Red Dwarf

Cafe Society
1

Ladies and gentlesmegs, this weekend I have completed watching (with the excepetion of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth the entire run or Red Dwarf. All 8 series of it. Yes it took a lot of effort, I put a lot of time and energy in it and I wound up neglecting my family, mortgage payments, and my personal hygene, but I think that it was worth the effort.

Just a couple thoughts: Chris Barrie is a great comedic actor. Rimmer is a bit one-note, but he was able to do a lot of things with him that were brilliant. Ace Rimmer sky surfing on a shark is unbelievably funny.

They didn’t seem to know what to do with Cat for the first series or so. He really wasn’t involved in the plots until later, though I thought that was kind of funny as well, seeing as how he’s a cat. He wouldn’t want to be involved, right?

I thought Series 8 was decent, and there were some good scenes with the captain and Lister and/or Rimmer, but I thought they could have done something to get them out of the prison. They had a little too much of that, but they were still able to lampoon sci fi as and prison movies as well.

I do have Back to Earth queued up in Netflix, but there are some bad reviews of it out there. Anyone see this?

2

It was…okay. It is the only Red Dwarf series that I neither bought on VHS or DVD.

That said, it really, really hurt when Grant and Naylor split. I can’t remember remember which is which, but they wrote two Red Dwarf books together that were really funny - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life.

Then they split, and one wrote Last Human and the other wrote Backwards.

One was hilarious and brilliant, the other was terrible and didn’t even rise to the levels of seasons 6-8 of the TV show.

Still, if you liked the show, read the books. They’re quick reads and very clever.

-Joe

3

That’s about right. Not great, but not a disgrace to the series, either. I can remember one really hilarious scene

in which Rimmer uses computer enhancement to read the address on a business card in a photograph.

And if you’re not intimately familiar with the movie already, watch Blade Runner before watching Back to Earth–it’s crammed with references.

4

I dunno, in regards to the extra character…

I can’t believe I didn’t see Rimmer’s plan coming from a mile away.

-Joe

5

Yes, at least read the first one. It explains how a bum like Lister got on Red Dwarf in the first place.

6

Why I love Red Dwarf, Part I.

Season 2, Episode 2: Better than Life.

A mail pod catches up with Red Dwarf, and has dire news for Rimmer - a letter from his mum, stating that his dad is dead. Lister and Rimmer have something resembling a rather touching conversation (for Red Dwarf, anyway) - Rimmer wishing that his dad would be proud of him, for something. Anything.

So, enter the Cat:

Cat: Hey!, there you are! Hey man! I’m so hungry, I just have to eat!

Lister: (making shh!ing motions) Rimmer’s dad’s died.

Cat: Well, I prefer chicken.

7

I’m gonna eat ya, little fishies!
I’m gonna eat ya, little fishies!
I’m gonna eat ya, little fishies!
'Cause I like fish!

‘This is mine… This is mine… All this is mine. Except for that. I don’t want that.’

‘Smoke me a kipper, Skipper. I’ll be back for breakfast!’

Holly: Nothing wrong with dog’s milk. Full of goodness. Full of vitamins. Full of marrow bone jelly. Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dog’s milk.
Lister: Why?
Holly: No bugger’ll drink it.

8

Crocodile

BONGO: You’re back.
ACE: 'Fraid so.
BONGO: Had the feeling you might be. Rubber shares went up this morning.

9

Kryten, unpack Rachel and get out the puncture repair kit. I’m ALIVE!

10

Sounds like an interesting show. I’ll have to check it out.

11

I wouldn’t bother. From your username, it’s pretty clear you wouldn’t like it.

12

While I’m here, I might as well dust off my old sig line and see if it still works.

13

Haven’t seen nearly as much of this show as I would like to, but I have read the first two books.

Favorite line ever, though I don’t recall the episode title:

Lister: Now I know why dogs lick their testicles. It’s to kill the taste of the food.

14

“What time is it?”
“Thursday. There are some numbers after that, but they could be anything.”

15

We’ve got most of the series on VHS - I really ought to watch them again. Mr. Flibble was the pinnacle - that ep always makes me laugh my ass off.

16

I watched them all streaming via Netflix. All of you Netflixians can watch it that way.

17

“Obscene phone call, sir.”
Kills me every time.

18

Kryton, transformed into a human, shows Lister a polaroid of his newly discovered manhood.

Kryton: I want to know: is that normal?

Lister: What? Taking photographs of it and showing it to your mates? No, it’s not!

Kryton: Well, but is it supposed to look like that?

Lister: Well, yeah.

Kryton: It’s hideous! That’s the best design they could come up with? Are you seriously telling me there were choices, and someone said “Ah, there, that’s it. That’s the shape we’re looking for: The last-chicken-in-the-shop look”? Shakespeare had one? Einstein? Perry Como sang “Memories are Made of This” with one of those stashed in his slacks?

19

Marooned, series 3.

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That episode had one of the best first halves of all time (Kryten the Human) and one of the worst second halves of all time (Curry Beast).

-Joe, Double Polaroid