-David Tennant is narrating this! What?! Finally the Doctor Who/Red Dwarf crossover we all were waiting for.
-The show is about “two people trapped in a life together” and the sci-fi was never the most important part. I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY
-Danny John-Jules is rocking the most AMAZING outfit throughout this doc. He looks like the coolest grandfather that ever existed. Or like a stylish gentleman burglar. (a cat burglar obviously.)
-The same guy who made the music for Red Dwarf made the music for Blackadder! Somehow I’ve gone for years loving both shows and never noticed that.
-At one point the idea of giving Kryten a Swedish accent was floated, which would have been bizarre (though I think they could have made it work.)
-I did actually already know this, but Craig Charles mentions it on the show so… Grant & Naylor sent him the Red Dwarf script because they were worried Cat might be a racist caricature. Charles didn’t think so but he did want to play Lister, and the rest is history. So one of the most popular sitcoms ever created only happened the way it did because of one of those much-derided sensitivity checks.
Paul Jackson: There some quite serious, philisophical conversations in Promisedland, particuarly between you and Lister. Do you enjoy playing element as much as playing the comedy?
Always nice to hear Chris praising Craig, just to balance the regular Craig love-in for Chris!
Robert: He’s a lovely lad, though, isn’t he, Simon [Gregson]? Very nice…
Craig: Oh, great. He’s great to work with. I mean, he’s the one guy I’ve ever got the vibe of – which is very similar to working with Chris, d’you know what I mean?
Robert: Right.
Craig: Cos you know, Chris is such a – he’s a comedy genius, I think, you know, he’s such a – and my job is just trying to keep up with him, really. Not trying to look too shit next to him, y’know what I mean? And it’s a bit like that with Simon, really, you know? You’re just trying to…not look so bad.
Okay so obviously I am deep in fandom hell when it comes to Red Dwarf now, there’s headcanons, there’s fanfiction, there’s everything! But naturally when that happens I start thinking something along the lines of “why do I like this thing?” And I think I know why I like Red Dwarf so much, beyond the jokes, I mean. It’s because almost all the time it’s constantly extolling kindness as a virtue.
No really.
Much of it revolves around Lister. Lister is that rarity of a sitcom character who’s a really geniunely good person. You wouldn’t expect him to be, considering his situation, but he is.
(alright, there’s the odd 80s-era sexist joke in there, in fact there’s the odd 80s-era sexist joke in there even now, but we’re going to ignore that.)
It’s Lister’s act of kindness in saving an innocent cat that kickstarts the whole plot of Red Dwarf and creates a whole new species in the world. (The Promised Land even points this out, I think.) It’s also Lister’s kindness which turns Kryten into more than a mechanoid and Cat into slightly less of uh, a cat. But most important of all I think is Lister’s relationship with Rimmer.
Lister has absolutely no reason to like Rimmer and he doesn’t. But, especially once he learns why Rimmer is the way he is, he does treat him like a person. Whether or not Lister likes Rimmer is completely irrelevant to whether or not he’s going to talk him out of suicide. And that strikes me as something really quite big and important, that just happens to be wrapped up in a big wacky-space-comedy bow.
Rimmer himself is another matter. There’s an extent to which he’ll always remain an arrogant little shit, because that’s where the comedy comes from, but we’ve seen him learn and grow over the years and the show indicates that a lot of that is Lister’s influence.
RIMMER: The Anubis stone? You can’t use that on him! I need it! It’s the only way for me to remain diamond-light! If I don’t recharge I’ll lose all my superpowers!
LISTER: [putting his hand on Rimmer’s shoulder] Mighty… We’re gonna have to. All great superheroes put the needs of other people before themselves.
RIMMER: Not all superheroes. What about the Fickle Four, who save only those wearing designer clothes? Or Doctor Dodgy, who saves people but first asks them to step behind a curtain and remove their underwear? [Heavy sigh] I knew this was too good to last. [Gesturing to the Anubis Stone] What do I do?
The Promised Land
Red Dwarf is a big ol’ daft sitcom with continuity leaking out all over the place, but its beating heart has always been “SEE? SEE? PEOPLE CAN MAKE EACH OTHER BETTER!” You know… life has thrown you some curveballs, you’re trapped in deep space and everyone you ever knew is dead. Why not be kind?
Why not give some sunlight to someone who you don’t like, but has none?
There aren’t many filmed panels where it’s just Craig and Chris so I thought I’d share this from 2013 as it’s a lovely relaxed one and only 20 minutes long.
As someone who suffers secondhand embarrassment, there aren’t any questions which made me personally uncomfortable and we do get the pair of them – unprompted – joking about Ace, Spanners and Big Boys In Boots. Enjoy. :)
I’m so glad the Robot Wars jacket is still around.
Some behind the scene pics from the new documentary trailer! I don’t think these are new (I do feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before) but they’re super cute (look at little Craig and Chris’ curls!) so thought I’d post!
aHem can we just talk about how in “The End” when Rimmer and Lister first meet Cat, Rimmer instantly goes into protect mode?!
Like excuuuse me, 1) Rimmer is an absolute coward and 2) He apparently ‘hates’ Lister.
So why the smeg did he decide to run at Cat at full speed? Surely, if he really hated Lister, he would’ve just let Cat at him? Or even if he was a teensy weensy bit brave, jumped in front of him instead of running at him like a soldier with a bayonet? I mean obviously I get the joke that he runs through him and blah but let’s just forget that and actually think about it: he tried to protect Lister.
