the universe except on Earth. All of the creatures encountered by Red Dwarf's crew -- GELFs, simulants, space weevils, polymorphs, you name it -- are descended from life forms that originated on Earth. For an in-depth discussion of this issue, refer to Annette Mcintosh's No Aliens FAQ at http://skynet.ul.ie/~colm/red/noaliens.html.
The theme song was composed by Howard Goodall and sung by Jenna Russell. The words are:
It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere
I'm all alone, more or less
Let me fly far away from here
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sunI want to lie shipwrecked and comatose
Drinking fresh mango juice
Goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
There has been much debate over the "goldfish" line -- it isn't sung very clearly, and some fans think they hear "Goldfish are nibbling." But Kryten recites the lyrics in the "Smeg Ups" video, and they are as listed above. (A "shoal" is a school of fish.)
An "extended mix" version of the song has been released on several soundtrack compilation CDs:
The extended version includes two extra verses written by percussionist Ian Hu (who apparently is not connected with Red Dwarf). The additional verses are as follows:
I'll pack my bags and head into hyperspace
Where I'll succeed at time-warp speed
Spend my days in ultraviolet rays
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sunWe'll lock on course straight through the universe
You and me and the galaxy
Reach the stage where hyperdrive's engaged
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
"Parallel Universe" begins with a musical number that turns out to be one of the Cat's dreams. The studio audience's laughter makes the lyrics a little hard to understand, but here's what they appear to be:
The Cat: Lister and Rimmer: When I saw you for the first time (first time) My knees began to quiver (quiver) And I got a funny feeling (feeling) In my kidneys and my liver (digestive system baby) My hands they started shakin' (shakin') My heart began a-thumpin' (boom boom boom) My breakfast left my body (huey huey huey) It all really tells me something Girl you make me tongue tied (tongue tied) Tongue tied, whenever you are near me (near me) Tied tongue (tied tongue) Tied tongue (tied tongue) Whenever you're in town I saw you 'cross the dance floor (dancin') I thought of birds and bees (reproductive system baby) And when I tried to speak to ya (talk talk) My tongue unraveled to my knees (flippety-flippety-flop) I tried to say I love you (love you) But it came out kind of wrong, girl (wrong girl) It sounded like "Nunubididoo" (tongue tied) Nuh mur nuh murh ni nong nurl 'Cause you make me tongue tied (tongue tied) Tongue tied, whenever you are near me (near me) Be-dobby-durgle (dobby-durgle) Tongue tied (tongue tied) Whenever you're around Oh I'm beggin' on my knees Sweet, sweet darling, listen please Understand me when I say Bedurble-diggle-doggle-dooby-doggle-durgle-day I'm trying to say nungy-nangy (nangy-nungy) Ningy-nongy, why can't I tell you clearly (clearly) Be-dobby-durgle (dobby-durgle) Durgle-dobby (durgle-dobby) Whenever you're around (around) Whenever you're around (around)
In the fall of 1993, "Tongue Tied" was released as a single in England and rose to #17 on the CIN Official UK Singles Chart. The artist was listed simply as "The Cat." A music video of "Tongue Tied" was reportedly shown on the Top of the Pops show in England and on MTV in the States. Copies of the video (and a half-hour program on the making of the video) are available from John McElroy. An alternative version of the video can be found on the "Smeg Outs" videotape.
The song from The Rimmer Experience at the end of "Blue" has the following words:
If you're in trouble, he will save the day
He's brave and he's fearless, come what may
Without him, the mission would go astray
He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
Without him, life would be much grimmer
He's handsome, trim, and no one's slimmer
He will never need a Zimmer
He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
More reliable than a garden Strimmer
He's never been mistaken for Yul Brynner
He's not bald and his head doesn't glimmerMaster of the wit and the repartee
His command of space directives is uncanny
How come he's such a genius? Don't ask me
Ask Arnold, Arnold, Arnold RimmerHe's also a fantastic swimmer
And if you play your cards right, then he just might come round for dinner[Xtended version only:]
He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer
No rhymes left now apart from quimmer
We hope they fade us out before we get to schwimmer
Fade out you stupid plimmer
The final verse is heard only in the longer version of the song included in the "Red Dwarf VII Xtended" video.
"Zimmer" is short for Zimmerframe, a walking frame for elderly or disabled people. It's mentioned in "Emohawk: Polymorph II" when Lister emphasises the slowness of Starbug by saying "Kryten, the Eastbourne Zimmerframe relay team could easily outrun us."
"Strimmer" is U.K. slang for a weed trimmer that uses a spinning length of monofilament line. (In the U.S., it would be called a "weed eater" or "weed whacker".)
Yul Brynner was the actor best known for playing King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I, a role for which he shaved his head.
Yes, it was. All of Series 1-6 received a Star Wars-style makeover in 1998 to update the visuals and make the show more consistent. Doug Naylor explained:
We're basically remastering the whole of the first six series 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.
The remastering project included the following changes:
Saturday, 14 February 1998, was the tenth anniversary of the first airing of "The End." To celebrate, BBC 2 aired a special night of Red Dwarf-related programming hosted by Patrick Stewart:
"Red Dwarf Night" has not been released on videocassette, but some video bootleggers have tapes of it. Try the Dealers' Room at any sizable science fiction convention.
Series 8 has the following notable characteristics:
The following items are spoilers for Series 8, so they are ROT13 encoded to prevent people from reading them by accident.
If you don't know what ROT13 is, go to news.announce.newusers and read "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Usenet." Look for the topic "How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor?" You may also want to look up ROT13 in the New Hacker's Dictionary (http://www.jargon.org).
A Web-based ROT13 decoder can be found at http://www.rtg.se/~niclas/reddwarf/rot13.htm.
Yes, at least one. With Series 8 out of the way, Doug Naylor should be starting work on the script sometime soon. The movie has a budget of 15 million pounds. Ed Bye will direct. Robert Llewellyn writes: "The situation, as far as I know, is that we are shooting the movie in the spring of 2000 for release in 2001. It will be shot in the UK and feature the original cast, plus some 'names' from America in special guest roles." If the first film does well, others will likely be made.
Possibly. Robert Llewellyn writes: "As for the hundreds of e-mails I've had asking if there's going to be a series IX (9) all I can say is the BBC are very keen for there to be one. Only yesterday I heard it from the woman who is the head of the Independent commissioning group, it's down to the wonderfully talented Mr Doug Naylor to sit down and write them. But he's about to start writing Red Dwarf, The Movie. So who knows!"
In Series 7, schedule conflicts made it impossible to film more than four episodes with both Craig Charles and Chris Barrie. Since Lister is the central character of the show, the decision was made to do four episodes without Rimmer. Rimmer appears as usual in "Tikka to Ride," departs in "Stoke Me a Clipper," and appears in "Ouroboros" and "Blue" only as a flashback or a virtual reality simulation. However, the character returns in Series 8.
The original Kristine Kochanski, played by C.P. Grogan, is still dead. The Kochanski played by Chloe Annett is from a parallel universe -- one in which she, not Lister, was put in stasis for hiding a cat from the Captain. She joined the crew in "OUROBOROS", at which point the character was recast.
Red Dwarf is seen on public television stations across the country. If your local PBS station doesn't show it, write to them, and convince your friends to write to them, until they do! Series 1-8 are available for purchase by PBS member stations.
If you don't know whether Red Dwarf is currently being shown in your area, check the listings in TV Guide or your local newspaper. To find out whether your local PBS station is planning to carry Red Dwarf in the future, contact them directly. Use the PBS Web site at http://www.pbs.org/stations to see whether your station has an e-mail address, or call them on the telephone.
You can also check the Red Dwarf Viewer's Channel Guide, a Web page that lists stations carrying the show. It's at http://benstein.lrdc.pitt.edu/egdwarf.html.
The alt.comedy.british FAQ List includes an excellent list of mail-order dealers who will ship British comedy videotapes to overseas customers. Refer to http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/british-comedy/general-faq/part4.
Videotapes of Series 1 through 7 are available at video stores in the U.S. but have been withdrawn in the U.K. Series 8 will be available on video in the U.S. on 31 August. A new videocassette, "Red Dwarf VII Xtended," has been released in the U.K. This video includes the original uncut versions of "Tikka to Ride," "Ouroboros," and "Duct Soup," plus some outtakes from Series 7 and a longer version of the Rimmer Munchkin Song from "Blue."
A video of "Tongue-Tied" (the song from "Parallel Universe," re-staged and expanded) also exists.
"The Making of Red Dwarf," a behind-the-scenes video with interviews of the cast and crew, will be released by the BBC in the spring of 1999.
In the U.S., the videos can be found at Suncoast and Media Play stores. They have also been seen at Tower Records, Borders, and Virgin Megastores. Series 1-6 and "Smeg Ups" are available from Science Fiction Continuum (see their Web site at http://www.sfcontinuum.com/sjvideo). Series 1-6 and both "Smeg Ups" and "Smeg Outs"are available from Video Online Express (http://www.videoexpress.com).
In Australia, all episodes are available from ABC stores (along with RD books and audio books).
In the Netherlands, you can get them from W.H. Smith stores.
In Sweden, Series 1-6 are available from the following sources:
SF-BokhandelnTelephone: 08/21 50 52.
Fax: 08/24 77 30.
E-mail: order@sfbok.se
WWW: http://www.sfbok.se/sfbok/sfboke.html
The Uppsala English Bookshop
Tel. 018 - 100 510
E-mail: bookshop@ueb.se
WWW: http://www.ueb.se
[Let me know about availability in other countries and I'll add the information here. -- PMB]
"Red Dwarf Smeg Ups" is a 51-minute videotape (available from the same sources as the series videotapes) containing bloopers from Series 5 and 6, with commentary from Robert Llewellyn as Kryten. The tape also includes the unused ending from "Out of Time" and a sort of FAQ list in which Kryten attempts to answer the ten most asked questions about the show. "Red Dwarf Smeg Outs" is a similar collection of material from Series 1-3 (and even from "Smeg Ups"!), and also includes a music video version of "Tongue Tied" that mixes "Parallel Universe" footage with clay animation.
Note: Due to a nationwide change in British telephone codes, the phone numbers given in "Smeg Ups" for ordering merchandise are incorrect. One of the addresses has also changed since "Smeg Ups" was recorded. For the correct information, see "Where can I get other Red Dwarf merchandise?".
According to the "Smeg Ups" video, you can get jackets, T-shirt, hats, mugs, birthday cards, posters, and calendars from:
Distribution Network Companyand badges from:
Alchemy Carta Ltd(Note: The address for Distribution Network Company, and the phone numbers for Distribution Network Company and Alchemy Carta, are given incorrectly in the "Smeg Ups" video.)
You can order lots of stuff (books, books on tape, T-shirts, baseball caps, Smegazine back issues, NTSC videotapes, etc.) from John McElroy. For a catalogue, send US$1.00 to:
John McElroyRD books and tapes can be ordered from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com
Most of the Red Dwarf-related books can be ordered from:
Star TechBooks related to the series can be ordered from Bolen Books in Canada. Send email to books@bolen.bc.ca or visit their Web site at http://www.bolen.bc.ca.
In Australia, RD merchandise such as T-shirts, shorts, and mugs is available from:
Plato's RecordsMerchandise is also available from some of the fan clubs. The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club has its own line of merchandise.
Other sources of Red Dwarf memorabilia are listed in the book The Making of Red Dwarf.
The Red Dwarf Programme Guide contains an extensive episode guide for the series. If you're looking for an electronic guide, Otto Heuer maintains one on his Web site, which you can find at:
http://www.twc-online.com/Hack-Man/Television
To get you started, here's a quick list (based on one created by Dale Clayton) that gives the title and original airdate of each episode:
Series 1 - 1988 Series 2 - 1988 1 The End....................15 Feb 7 Kryten.................... 6 Sep 2 Future Echoes..............22 Feb 8 Better Than Life..........13 Sep 3 Balance of Power...........29 Feb 9 Thanks for the Memory.....20 Sep 4 Waiting For God............ 7 Mar 10 Stasis Leak...............27 Sep 5 Confidence & Paranoia......14 Mar 11 Queeg..................... 4 Oct 6 Me^^2......................21 Mar 12 Parallel Universe.........11 Oct Series 3 - 1989 Series 4 - 1991 13 Backwards.................14 Nov 19 Camille...................14 Feb 14 Marooned..................21 Nov 20 D.N.A.....................21 Feb 15 Polymorph.................28 Nov 21 Justice...................28 Feb 16 Bodyswap.................. 5 Dec 22 White Hole.................7 Mar 17 Timeslides................12 Dec 23 Dimension Jump............14 Mar 18 The Last Day..............19 Dec 24 Meltdown..................21 Feb Series 5 - 1992 Series 6 - 1993 25 Holoship..................20 Feb 31 Psirens................... 7 Oct 26 The Inquisitor............27 Feb 32 Legion....................14 Oct 27 Terrorform................ 5 Mar 33 Gunmen of the Apocalypse..21 Oct 28 Quarantine................12 Mar 34 Emohawk: Polymorph II.....28 Oct 29 Demons and Angels.........19 Mar 35 Rimmerworld............... 4 Nov 30 Back To Reality...........26 Mar 36 Out of Time...............11 Nov Series 7 - 1997 Series 8 - 1999 37 Tikka to Ride.............17 Jan 45 Back in the Red, Part 1...18 Feb 38 Stoke Me A Clipper........24 Jan 46 Back in the Red, Part 2...25 Feb 39 OUROBOROS.................31 Jan 47 Back in the Red, Part 3....4 Mar 40 Duct Soup................. 7 Feb 48 Cassandra.................11 Mar 41 Blue......................14 Feb 49 Krytie TV.................18 Mar 42 Beyond a Joke.............21 Feb 50 Pete......................25 Mar 43 Epideme...................28 Feb 51 Pete II: Captain's Office..1 Apr 44 Nanarchy.................. 7 Mar 52 Only the Good..............5 Apr
The Official Red Dwarf Web Site is at http://www.reddwarf.co.uk.
The following members of the cast have their own Web sites:
Craig Charles -- http://www.craigcharles.co.uk
Robert Llewellyn -- http://www.llew.co.uk/
The Guide to alt.tv.red-dwarf Documents (maintained by Tafka) lists a great many unofficial documents, including lists of TV stations airing the show, other roles played by Red Dwarf actors, the Space Corps Directives, and a comprehensive timeline. Email tomredd@bristol.u-net.com and ask for a copy.
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club will forward mail to the cast and crew. They do not open the mail if a covering letter explains what it is and asks for it to be forwarded.
You may also be able to contact cast members through their Web sites (those who have them). See "What other Red Dwarf documents are available online?".
Yes, but he was cleared of all charges. Charles was arrested in July 1994 when his ex-girlfriend filed rape charges against him. He was tried during February and March of 1995, and acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Numerous Red Dwarf reference works are available:
The Official Red Dwarf Companion
by Bruce Dessau
ISBN 1-85286-456-7
Titan, 1992
This thin little book (95 pages) has a lot of wasted space, but some interesting quotes and information and some wonderful color photos throughout. If you're looking for in-depth, solid information about the show, this isn't where you'll find it; but if you want a nice, light read, a collector's item, and an attractive coffee-table book, this is it. Available in England and at conventions in the U.S.
Red Dwarf Programme Guide
by Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons
ISBN 0-7535-0103-1
Virgin, 1997
"Everything you never wanted to know about the smash smega-series." An in-depth collection (337 pages) of information about Series 1-7. It includes sections on History, The Characters, The Programmes, The Index, The Creators (cast and production crew), and The Spin-offs. The Index, by far the largest section of the book, is a lexicon of almost everything mentioned to during the series, from "A to Z of Red Dwarf, The" to "Zoom function".
Red Dwarf--Primordial Soup: The Least Worst Scripts
by Grant Naylor
ISBN 0-14-017886-4
Penguin, 1993
This book contains the complete scripts for "Polymorph," "Marooned," "Dimension Jump," "Justice," "Back to Reality," and "Psirens." Not published in the U.S., but available from John McElroy and other distributors of imported books.
Red Dwarf: Son of Soup
by Grant Naylor
ISBN 0-14-025363-7
Penguin, 1996
A sequel to Primordial Soup, containing scripts for "Gunmen of the Apocalypse," "Holoship," "Camille," "Backwards," "Kryten," and "Me^2," with introductions by Rob Grant.
The Man in the Rubber Mask
by Robert Llewellyn
ISBN 0-14-023575-2
Penguin, 1994
Describes Llewellyn's involvement in Red Dwarf from the beginning of Series 3 through the filming of the American pilots. Plenty of anecdotes and stories, and lots of trivia. The section on the American pilots is especially revealing, and gives some plausible reasons why the whole project fell through.
The Making of Red Dwarf
by Joe Nazzaro
ISBN 0-14-023206-0
Penguin, 1994
A rather slender book with lots of colour photographs. Focuses on the making of "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse". The book goes into a fair amount of detail, but nothing that couldn't have been gleaned from a half-dozen back issues of the now-defunct Smegazine. The book's main strength is the added material: some great photos, fragments of the original "Gunmen" script (mostly stage directions, but also one unfilmed scene) and storyboards used in the filming. The back of the book contains information on how you can purchase Red Dwarf paraphernalia such as t-shirts, baseball caps, and models of Starbug and Kryten.
Red Dwarf Quiz Book
by Nicky Hooks and Sharon Burnett
ISBN 0-14-023662-7
Penguin, 1994
Red Dwarf trivia and brain-teasers. Contains questions such as "What was referred to as a small off-duty Czechoslovakian traffic warden?", crosswords, word searches, "who said . . .", information about the cast, and photos. After a while, though, you have to wonder about the mind of someone who can come up with questions such as "What follows the leaflet campaign?" or "What was in canister 1121?"
A Question of Smeg
by Sharon Burnett and Nicky Hooks
ISBN 0-140-27070-1
Penguin, 1997
Sequel to the Quiz Book. Contains puzzles, quiz questions, and colour photographs.
Red Dwarf Space Corps Survival Manual
by Paul Alexander
ISBN 0-7493-2374-4
Mandarin, 1996
A survival guide for Space Corps officers, written by fictional Marine Colonel Mike "Mad Dog" O'Hagan (who served with the Space Corps Special Service Really Really Brave Division). Has sections on finding food and water, setting traps and snares, appointing a leader, survival psychology, first aid, and even surviving death. Includes numerous marginal notes and comments scribbled by the Lister, Rimmer, Kryten, and the Cat, a survival questionnaire filled out by each crewmember, and a flicker-book animation (of an arm being amputated) in a corner of the pages. Pictures from Series 7 appears as snapshots "taped" into the book. Quite funny, if a little fixated on cannibalism (or, as Col. O'Hagan prefers to call it, "recipe-based respect for the dead"). 112 pages.
Red Dwarf Log No. 1996
by Paul Alexander
ISBN 0-434-00370-0
William Heineman Ltd, 1995
A 1996 diary with a few extras. Computerised entries by the four crewmembers and Holly are scattered through the pages, along with recipes, Space Corps book excerpts, and other assorted items. Several new Space Corps Directives appear for the first time in this book.
The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything
by Craig Charles & Russell Bell
ISBN 0-14-026862-6
Penguin, 1997
From the back cover:
Read this book and learn:
- to avoid Not-a-Cats
- never to keep anything radioactive in your pants
- not to place your head inside anything with "Head Remover" written on it
- a lot about food, and how to do it
Containing Craig Charles's tips on how to survive in the hostile Universe that is Life.
Yes, there are several. Here's a list:
This club won the 1994 Cult TV award for Best U.K. Fan Club. It's based in England, but has addresses in several other countries (and also has a Web site at http://www.jupitermining.com). Membership includes four issues of the club magazine Better Than Life, a badge, and a membership card. Membership rates (per year) are as follows:
| UK/BFPO: | 10.00 Sterling |
| Europe: | 10.00 Sterling equivalent |
| USA: | US$20.00 |
| Australia: | A$36.00 |
| New Zealand: | A$42.00 |
Cash or cheques in your local currency are accepted, but take weeks rather than days to clear. If you prefer to send an International Money Order, the equivalent rates are shown above. Write to:
| UK/BFPO & Europe: | Jupiter Mining Corporation 40 Pitford Road Woodley Reading RG5 4QF |
| US & Canada: | Jupiter Mining Company P.O. Box 13097 Coyote, CA 95013 |
| Australia & New Zealand: | Tom Marwede PO Box 1044 Bundoora 3083 Victoria |
This club publishes a newsletter (mostly in German) called Talkie Toaster (TM).
Some Red Dwarf cast members have their own fan clubs:
Official Chris Barrie Fan ClubE-mail: info@chrisbarrie.net
WWW: http://www.chrisbarrie.net/
Official Craig Charles Fan Club
The fan club is undergoing changes at the moment. For more information, see http://www.craigcharles.co.uk/Fan-Club/fanclub.htm.
Danny John-Jules Fan Club
WWW: http://www.jupitermining.com/djjclub.htm
Of course! In fact, there are Red Dwarf-related channels on several IRC networks.
AustNet: Aaron Weatherall, known to alt.tv.red-dwarf posters as the Downunder Dwarfer, runs a registered #reddwarf channel that is manned most of the time. Aaron's IRC nick is gs0ul.
Dalnet: The #atvrd channel is now defunct.
EFNet: Regular get-togethers on the #starbug channel, Sunday nights at 20:30 GMT and at other times during the week.
Undernet: Adam Jewell (who goes by Krosis on IRC) helps to run a #starbug channel with another guy who uses the nick Humanless. There are no set times at present; e-mail Krosis at atjewe01@homer.louisville.edu or Humanless at xhx@pix.net for more info on when they usually meet. This is a permanent registered channel, and anyone is welcome to drop in at any time.
Two Red Dwarf mailing lists are known to exist, one moderated and one unmoderated.
Moderated list: Run by Holly5120@aol.com. To join, send her a note asking to be added to the list. Digests are sent out once a day. The moderator also sends out Red Dwarf sounds and chatlogs on request. A Web page for the moderated list can be found at http://members.aol.com/holly5120/reddwarf.html.
Unmoderated list: Distributed by the pipex.com list server. To subscribe, send email to LISTPROC@LISTS.PIPEX.COM with the following text as the body of the message:
subscribe reddwarf Your Name
Red Dwarf Smegazine, the official magazine for the series, ceased publication with Volume 2 Issue 9 (January 1994). Some back issues are available from John McElroy and Star Tech.
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club publishes a quarterly magazine called Better Than Life. See "Are there Red Dwarf fan clubs?"
Newsletters or fanzines (unofficial, fan-written magazines) are published by some Red Dwarf fan clubs and by individual fans. Refer to the Red Dwarf Fanzine List at http://home.interpath.net/pat/rd/fanzines.html.
At the 1994 International Emmy Awards, the Red Dwarf episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse," tied with Absolutely Fabulous (Series 2: "Hospital") in the Popular Arts category. The International Emmys are awarded by the International Council of the National Academy of TV Arts & Sciences. Red Dwarf was also nominated for International Emmys in 1987, 1989, and 1992.
In 1991, Series 3 won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for "Best British Comedy."
At the 1994 British Comedy Awards, Red Dwarf won Best BBC Situation Comedy.
At Eastercon 1989 and 1992, Red Dwarf received the Best Dramatic Presentation award. At the Cult TV 1994 convention, awards were presented to Grant Naylor (Best Writers) and Red Dwarf (Best Show).
Too many to list here. For a comprehensive list, refer to the Red Dwarf Quietly Asked Questions List at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/7567/qaq.html.
No.
End of Red Dwarf Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQ)
