More than Meets the Red Dwarf.

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Auntie Slag
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More than Meets the Red Dwarf.

Post by Auntie Slag »

Lately I've been on a Red Dwarf binge, having not seen it since '97. I'm up to the seventh series (which I really like by the way) and its sooooo obvious how much MTMTE cribs from Red Dwarf.

I was watching the episode where Rimmer must take on the Ace Rimmer mantle, and the Magnusi are a pretty spot on copy of this. I still enjoy MTMTE massively, but christ I never fully took on board how much of an out and out Red Dwarf fan Roberts must be.

It also made me realise how many crazy ideas Red Dwarf used to put into it's stories. I thought it was all just half-arsed gags, which is true but the seventh season feels a lot more epic in its vision.

But bloody hell if he doesn't have Grant/Naylor knocking on his door one day demanding some cash.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

I had a similar feeling a few years back when I watched the original series of Star Trek and realised that almost every plot of Red Dwarf was poached from it. Lovingly, of course.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

What's that old saying..."Talent borrows, genius steals" :)
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Post by Denyer »

Take all of Red Dwarf after series 6 and you can get at least one decent series out of it. And the last batch of episodes wasn't bad in itself.

Thunderclash is the only reaaally blatant bit IMO. And when it was introduced it was in a natural sequence breaking away from the plot up until that point... the tiny combiners with the even-more-ancient war being played straight was actually far more jarring.
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Auntie Slag
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Now that I'm invested in it time wise (and it is fairly enjoyable contrasted against your po-faced Star Wars and Trek, and compared to Firefly) I want to carry on to Red Dwarf X. Apparently they're preparing for a new season too.
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Post by Death's Head »

The behind-the-scenes features on the Red Dwarf DVDs are great to watch, as well, and I'm not normally one who cares much for 'extras'. It seems the making of the show, at least in the early days, was as anarchic as the show itself - most of the cast were sodding off to the hacienda after a day's shooting while Chris Barrie, apparently as straight-laced as Rimmer and of course the only 'real actor' on the cast, would be the butt of pranks.

They also talk about something that rarely gets brought up when talking about Red Dwarf - that two of the cast, including the lead, are black. And much merriment when they reflect on how, once America got their hands on it, both roles ended up white.*

(*Hinton Battle, dancer and an idol of Danny John-Jules, was cast as the Cat in the first US pilot, but by the second pilot had been replaced by the very white and very sexy Terry Farrell.)
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