| Red Dwarf | |
|---|---|
Red Dwarf logo |
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| Format | Science fiction Sitcom |
| Created by | Grant Naylor (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) |
| Starring | Chris Barrie Craig Charles Danny John-Jules Robert Llewellyn Norman Lovett Hattie Hayridge Chloë Annett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC2 |
| Original run | 15 February 1988 – 5 April 1999 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Red Dwarf is a British science fiction situation comedy franchise, primarily comprising eight series of a television sitcom that ran on BBC2 between 1988 and 1999 and subsequently achieved a global cult following. It was created and written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The show originated from a recurring sketch, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet part of the mid-1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show Son of Cliché, also scripted by Grant and Naylor. In addition to the television series, there have also been four bestselling novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, and 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 off-the-wall science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early series episodes, 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 deep in space.
The show'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, and in the same year the show was also awarded "Best BBC Comedy series" at the British Comedy Awards. The series attracted its highest ratings, of over eight million viewers, during the eighth series in 1999.
For years, the future of the series was uncertain. There were attempts to make a movie, but funding could not be found. The BBC then rejected plans for a ninth series. In September 2008, the official Red Dwarf website confirmed a new four-episode production (two regular episodes plus supporting anniversary and 'making of' shows) had been commissioned by the digital channel Dave.
Contents |
The main setting of the series is the eponymous mining spaceship Red Dwarf[1] which is 6 miles (10 km) long, 5 miles (8 km) tall, and 4 miles (6 km) wide.[2] In the first episode, an on-board radiation leak of cadmium II kills everyone except for low-ranking technician Dave Lister, who is in suspended animation at the time, and his pregnant cat, Frankenstein, who is safely sealed in the cargo hold.[3] Following the accident, the ship's computer Holly has to keep Lister in stasis until the background radiation dies down — a process that takes three million years.[3] Lister therefore emerges as the last human being in the universe—but not the only life form on-board the ship.[4] His former bunkmate and immediate superior Arnold Rimmer is resurrected by Holly as a hologram to keep Lister sane. At the same time, a creature known only as Cat is the last member on board of Felis sapiens, a race of humanoid felines that evolved in the ship's hold from Lister's cat, Frankenstein, and her kittens during the 3 million years that Lister was in stasis.[4]
The main dramatic thrust of the early series is Lister's desire to return home to Earth.[5] As their journey begins, the not-so-intrepid crew encounters such phenomena as time distortions, faster than light travel, mutant diseases and strange lifeforms that developed in the intervening millions of years.[5] During the second series, the group encounter the sanitation mechanoid Kryten, rescuing him from a long-since crashed vessel.[6] Initially, Kryten only appeared in one episode of series two, but by the beginning of series three he had become a regular character.[7] At the end of series five, Red Dwarf itself is stolen from the crew, forcing them to travel in the smaller Starbug craft for the subsequent two series, with the added side-effect that they lose contact with Holly.[8] In series 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 parallel version of themselves from a universe in which Kristine Kochanski, with whom Lister was in love before the radiation leak, was the person put into stasis and so became the last remaining human.[9] A complicated series of events leaves Kochanski stranded in "our" universe, and she is forced to join the crew.[9]
In the eighth series, Red Dwarf is reconstructed by the nanobots who had originally stolen it and had it broken down into its constituent atoms.[10] In the process, the entire crew of the ship — including a pre-accident Rimmer — are resurrected, but the Starbug crew find themselves sentenced to two years in the ship's brig on a set of convoluted charges.[10] The series ends with Red Dwarf being eaten away by a virus with the crew evacuated, save for Rimmer who is, in the cliffhanger ending, left stranded alone to face Death (and promptly knees him in the groin and flees).[11]
In addition to the main characters, other characters have come and gone, and even come back again.
The first series aired on BBC2 in 1988. Seven further series have so far been produced,[7] and a film has been in development hell almost continually since before the last series in 1999.[20]
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.[21] Their influences came from movies and television programmes such as Alien (1979), Dark Star (1974) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981),[7] but also 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 in 1983, the former Spitting Image writers had hawked their unusual and original script around but it was rejected by everyone at the BBC, as it was believed a sitcom based around science fiction would not be popular.[21]
It was finally accepted by BBC North in 1986, a result of a spare budget being assigned for a second series of Happy Families that would never arise, and producer Paul Jackson's insistence that Red Dwarf should be filmed instead.[22] The show was lucky to be remounted after an electrician's strike partway through rehearsals shut the entire production down.[23] The pilot episode finally made it onto television screens on 15 February 1988.[7]
Alan Rickman and Alfred Molina had auditioned for roles in the series, with Molina actually being cast as Rimmer.[24][25] However, after Molina had difficulties with the concept of the series, and of his role in particular, the role was recast and filled by Chris Barrie. Barrie was 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 Jasper Carrott productions.[25] Craig Charles, a Liverpudlian "punk poet", was given the role of Dave Lister. He was approached by the production team for his opinion about the "Cat" character, as they were concerned it may be considered by people as racist.[26] Charles described the character as 'pretty cool' and after reading the script he decided he wanted to audition for the part of Dave Lister.[23] Laconic stand up comedian Norman Lovett, who had originally tried out for the role of Rimmer, was kept in the show as Holly, the senile computer of the titular ship.[26] A professional dancer and singer, Danny John-Jules, arriving half an hour late for his appointment, stood out as the Cat immediately. This was partly due to his "cool" exterior, dedicated research (reading Desmond Morris's book Catwatching), and his showing up in character, wearing his father's 1950s-style suit.[26]
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).[27] Grant left in 1995,[7] to pursue other projects,[28] leaving Naylor to write the final two series with a group of new writers, including Paul Alexander and actor Robert Llewellyn who portrayed the character Kryten.[29]
For the most part, Ed Bye produced and directed the series. He left before Series V due to a scheduling clash (he ended up directing a series starring his wife, Ruby Wax) so Juliet May took over as director.[30] May parted ways with the show halfway through the series for personal and professional reasons and Grant and Naylor took over direction of the series, in addition to writing and producing.[31] Series VI was directed by Andy de Emmony, and Ed Bye returned to direct Series VII and VIII. Series I, II and III were made by Paul Jackson Productions, with subsequent series produced by the writers' own company Grant Naylor Productions 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.[32]
The theme tune and incidental music were written and performed by Howard Goodall, with the distinctive vocals on the closing 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,[33] which Danny John-Jules re-orchestrated and released as a Top 20 UK single.[34]
In 1998, on the tenth anniversary of the show's first airing (and between the broadcast of Series VII and VIII), the first three series of Red Dwarf were remastered and released on VHS. The remastering included replacing model shots with computer graphics, cutting certain dialogue and scenes,[35] re-filming Norman Lovett's Holly footage, creating a consistent set of opening titles, replacing music and creating ambient sound effects with a digital master.[36] The remastered series were released in a 4 disc DVD boxset "The Bodysnatcher Collection" in 2007.[37]
A period of three years elapsed between Series VI and VII, partly due to the parting of the Grant and Naylor partnership, but also due to cast and crew working on other projects.[28] When the series eventually returned, it was filmised and no longer shot in front of a live audience, allowing for greater use of four-walled sets, location shooting and single camera techniques.[38] When the show returned for its eighth series two years later, it had dropped use of the filmising process and restored the live audience.[39]
The possibility of a new series received a setback when the BBC rejected proposals for a Series IX. Doug Naylor confirmed that the BBC decided not to renew the series as they preferred to work on other things.[40] However, new animated mobisodes have been made available to mobile phone subscribers.[41]
In August 2008, Robert Llewellyn appeared on Seattle public television station, KCTS 9. In an interview, he revealed that BBC Worldwide, in collaboration with another party, had invested in one hour of new Red Dwarf to be filmed in early 2009.[42] Grant Naylor Productions announced that it had been "on the cards" since February 2008.[43] It subsequently transpired that UKTV channel Dave will screen four new 30-minute specials to celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the show.[44] The new episodes form part of an effort by Dave to screen more original programming, instead of just repeats.[45] The specials will be made up of a two-part episode (the 'one hour' Robert Llewellyn referred to originally), a "Making-of" the specials, and "a clip show with a serious difference".[46]
Red Dwarf was founded on a standard sitcom trope: namely, a disparate and frequently dysfunctional group of individuals living together in a restricted setting. With the main characters routinely displaying their cowardice, incompetence and laziness, while exchanging insulting and sarcastic dialogue, the series provided a humorous antidote to the fearless and morally-upright space explorers typically found in science fiction shows, such as Star Trek.[7] The increasing science fiction elements of the series were treated seriously by Grant and Naylor. Satire, parody and drama were alternately woven into the episodes, referencing other — not always science fiction — television shows, films and books.[47] These have included references to the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968),[48] Top Gun (1986),[49] RoboCop (1987), Star Wars (1977),[50] Citizen Kane (1942),[51] The Wild One (1953), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Easy Rider (1969),[52] The Terminator (1984)[53] and Pride and Prejudice (1813).[54]
The writers even based the whole theme of an episode on a film's plot. The Series III episode "Polymorph" references and parodies key moments from Alien (1979),[50] Series IV's "Camille" echoes key scenes from Casablanca (1942),[55] and "Meltdown" borrows the main plot from Westworld (1973).[56] But the series does not limit its themes to movies or television; historical events and figures have also been referenced and even integrated as part of an episode.[57] Religion also plays a part in the series, as a significant factor in the ultimate fate of the Cat race, and the perception of Lister as their "God".[58] Religion is turned on its head as mundane things are shown to acquire deep religious significance. The dispute over the colour of cardboard hats in Lister's fantasy doughnut diner (which has become the Cat version of Paradise) sparks the holy war that almost annihilates the species. The series also makes a literary reference to the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot in the Waiting for God episode. The episode titled Ouroboros derives its name and theme from the ancient mythological snake by the same name.
The series also explores many sci-fi staples such as time-travel paradoxes (grandfather paradox), the question of determinism and free will (on several episodes), the pursuit of happiness in virtual reality and crucially to the show's premise of Lister being the last human, the near certainty of the human species' extinction some time in the far future.
Interestingly for a Sci-Fi series, no aliens appear in the storylines. The only non-human life forms are Earth descended: either an evolution of an Earth species, a robotic life form created by humans, or GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Forms), artificially created creatures (most of the enemies within the later series are some variant on GELFs or Simulants).
The series developed its own distinct vocabulary. Words and phrases such as hologrammatic, Dollarpound, Felis sapiens, rogue simulants, GELF, space weevil and Zero Gee football (and kickboxing) appear throughout the series, highlighting a development in language, political climate, technology, evolution and culture in the future.[59] The creators also 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. 'Smeg', gimboid, goit, and variants of smeg like smegging, smegger and smeg-head were used.[60]
The 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, and critics alike, as to the quality of certain series.[61][7] In the 'Great Red Dwarf Debate', published in volume 2 issue 3 of the Red Dwarf Smegazine, science fiction writers Steve Lyons and Joe Nazzaro both argued on the pros and cons of the early series' against the later series'. Lyons stated that what the show "once had was a unique balance of sci-fi comedy, which worked magnificently."[62] Nazarro agreed that "the first two series are very original and very funny", but went on to say that "it wasn't until Series III that the show hit its stride."[63] Series VI is regarded as a continuation of the 'Monster of the week' philosophy of Series V, which was nevertheless visually impressive.[64] Discussions revolve around the quality of Series VI, seen by viewers as just as good as the earlier series',[65] but has been criticised as a descent into formulaic comedy with an unwelcome change of setting.[66]
The changes seen in Series VII were seen as a disappointment; while much slicker and higher-budget in appearance, the shift away from outright sitcom and into something approaching comedy drama was seen as a move in the wrong direction.[9] Furthermore, the attempt to shift back into traditional sitcom format for Series VIII was greeted with a response that was similarly lukewarm.[7] There was criticism aimed at the decision to resurrect the entire crew of Red Dwarf, as it was felt this detracted from the series' central premise of Lister being the last human being alive.[67] There are critics who feel that Series VII and VIII are no weaker than the earlier series,[68][69] and the topic is the subject of constant fervent debate among the show's fanbase.[7]
The series began with rather poor ratings, although gathering over five million viewers for the pilot episode, this soon trailed off.[70] Through to Series VI the ratings had steadily increased and peaked at over six million viewers,[28] achieved with the episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".[71] When the series returned in 1999 it gained the highest audience figures yet — over eight million viewers tuned in for Series VIII's opening episode "Back in the Red: Part I".[72] In its eight-series history, the series has won numerous awards including the Royal Television Society Award for special effects, the British Science Fiction award for Best Dramatic Presentation, as well as an International Emmy.[73] The International Emmy Award achieved was for Series VI episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", which tied with Absolutely Fabulous' episode "Hospital" in the Popular Arts category.[74] The show had also been nominated for the International Emmy Award in 1987, 1989, and 1992.[74] Series VI won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for "Best British Comedy Series".[74] The video sales have won eight Gold Awards from the British Video Association,[75] and the series still holds the record for being BBC2's longest running, highest rated sitcom.[76] In 2007 the series was voted 'Best Sci-Fi show of all time' by the readers of Radio Times magazine. Editor Gill Hudson stated that this result had surprised them as "the show hadn't broadcast any new episodes this century".[77]
The show's logo and characters have appeared on things ranging from t-shirts[78] to novels.[79] In October 2006 an Interactive Quiz DVD entitled Red Dwarf: Beat The Geek was released and hosted by Norman Lovett and Hattie Hayridge, both reprising their roles as Holly.[80] The song "Tongue Tied", which featured in the episode "Parallel Universe", was released in 1993 as a single and became a top 20 UK hit for Danny John Jules (under the name 'The Cat').[34] Stage plays of the show have been produced through Blak Yak, a theatre group in Perth, Western Australia, who were given permission by Grant Naylor Productions to mount stage versions of certain episodes in 2002, 2004 and 2006.[81][82][83][84]
The franchise has expanded to include four novels - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1989), Better Than Life (1990), Last Human (1995) and Backwards (1996) - becoming best sellers.[85] Rather than adapting the show outright, the books provided yet another, idealised version of the series' backstory. They reinterpreted and repositioned elements from past episodes, and even introduced ideas that would later be used in the television show.[86]
Both authors were working together on a sequel to Better than Life, called The Last Human, but Grant had decided to go it alone and do other things besides Red Dwarf. Still owing Penguin Publishing two more Red Dwarf novels, Grant and Naylor decided to each work alone on a novel. Two completely different, contradicting sequels were made as a result. Last Human, Naylor, added Kochanski to the crew and places more emphasis on the science-fiction and plot elements, while Backwards, by Grant, was more in keeping with the previous two novels, borrowing more extensively from established television stories.[28]
An Omnibus edition of the first two novels, including edits to the original text and extra material such as the original pilot script of the TV series, was released in 1992.[86] The novels have been published in audiobook format; the first two were read by Chris Barrie,[87][88] Last Human was read by Craig Charles,[89] and Backwards was read by its author Rob Grant.[90]
For the initial release of the VHS editions, Red Dwarf episodes were separated and two tapes were released for each series, labelled "byte one" and "byte two". These videos were named after the first episode of the three presented on the tape, as was typical with other BBC video releases at the time. However, on occasions the BBC decided to ignore the original running order and use the most popular episodes from the series to maximise sales of the videos. For Series V "Quarantine" and "Back to Reality" were given top billing on their respective video release, while episodes "Waiting for God" and "Confidence and Paranoia" from the Series I release were swapped around from their original broadcast order.[91] Future releases would increasingly observe authenticity with the "original broadcast" context. All eight series were made available on VHS, and three episodes of Series VII were also released as special "Xtended" (sic) versions with extra scenes and no laugh track;[92] the remastered versions of Series I–III were also released individually and in a complete box-set.[93][94][95] Finally, two outtake videos were released, Smeg Ups in 1994, and its sequel Smeg Outs in 1995.[96][97]
The eight series have since been released on DVD in Region 1, 2 and 4, with each release from Series III onwards being accompanied by an original documentary about the making of each respective series, and a bonus disc of extra material.[98] Regions 2 and 4 have also seen the release of two Just The Shows, digipack boxsets containing the episodes from Series I–IV (Volume 1) and V-VIII (Volume 2) with static menus and no extras.[99][100] Red Dwarf: The Bodysnatcher Collection, containing the 1997 remastered episodes, as well as new documentaries for Series I and II, was released in 2007. This release showcased a storyboard construction of "Bodysnatcher", an unfinished script from 1987, which was finally completed in 2007 by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor who were working together for the first time since 1993.[37] In December 2008 an anniversary DVD set entitled Red Dwarf: All The Shows was released, reworking the vanilla disc content of the two Just The Shows sets within A4 packaging resembling a 'photo album'.
The Red Dwarf Magazine - the magazine part of the title changed to 'Smegazine' from issue 3 - was launched in 1992 by Fleetway Editions. It comprised of a mix of news, reviews, interviews, comic strips and competitions. The comic strips featured episode adaptations and original material, including further stories of popular characters like the Polymorph and Ace Rimmer.
The comic strip stories were notable for the fact that hologrammatic characters, predominately Rimmer, were drawn in greyscale. This was at the request of Grant and Naylor, who had wanted to use the technique for the television series, but the process was deemed too expensive to produce.[101] Despite achieving circulation figures of over 40,000 per month,[101] the magazine's publisher decided to close the title down to concentrate on their other publications.[28] A farewell issue was published, cover dated January 1994, and featured the remaining interviews, features and comic strips that were to feature in the following issues.[102]
A pilot episode for an American version (known as Red Dwarf USA) was produced through Universal Studios with the intention of broadcasting on NBC in 1992.[103] The show essentially followed the same story as the first episode of the original series, using American actors for three of the roles,[104] Craig Bierko as Lister, Chris Eigeman as Rimmer, and Hinton Battle as Cat.[105] Exceptions to this being Llewellyn, who reprised his role as Kryten, and the British actress Jane Leeves who played Holly.[105] It was written by Linwood Boomer and directed by Jeffrey Melman,[105] with Grant and Naylor onboard as creators and executive producers.[106] During filming of the pilot the audience reaction was good and it was felt that the story had been well received.[106]
The studio executives were not entirely happy with the pilot, especially the casting, but decided to give the project another chance with Grant and Naylor in charge.[107] The intention was to shoot a 'promo video' for the show in a small studio described by the writers as 'a garage'.[106] New cast members were hired for the roles of Cat and Rimmer;[106] Terry Farrell and Anthony Fuscle respectively.[105] With a small budget and deadline, new scenes were quickly shot and mixed in with existing footage of the pilot and UK Series V episodes.[106] Despite the re-shoots and re-casting, the option on the pilot was not picked up.[106]
Since the end of the eighth series in 1999, Doug Naylor has been attempting to make a feature length version of the show. A final draft of the script was written, by Naylor, and flyers began circulating around certain websites. The flyer was genuine and had been distributed by Winchester Films to market the movie overseas.[108] Plot details were included as part of the teaser. It was set in the distant future where Homo sapienoids - a fearsome flesh machine hybrid race — had taken over the solar system and were wiping out the human race. Spaceships that tried to escape Earth were hunted down until only one remained... Red Dwarf.[109]
Naylor had scouted Australia to get an idea of locations and finance costs, with pre-production beginning in 2004 and filming planned for 2005.[109] However, finding sufficient funding has been difficult. Naylor explained at a Red Dwarf Dimension Jump convention that the film had been rejected by the BBC and the British Film Council. Reasons given for the rejections were that while the script was considered to be funny, it was not what they were looking for at the moment and that the script was deemed "too commercial."[110]
Deep 7 released Red Dwarf the Roleplaying Game in 2002.[111] Based on the series, the game allows characters to portray original characters within the Red Dwarf universe. Player characters can be human survivors, holograms, evolved house pets (including cats, dogs, iguanas, rabbits, and mice), various types of mechanoid, wax droids, or GELFs.
A total of three products were released for the game: the core 170-page rulebook, the AI Screen (analagous to the Game Master's Screen used in other roleplaying games), and the Series Sourcebook.[112] The Series Sourcebook contains plot summaries of each episode of every series as well as game rules for all major and minor characters from each series.
The game has been praised for staying true to the comedic nature of the series, for its entertaining writing, and for the detail to which the background material is explained.[112][113] However, some reviewers found the game mechanics to be simplistic and uninspiring compared to other science fiction roleplaying games on the market.[114]
On 14 February 1998, the night before the tenth anniversary of the show's pilot episode broadcast, 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 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.[92] 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 appeared as a GELF in the episode "Emohawk: Polymorph II". Taking place outside the continuity of the series, two teams (Kryten and Lister versus Rimmer and Cat, although Cat quickly departs to be replaced by alter ego Duane Dibbley) were challenged to make the best chicken vindaloo.[92]
After a compilation bloopers show, featuring out-takes, the next programme was Universe Challenge, a spoof of University Challenge. Hosted by original University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne. The show had a team of knowledgeable Dwarf fans square up against a team consisting of Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Chloe Annett and Danny John Jules.[92] This was followed by The Red Dwarf A-Z, a half-hour documentary 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. Finally, the night ended with a showing of the Emmy award-winning episode from 1993, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse".[92]
Cast links
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