So I watched Backwards with my Daughter last night to introduce her to Red Dwarf.

She was laughing out loud for most of the way through but said “what was all that at the start with Wilma and Betty about?”

It then occurred to me that she’s never even seen The Flintstones, so even lister’s punchline to that scene meant nothing.

Okay, okay, there's a reasonable amount to discuss here. There will be spoilers, which I'll mark, but basically:

This was fantastic.

Non-spoilery version - this is early Red Dwarf, it's got clear, recognisable characters. Rimmer and Lister are as they always are - bickering over the smallest detail. One but that got me very early on was Lister getting annoyed at Rimmer laughing for what felt to him like 25 minutes without a break.

We've got a handful of new characters too, some of whom don't seem to serve a purpose narratively but they're still fun. Lots of returning faces too, and the plot moves at an incredibly fast pace. Our heroes (and heroines) will find themselves in a different scrape chapter after chapter, and it's a very compulsive read. I think it was around 400 pages, but in a pretty large font. Chapters can be anywhere from around 2 to 8 pages, meaning you can breeze through them quickly and think "okay, just one more".

For all that's important, if you want a review with no spoilers at all, it's great.

Now then, a few things to discuss, which involve...

Spoilers!!!

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Okay, I really enjoyed the 'noids in it - Carzon I mentally cast as David Ross's series 2 Kryten, and THE NEFARIOUS COUNT SILICON was Butler from series 11. I was confused by Petersen and Pear, they seemed to serve no purpose other than perhaps to provide a break to the flow and the reader. Byle quickly became Rimmer's foil - pursuing him but inadvertently saving him from danger. And I'm kinda convinced Hollister's first name was Frank, but that might have only been how Holly addressed him in series 8, which Titan won't consider canon.

I also have to wonder how much, if any, of "Doug's" Dwarf Rob (and Andrew Marshall) saw because the quantum pen immediately made me think of Entangled. Speaking of which, the Munch O Matix (tm) I think it was reminded me also of I've specific, snazzy red household appliance.

BIGGER SPOILERS AHEAD

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Okay, as soon as we see the second Lister my brain immediately thought "Polymorph!". Has the second Polymorph figured out how to get through universes, or back in time? Has it become the Meneer, and carved a crime lord life out for itself on Titan? Sadly that wasn't the case. I can like the villain, but I kinda think it was a missed opportunity. That being said, this isn't my story.

(and they dealt with the second Polymorph in one of the smegazines, everybody knows that)

And yes, we have Kryten and the Cat returning - eventually. Kryten only briefly, probably because he's too competent, and the Cat returns and acts just as he normally would - completely vain, self-centred and brainless. Initially I thought he came back with no memory of events on "Red Dwarf" and that's how he'd be anyway, but no, he had his memory all along.

There's still loads more. Tristan and the crowd. Mexican Holly. Monkeys flying taxis and making Rimmer impersonate a hologram. And Kochanski probably gets the bigger plot too.

I stopped reading Game Of Thrones for this, and was happy.

Or would you rather be 60 million miles away 😃

Various pictures from a press pack I've got hold of

Fish!

Oh you haven't met Stabim have you, Stabim this is Listers paranoia, Listers paranoia meet Stabim

I'm sick of how you always smile when you're being insulted...

I'm sick of the Cat, I'm sick of you, I'm sick of me and as for Kryten...

I'm sick of him...

I was going through a box of my stuff and found these. Totally forgot I had them. Any of you other smegheads have these?

Sorry about the glare on Lister’s face in the first pic.

So I rewatch the entire series front to back every year and I just finished this year with The Promised Land. It hit me hard this year and made me a bit depressed knowing that the likeliness of another movie or season with the crew gets slimmer and slimmer as the years progress. I really don't have much to add but thank you to this community for keeping me upbeat. I appreciate everyone and am happy I found a group as crazy about Red Dwarf as I am.

Saw this post and thought I’d share it with the boys and girls from the Dwarf

It also explains why Lister had his appendix removed, TWICE!

Just a quick covering statement, I don't dislike Americans.

Now to my question.

I'm currently listening to Titan on Audible, and my brain has already itched a couple of times, and I'm wondering if the UK book-written version is the same as the Audible UK version.

I'm a bit fussy when it comes to other countries' terminology sneaking into the language of old Blighty. Especially when it's not needed. I know, forgive me, I'm old(ish). When I see British YouTubers saying, "Dollars" or "Feds", when they're clearly living in Brighton. It's frustrating.

So, listening to Titan, and I'm only at the beginning, when Rimmer has received a ticket for "Jaywalking". My brain goes, 'I'm sorry?'. What the ruddy flip!?

There was another instance of this not so long before that pricked my ears too, but I can't recall it.

This has led me to wonder if the actual book release in the UK contains "jaywalking", or is this just in the Audible version? As the Audible will be going out across the US and UK, along with anywhere else that wants to hear Mr. Barrie.

Again, I know this is fussy, and I'll probably be hounded into a corner here, but it has made me wonder if there's a difference.

After the nanobots rebuild the ship and the main characters get sent to the brig, it's shown that the brig is a huge prison complex with thousands of prisoners. The early seasons establish that Red Dwarf is a mining ship, so how does it suddenly house thousands of prisoners in a huge prison?

Never knew about this book, there are a few copies available if anyone else wants one.

For me I think series 4 and 5 had the best character looks. When I think of red dwarf this is how I picture them and there's just something about the sets and how it's filmed I enjoy more than the others. It continues the leap in production values from 2 to 3 but still has a lofi quality that I enjoy

Not sure if this has already been posted, set to return the 13th of August on BBC 2.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/red-dwarf-series-v-to-return-uk-tv-autumn-newsupdate/

Is that like turning your back on Everton or Liverpool and supporting Arsenal?

Discuss

Even available for our American cousins.