Red Dwarf

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CalliArcale

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It's fantastic -- a truly cerebral sit-com, set in outer space with genuine science fiction concepts and mentality. That is, while its intention is primarily to make you laugh, it does still explore the wierd and wonderful possilibities of the future and outer space.<br /><br />One interesting thing about it is its strict adherence to two basic points in its philosophy: there is no God (or at least not one who gets involved in the affairs of mortals), and there are no aliens (life originated only on Earth). The latter has a profound influence on the series and gives it a curious sort of loneliness, especially in the first couple of seasons. You get to meet a lot of intelligent life out in the universe, but no matter how deeply the crew (especially Rimmer) might want them to be aliens, all of them turn out to be descended from terrestrial life forms, spread across the cosmos by Mankind's interstellar travels over the course of three million years. This even holds up when they visit parallel dimensions. It's not a common concept in sci-fi, so it's rather interesting to see what they do with it.<br /><br />Check out "Polymorph" in Season Three. That's when Lister got attacked by a shami kebab. It leads to one of the single most hilarious moments on the series, when Rimmer walks in and completely misunderstands what's going on. It can't be described; you have to see it. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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vogon13

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I am mortified our sweet precious innocent Calli 'got' that scene!<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/blush.gif" /><br /><br />jimglenn on the other hand.......<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>
 
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flynn

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That scene has actually been voted as the fans favourite in numerous polls.<br /><br />I'm always amazed they got away with the cli***ous joke in that episode. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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thebigcat

Guest
I recall watching a special about Red Dwarf which was shown on our local PBS station. It contained anectdotes from celebreties about their favorite moment from the show. On of the celebs shown was Patrick Stewart, who told of his first encounter with the show. <br /><br />It seems that he had been absent from the U.K. for a couple of years, probably tugging at the front of his shirt on American television, and on his return the first thing he saw on TV was a new program which to him seemed to be a rip-off of Star Trek. He said that his first reaction was to call a lawyer, but as he stood, phone in hand waiting for the call to go through the scene on his TV went somewhere that Star Trek would NEVER go, and he hung up the phone and watched the rest of the show, enjoying it thoroughly.<br /><br />I have always wondered if the scene which caused him to change his mind was the aforementioned kebab. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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I saw that special too. Stewart can tell a story, and it's obvious the series converted him in an instant. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> He's fiercely loyal to Star Trek (despite having more than enough clout in the acting world to avoid genre acting for the rest of his career if he so desired), but he definitely has a sense of humor.<br /><br />Red Dwarf is not a spoof of Star Trek, or any other show. I guess one of the reasons it's so successful is that it's a send up of the entire genre of science fiction, and a worthwhile science fiction property in its own right.<br /><br />I loved "Gunmen of the Apocalypse". That episode won them an Emmy, and it's easy to see why. They encounter a simulant warship. They are lucky enough to survive and even inflict a killing blow on the enemy ship. But the simulants aren't going down quietly. Their last act is to send a virus to infect the ship's navicomputer -- the Armageddon Virus. To compute an antidote to the virus, a "dove program", Kryten willingly hooks himself up to the computer and is himself infected. It proves very complex, however, and he has to divert all of his runtime to the solution. To assist, the crew use an AR (Artificial Reality) machine that they'd recently salvaged and insert themselves into his dream. Kryten's mind is coping with the virus by constructing a dream of an old western, where he is the sheriff. He's not doing well; he's drunk, and the town's inhabitants don't respect him at all. Then the Apocalypse Boys arrive -- Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence. They're a gang of four desperados on horseback who are metaphors for the virus itself. They order Kryten out of town. It's up to the Boys from the Dwarf to convince him who he really is, what's really going on, and get him to finish computing the dove program. It's a cracking good episode, and hilarious as well. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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SpaceKiwi

Guest
Yes, yes, any episodes involving the <i>Better Than Life</i> AR game were always particularly good! I especially like the scene where they are being chased in the car, and you see it from outside the game when they avoid the rocket-propelled grenades and jump the bridge!<br /><br />Also, many of the visual gags involving Holly were rib-ticklers. Especially the one where the Boys ask him something and you see him slowly pull up his 'Illustrated Big Book Of Space' to try and find the answer ... just wonderful humour! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>
 
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flynn

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Gunmen was filmed at night under artificial light to get a computer game feel to it and it does look good.<br /><br />Theres a book called Incompetence by Rob Grant has anyone read it?<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

Guest
<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I'm always amazed they got away with the cli***ous joke in that episode.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Ah yes, the Committee for the Liberation and Integration of Terrifying Organisms and their Rehabilitation Into Society. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

Guest
<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Gunmen was filmed at night under artificial light to get a computer game feel to it and it does look good. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />The luminous sky is perfect. I had no idea that was how they acheived the look. It does explain why it seems slightly "off". <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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flynn

Guest
Heres a review of incompetence. definetly had me laughing.<br /><br />http://www.sunpig.com/reviews/quick/archives/000993.html<br /><br />The scene getting onto the train is probably the best use of sarcasm I've ever read.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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pyoko

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Anyone seen the Red Dwarf movie? They had an American pilot episode completed before axing the rest.<br /><br />http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/index.cfm?frameset=deck05/down_time_fs.html&page=red_dwarf_usa.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>
 
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flynn

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Movie was in discussion for years but never got passed development hell.<br /><br />I have a copy of the American Pilot on the extras disc for series 5 or 6.<br /><br />I guess American TV execs just didn't get it. Mind you we are talking about the people who killed Futurama and Firefly. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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avaunt

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The funniest to me, are as you say the "Better than life" stories.<br /><br />Rimmer ends up with a fat girl, three squalling badly behaved kids, and a crapped out Morris minor<br /><br />LOL<br />hahahaha.<br /><br />Up comes Lister. " Oh, you smeghead, you could have ANYTING man" Rimmer "Help me !"<br /><br /><br />I really love it when Lister is teaching Kryton to lie.<br /><br />The later shows i didn't care for, once they got into starbug, i pretty much gave up.
 
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SpaceKiwi

Guest
The Starbug episodes were okay, but I lost my enjoyment for the show when Kochanski came along. That ruined the show in my view.<br /><br />EDIT<br /><br />I just realised I've finally made <font color="yellow"><b>star</b></font> go me! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>
 
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flynn

Guest
Your not a star, your the Bavain fleet on manuovers in the south pacific. or a small off duty czech traffic warden.<br /><br />Well done. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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SpaceKiwi

Guest
Thanks flynn! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>
 
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