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Gallifrey Gals Get Dwarfed | Red Dwarf Series 3 Ep 1 | BACKWARDS (Patreon)

Published:
2023-10-19 17:00:04
Edited:
2023-10-20 21:06:32
Imported:
2026-10
Tags:

Videos

Content

Now wait just a minute... Hang on. Wait. What? Who? HUH?! WHAT'S GOING ON EVERYTHING REALLY DOES FEEL BACKWARDS

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https://vimeo.com/873109585/c0c676587a?share=copy

Thank you all for being here with us on these watch throughs and thank you for always being a supportive and wonderful community!

PAULA DEMING

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulaDeming

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KATRINA ALYSHA

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Gallifrey Gals Theme Song by:  NoAnie Music

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Files

GG_RedDwarf_S3_Ep1

This is "GG_RedDwarf_S3_Ep1" by Gallifrey Gals on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Comments

William Green

Hey Kat have you played a game called Kingdom: Two Crowns or Kingdom: Eighties?

Scribbles

Yep, this is Kryten, and will be him for the rest of the show. The actor's name is Robert Llewellyn, who is a fantastic actor and comedian. You'll see. This first version of his Kryten costume is a bit rough, but a massive improvement from the first one, and it gets even better in future seasons. And his accent is supposed to be Canadian, for the politeness factor. 😁 (Edit: Oh, and yeah. Hattie Hayridge replaced Norman Lovett in Series 3 because Lovett quit since he didn't want to make the drive all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland to the studios to film.)

Darryl Glynn

WOO HOO! OK, here we go..... Strapping my self in. Could be in for a bumpy ride..... Watching reaction video in 3.....2....1.....

Kieran B

Kryten’s voice was supposed to be ‘inspired’ by a Vancouver accent

BazT47

You can find a video on Youtube where it is all reversed or forwarded so you can see what was said

Brodie Vickers

I can remember on the DVD special features, it had the FORWARDS episode, just in case you wanted to know what everybody was talking about. Comedian Arthur Smith who play's the manager, put's it better than anybody ever could https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNWGcYcBklE😄

Susan K Dailey Photography

I really like series 1 and 2, but I love series 3 onwards too. Backwards wasn't the best episode of this series though as they focused more on the sci fi concept than on establishing and re-establishing the characters. At the start of the episode, Rimmer was assessing Kryten on his abilities to pilot their shuttle - Starbug - which is why they were separated from Lister and Cat, and Lister and Cat go looking for them after realising they've gone missing. These series also had a different set designer, with the in-universe explanation being that they've moved into the officers' quarters now that they've been decontaminated. It'll all be explained in the series 3 documentary. Also Hattie as Holly and Bobby as Kryten will grow on you, they're both fantastic additions to the cast.

Christopher Jones

Yeah, that "Slow Your Scroll" repeat of the opening text crawl was NOT originally there...

Raven Stromdans

Okay, I think it's safe to say now...I actually prefer the first two series to the show more than pretty much anything that came later. That doesn't mean I don't like the remainder of the show's run; there's some positively fantastic nonsense to come and some of my favorite episodes and characters are yet to come. But I did prefer the feeling of Series I and II to the more polished, clearly sit-com inspired Series that followed. In particular, the contrast between the humorous subject matter of the show and the deeply dramatic opening theme and musical interludes really tickled me. Ultimately, the show remains fun, it continues to play loose and fast with science fiction tropes and we even get some increased insight into the Boys from the Dwarf in coming episodes. I think you'll enjoy the ride: even if the course has changed pretty radically, the vehicle and your gaggle of goofy pilots remains largely the same. Keep Calm and Smeg on, Gallifrey Gals!

Aidan Lunn

34:30 - that reference is… not wrong but only half the story. They were still recording S3 in Manchester with rehearsals still taking place in London as they had been doing up to that point. Norman Lovett lived in London for the first two series but between S2 and S3, he moved to Edinburgh as it has a better arts scene and at the time was less of a shithole to live in than London. He didn’t fancy the round trip of Edinburgh - London - Manchester - Edinburgh for six weeks a year. They tried to compromise, as he didn’t see why he needed to be at rehearsals if he was just reading from an autocue but the rest of the team realised he needed to be rehearsing with them so he could hone his performance with the rest of the crew. So he turned it down. He came to regret that decision! For S4, which was filmed in the autumn of 1990 for broadcast in spring 1991, the show moved to leased sound stages in Shepperton Studios in London. Forcibly, as the Manchester studios were being refurbished and re-equipped (for stereo sound, conversion to digital component videotape and also the cameras - EMI 2005s - dated from when the Oxford Road, Manchester studios opened in 1974/75, so they were *really* in need of replacement!) The BBC tend to upgrade equipment in “blocks” as it’s cheaper to have studios out of action for several weeks while all sorts of bits of kit are upgraded, rather than shutting them to upgrade bits of kit, re-opening them only to shut them again a few weeks later to upgrade the next bit of kit. IIRC, late 1990/early 91 is when BBC Manchester had its asbestos removal project done as well. Starting in 1988, the BBC embarked on a huge project to remove asbestos from all its studio complexes across the UK (except Lime Grove studios - the birthplace of Doctor Who - as they were due to close and be demolished soon). So at BBC Manchester, they stripped out all the old kit, did the asbestos removal then installed the new kit. When it came to filming S5, the Red Dwarf cast preferred to film in London rather than rehearse four days a week in London, go up to Manchester overnight on the Thursday/Friday, film the episode then go back down to London on the Friday night/Saturday morning. Rehearsing in London and filming in Manchester meant that they rehearsed without the scenery. Recording in London meant they could rehearse with the sets and props they would be using. And it meant they could go home at the end of each day.

Kieran B

Kryten and Rimmer were separate because Rimmer was testing Kryten to get his pilot’s licence, and Lister and Cat knew to look for them because they never returned…

John Veitch

It's a bit of a culture shock going straight into "Backwards". It wasn't the first episode filmed of S3 but Paul Jackson decided to put it out first because of its attention-grabbing "hook". An episode like "Marooned" or "Bodyswap" would make a better transition from S2 to S3 (which you probably know by now).

HoratioMcSherry

I’m almost (almost!) glad you didn’t like this episode and happy we’ve got past it - it’s pretty poor. I’ve always thought it was a bizarre choice to put as the first episode after season 2 as you really need the location to stay put until the other changes have sunk in (and especially when the rest of the series doesn’t really go on location). Thankfully it doesn’t fit in with the rest of series 3 or the following series either. 🙂

Darryl Glynn

So, you're going to react to Blackadder? OK, I'm up for that, but Bottom is a much funnier show, and Father Ted.

William Green

Just wait till season 6 a similar thing happens and you get even less information for any changes. not saying anymore at risk of being spoily.

Bruce Bromley

When we said different, we weren't kidding. 😊I do think 'Backwards' was an odd episode to start with. Hopefully after you watched the 'Making of Series Two' you got some answers. I do hope you can warm up to Robert Llewellyn as Kryten. He does make the role his own through the rest of the series'. Don't feel alone. there are others that do prefer the first two seasons over the rest.

AlyAdmirer

Personally, I've always found this to be the most *overrated* episode of the series. :-) So don't fret with any mixed emotions.

MCT

That's the danger of people dismissing the merits of the first couple of series to people watching for the first time as 1-2 have different strengths and weaknesses to 3 onwards and there was always a bit of a division in the fanbase on which era is best, which Holly is best etc. I'm interested to see how you took to the following episodes, particularly Marooned. I grew up with RD on TV as a kid so I didn't discover s1-2 until the (largely despised) remastered VHS tapes were released (after s6 was broadcast I think) - so didn't really suffer as much for the shift in tone. Wall of text... sorry, bye. 😊

Paflad

I suppose we should have seen this coming. They've been making a joke of 'getting to when it finally gets good' because they loved it from the start so it makes sense that the radical changes wouldn't sit well at first. I'm confident they'll settle in for the ride though I honestly don't remember what my own initial reaction to the shift was. I'm an old man, those years are a blur at this point.

Aidan Lunn

The simple reason for the change in style for S3 was that the writers gained more creative control by becoming the producers as well. In the late 80s, the TV industry in the UK was going through a transformational shift in how a show made it from script to screen from everything being made in-house by each broadcaster to something akin to the US model, where shows were commissioned by broadcasters and production outsourced to independent production companies (who themselves would outsource studio hire, production staff etc from someone else, in many cases hiring studio space, kit and personnel from the very broadcaster they were making the show for!). You can actually see this shift taking place if you study the end of the end credits for S1-3. S1 was produced entirely in-house. Between that and S2, the first producer (Paul Jackson) formed his own production company and so production of Red Dwarf S2 was outsourced to them. During those first two series, the writing pair for Red Dwarf felt kind of sidelined, as if once they had written the scripts their job was done. For S3, they were allowed to have more creative freedom, but to do that they had to become producers and thus set up their own production company, Grant Naylor Productions. Paul Jackson was perfectly fine with transferring production rights as he was never short of new work coming his way anyway as the independent production field was growing.

Rob G

Really enjoyed that reaction and thanks for being honest because that is the best policy. I think sometimes people can look at things through rose tinted spectacles sometimes especially when those good nostalgic feelings kick in. As someone said on the previous episode on the Youtube comments there were quite a lot of people that were very uneasy about the changes at the time. So I fully understand at being confused when you are told this is the season when it gets "good", it was always very good it just gets better imo but that will kick in later. I remember having some issues at the time, I didnt really like the new opening to the show and Kryten looks pretty bad tbh but that does change. However I still really like this episode it happens to be one of my favourites now. Its going to be interesting to see how the next episode goes as its quite 'mundane' in terms of sci ideas but the writing is still good never the less. And then once that is over the classic Polymorph will arrive, hooray!

Rob G

Those are all great choices but I would have thought The IT Crowd would have been a more fitting suggestion for the gals to react to. Blackadder is still top tier though :)

MrCAL

I'm pretty confident that you'll come to like Kryten, not only because of the talented actor but also the amount of character development he gets as the show goes on. In regards to the green ship 'Starbug', it is essentially a shuttle craft for Red Dwarf. Ow and the in universe reason the bunk beds are different is because they are sleeping in the officer quarters now which are bigger and have more furniture.

Daniel Graham

In time I think you will agree the changes made to Kryten were vital to the show moving forward... nothing against the original Kyrten actor, but the replacement is beyond perfect for the role, you Gals just need to adjust is all. I have no doubts you'll come to love the new Kryten. Also, plz stick with a good pace for Red Dwarf even if the strike ends... I became a patreon Galifrey Girl primarily for Red Dwarf. I'm also watching your Avatar: The Last Airbender reactions atm.

William Green

Hey just a reminder make sure you read through the opening crawl again you all might of missed a few things like lister is the one who rebuilt kryton it gets mentioned again later in passing.

Salix

People have probably covered this somewhere but not seen it. Sry. Plot reasons for one of the changes. The set is different because they moved into the officers quarters because "nicer". Hence the visual difference. They did actually mention the officers quarters where on a different floor that had just been sterilised in the series 1 final ep when lister finds the marriage photo. Anyway. Love the reactions. More plz 😁

PickettsChargingPort

What's funny about the first two seasons vs the rest of the show is I like both sets, even with the discontinuity. I miss the approach of the first two seasons and what was done with that, while at the same time enjoy the newer format.

Rob G

As an addition I think this episode will get a lot of comment interaction on Youtube when it goes up. It will be interesting to see how fast the viewer count goes as well, looking forward to that. :)

Mark Ten

Kryten was meant to be a one-off character but the the writers were having problems with the scripts and decided to add him back in to expand the possibilities. the original actor was unavailable (appearing in a play) so Kryten was recast and the difference was retconned away in the intro crawl (Kryten was damaged when he wrecked the spacebike and rebuilt by Lister... badly.).

JimmyPea

There is a certain boldness to the decision to do Backwards, but Red Dwarf (like most shows) is at its best when its characters are interacting and this episode largely eschews that in favour of the reverse footage gimmick (which I don't think is quite funny enough to sustain 25 minutes). I think this episode of Red Dwarf is the one that stands up least well to rewatching. Fortunately, as you've probably discovered by now, the show's shift away from a more character-focused approach is not as severe as this episode seems to indicate.

Bruce Bromley

Additional.....Thanks Paula and Kat for your time and efforts churning these out week after week. It is appreciated.

Time Lord

We actually reacted to that video for our Geronimo and Red Alert tier that also dropped today! What a rollercoaster that was! -Kat

Nolan

Yep, while the areas where Rimmer and Lister lived and worked were decontaminated and cleared of the Radiation that Holly kept Lister in Suspended Animation to avoid, parts of the ship were still contaminated. In the Series I episode "Confidence and Paranoia" the reason Lister got sick with that mutated virus was because he went to the Officer's Deck before they were fully decontaminated. Then in Series II in "Stasis Leak" Lister has that wedding photo from Kochanski's quarters up the in Officer's Decks, so they over the span of about 14 months (as stated in "Queeg") they must've been cleared up. At that point, the boys probably decided to get some change in their lives after the rushed pregnancy and growth of Lister's twins, and the rediscovery of Kryten who left the ship but was nearly completely destroyed, and thus re-built with a number of changes as Lister did the best he could So, they probably decided to move into the Officer Quarters. It's possible the docking bays containing the Starbug ships were separate from those holding the ships known as "Blue Midgets" that we've previously seen and also only recently were decontaminated. Rimmer was giving Kryten a driving test so that he wouldn't have to be reliant on Lister or the Cat to drive places, They were gone for three weeks, so clearly missing, hence Lister and the Cat looking for them. (Ironic, the confused questioning about what was going on, lead you to miss some explanations for what was going on, I'm sure youtube'll love that.) It's not explicitly stated, but all these changes from moving living quarters to Rimmer changing his uniform could easily be taken as the boys starting to shift away from trying to maintain the parts of their lives that remained after 3 million years and to start moving forward no that they aren't constrained by the roles they previously held on the ship when it was fully manned. Choosing to live the lives they have now, rather than stagnate in the vestiges of the lives they had, which they were already feeling really bored by at the end of Series II

Julie Kangas

My favorite series are 1 and 2, closely followed by 10-12. If it’s any help, I generally assume each series takes place in a slightly (or not) different universe.

Mark Ten

Dad" was planned as the first episode of the show's third series, intended to be a direct continuation of the preceding episode, "Parallel Universe", the final episode of the second series. It was never filmed or even fully scripted; writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor abandoned it halfway through writing it. Am extract of "Dad" was animated in a storyboard style as the script itself was read by lead actor Chris Barrie (Ive never seen it).

paul

Hey Kat and Paula, I think your WTF reaction was pretty much spot on. I watched these when they were aired when i was a kid and had the videos and later the dvds when i was a student... but series 2 to 3 is a massive gear change and I don't think it's very well handled in retrospect to be honest. The thing to remember is that series 1-6 is the golden era, I hope we can all agree on that. Backwards, in my humble opinion is alright but it's just not such a great episode, it's gimmicky, the sci-fi logic isn't as tight as it usually is in red dwarf (think future echoes), anyway don't worry, i really don't think you're about to start disliking red dwarf, this was just a bit of a wonky episode, the next one, marooned, is very series 2 esque, from now on it's more actiony and catchphrasey, so it will never be quite like series 2 again... also as you said in the other video british shows are 6 episodes long, so it's less like a season and more like your favourite band bringing out a new album every year or two, without much in the way of explanation about their new direction

paul

oh and growing up in britain in the 80s we weren't complaining, trust me, it was just amazing to have a sitcom that was cool and not about middle class married couples...

Mark Ten

Kat, in this episode dont you mean that you were face first on the floor and then shot to your feet when a rug was placed under your feet?

Jasper de Vries

If that had happened, she probably would have mirrored Cat's expression at the end.

Paul Baldwin

There is a fan theory/retcon that when Holly reality jumped it broke reality/the multiverse which is why each season after this is slightly different and has a different vibe not to mention the loose continuity

Bill

Cribbed from the Red Dwarf FAQ: Oh, as to Holly... The original actor to play Holly, Norman Lovett, left the series after a dispute over his salary. In an interview with Red Dwarf Smegazine (issue 9, November 1992), Lovett said that he asked to be paid the same as the other actors on the series, but his request was turned down. Hattie Hayridge had appeared in "Parallel Universe" as Hilly, Holly's female counterpart. "When Norman said he wasn't doing another series, I auditioned," she recalls. The character of Holly kept the same name and personality despite the recasting. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/red-dwarf/faq/ ---- Episode opens on Rimmer and Kryten in a shuttle bay with Starbug 1. Rimmer was giving Kryten their piloting test, because if Kryten could fly then Rimmer could get off the ship. Lister and Cat noticed they were missing eventually and went looking in Starbug 2. Red Dwarf is still the main ship, but now they can leave the ship on the Starbugs (well, not 1 anymore) rather than the Bluebug.

Lemmy's Mole

I can certainly understand how the changes can feel quite jarring....but don't forget, for us at the time, there was a significant gap in years between S2 & S3. Instant access to episodes was only available via VHS...Jeez, that ages me!..So after a four year absence, we were just happy to have it back.

Bruce Bromley

Besides the pay and the filming moving to London there was Kyten becoming a regular character. With him there to provide the exposition, Holly was redundant and barely used from Series 3 on.

Skyrous

This is very much a different show. It's changed from a sit-com into a action comedy. They leave the ship more often, they sometimes fight bad guys and sometimes those bad guys aren't figments of Lister or Rimmer's imagination. The new sleeping bunks is because the boys moved into officer's quarter's. There have been a couple of things that were retconned that aren't explicitly mentioned but you'll find confusing when it comes up. Firstly the crew compliment off Red Dwarf was changed from 169 to 1,169. And the big thing, Instead of Lister having an unrequited crush on Kochanski. It was ret-conned that they actually did date for a few weeks. Then Kochanski dumped him and he was completely wrecked by this. In the book this is why he smuggled Frankenstein on board. He knew he'd get caught and sent to stasis, the next 18 months would flash by instantly. He be kicked out of the Space Corp but back on earth away from Kochanski and he could just get on with his life. Or that was his plan.

Andy

Yeah, Backwards is not the best advert for the new direction of the show to be fair. And the slightly shonky logic of it is frustrating.

Blower

The majority of 'dwarfers' perfer series 3 onwards to 1 & 2. However 1 & 2 are definitely better written, with more thought gone into the character interplay and their lines. 1&2 are more quaint and are my favourites. Series 3 onwards is a massive change. The original producer went and the original writers (Grant & Naylor) took on the role of producers. They were never happy with the original red dwarf set and tone, it was considered to be too drab (it was battleship grey everywhere) so they jazzed it up. Their living quarters are different with different signage - the implication is that Rimmer, Lister etc have moved to the Officers Quarters (which were still in process of decontamination in series 1/2) The show was to have way more action and as you noticed a much larger budget - so you get more episodes away from the red dwarf ship, more on location etc. It is a lot of change and will take a little bit of time to get used to, this first episode of series 3 is not the best example, there are some absolute belters of episodes to come between series 3 & 6 - some classics that bring back fond memories and still make me cry with laughter.

Blower

Bottom is gonna make these poor gals sick! I think that show may be a step too far for across the pond!

Blower

Btw the previous shuttle - the blue midget, is still there and in later series they do use it. Red dwarf always had star bugs, just you never saw them...until now. It's a much bigger craft - I guess you could compare it to a Star Trek 'Runabout' vs a normal shuttle.

Travis Boyle

Hopefully Marooned won't be as much of a shock to you Gals. Maybe this episode should of been 4th or something.

Chris Neumann

So, if you MUST have an explanation about why things changed, here's my idea (no spoilers, just a little fiction to put your minds at ease): As the crew was leaving the ship more often, they decided to switch from the crammed short-range Blue Midget from series 2 to the roomier, long-range Starbug, which also gives them more flexibility to leave the ship. They also decided to move out of their old quarters (as Lister's mess was making it borderline uninhabitable) to the roomier Officer's Quarters, which was closer to the shuttle bay and science room, which became their new base of operations. This is not the last time they'll do that. Remember, each floor of the ship is the size of a town, they have PLENTY of room to spread out. Presumably they remain bunking together due to some Space Corps regulation akin to the buddy system. As for why the rooms look so different? The Dwarf is MASSIVE, it took years to build (decades according to the novels) and styles and suppliers kept changing, things were built at different times by different companies. AND during construction the JMC had massive budget cuts which affected the final design of the ship, giving it its iconic cobbled-together aesthetic. As well as defective drive plates. Rimmer's new uniform? After the Hologram Simulation Suite was wrecked in Queeg, Rimmer's program was transferred to a more advanced Light Bee which they had salvaged from the Nova 5. Included in the advanced technology was new physical perimeters which included a new wardrobe (this is also why his H is different, smaller, more reflective). In reality: Since Barire and Charles weren't getting along, it made sense to bring another character in, so Kryten was brought back. Because there's now FOUR cast members, the sets needed to be bigger (rewatch season 2, all those sets are cramped). Ironically, they did not make the door to the officer's quarters tall enough for Kryten! The bunk room has much more space (and nice, deep bunks), the white walls allow more light to bounce off for everything to stay lit, the giant screen lets Holly be present (much like the big screen in the drive room in Series 2). I love series 1 and 2 as well, especially revisiting them through your eyes. That style and motif does get revisited (I'm not going to tell you when), so it becomes a visual symbol of the "before" era a la the original TNG uniforms.

Chris Neumann

Excuse me, I think you'll find that in series 2, they upgraded from battleship grey to military grey. Something that should have been done years ago.

Blower

Wasn't it painted back? :D

Chris Neumann

I assume the reason this episode is first is because it was the weirdest one (and thus something that could be easily advertised), as well as needing the most prep time. Every single shot on Backwards Earth (Htrea?) had to be planned. They needed to use a special camera to record the reversed footage, which is where that strange sound comes from. The shot where RImmer and Kryten are walking forwards and everyone is walking backwards? They're actually walking backwards while everyone else is moving forwards (Lister is also walking backwards into the water). Any shots with them visibly talking forwards, the background has to act backwards. Which all sounds like a nightmare to figure out and edit.

Blower

Why on earth was the shot of the monster blurred in the intro? - are the gals watching some censored version of Red Dwarf, hope not! Btw I know what the 'monster' is, just avoiding spoilers although Kat & Paula have watched that episode afaik (judging by the accidental notification the other day)

Firefly24601

They watched it and posted their reaction for the Geronimo and Red Alert tiers.

Firefly24601

The blur was an attempt to keep spoiler scenes of future episodes away. It was dropped quickly.

Mab7373822

Do you remember the Cracks in Time in Doctor Who, where events were absorbed/retconned/deleted? I How it became a great plot device to quickly handwave away any inconsistencies or contradictions? Well, with the immense amount of time travel going on in Red Dwarf, it's pretty much the same thing. Your reactions are so brilliant by the way, really honest and excited and questioning and puzzled and hilarious, such a joy to watch! I love series 1 and 2. "Backwards" isn't as good as most of them. Completely agree. Probably the weakest ep of season 3. Still enjoyed it though. Oh, and that rug being pulled out from under you? Get used to that!

David Shadwell

This is one of my least favourite eps of Red Dwarf over the first 6 years and find it very cringe inducing to watch. It's not all that funny, the characterisation is minimal but I appreciate the effort and issues they had in making it. The logic just fails at every turn. It does get better but Rob and Doug were never shy from changing things if it made the show better and rarely wasted the short running time trying to explain everything away.

paul

Just watched this again and enjoyed it even more than I did yesterday. The whole backwards stuff doesn't really make sense, but this is jam packed with classic moments and lines. The flintstone discussion, the bar room tidy, rimmer and kryten being weird sort of business partners, the driving exam stuff, references to Hitler, Santa, Wilma Flintstone, the final joke with Cat in the bushes. It's just a LOT to take in. Sorry if this is a spoiler but the next episode is much more melllow. Well, you will have watched it by now I guess. For me, series 2 and 5 were always my faves. I think 2 is basically an improved version of 1. 3 and 4 have so many great episodes but these are kind of the transitional years. 6 is great, but they are just pushing the line of being formulaic. 5, like 2, is just quality. Anyway, just my two cents. 1-6 are all great and even as it gets a bit patchy from 7 onwards it still beats most stuff on telly.

paul

Also, i really laughed when you described starbug as "bug shuttle" 😂

tal goren

how exacty did Rimmer managed to get ejected from starbug? he is a hologram, he is not supported by the surfuce under him, only by Holly. oh, I guess that explain it, holly decided it would be fun to eject him.

Kieran B

It still gets used in this series too

David Shadwell

If I remember correctly, Rob and Doug were not overly happy with the way series 1 and 2 came out. So when they got more control of it, they decided to treat season 3 as a a sort of soft reboot. Unfortunately, none of the stories in series 3 are suitable for launching a soft reboot so it falls down in that respect. But with only 6 episodes a season with about 25 minutes story time, how much do you spend explaining things like this? So, I think they just took the decision to say 'Sod it!" and just plough straight in. While they did have a bit more of a budget, it still wasn't huge but they managed to get on board people who could give them more bang for their buck, like Howard Burden and Mel Bibby (god, how often have I watched the docs for Red Dwarf that I can remember these names). Hence, the better looking sets and costumes.

BriefMortal

Episodes heavily relying on Earth environments always took me out of the future illusion. A decent concept I guess, but one of the poorest RD episodes for me. Also Lovett got another job and just assumed that the Red Dwarf production team would work around his schedule, to which they pretty bluntly said "umm no..."

John Veitch

Yeah, the way the backwards world works, and how the "forwards" main characters interact with it, is pretty inconsistent. It's like it was written like an improv game, where people came up with unrelated gags about "what would a backwards world be like?"

Aidan Lunn

They didn’t use a special camera, they had to use special editing VTRs. 1” type C videotape was king in the broadcast industry from about 1982 to 1994. It could do trick play including reverse playback but out of a couple of hundred different models of machine, only one model (an Ampex one, can’t remember the number) had the option to *not* mute the sound in reverse playback. Out of maybe 200 to 250 VTRs in all studios across the UK, the BBC only had 2 examples of that model, both down in London in Television Centre. So whereas most episodes of S1-3 were recorded in Manchester, along with being edited and played out from up there to S6, the tapes with the raw studio and location footage of “Backwards” had to be shipped down to TV Centre in London, edited there, then the broadcast master made from the editing session shipped back up to Manchester ready for playing out on broadcast!

Rob G

Boooooo.

Rob G

Dear Gallifrey Gals. You thought you experienced nerd-dom. You have not seen what I have seen. Dwarf nerds are S tier super sonic.

Aidan Lunn

S2 was broadcast in autumn 1988, S3 in autumn 1989. That’s only a gap of a year.

Lemmy's Mole

You're absolutely right..it felt so much longer 🤣

MCT

They're so good. The audio book versions with Chris Barrie are really good as well. I can't look at George McIntyre from ep1 the same after reading his backstory.

Krissie

Series 7 and 8 have so many changes and not for the better in my opinion . "Series 9" Back to Earth is ok but for some people not from UK they will find it very confusing.

Luke Lawley

Oi, you robbin' bastards. That's our tandem!!

Troy Convers

You think S2-S3 is a big change? Wait until you get to 'Cinematic Age' RD...

Frank Murphy

My first ever patreon video watch. Didn't disappoint. Shocked and confused the whole way through lol

Troy Convers

Hang on, you going to be watching Blackadder?

Time Lord

Our goal is to hopefully watch that after Red Dwarf!

Troy Convers

Now that's a cunning plan. You'll have to wait a little bit longer, as there's new Red Dwarf coming out in 2025!

irreverend

"I'm point at you, I'm pointing at you, but I'm not actually addressing you, I'm addressing the one prat in the entire 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!" Had to record the audio onto a cassette tape and then reverse spool it and play the underside of the tape to get that audio backwards back in the day, fun times :)