Dimension Jump 2 (Precedings)
Mik Stevens
Been to the Dimension Jump 2 Red Dwarf Convention hosted by "The Official
Red Dwarf Fan Club". A good weekend enjoyed by all. I'll be putting a few
bits of info from it onto the net over the next couple of days. Mail me
direct if you need any extra info about anything and I'll see what I can
drag up from my memory.
The posts I'll send will consist of.
General list of things. (this one)
Red Dwarf Quiz (the one set to Smeggies on arrival, I hate to brag but
me and a mate won this and got some original Smegazine
artwork.)
Outline of Grant Naylor questions
Season six info (massive spoilers in this, I mean MASSIVE, like a full
full synopsis of "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" which was
given a preview showing.)
Danny John Jules and Norman Lovett Outlines. (This doesn't have a lot in it
as it was more performances and an informal chat than
going into RD much)
Other people at the convention were Joe (Naestro (? sp)), the guy who writes loads of
sci fan based stuff, he gave a slide show of the special effects team working
on RD 6, Mel Bibby, the RD 6 set designer, and loads of people from the Smegazine who
had seen season six being filmed.
An excellent time with gallons of wicked strength lager and mutton vindallo
being consumed.
mik
Mik Stevens
Spoilers about each episode of season six are below. I've got the
official titles, well as official as that is what they are
called currently, and they've done all of the title graphic sequences.
I've also got some more info about some of the epiosdes, including one of
Rob and Dougs biggest continuity errors ever. I'm not given too much
away about gags or even storylines here. A few interesting facts
and outline stories of Psirens, Legion, Gunmen and Out of Time.
OK, as we all know by now series six begins with PSIRENS. I've only read the
first scene of the script in Primordial Soup (I didn't want to spoil all the
gags when I watched it.) This means that I don't actually know the whole story,
by no means at the convention were the whole stories for each episode given away.
The show starts with Lister being awoken from Stasis by Kryten 200 years after
Back To Reality. Red Dwarf has been stolen by someone unknown and TBFTD (the
boys from the dwarf) sre chasing it. The whole of the series is set upon Starbug.
A number of additions to the Starbug set are included. The cockpit has been
upgraded to have four control desks. There is a Kitchen. The main room has been
filled up a bit, tables etc. There are a number of corridor pieces also included.
Ohh and an AR (Artificial Reality) suite included together with a science room
type set up ( see synopsees below ).
The special effects throughout the whole show are excellent as ever. Peter Wraggs
crew have gone to new heights of excellence though. I'll include notable effects in
the synopsees.
PSIRENS
Starbug at last has the chance to catch up with Red Dwarf when the Small Rouge
one has to navigate around an asteroid field that Starbug can pass through.
Unknown to the crew the asteroid field full of PSIRENS, creatures that can
assume any shape and lure a man to his death.
During this episode Anita Dobson (Angie from EastEnders) makes a guest appearence
playing the Captain of a doomed ship captured by PSIRENS. An excellent death scene.
Supposedly she went absolutely OTT in the role `cos she was so thrilled about
being in Red Dwarf.
CP Grogan is back. She makes an appearence as Kochanski in this episode. I'm
not sure in what context though.
LEGION
Initially went under the working title "Call me Legion". The crew come across
a space station. They go inside and find it populated by a weird being called
only Legion.
One scene shows Lister with stomach pains. Legion uses some of his special powers
to cut into his stomach and remove his appendix, therefore curing him of appendicitis.
*****Continuity error...... remember in "Thanks for the Memory" where Rimmer, once
he's found out he's got some of Lister's memory, says "That`s why I had my
appendix out ....twice" Well that means Lister must have had his appendix out
already. There's no escape from this one, and Rob and Doug knew it when they were
asked. Rob came up with "We're assuming that Humans still have 1 appendix in
the future ???!!**? Pretty lame to me. ******
Anyway the inside of the space station sequence was all shot inside the old HQ
of the Brit Satalitte Company that went bust. Can't remember the name off the
top of my head. Lots of glass and modern clean environment. This supposedly effected
the later set designs.
Legion has a mask on all the way through the show until the end when there's a surprise in
store. I've seen some of the special effect sequence at the end for the unmasking
but without sound and only about three seconds worth. It looks dead good. I won't
tell you though because what I saw wasn't conclusive enough for me to make an
accurate guess about the story. If you are interested e-mail and I'll pass it on.
Legion/Psirens must also include Starbub getting some form of upgraded drive (I'll
guess at Psirens as in Legion Rimmer gets his hard-light drive.) The hard
light drive allows Rimmer to touch things. You can tell when he's in Hard-light
as his suit blue, instead of the red colour it is when he's normal. As you
would expect the hard-light drive takes lots of power and is only used in emergencies.
Although as the series went on they use it more and more as it's much more
convinient. The joke about Rimmer only touching himself had worn a bit thin
explained Doug Naylor.
GUNMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE
I'll be writing a fairly full synopsis of this as this epsiode was given
a preview screening. I'll only put a few details in this as I don't
want to spoil it for anyone who only wants the bearest details to keep
themselves satisfied.
The episode revolves around a Sci Fi/Western split, via the AR machine
which is also collect during the Legion episode off a derelict ship.
Well it might not be in Legion, just prior to this episode.
Starbug is attacked and is infected with an Apocalypse virus. Kryten has
to infect himself to try and produce a Dove Program that will destroy the
virus. Kryten fights the virus in a Western Metaphor inside his own sub-conscious.
The other three enter the battle to help Kryten by linking the AR machine
into Krytens mind. Each takes on an personality, together with special skills.
A most excellent episode. Many of the guests at the conference said this
one one of the best ever Red Dwarf episodes (definetly the best of
the new series (Danny John Jules)). All the actors got to have a great
time messing about with guns and horses.
Grant and Naylor aklso showed an out-take video of the new series. This included
a scene where Kryten gets a bottle shot out of his hand. They used about three times
as much explosive in the first take and the bottle fragmented and basically
disintergrated. Robert Llewellyn looks at the camers with his mouth open
"Fucking Hell". You just don't expect it from Kryten. An out-take video was
proposed by Grant Naylor as a maybe option, maybe to Fan Club members only.
Starbug also has rather a strange refit thrown in during this epiosde. It has
it's engines upgraded, and also is given laser cannon capabilities. I won't tell
you how though.
EMOHAWK -POLYMORPH II
They've reversed the title to start with.
Brilliant morphing effects for the Emohawk. A little Polymorph.
Set in the set that was built for the Covington Cross (USA/Brit
medievil cross over costume drama at Shepperton). Excellent set.
A mud hut type village inhabited by these big furry/honey monster
with Red hair type beasts.
I'm not too sure about the plot at all.
I know that Lister gets ......... no, I won't tell you that.
E-mail me if you're desparate for info. It gives too much away.
I do know that both Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibbly make appearences
in this episode.
RIMMERWORLD
A world populated by Rimmers. I only saw one still with Rimmer in his
hard-light suit. I got the first sentence from Smegazine.
OUT OF TIME
Working title was "Present from the Future". Set all aboard Starbug
from what I saw.
The crew of Red Dwarf return to the present time in their older forms.
This plot is more along the lines of "Back To Reality" with a GASP
ending. I don't know the end though. It involves something happening
to Lister. The only clue was that if you've read BTL you'll have some idea
about the ending. ???? I'm not sure still, and neither were many people
at the convention.
Lister's older version is a brain in a pickle jar. Danny John Jules
impression of Craig Charles when he found this out was quite funny.
In a scouse accent (he's been getting impersonation lessons from
Chris Barrie apparantly) ' Six fucking years I've been on this show
and I end up as a brain in a jar. I'll get a fucking lot o' laughs from that
won't I. Bloody hilarious. <kicks over stuff and stomps around>"
I think that it all. PSIRENS is due to be broadcast during the first week of
October. Can't wait.
If you want anything elaborated on don't hesitate to e-mail me, if I can't
get an answer then I can ask some of the others who were at the convention
if they can remember any more.
mik
Mik Stevens
This quiz was given to Smeggy Delegates as they arrived for the convention.
It requires an all round knowledge of Red Dwarf/Grant Naylor/Actors/Spin offs
for a good score to be got.
Mail answers to me at stev...@cs.man.ac.uk. I may even give a sheet of
the artwork that I won to the best entry that I get, depending on how well
people do. Good luck.
1. How many episodes has Hattie Hayridge appeared in?
2. What was the working title for "Demons and Angels"?
3. What was the American Krytens full name?
4. What is the square root of 2049?
5. How much does a Red Dwarf novel (IWCD or BTL) cost in America?
6. How many epiosdes do not feature Kryten?
7. What month was Danny John Jules born in?
8. What is the character that Danny John Jules plays in "Maid Marion and
her Merry Men" called?
9. Name one of the episodes where Cat refers to Rimmer by name? (They got this
question wrong at the convention, they asked name the ONE episode where he
refers to him by name..... there are three of course.)
10. Who is Grant/Naylors agent?
11. Who is Nick Kool?
12. How nuch was Dimension Jump '92 for an adult (in pounds please!) ?
13. What is the London Fan Club address.
14. Who publishes the Red Dwarf Smegazine?
15. What does TIV stand for?
16. Three episodes have taranshulas involved with them, name two?
17. Kryten lies, Lister sings and Rimmer gets a body, which season?
18. What radio station did Craig Charles work for this year?
19. What does GELF stand for?
20. Which epiosde stars Adolf Hitler as himself?
21. What is Petersens first name?
22. Rob Grants brother drew the cover for "Better Than Life" - what's his name?
23. What was Rimmers nickname at school?
24. What is the back-print of the BMS "Smeg Head" T-shirt?
25. Where was series 4 filmed.
26. Complete the line from the theme song (exactly) "I want to lie shipwrecked ....." ?
Some of these questions are quite difficult, again, send your answers to me.
I'll repost this later in the week for people who might have missed it and I'll
give the results out later in the month, together with the answers. Remember, we
only had 1 and 1/2 days to do it.
mik
Mik Stevens
Grant and Naylor turned up at Dimesion Jump II on the Sun morning. In the bar
the previous night there were lots of people showing fake bravdo about the questions
they would ask. Why did you sack Hattie? How dare you drop Holly? etc
Only a couple of these type of qusetions were asked however.
I tried to scribble as much of the stuff down as possible in my dubious shorthand.
None of these answers are guranteed to be correct either in content or as
direct quotations of what Grant and Naylor said. Don't come back at me
about what may proove to be inaccuracies.
(Just covering my arse).
Their slot opened with them presenting the copy of Gunmen of Acopalypse to the
Fan Club President for a later screening. They then had a video of the outakes
taken from series 6. Very funny indeed, I liked the Starbug sequence which had
the wires snagging as it exited Red Dwarf, the 'Bug sort of spun round hit
the sides of the cargo bay exit and then ended up lying on it's back in the bay.
(I thought about this later, if Red Dwarf is lost, why were they filming effects showing
Red Dwarf for series 6. Too late to ask anyone when I relaised this.)
The first question was inevitably
Would you be able to get this video?
They expressed an interest in it coming out, but maybe on a limited distribution
(fan club only).
Would a Red Dwarf film be possible?
Yes, they were flying to Hollywood for talks with Universal, (who have agreed to do a
film). They [Grant Naylor] didn't want it to be American controlled and would make it as a Brit
production keeping the same cast, or they wouldn't do it. (I guess they'd site the
appalling Red Dwarf pilot and promo which were shown at the convention as justification
for this.)
What about series seven?
Series seven has been commisioned together with a '94 Christmas special.
How about a graphic novel?
They'd like to do it, it's difficult getting an artist who's free enough to
do it who they like, and Dougs too crap an artist to do it. Almost had a contrat
signed for it last year but it fell through.
What about the third novel?
They are a `goodish' way away from completeing it.
Any chance of RD on BBC1?
No, BBC is anti Sci Fi and no plans for a change. Yentob is most definetly not
a fan of the show.
Anychance of Son of CLiche scripts being published?
Nothing in the pipeline for things like that.
Is Red Dwarf 1 released on Monday?
Yes, the first three episodes (holds up a promo copy). The last three
are due out in November.
What about a Red DWarf computer game?
Nothing signed at all. Some software houses are interested though, including
both SEGA and NINTENDO in the recent past. Nothing coming quickly though.
How much do you drink whilst writing?
Not a lot as it `mashes' their heads in.
Missed this question but the answer was.
The video release of Red Dwarf V may well have the 10 mins that was cut from
Holoship put back in. No release date arranged yet though.
American Red Dwarf?
Not as bad as they first thought. It could definetly have had a future with
the right guiding hand. Pity it was de-commisioned.
Is Talkie Toaster coming back?
Maybe in the next novel. (It sounded like a veiled yes) They then said that they
haven't started thinking about series 7 yet. So maybe in 7 as well.
How about Norman Lovett coming back as Holly in series 7?
[Norman had already expressed an interest in coming back to the show
the previous day. He also said he regretted leaving the show when he did.
He did leave because he was being messed around by the managers at the BBC with
contracts and things.]
A possibility.
[They did talk to Norman for quite whils whilst Norm was working for radio
5 doing a programme on the convention. They might have discussed the possibility
then.]
Any chance of all dialouge episodes like Marooned?
Probably some in series 7, none in series 6 though.
How about bringing back more of the skutters?
[This question got a big cheer, loads of skutters fans]
They proved impossible to keep maintaining. One once attacked
Chris Barrie when it was interfered with by a mini-cab.
[I think this meant NO.]
SPOILER
Why has Lister had his appendix out twice?
[Once in Thanks for the Memory, and once in Legion]
You're all making the assumption that people still have one appendix
in the future. Lister might have had two!
SPOLIER END
That was it. They needed the rest of the time for autographs and also
for the showing of Gunmen of the Apocalypse which I've already sent a synopsis in of.
mik
Mik Stevens
This will be my last report about Dimension Jump '92.
It shouldn't be that long either.
Norman Lovett
Norman came on stage and did a half hour stand up routine which was exceedingly funny.
His dead pan manner was the same sort of humour that Holly exhibited.
He then answerewd a few quesations.
The most relevant ones were concerend whether he would return to the show.
He said that he would if he got offered the chance but it was all up to
Grant Naylor whether that happened. He expressed regert at having
to leave but had had enough og the TV executives at BBC messing him
around.
He's also heard the week previously that his show "I Lovett" had been
cancelled and a second series would not be being made. He blamed the
airing time for the axe, he was competing against big ITV films and
Sportsnight. If anybody feels like complaining about this then write
to MIchael Jackson, Head of BBC 2.
He will be appearing at the Edinburgh festival this year also.
Norman came across a pretty sound guy who fels that the BBC and
TV people overall have let him down.
Danny John Jules
Danny didn't give a great deal of Red Dwarf info away. He started off
by playing the demo version of the single "Tounge-tied" together with a rockier
version of the Red Dwarf theme tune. Both excellent.
He then answered a few questions and did some gags and stuff.
He was much better later on when he was involve in the auction and did some
Lister impressions and generally messed around on stage.
If anybody wants anymore info from the convention drop us an e-mail and
I'll see what I can sort out.
mik
John Langbein
> He's also heard the week previously that his show "I Lovett" had been
> cancelled and a second series would not be being made. He blamed the
> airing time for the axe, he was competing against big ITV films and
> Sportsnight. If anybody feels like complaining about this then write
> to MIchael Jackson, Head of BBC 2.
Crap! I Thorougly enjoyed I, Lovett, or the 4 eps I have watched so
far, as well as a couple friends I showed a bit to. What's that
address so we can write in?
Waiting for RD6,
John
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