Red Dwarf
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A red dwarf is a small, relatively cool star, with a surface temperature of less than 3226 degrees Celsius or 5840 degrees Fahrenheit. The most common star types in the galaxy, they have relatively low luminosity and are invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, such objects are far less interesting to the general public compared to the main subject of this entry.
Red Dwarf is a British sitcom series that ran on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999. Primarily set three million years in the future, the series does not involve an actual red dwarf, but a red Jupiter mining ship that, for unexplained reasons, is named Red Dwarf. The protagonist, Dave Lister, is the last human being in the universe, and thus one of the last surviving clichés in his time. His companions are Cat, an evolved humanoid cat; HAL Holly, a mentally boggled computer; and a hologram of his dead, despised bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer.
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[edit] Origins
Rob Grant and Doug Naylor developed the ideas for Red Dwarf from a series of BBC Radio 4 sketches, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, which they had also created. The idea was to mix science fiction, fantasy and adventure with British humour and satire, and base the TV series upon a previous radio series. This formula, of course, was known to be very successful. Naturally, everyone at the BBC rejected it. After much persuasion, however, BBC North accepted the series.
For the cast, Chris Barrie was cast as Arnold J Rimmer, Craig Charles as Dave Lister, Danny John-Jules as Cat, and Norman Lovett as Holly. The easiest character to cast was Cat, for which John-Jules gave a striking first impression. This was not because of his extensive prior research on cats, his dad's old 1950s suit he wore to the audition, or his established career as a dancer, but the fact that, in typical Cat fashion, he arrived thirty minutes late for his try-out.
[edit] Characters
Dave Lister—Liverpudlian slob, and the lowest-ranking crew member aboard Red Dwarf. Despite really being half-black and half-Irish, he has an affinity for lager and Indian food, and will attempt to salvage vindaloo and poppadom at any cost, even if this cost were World War III[1]. Unfortunately, he is the last human being alive.
Arnold Judas Rimmer—snob, and the second lowest-ranking crew member. For most of the series' run, he is dead; fortunately, death is less deadly in the 23rd century and onward. Unfortunately, death is also not the life-changing experience it used to be, and Rimmer remains a snobbish annoyance even in death. Amazingly, presumably due to advances in hologramatic technology, the only visible difference between a hologram and a live person is a giant H on the forehead, as required by Space Corps Directive 14255[2].
Cat—a member of the species Felis sapiens, which evolved from cats with a cat-like appearance to cats with a human-like appearance, which is always far more convenient for low-budget British sci-fi. Cat likes to be a cool cat, carrying around 10 racks of suits and some sort of mirror in his vanity. Initially a stylish, self-centred humanoid cat who rarely socialised with the other crew, Cat gradually becomes more involved in the ship's workings, and comes to resemble a stylish, self-centred human.
Kryten 2X4B-523P—a neurotic, obsolete android, Kryten turns into a neurotic, obsolete, rebellious android after Lister breaks his programming. The only crew member of the ship that knows the slightest bit about actual science, Kryten is an invaluable asset when Lister, Rimmer and Cat need common sense.
Holly—the ship's senile computer. Just like many old people in real life, Holly attempts to appear cool by using colloquial language ("What's happening dudes?") and, just like many old people in real life, fails miserably. Holly's gender changes between Series 2 and Series 3, and between Series 5 and Series 7. This is seen as superficial as, being a computer, the only difference is with Holly's head.
Kristine Kochanski—navigation officer, and Dave Lister's obsession. Although initially dead for most of the series, Kochanski arrived from a parallel universe in Series 7, and was subsequently marooned in the main universe. She would subsequently spend most of her time whining.[3]
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Premise
The show takes place around the Jupiter Mining Corporation ship Red Dwarf and, in later series, its shuttle Starbug. The ship, according to Holly, is "the size of a city", with the city presumably being Guildford. Led by Captain Hollister, the crew range from bureaucratic incompetent smegheads to non-bureaucratic incompetent smegheads. For vacation, crew members go on planet leave to nearby moons.
Aliens do not exist; everything in the universe is human-made. This presented massive problems when Grant and Naylor wanted to film an episode half-based on the Alien saga. The Red Dwarf world also features various neologisms and invented insults, such as "dollarpound", "hologramatic", "smeg", "gimboid", "goit", and, most infamously, "cancerous polyp on the anus of humanity".
[edit] Plot
- Editor's note: the original writer has confused several characters and episode titles with works of popular culture from which Red Dwarf plagiarises at length. As such, the original works have been struck out and replaced with the proper names.
Series 1 sets up the premise as Dave Lister, resident slob, is sentenced to 18 months in stasis. Three million years later, Lister wakes up to find that all the crew are dead, a new species has evolved from his cat, and the person he hates most, Arnold J Rimmer, has been revived in hologram form. The crew mostly stay confined to Red Dwarf for the series.
In Series 2, the crew see their first excursion in three million years, in which they meet C-3PO Kryten, a neurotic protocol droid service droid. Holly also shows down with his replacement Queeg in the episode "High Noon" "Queeg", and is disconnected as he sings "Daisy Bell" "Goodbye to Love"; however, at the last minute, all events in the episode are revealed to have been part of Holly's practical joke.
Starting with Series 3, Red Dwarf found its tone, and became highly popular; this was presumably connected with the fact that, in Series 3, almost everything in Series 1 and 2 is ignored; a pre-titles sequence explaining everything taunted contemporary viewers without freeze-frame capable VCRs. The crew deal with sesrevinu sdrawkcab, the Xenomorph from Alien a "polymorph", and the Terminator Kryten's replacement.
In Series 4, the crew face, among other things, a mysterious female reluctant to escape with her husband in the episode "Casablanca" "Camille", a wax museum run amok in "Westworld" "Meltdown", and—most memorably—an alternate Rimmer that is actually not annoying and in fact heroic, in the episode "Top Gun" "Dimension Jump". Series 5 focused on other worlds, including the dystopian landscape of Arnold Rimmer's psyche.
Series 6 was the last series co-produced by Grant and Naylor, and thus was the last good series[Citation not needed at all; thank you very much]. It is notable for being the series to win Red Dwarf an International Emmy, although, Red Dwarf being British, nobody cared in America, and, an Emmy being American, nobody cared in Britain.
Series 7 messes with a great deal of time and space, something that Space Corps Directive 14256 expressly forbids.[4] This series saw the return of James Bond the alternate heroic Rimmer, Kristine Kochanski, and Red Dwarf itself, which had disappeared in Series 6. Because Naylor had taken over the series single-handedly, he was able to change the show's tone to a more serious one. Needless to say, this attempt to add depth to the characters and the show's plot was wildly decried.
Series 8 saw a return to purer sitcom, a move that was also wildly decried. Red Dwarf has now returned with its entire crew resurrected and its design streamlined. However, this streamlined design would be the subject of much criticism, as it was actually an improvement over the old model. The series ends on a cliffhanger, where most of the main characters have escaped a rapidly decaying Dwarf, except for Rimmer. In 2009, Red Dwarf was revived briefly for the three-part special "Red Dwarf: Back to Earth". Any hope of resolving the cliffhanger was abandoned, however, when it was revealed that Back to Earth was merely a lengthy Blade Runner tribute.
[edit] Spin-offs
Grant and Naylor have attempted various spin-offs relating to the main series. There have been two best-selling novels, a Red Dwarf magazine, a role-playing game, and Red Dwarf Night, an evening of BBC2 programming dedicated solely to Red Dwarf. Needless to say, its highlight was the BBC2 ident's "2" falling in love with one of Red Dwarf's maintenance robots.
The most infamous spin-off, however, is perhaps the two unaired Red Dwarf pilots intended for NBC. Unfortunately, Grant and Naylor never realised that a Red Dwarf USA would never work, because they ignored the fact that Americans simply lack a central British emotion that was central to Red Dwarf's success: self-loathing.
[edit] Place in popular culture
Red Dwarf has probably stolen more from popular culture than it has given. It is simultaneously a rip-off of almost every piece of popular culture ever conceived—Alien, Casablanca, Star Trek, Blade Runner, and so on. The show's puny excuse is that it satirises them all, an excuse that is completely invalid to any money-respecting lawyer.
Yet Red Dwarf, along with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is one of the greatest works of British science fiction comedy[Citation not needed at all; thank you very much]. Its lexicon and concepts are overshadowed only by Hitchhiker's itself. Its special effects, character-driven comedy, theme tune, and audience figures have all been impressive. It has been voted "Best Sci-Fi Show of All Time" by readers of Radio Times, and its theme tune came second only to that of Doctor Who in an on-line poll. However, what will most likely endure the longest from Red Dwarf is the word "smeg".
[edit] Apologies For This Page Not Being Funny
Uncyclopedia would like to apologize to you, now that you have read down this far. Unfortunately the contributors to this page are Red Dwarf fans who where pissed off that they got rejected from evil parody site, Wikipedia where they already had someone write the information you see before you, in a very similar and identical manner. These people have taken the information given here, way too serious to the factual story, and we will be sending them to detention to learn the meaning of the term "parody" - We apologize for the non funny inconvenience, and will be offering full refunds for your next visit back to our website. Thank your for understanding understanding, apologies for any inconvenience, and Please don't piss in the plants in the main foyer on your way out.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Naturally, this would involve destroying all supplies of Indian food anyhow.
- ↑ Actually, Directive 14255 expressly forbids use of mauve crayons by navigation officers.
- ↑ This was understandable, considering that she was facing the monstrous combination of an obsessed Lister, a jealous Kryten, and an obnoxious Cat.
- ↑ Correction: Directive 14256 actually forbids first and second technicians from changing the bulb between blue and red alerts.
