Subject: What is RED DWARF?

"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." --- Holly, the ship's computer

The regular cast of the series is:

  Dave Lister...............................Craig Charles
  Arnold Rimmer..............................Chris Barrie
  Holly.....................................Norman Lovett (series 1-2)
                                          Hattie Hayridge (series 3-5)
  The Cat................................Danny John-Jules
  Kryten.................................Robert Llewellyn

  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: THE LAST HUMAN
  by Doug Naylor
  ISBN 0-67-085255-4
  Viking, 1995

The first two novels have also been published in one volume:

  RED DWARF OMNIBUS
  by Grant Naylor
  ISBN 0-14-017466-4
  Penguin, 1991

Subject: Where can I see RED DWARF in the United States?

If you don't know when (or if) your local PBS station shows RED DWARF, check your local listings or call the station and ask. Please don't post the question to alt.tv.red-dwarf; that will send it all over the planet, annoying people who don't know or care about your local station's programming. Besides, the other methods are faster.

Subject: Where can I get videotapes of RED DWARF?

In Australia, all episodes are available from ABC stores (along with books, T-shirts, and other RD merchandise).

In the Netherlands, you can get them from W.H. Smith stores.

In Sweden, Series 1-5 and the Smeg-Ups tape are available from:

        SF-Bokhandeln
        Stora Nygatan 45
        111 27 Stockholm.

        Telephone: 08/21 50 52.
        Fax: 08/24 77 30.
        E-mail: order@sfbok.se
        WWW: http://www.sfbok.se/sfbok/sfbok.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://cathouse.org/BritishComedy/Info/a.c.b_FAQ/

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/tv/british-comedy/general-faq/part4

"Red Dwarf Smeg-Ups," a collection of outtakes from the series, was

released on video in the fall of 1994. At this writing, it is

apparently available only in the U.K. and Australia.

Subject: Where can I get other RED DWARF merchandise?

  JOHN MCELROY
  2401 Fox Plaza
  1390 Market Street
  San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

  T-shirts, greeting cards, and other items can be ordered by mail from:

  Distribution Network
  12 Deerpark Road
  London
  SW19 3TU
  UK
  Telephone: 0181-543-1231

  Most of the RED DWARF-related books can be ordered from:

  Star Tech
  Box 456
  Dunlap, TN 37327
  USA

Other sources of RED DWARF memorabilia are listed in the book THE MAKING OF RED DWARF (see "Are there books about RED DWARF?").

Subject: Is there an episode guide for RED DWARF?

  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

Subject: Did RED DWARF start on radio?

The script for one of the "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet" sketches is included in the RED DWARF OMNIBUS (see "What is RED DWARF?").

Subject: Is there an American version of RED DWARF?

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 Eigelman
  Holly........................................Jane Leeves
  Kryten..................................Robert Llewellyn
  The Cat....................................Hinton Battle
  Christine Kochanski...................Elizabeth Morehead
  First Officer Munson...................Michael Heintzman
  Captain Tau...........................Lorraine Toussaint

After rejecting this version, NBC commissioned a second pilot with the following cast:

  Lister......................................Craig Bierko
  Rimmer....................................Anthony Fuscle
  Holly........................................Jane Leeves
  Kryten..................................Robert Llewellyn
  Cat........................................Terry Farrell

[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 of the first pilot can be found at science fiction conventions. (The second pilot does not seem to have fallen into the hands of bootleggers.)

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 JK Costuming. When the pilots were rejected, the BBC created a new Kryten suit (based on the U.S. one) for Series Six.

Subject: Who is Grant Naylor?

"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.

Subject: Where can I write to the cast and crew of the show?

Subject: What does "smeg" mean?

Subject: What are the lyrics to the theme song?

  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, sun

  I 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

The theme song was composed by Howard Goodall and sung by Jenna Russell.

Subject: What does "LEVEL NIVELO" mean?

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 is shown trying -- and failing -- to learn Esperanto from a videotape.

The name "Esperanto" means "one who hopes," a fact that is alluded to in "Back to Reality."

Subject: What are some of the foods mentioned on the show?

"Madras sauce" is another standard curry sauce, less hot than vindaloo.

"Poppadoms," another Indian food item, are thin lentil-flour wafers resembling tortillas, deep-fried until crisp.

A "shami kebab" is an appetizer served in Indian restaurants. It consists of finely ground meat and lots of spices, grilled over a flame. The meat is a mixture of pork and either goat (in more authentic restaurants) or beef (in less authentic ones). You typically get two shami kebabs with a salad side dish. Shami kebabs are sometimes prepared and served in an egg coating, similar to an omelette.

"Chutney" is a fruit piccalilli (pickled relish), often eaten with cold meat.

"Gazpacho soup" is a Spanish tomato-and-cucumber cold soup which often includes garlic, olive oil, and bread. It's common in Spain and in upscale American restaurants.

A "pot noodle" is an instant noodle product marketed in the U.K. by Golden Wonder, a snack food company. It's a plastic container with pre-cooked dried noodles and flavorings inside. To prepare it, you open the container, pour in boiling water, wait a few moments, and eat it.

A "kipper" is a herring, cured by splitting, salting, and smoking. Kippers are eaten as a breakfast food in some parts of the U.K.

A "Topic Bar" is a candy bar sold in the U.K., consisting of fondant and hazelnuts covered with chocolate. (This is what Lister means in "Marooned" when he says "Don't mention Topics, they're food.") One ad campaign for the Topic Bar used the slogan "A hazelnut in every bite." Thus, in "Stasis Leak", Rimmer complains, "Everything always goes wrong for me. I'm probably the only person in the world to buy a Topic Bar without a single hazelnut in it."

"Taramasalata" is a Greek appetizer consisting of a light paste of fish roe, olive oil, lemon juice, and moistened bread crumbs or mashed potatoes.

"Bhindi bhaji" is a vegetable dish made with okra.

"Tarka dhall" is a mild curry dish based on lentils.

Subject: Why is Holly now a woman? How did Kryten change?

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, using a VCR with good freeze-frame capabilities. Try it.

Subject: What happened to the Red Dwarf and Holly?

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 revived 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 Holly and the Cat had both been getting smaller and 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.

At a convention in January 1996, Doug Naylor anounced that *both* Lovett and Hayridge will be signed for Series Seven.

Subject: What's the "lost" ending to "Out of Time"?

"Rimmer blows up the time drive. Seconds later, a laser cannon blast blows up one of the Starbugs, while a second one is seen flying in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

In the next scene, Kryten is carrying a pitcher of yellow liquid into Starbug's hold while Rimmer, Lister and Cat are seated around the table with wine glasses in front of them. Kryten explains that they were never killed because Rimmer's actions in blowing up the time drive caused their future selves to cease to exist and notes that Rimmer had in fact saved the day. Rimmer grins broadly and tells Kryten that it was nothing and not to mention it while Lister claps him on the shoulder. Kryten then pours the 'homemade magaritas' into all four glasses and passes on better news: they are now a mere six hours behind Red Dwarf and that there is no doubt in his mind that they'll be able to catch up.

Kryten proposes a toast 'to the present' and all four click glasses and take a drink. Lister, wearing a foam mustache, makes a horrible face and exclaims that they aren't drinking magaritas, they're drinking 'urine recyc' and glares at Kryten. Rimmer and Cat, with their matching foam mustaches, also making nasty faces, give Kryten a dirty look. Kryten, with his foaming mustache, slouches with embarrassment in his chair."

Subject: Will there be a Series Seven?

However, Chris Barrie will not be in all of the new episodes. Throughout 1995, articles in various U.K. newspapers reported that Barrie was "in dispute with the show" or that he was quitting. In February 1996, the DAILY EXPRESS reported that Barrie would appear in just two episodes of the new BBC2 series. However, Llewellyn stated in March that "he is in at least 4 episodes, possibly more."

Series Seven will bring some other changes, according to Llewellyn: "I am writing one episode, it's called 'Beyond a Joke' at the moment, but more than that I am not at liberty to divulge. The rest of the cast remains the same, although there will be one new character, ha ha. And guess what. I am under strict instructions not to say anything about him/her. . . . I have a new mask and a new costume. Same basic design, hopefully more comfortable."

Subject: Was Craig Charles arrested for rape?

On 8 July 1994, Esther Harman (a former stripper and Charles's ex-girlfriend) filed a charge of rape against him. Charles was arrested, imprisoned, and denied bail. On 25 October, after being attacked (but not wounded) by a fellow inmate wielding a homemade knife, Charles was released on bail.

The trial began on 20 February 1995 and lasted for two weeks. No forensic evidence was shown to exist proving that a rape had occurred. In his instructions to the jury, the judge stated that a woman's claim to have been raped doesn't prove that she actually was. The jury took less than ninety minutes to find Charles not guilty. Afterwards, Charles made an emotional appeal to the press for the anonymity of those accused of rape.

Subject: What's the title of the last episode of Series Two?

Subject: What are the lyrics to "Tongue Tied"?

  The Cat:                                      Chorus -- 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)

Subject: What are they really saying in "Backwards"?

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's actually saying:

"Frankly, your act's crap. Anyway, anybody could have done it. I hate the lot of you. Bollocks to you! . . . You are a stupid, square-headed, bald git, aren't you? I ain't 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!"

Subject: Who is Gordon Bennett?

Subject: How many times has Rimmer has sex?

Subject: How many people were in Red Dwarf's crew?

RED DWARF is full of minor inconsistencies like this one. When Grant Naylor come up with a good idea (such as the "light bee" -- see "How can Rimmer leave the ship?"), they don't worry overmuch about whether it contradicts something in a previous episode. In this case, they evidently decided that a larger crew was more appropriate for a ship five miles long and three miles in diameter.

One possible explanation is that the Justice Computer got its information from Rimmer's mind, and Rimmer has an inflated notion of his own importance. In addition to overstating his own responsibility for the deaths of the crew, he may have exaggerated the number of people involved.

Subject: How can Rimmer leave the ship?

This limitation proved to be inconvenient, so Grant Naylor came up with another explanation, the "light bee". This device is a tapered cylinder about one inch in diameter and three inches long that "buzzes around inside him and projects his image" (as described by Holly in "Meltdown"). The light bee can go anywhere, allowing Rimmer to leave the ship without needing a projection cage.

Some fans have speculated that the light bee was invented sometime during Series 2 (by Holly) or Series 3 (by either Holly or Kryten). However, this doesn't explain how Rimmer was able to leave the Blue Midget and enter the wreck of the Nova 5 in "Kryten", two episodes *before* he was shown in a projection cage.

Subject: How did the Polymorph touch Rimmer?

Some fans have asked how the Polymorph could possibly attach its sucker to Rimmer (who is, after all, a hologram). Two possible explanations have been suggested: either the sucker actually made contact with Rimmer's light bee (see "How can Rimmer leave the ship?"), or the Polymorph can change into a hologram. Holograms can touch each other, as demonstrated in "Parallel Universe."

Subject: How many times has Starbug crashed?

  "Backwards"                     "Terrorform"
  "Marooned"                      "Psirens"
  "Bodyswap"                      "Gunmen of the Apocalypse"
  "Dimension Jump"                "Emohawk: Polymorph II"

Subject: Didn't Lister have his appendix out twice?

Some fans have theorized that Lister's appendix was regenerated in "DNA", along with the rest of his body. In reality, this was a continuity error. The error is briefly referred to and (sort of) cleared up in the latest novel RED DWARF: THE LAST HUMAN (see "What is RED DWARF?"). It is also mentioned in the questions section on the "Smeg-Ups" video (see "Where can I get videotapes of RED DWARF?").

Subject: What's in canister 1121?

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).

Subject: Are there books about RED DWARF?

  THE OFFICIAL RED DWARF COMPANION
  by Bruce Dessau
  ISBN 1-85286-456-7
  Titan, 1992

  RED DWARF PROGRAMME GUIDE
  by Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons
  ISBN 0-86-369682-1
  Virgin, 1995

Note: This book contains an incorrect address for the Official RED DWARF Fan Club (U.K.). For the correct address, see "Are there RED DWARF fan clubs?".

  RED DWARF -- PRIMORDIAL SOUP: THE LEAST WORST SCRIPTS
  by Grant Naylor
  ISBN 0-14-017886-4
  Penguin, 1993

  THE MAN IN THE RUBBER MASK
  by Robert Llewellyn
  ISBN 0-14-023575-2
  Penguin, 1994