Call me twisted then, too. I made MP3s of most of the Red Dwarf episodes, and I go to sleep listening to them nearly every night. There's something oddly reassuring and relaxing about it. Red Dwarf is one of the greatest shows ever made. Not just British shows, not just comedies, not just sci-fis. One of the best shows, period.
Growing up in America, my brother and I were in a sort of club. A friend-of-a-friend in the UK would record Red Dwarf off the telly, then mail the tapes to our friend who had the right machine. We would get our parents to drive us two hours to a pizza restaurant in another town, where twenty or thirty of us would watch the latest episodes on a little tv somebody brought in on a cart. We used to ask each other Red Dwarf trivia in the car during the drive. Seriously nostalgic comfort-food-for-the-soul, that show 🥰
@@ephtue I know, and I supported the pledge drives (and got a shirt signed by Danny and Craig when my mom and brother went to a Con without me 😭), but it was way more fun watching with a medium-sized group of fellow nerds on a tiny screen while eating mediocre pizza! 😆
I loved the first two series. They were so beautifully bleak. I loved the idea that it was just the 3 core cast; and it was interesting how they managed to bring in other characters.
@@critchblackpoolful Nah, it's deeper than you think... especially when you've read the books and know what the back stories of each episode relates to.
Series 1 and 2 were peak but i do still love the later seasons. But my heart is very fond of the cold, desolate, open loneliness of those first two. I do like how as the Dwarfers headed back to earth they kept coming across all the remains and leftovers of humanity's expansion into space.
One of the things that is often overlooked in Red Dwarf is the fact that unlike every other Sci-Fi show I could name, it is set in a universe with no aliens. Space is big and empty (if they meet any characters, they came from Earth. Even the GELF came from Earth...)
@@retrogiftsuk4812 At one point Lister laughs at Rimmer for believing in UFO’s and thinking they were being interfered with by them “You blame everything on aliens… the toilet roll’s run out, you think it’s aliens”. In any other sci-fi, he’s would have been vindicated when the unknown object they were tracking turned out to be an alien device. In Red Dwarf, it was a human trash capsule.
@@PippetWhippet "Innnnncredible! The perfectly preserved remains of a Quagaar warrior.... They must have looked something like.. a roast, chicken." Poor Rimmer
I discovered this show when I was doing work in Manhattan, New York in the early 2000’s. Part of my job allowed me to stay rent free in various apartments. I discovered my love for chopped chicken liver salad and tequila. One apartment had two cats, so I just had to hang, do nothing with a couple cats sitting on me while I watched Red Dwarf and eat chicken liver salad on black bread while drinking tequila. I was living the dream.
There is something very comforting about the premise of Red Dwarf. Yes they are stuck in middle of nothing with potentially nothing to look forward to. But they are safe and cared for by the ship. It’s like when you take a long distance flight. You can’t do anything so you just have to relax. They are on the ultimate long distance flight.
I feel like it's also they have nothing to live for but do it anyway and have a hilarious time along the way. I rewatched the show when I was quite depressed and it helped out quite a lot because for me I felt at the time I had no future. Yet look at these guys even less yet they go on and have a great time and still have hope.
@@Alex-cw3rz Glad you are feeling more positive about things mate. The show is very insightful about how humans tick along, especially I think the first two seasons.
They used to broadcast this on our PBS station during their pledge drives at least once a year in the 90's. They would marathon it, the whole thing, in between asking for money. One year I managed to videotape the whole series, they were up to series 6 by then and I spent quite a while camped out in front of the TV with the VCR remote in hand. One year, if you pledged you could get tickets to meet Craig Charles (Lister) and Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I was living at the time. I totally took that plunge and got to meet them.
I remember it being on PBS at midnight on Saturday nights. Most weeks SNL had to be pretty funny to not turn the dial... remember having to get up, change the channel and adjust the antenna? Good times!
@@nedweeks6964 some of my earliest memories are BEING the channel changer for my parents. You could cut the cigarette smoke with a knife in our house back then.
@@Flint-Dibble-the-Don I did my best not to be the channel changer, one of my siblings would grab my chair. Sometimes we would end up watching something boring because the one with the worst seat refused to change the channel and no one else wanted to lose their seat.
I felt like the books really captured this feeling of desperation and sadness. You could really feel Lister's loneliness and descent into depression in various scenes from the books.
What I loved about it was just how it felt colloquial. Most TV and Movies feel like they're in a language I learnt at school, and red dwarf felt like it spoke what we spoke.
Excellent video. I was lucky enough to have a channel that ran Red Dwarf when it came out in the U.S. I think 1989. It was then, is now and will always be my favorite show. I own them all and watch them all throughout the year. Every year.
I'm 41 and grew up in America, watching this with my mom as a kid. I marathon this show here and there lately and often put this on in the background as I head towards dreamland. I highly recommend getting the Red Dwarf Audiobooks which are masterfully narrated by Chris Barrie who played Rimmer and is actually a master impressionist. I also recommend checking out a comic called Soap which came on in the late 70's and is utterly hilarious.
Absolutely agree with everything, here. Red Dwarf, especially early on, really captures the feeling of loneliness in a unique way. I think it has something to do with the main characters - both Lister and Rimmer experience loneliness very differently, but both are still extremely relatable. I genuinely think they're one of the best sitcom duos ever!
I love bleak, black humour and the first two series are so, SO good for this. Thank you for making this. You've said what I've struggled to find the words for.
50 yo old dude from Australia, Red Dwarf is my favourite show ever! I re-watch the entire seasons every year or two. And I don't do this with any other show.
Been a fan of the Dwarf since about series 5 first aired in 1992, I was about 6. In the 30+ years since, I've made it my mission to fly the flag for this show. I've foisted it up people countless times, and made some new fans. It's great to see this show isn't being forgotten outside of the people I (metaphorically) tie to chairs A Clockwork Orange style and play episodes at random at. :) Great video!
After listening to this I feel a shared bond. You have hit the nail on the head. The melancholy the desperation, the loneliness. All aspects of the show i love and miss from the later versions (with the odd exception). the early part of BTL really gets me, before they go into the game. it shares that desperation of those first 2 series. Great appraisal, enjoyed the vid and had the class to finish with the piano variations from Howard Goodall. You deserve a full Rimmer salute.
The comparison to Waiting for Godot is one I made way back. Obviously that episode's name makes it easier to notice, but also the show is very clearly absurdist theatre, just like Waiting for Godot. Theatre of the absurd is all about meaninglessness and purposelessness, and wandering through the empty void of space is almost the perfect version of it. A friend of mine in drama class liked to say that absurdism was all about incompetent characters in hopeless situations, which this show is. Also I never knew it had such a connection to Manchester, especially the parallel of the defunct mining operation, and the empty void of space would be a parallel for I guess neoliberal Thatcherism lol.
Thanks for a terrific video. Glad to see I'm not the only one who treasures the existential terror of the first two series. It is just so full of ideas and hits the ball out of the park when it comes to intelligent comedy. I've also been thinking a lot recently about how my life is reflected in the popular culture I grew up with. Incidentally, I saw Craig Charles doing live stand-up in my adopted home of Manchester in about 1996... he was awesome. The highlight for me when he started a segment with, "in Liverpool, if you want to make it out of poverty you have to be successful either in comedy or football". He then proceeded to do head-ups with a football, unerringly, for the best part of five minutes, cracking one-liners throughout.
I have done the same, on and off for decades, fallen to sleep to red dwarf. Over the years of watching, the crew begin to feel like friends. So it becomes a comfort thing i suspect. Got me through some tough times for which i will be forever gratefull. Boys from the dwarf! 🤘
I'm an American with an appreciation of British humour (I misspelled it in your honour). I also love science fiction. Red Dwarf was the best of both worlds for me. I'm surprised it was ever produced and doubly surprised that it lasted as long as it did. It's so quirky, but that made it all the better. It's time to pull out my Red Dwarf DVDs and watch them again.
I was born the year Red Dwarf came out and i'm still coming back to it , such a great show. I share many of your thoughts and sentiments in the video, it captured something beautiful, hilarious and bleak, that will never be replicated. You have a new sub, cheers.
The three novels that were produced using the scripts from the first few series are among my favourite books. They add so much more comedy and an awful lot of heart too the saga of "the boys from the dwarf".
In 1988 on a Tuesday evening me and my Dad were watching BBC2 at my grandads house, the previous program finished and it was announced there was now a new show starting, a comedy set in space called Red Dwarf. So we watched it and the 11 year old me became completely hooked on it. Series two is easily the best series, the funniest by a long way, they didn’t have as big a budget so the writing had to be funnier, while series 3-6 was still excellent and I’ve watched it all many times the only series I really go back to watch is Series 2 it really was Steptoe and Son in Space on acid. I also read the books on many many occasions as a teenager. This is a great video it really kind of captures my own thoughts on the show, it really was what it was like to grow up in 1980s Britain. When I hear the title music from the first two seasons the nostalgic feeling I get is amazing, a yearning to return to that crappy time. Anyway apologies for droning on but just thought I’d share that others shared a similar experience with the show that you did. 👍
One of my favorite comedy series of all time. When I was single, I used to fall asleep to this as well. Wife can't sleep with any noise or light, so had to change that once I got married. Still sneak away for a night or two every couple of months to fall asleep to it in our guest room, though.
@@retromuel love your breakdown of the actors vs the current trend of what comes from the UK. Something I never thought about when watching the UKs current exports.
@@RicoRaynn Thank you very much. Yeah you could spend a lifetime in Britain and never actually meet anyone who talks like Benedict Cumberbatch, and yet that's kind of what many people picture when they think of an Englishman. Statistically speaking you're far more likely to meet a Dave Lister.
I clicked on this at fairly close to random following the despair pit that is Where the Wind Blows at 3 in the morning, and the weird feeling of comforting, friendly loneliness you describe has genuinely perked me back up a bit. You've managed to capture what I love about this show beyond just it being a good sitcom; there's a feeling of home in a lot of the early-middle seasons in spite of (and maybe because of) the bleakness of the ship's surroundings. Brilliantly put my feelings into words. Also, bonus points for mentioning the Danny John-Jules Labyrinth connection, that always entertains me a bit. (But minus points for the presence of Mr Blobby, that cursed hellspawn)
I liked the radio show version, as well as the TV show. I taped it off a friend, who had the official BBC Red Dwarf and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show boxsets. I used to often put it on to go to sleep, usually with headphones on, because I shared a room with my younger brother.
I did listen to some via CZcams fairly recently and really enjoyed it. Had the Hitchhiker's guide radio play on CD (still got it somewhere). Awesome stuff. Thanks for watching.
@@retromuel I wish that I still had the complete HGTTG. I enjoyed the TV series, and loved the fact that they kept the radio cast. That would never happen today. The fact that the TV version existed, really fleshed out my imagination when listening to the radio show. I also loved the fact that Chris Barrie did the Red Dwarf radio series, putting his impersonation skills to good use.
I found this show while I was working nights at a factory. The rest of the family was on normal daylight hours, while even on weekends I was up all night because it was just too hard to switch back n forth. The first two series perfectly reflected the loneliness and melancholy I was feeling at the time and I just couldn’t stop watching it. It was great to hear someone else gets the feel of this classic.
From across the pond, it makes me realise one thing: everything now is so CLEAN and SAFE. Some of that is for the better, but the human soul has definitely influenced less.
I found Red Dwarf in the late 90's on a local station here in the American Northeast. I immediately fell in love with the quirky show and still think it one of the best shows in it's genre.
Wow. I thought it was just me. I used to fall asleep listening to VHS recordings of the series and even to this day Red Dwarf is one of the few series I listen to on my phone to help me sleep at night. I am so gratified to hear/see I am not the only one who does this. 😃
I don't think I've ever connected to a youtube video as much as this one. Every few months I rewatch all series falling asleep to them. I've watched them so many times I can just listen to it with my eyes closed and still visualise it. I also find the idea of space relaxing and peaceful where as people I've spoken to find it terrifying lol.
This is something I have watched since finding 2 vhs in a flat I moved into when I was 20, back in the 00's. This show is unique, nostalgic and genuinely a part of my life.
When I was struggling to sleep back in the day due to Stress I used to Watch Red Dwarf and Space Dandy - two great Space comedies to get me get to sleep - its nice to know that im not the only one who did this - good video!
I remember when it started airing on PBS here in the States back in the early 90s. I was immediately hooked. I got my friends to start watching it, and we had our own little clique referencing and quoting it constantly. Such a brilliant show.
I stumbled across this quite appropriately as I was winding down for the night and looking for a short, good natured video before turning in. What superbly put together video essay. Good writing, well delivered at just the right tone. And very relatable too😉
I would also point out on the terms of the actors backgrounds this was the first show on british TV to have the majority of the main cast from a minority background (Norman Lovett was not considered part of the main cast and is the reason he left the show over pay).
I also fell into the same ritual of playing an episode from series 1 or 2 while falling asleep. There was something so soothing about it. I thought I was the only one. Thanks for the memories 😴
From Last of the Summer Wine to Red Dwarf (Have You Been Served, Porridge, Fools and Horses, etc), this era of BBC TV has a special place in my heart. I endlessly try to explain why I'm drawn to them so much but I can't put my finger on what it is. I would love to discover another series that I can add to my list but I'm afraid I've found them all.
I remember watching Red Dwarf with my brothers when I was younger every year on PBS in the states. It was a big deal for us because the internet was years off getting into people's homes so we couldn't just stream it whenever we liked. The local PBS affiliate would put on a grand telethon running all available episodes and even as a younger kid I loved the weird comedy. Growing up the deeper themes stuck with me, one of them being the one-off "Gazpacho Soup" line that Rimmer spouts out as he's dying. Now I can't speak to the writer's intentions with this, it may have truly been just a silly gag meant to fill time and show Rimmer as a try-hard weirdo, but all these years it stuck with me in a way to show that the stupidest, embarrassing mistakes we make in life are what truly make us human in the end. Rimmer's explanation truly connected with me, even as a young kid trying to understand my anxiety issues, that everyone deals with tense, embarrassing moments that can be brought back at any time to shame us. It also showed a vulnerable side to him that I related to instantly. Again, just my take and art is subjective. The show always made me think and I appreciate that to this day. ❤
I also spend a month or two each year drifting off to sleep with Red Dwarf on. I'm amused that I'm not the only one. Edit: Also, I should have commended you on this docu video. I like how you drew parallels between British culture and economy at the time and the world the show has built. Great work all around.
When I was a kid, our local PBS station would play Red Dwarf like 10pm-ish, and sometimes do marathons of it even, for pledge drives. I always looked forward to it.
Absolutely agree, the melancholia of Red Dwarf always appealed to me, that long slow final march of the last man across the stars, to a home they could never reach, just spoke to me as an early teen filled with ennui. Still decades later, it has an absolute hold on me, 12 series and 4 books later. Those early seasons are easily my favourite though, and that original melancholic theme is just the cherry on top of the little red cake.
My ex gf is an architect and her company managed the moving of coronation street set to media city in Mcr. Met Craig Charles on the set a couple of times that I'd tag along on a weekend.
When you mentioned only middle class+ making the requirements my genuine instant thought was what about actors like Comer so respect for that. She is incredible 😍
My goodness, the bleakness of Manchester... I feel it a lot in this video. My parents moved from outside Sheffield to Bury in 1990. It was a struggle as I had no childhood friends and I had to start almost anew.... I then had to do it again when I left for London in 2008 and again when I left the UK completely.
I love the show, still watch it now and then. I never found it depressing although there were moments and I agree the first 2 seasons were the best. Great video, thank you!
Excellent explanation of that extra dimension S1 and S2 have that the later seasons, great as they (mostly) are, just do not have. Alone in the big empty. The bleakness. The permanent isolation. The (superior, IMO) forlorn opening theme, playing over Lister futilely painting the side of ship. Even the window in the bunk room is coffin shaped.
Thank you, great video. All the best nerds we loved the show. Growing up in Tasmania in the 80s and 90s. Suitably dystopian. I’m very happy for the cast and creators that it still lives on in many ways. Robert has a big future shoe in the electric vehicle world of media and futurism. 🎉
Brilliant essay, I still find this Sci-fi the most immersive and believable of all the great films and book series. See you around Picadilly Gardens sometime fellow 0161-er
Rhipnol is awesome stuff..........you get completely solid deep sleep and wake up almost euphoric. Apparently when Patrick Stewart saw Red Dwarf the first time (back in the day) he thought it was a parody of Star Trek TNG and was outraged, but then calmed down and realized that it was just British Humor.
You are awesome, I remember 1996 Florida PBS playing the marathon of Red Dwarf. This got me hooked, smoke me a kipper and I will be back for breakfast!
Hey I'm from Manchester (well Salford) from a similar era and also discovered RD in the early 90's so this resonated with me. Didn't know it was filmed on oxford rd. I'll walk around circle square with a different look now 😂. Thanks.
The show is a hard sale outside the UK. Like many british shows, actually. League Of Gentlemen, the old classics (Fools and Horses, Black Adder, Porridge), I guess you had to be there. Still, one of my favorite long standing comedy, if not the favorite. Some great episodes, Marooned, Dimension Jump, Inquisitor, Back To Reality, Justice, Queeg, Better Than Life, Polymorph. Season 1 to 6, good memories.
Just to put this out there, I love these guys, even when they are not on Red Dwarf. Craig I loved as the narrator on Robot Wars. Robert I loved on Junkyard wars. Chris I loved on Chris Barry's massive Engines, as well as on Tomb Raider, and Danny on the Robin Hood spoof where he was the guy selling questionable good out of his coat. Why? IDK, I just like them okay?
I cannot more highly recommend the first Red Dwarf book. It’s one of the funniest books ever written. I must have read it half a dozen times and it never gets old. I think I enjoyed it more than the early series.
I was 12 and just starting high school when Red Dwarf first aired. Fittingly, when the let-down that was series 7 aired it coincided with me leaving school, getting a job and having to pay bills.
Excellent retrospective. What I would consider, accurate insights. It only just randomly appeared in my recommended videos, today, but the title resonated with how I believe that Red Dwarf often felt whenever I watched it. Your title made me stop scrolling, and I clicked the video because it was definitely something I've thought about regarding Red Dwarf before. It can be interpreted light-hearted comedy set in space, yes, though with a somewhat serious undertone. The bleakness of deep space. Sure, it's just a model moving slowly past a camera with a bit of special effects to give that impression. It is still thought provoking, all the same. In a similar way, 3 million years could easily sound like a throwaway time span further into the future. In hindsight, when I hear that, part of me is immediately expecting it to be pointless, as though they could have said 30 million years and not cared about the specifics. Then again, we don't necessarily need all the Red Dwarf universe mapped and padded out to explain the 3 million years thing meticulously. I will explain in the next paragraph onward. The long and the short of it, is the enormity of the universe. There is a common trope when handling vast spans of time, and trying to convey what that means to anyone in particular. There is something called science communication and conveying the concepts within it, in a pithy and effective manner, which is understandable to a wider range of people. Subject specific jargon can be overwhelming, and how are random folk meant to relate to what this or that vast span of time means? Sometimes, it's not required to (like with Red Dwarf) You can take it or leave it as a random figure someone dreamt up in the 1980's while making the series, and not read too much into it. You can accept it for the likely throwaway lore it may well be, and move on without a second thought. But for what it's worth, I do think that it made me think of many random concepts for how and why this would happen. To nerd out a bit here, let's face it, 3 million years is a very long time on a human level. That's obvious, anyone can see that. The point here, is why did they pick 3 million and not, say, something more 'reasonable' like, 300,000 years, or 30,000 years, or even 'just' 3,000 years? Framing wise, it does feel to be a bleak future, with so much having been lost. Stranded impossibly far from home. Why 3 million in particular? It made me wonder. It's all about perspective. On the geological timescale, or in astronomical terms, the timespan of 3,000,000 Earth years is not really that long. Earth is ~4,567 million years old, so not even 1,000th that timespan. Befitting a setting where the immensity of space and the wider universe, engulfs all human endeavour, the timescale involved is also overwhelming. Perhaps deliberately so. Or maybe it doesn't even matter. Nevertheless, I want to explore this a bit. Let's imagine that something _did_ happen at some point in those 3 million years from our time in the real-world, when humanity reached out across the stars, settling on countless planets and extending it's knowledge of the universe beyond anything we can currently imagine. Plenty of fictional universes have timescales exceeding 3 million years, as well. It's not the timespan that gets me, with Red Dwarf, it's the sheer remoteness and loneliness of the ship, both temporally _and_ physically. It is so, so far gone. To all intents and purposes, gone without hope of return (I know the show does contradict that a bit at times but it's largely the case) A lot can happen in 3 million years. The Necrons in Warhammer 40,000, were asleep for around 60 million years, waiting to reclaim the Milky Way galaxy. The Forerunners in HALO had begun over 15 million years prior to the events of the HALO games, peaking as a civilization long prior to their 300 year nightmare war with the Flood which brought them down for the most part. Then there are other universes in science fiction or sci-fi fantasy, where you have truly insane timespans. The Time Lords in Dr Who (or at least, the Gallifreyans) were pottering around doing random things for roughly 13 billion years. They are one of the eldest of all species in the 'n-universe' (aka the Whoniverse) 13,000,000,000 years is nearly incomprehensible at a glance. It just sounds like gibberish in a passing sense. Why 13 billion? Wouldn't 10 billion or 2 billion be enough? Why be that ancient and still fail to defeat the entirely upstart Daleks? etc etc... There is a lot of this kind of 'temporal inconsistency' across sci-fi. People come up with timespans they deem fit in their universes, and run with it. Comparing and contrasting Red Dwarf's timeline to other fictional universes, I know it feels slightly silly because it's not meant to be taken too seriously in the medium it is framed within. Even so, I still can't help but think this through. The logical question would be, 'what happened?'. Presumably something appalling. In a way, it's darkly unsettling that a ship could be lost for so long. It definitely has a horror element. There is almost something amusing in a uniquely British way, of characters like Cat and Rimmer being around 3 million years after humanity first went to the Moon. There is something paradoxically ironic about it, as though, at the end of all things, there shall still be some British cat mutant at the end of meaningful time, on a human scale, dressing in 1980's fashion and basically being the ship's cat immortalised. It's insane and bleak in an oddly funny way. Why these three fruitcakes? How long can it continue? Would they really survive like this? (probably not) The grimdark version of Red Dwarf, would be more akin to what happens regarding the Engineers in the Alien franchise and universe, or the souls of the Necrons (or should I say more accurately, in context, the Necrontyr) in W40K. It probably wouldn't be so cheerful with all manner of madness unfolding. That a trio of relative incompetents can keep the ship functional at all is not only impressive, but strangely endearing. Why them? Because it is, and that's all we the audience need to know. Whittled down to three goofs with some additional computer intelligence assistance. They persist, with seemingly no end to their task. In a way, 3 million years on an eternal voyage, is as tragic as it is humbling. When trying to convey what 3 million years _really_ means, how do we relate to that? The Dinosaurs (the non-Avian forms, at least) lasted for roughly 170 million years (167 million years, provably, with fossil evidence) from the Carnian Age of the Late Triassic Period, to the Maastrichtian Age of the Late Cretaceous Period. Just saying that might not mean much though. This is why science communication has to be more helpful. If I were to say, the Dinosaurs evolved in at least the 5th of 30 Ages of the Mesozoic Era, that goes someway to demonstrating just _how long_ that dynasty lasted (and it doesn't even count the Avian Dinosaurs which endured beyond the Mesozoic, into the Cenozoic Era, which we are still in 66 million years after the Mesozoic Era ended. I'd further contextualise this by pointing out that the Dinosaurs were present for no fewer than 26 of the 30 geological ages/stages of the Mesozoic; for 3 out of 7 of the Triassic Period Ages (the last 3 of those; Carnian, Norian and Rhaetian - though some palaeontologists speculate that they went further back, before the Carnian, into the Ladinian, or even the Anisian; it gets increasingly difficult to delineate true Dinosaurs from their gangly, Dinosauromorph kin and close but no cigar lookalikes, in the wider Archosauromorpha, but I digress; long story short: finding 'Dinosaur Zero' is not easy, and may be impossible in a completely proven way); for 11 out of 11 of the Jurassic Period Ages; and for 12 out of 12 of the Cretaceous Period Ages. [part 1/2; part 2 in reply to myself below]
[part 2/2] There are practical constraints on this. For instance, we know that, there is absolutely zero chance of any Dinosaur being pre-Mesozoic (aka, Palaeozoic Era in age) We can safely rule out the Early Triassic. The only real question that matters, is where we draw the line where and when the first true Dinosaur evolved from out of the Dinosauromorpha. The base of the Triassic is ~251.902 Ma (mega-annum; millions of years ago) The first provably true Dinosaurs (on anatomical diagnostic characteristics) are from the middle of the Carnian Age, around ~233.23 Ma. That is in itself, during what is known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode/Event, which may well have been part of the reason why Dinosaurs evolved (certainly spurring on their evolution and further success, although it could also be the case that the first true Dinosaur evolved just before that, with the Carnian Pluvial Episode, happening between roughly 234 - 232 Ma BP (Before Present) Subtract 233.23 from 251.902 and you get 18.672 million years left in between the base of the Triassic and the earliest known true Dinosaurs (from the Santa Maria Formation, in South-East Brazil; species like _Saturnalia tupiniquim_ and _Gnathovorax cabreirai_ for instance) The Carnian Age/Stage (the geochronological term, being Age; the chronostratigraphical term, being Stage; used mostly interchangeably though the stratigraphic view of geological strata, always uses Stage exclusively; with a group of Stages making a Series; with the more poetic geochronological term for Series, simply being Epoch; stratigraphy purely being interested in rock matrix sequences and strata aka layers of rock, in sequence, according to various laws within geological science e.g. the Law of Superposition as a generality) is the earliest Late Triassic Age. 18.672 million years (to reiterate, a not so insubstantial sum of eighteen million, six-hundred and seventy-two thousand years; I mention the decimal place figures, because 672,000 years is about thrice the timespan _Homo sapiens_ has even existed for full-stop thus far; again, it's not just a matter of a rounding up remainder, it's a huge amount of time in it's own right) Now, basically half that right away to about 9.336 million years, and that add it to the evidence based 233 Ma BP figure, and is roughly about how old _some_ palaeontologists are trying to claim the true Dinosaurs go back to (in places like South Africa and Madagascar; with these claims being based largely on highly fragmentary remains, lacking enough diagnostic evidence to prove they are removed enough from the numerous close cousins and more primitive forms that were still around well into the Late Triassic) The oldest undisputed fossils of true Dinosaurs, come from about 233 Ma BP. If you look at that chunk of time before then, in between the beginning of the Triassic Period (in the Induan Age, followed by the Olenekian and then the Anisian and the Ladinian) you can quite well imagine that there would be plenty of Dinosaur-like critters running around (we have plenty of their fossils already) and the first known Dinosaurs, then it becomes clear that, in the grander scheme of things, they wouldn't have appeared that much earlier than the likes of the animals known from the Santa Maria Formation. It starts to become a futile endeavour. What does it really matter anyway? We know they certainly weren't from the Permian Period or the Early Triassic. It is just debated whether they evolved in the Ladinian, rather than the Carnian. I could accept that if evidence arises, but not the Anisian. That'd just be too far back in my opinion. The contextualisation of the vastness of Deep Time, is important. 3 million years begins to feel outrageous in the context of Red Dwarf, but in the geological timespan, that isn't even that long. For most of the 200,000-300,000 years that _Homo sapiens_ has been around, we've been hunter-gatherers. If going with the 200,000 figure rather than 300,000 (I would say we evolved about 205,000-210,000 years ago, but some people swear that it should be 300,000 hence why I bothered to include that range; I think that's too high a figure, though) only about the last 1/20th of the last 200,000 years, had proper farming and full-time sedentary settlements. Basically, the last 10,000-12,000 or so years. 8,000 or much less in plenty of parts of the world. 3 million years seems impossibly vast. From the scope of the geoscientist or astronomer, that is not that long at all. 3 million years into humanity's future is a _staggeringly_ long time. All of our story as a species thus far, is not even 1/10th that sum. Point being, so much would happen in 3 million years for a spacefaring civilization, that it isn't any surprise at all that it may or may not have collapsed. This is both depressing and oddly endearing, because it shows how, even in such a dire predicament, there will always be some British dudes goofing around after the complete collapse of a civilization which used to be quite something. 10 years in the present day is a very long time on a societal level. Social evolution and world history is unfolding at a rapid and relentless pace. Imagine what can happen within 3 million years (or 300,000 decades) That is a scary span of time for a sentient human, however 'insignificant' it is on the geological timescale.
Even though I grew up in the early 2000s in America I was lucky enough to still watch Red Dwarf and other British TV through the channel PBS. I remember watching this late at night on weekends, sometimes with my brother or mom. I have a lot of nostalgia with this show and it really is the perfect show to watch just before bed/while going to bed. I now have a need to rewatch this. Great video and thank you for reminding me of this show again 😊
Call me twisted then, too. I made MP3s of most of the Red Dwarf episodes, and I go to sleep listening to them nearly every night. There's something oddly reassuring and relaxing about it.
Red Dwarf is one of the greatest shows ever made. Not just British shows, not just comedies, not just sci-fis. One of the best shows, period.
recommend the audio book versions in that case
I did too
Agreed
Definitely try the audiobook, read by Arnold Rimmer so genuinely better than the episodes for falling asleep
Books are better than the show every single day.
Growing up in America, my brother and I were in a sort of club. A friend-of-a-friend in the UK would record Red Dwarf off the telly, then mail the tapes to our friend who had the right machine. We would get our parents to drive us two hours to a pizza restaurant in another town, where twenty or thirty of us would watch the latest episodes on a little tv somebody brought in on a cart. We used to ask each other Red Dwarf trivia in the car during the drive. Seriously nostalgic comfort-food-for-the-soul, that show 🥰
@@allisonbergh4429 the local PBS station aired red dwarf in the 90s
@@ephtue I know, and I supported the pledge drives (and got a shirt signed by Danny and Craig when my mom and brother went to a Con without me 😭), but it was way more fun watching with a medium-sized group of fellow nerds on a tiny screen while eating mediocre pizza! 😆
Honorary boys from the Dwarf 👋
I love your dedication to the dwarf 😊
@@allisonbergh4429 your parents are winderful, how amazing
I loved the first two series. They were so beautifully bleak. I loved the idea that it was just the 3 core cast; and it was interesting how they managed to bring in other characters.
Actually 4 if you include Holly
Series 1 is average at best
@@critchblackpoolful Nah, it's deeper than you think... especially when you've read the books and know what the back stories of each episode relates to.
@@critchblackpoolful disagree. Show is still clearly finding it's feet but theres not a bad episode.
Series 1 and 2 were peak but i do still love the later seasons. But my heart is very fond of the cold, desolate, open loneliness of those first two.
I do like how as the Dwarfers headed back to earth they kept coming across all the remains and leftovers of humanity's expansion into space.
lets move to red alert... are you really sure sir? it does mean changing the bulb.
@@BHALT0S purple alert
@@curtyb88 you dont get it
Forget red, we need to go all the way to brown; and don't say I didn't alert you
The funniest line of the show imo
@@aventarix Far funnier lines but there are too many to claim which is the best
One of the things that is often overlooked in Red Dwarf is the fact that unlike every other Sci-Fi show I could name, it is set in a universe with no aliens. Space is big and empty (if they meet any characters, they came from Earth. Even the GELF came from Earth...)
@@retrogiftsuk4812 that’s true. Probably the most realistic of all sci fi in that sense
What about the ship in DNA? When the computer comes online thats sure not an earthly language its using
@@retrogiftsuk4812 At one point Lister laughs at Rimmer for believing in UFO’s and thinking they were being interfered with by them “You blame everything on aliens… the toilet roll’s run out, you think it’s aliens”.
In any other sci-fi, he’s would have been vindicated when the unknown object they were tracking turned out to be an alien device. In Red Dwarf, it was a human trash capsule.
The first two series aren't really sci-fi - it's a character-driven show that just happens to be set on a spaceship.
@@PippetWhippet "Innnnncredible! The perfectly preserved remains of a Quagaar warrior.... They must have looked something like.. a roast, chicken." Poor Rimmer
I discovered this show when I was doing work in Manhattan, New York in the early 2000’s. Part of my job allowed me to stay rent free in various apartments. I discovered my love for chopped chicken liver salad and tequila. One apartment had two cats, so I just had to hang, do nothing with a couple cats sitting on me while I watched Red Dwarf and eat chicken liver salad on black bread while drinking tequila. I was living the dream.
I am genuinely impressed.
God speed, sir.
Sounds wonderful - and at the same time, just like how I imagine a serial killer would exist. 😅
@@ozzyg82 My lawyer has advised me not to answer questions like this.
It actually sounds alot like Dave's existence on Red Dwarf + one cat 😁
@@pseudonayme7717 I never made that connection, but you’re not wrong. I just needed a Rimmer.
You've no idea how refreshing it is to hear someone say series instead of season.
There is something very comforting about the premise of Red Dwarf. Yes they are stuck in middle of nothing with potentially nothing to look forward to. But they are safe and cared for by the ship. It’s like when you take a long distance flight. You can’t do anything so you just have to relax. They are on the ultimate long distance flight.
I feel this
I feel like it's also they have nothing to live for but do it anyway and have a hilarious time along the way. I rewatched the show when I was quite depressed and it helped out quite a lot because for me I felt at the time I had no future. Yet look at these guys even less yet they go on and have a great time and still have hope.
@@Alex-cw3rz Glad you are feeling more positive about things mate.
The show is very insightful about how humans tick along, especially I think the first two seasons.
They used to broadcast this on our PBS station during their pledge drives at least once a year in the 90's. They would marathon it, the whole thing, in between asking for money. One year I managed to videotape the whole series, they were up to series 6 by then and I spent quite a while camped out in front of the TV with the VCR remote in hand. One year, if you pledged you could get tickets to meet Craig Charles (Lister) and Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I was living at the time. I totally took that plunge and got to meet them.
@@Ravuun That, my friend, is awesome.
I remember it being on PBS at midnight on Saturday nights. Most weeks SNL had to be pretty funny to not turn the dial... remember having to get up, change the channel and adjust the antenna? Good times!
@@nedweeks6964 some of my earliest memories are BEING the channel changer for my parents. You could cut the cigarette smoke with a knife in our house back then.
@@Flint-Dibble-the-Don Hehe. That's atmosphere😛
@@Flint-Dibble-the-Don I did my best not to be the channel changer, one of my siblings would grab my chair. Sometimes we would end up watching something boring because the one with the worst seat refused to change the channel and no one else wanted to lose their seat.
I felt like the books really captured this feeling of desperation and sadness. You could really feel Lister's loneliness and descent into depression in various scenes from the books.
What I loved about it was just how it felt colloquial. Most TV and Movies feel like they're in a language I learnt at school, and red dwarf felt like it spoke what we spoke.
I don't know how the algorithm got me here, but i'm so glad it did! Great video! Cant wait to start working through your others!
To add to your algorithm-blessings, you should try the Better Than Life podcast.
The opening titles of those first two series are an absolute classic; they subvert expectations and are a magnificent example of practical effects.
Fond memories of skateboarding home down the hill to catch Red Dwarf at 9pm on a Friday night..
It’s aged well, solid comfort comedy.
Excellent video. I was lucky enough to have a channel that ran Red Dwarf when it came out in the U.S. I think 1989. It was then, is now and will always be my favorite show. I own them all and watch them all throughout the year. Every year.
I'm 41 and grew up in America, watching this with my mom as a kid. I marathon this show here and there lately and often put this on in the background as I head towards dreamland. I highly recommend getting the Red Dwarf Audiobooks which are masterfully narrated by Chris Barrie who played Rimmer and is actually a master impressionist. I also recommend checking out a comic called Soap which came on in the late 70's and is utterly hilarious.
Also, really enjoying the "Tongue Tied" light jazz background musaak. ❤
Red Dwarf is another show that just encapulsates how amazing British entertainment was in the 1990s
Absolutely agree with everything, here. Red Dwarf, especially early on, really captures the feeling of loneliness in a unique way. I think it has something to do with the main characters - both Lister and Rimmer experience loneliness very differently, but both are still extremely relatable. I genuinely think they're one of the best sitcom duos ever!
Nothing weird about scifi ambience and sleep. I fall asleep to Star Trek lore.
I love bleak, black humour and the first two series are so, SO good for this. Thank you for making this. You've said what I've struggled to find the words for.
I’ve met Danny John jules (cat) and got a picture with him, most down to earth and happy person I’ve ever met
He's a pretty cool cat irl (pun intended)😁
50 yo old dude from Australia, Red Dwarf is my favourite show ever!
I re-watch the entire seasons every year or two. And I don't do this with any other show.
Me too. Still loads of good laughs in them, never gets old.
Been a fan of the Dwarf since about series 5 first aired in 1992, I was about 6. In the 30+ years since, I've made it my mission to fly the flag for this show. I've foisted it up people countless times, and made some new fans. It's great to see this show isn't being forgotten outside of the people I (metaphorically) tie to chairs A Clockwork Orange style and play episodes at random at. :) Great video!
Red Dwarf is in the Dune Universe.
@@zaprese now _that_ is an awesome canon
After listening to this I feel a shared bond. You have hit the nail on the head. The melancholy the desperation, the loneliness. All aspects of the show i love and miss from the later versions (with the odd exception). the early part of BTL really gets me, before they go into the game. it shares that desperation of those first 2 series. Great appraisal, enjoyed the vid and had the class to finish with the piano variations from Howard Goodall. You deserve a full Rimmer salute.
The comparison to Waiting for Godot is one I made way back. Obviously that episode's name makes it easier to notice, but also the show is very clearly absurdist theatre, just like Waiting for Godot. Theatre of the absurd is all about meaninglessness and purposelessness, and wandering through the empty void of space is almost the perfect version of it.
A friend of mine in drama class liked to say that absurdism was all about incompetent characters in hopeless situations, which this show is.
Also I never knew it had such a connection to Manchester, especially the parallel of the defunct mining operation, and the empty void of space would be a parallel for I guess neoliberal Thatcherism lol.
Thanks for a terrific video. Glad to see I'm not the only one who treasures the existential terror of the first two series. It is just so full of ideas and hits the ball out of the park when it comes to intelligent comedy. I've also been thinking a lot recently about how my life is reflected in the popular culture I grew up with. Incidentally, I saw Craig Charles doing live stand-up in my adopted home of Manchester in about 1996... he was awesome. The highlight for me when he started a segment with, "in Liverpool, if you want to make it out of poverty you have to be successful either in comedy or football". He then proceeded to do head-ups with a football, unerringly, for the best part of five minutes, cracking one-liners throughout.
I have done the same, on and off for decades, fallen to sleep to red dwarf. Over the years of watching, the crew begin to feel like friends. So it becomes a comfort thing i suspect. Got me through some tough times for which i will be forever gratefull. Boys from the dwarf! 🤘
It still boggles me that Red Dwarf was a sitcom, a situation comedy, even though the situation is quite unusual.
Glad I'm not the only one who puts the boys from the dwarf on to sleep. I too grew up in the early 90s and it reminds me of simpler times
I’m glad the CZcams algorithm directed me here. I really needed something like this today. You’ve got yourself a new subscriber.
I'm an American with an appreciation of British humour (I misspelled it in your honour). I also love science fiction. Red Dwarf was the best of both worlds for me. I'm surprised it was ever produced and doubly surprised that it lasted as long as it did. It's so quirky, but that made it all the better. It's time to pull out my Red Dwarf DVDs and watch them again.
I was born the year Red Dwarf came out and i'm still coming back to it , such a great show. I share many of your thoughts and sentiments in the video, it captured something beautiful, hilarious and bleak, that will never be replicated. You have a new sub, cheers.
The three novels that were produced using the scripts from the first few series are among my favourite books.
They add so much more comedy and an awful lot of heart too the saga of "the boys from the dwarf".
In 1988 on a Tuesday evening me and my Dad were watching BBC2 at my grandads house, the previous program finished and it was announced there was now a new show starting, a comedy set in space called Red Dwarf. So we watched it and the 11 year old me became completely hooked on it. Series two is easily the best series, the funniest by a long way, they didn’t have as big a budget so the writing had to be funnier, while series 3-6 was still excellent and I’ve watched it all many times the only series I really go back to watch is Series 2 it really was Steptoe and Son in Space on acid. I also read the books on many many occasions as a teenager.
This is a great video it really kind of captures my own thoughts on the show, it really was what it was like to grow up in 1980s Britain. When I hear the title music from the first two seasons the nostalgic feeling I get is amazing, a yearning to return to that crappy time.
Anyway apologies for droning on but just thought I’d share that others shared a similar experience with the show that you did. 👍
Thanks For The Memory is absolutely haunting. Perfect name drop for the end of this video.
Man, thats a fine present. He was probbably only expecting a tie...
One of my favorite comedy series of all time. When I was single, I used to fall asleep to this as well. Wife can't sleep with any noise or light, so had to change that once I got married. Still sneak away for a night or two every couple of months to fall asleep to it in our guest room, though.
Yeah to be honest that's pretty much my story too. Red Dwarf's reserved for the odd night on the couch these days. Thanks for watching.
@@retromuel love your breakdown of the actors vs the current trend of what comes from the UK. Something I never thought about when watching the UKs current exports.
@@RicoRaynn Thank you very much. Yeah you could spend a lifetime in Britain and never actually meet anyone who talks like Benedict Cumberbatch, and yet that's kind of what many people picture when they think of an Englishman. Statistically speaking you're far more likely to meet a Dave Lister.
I clicked on this at fairly close to random following the despair pit that is Where the Wind Blows at 3 in the morning, and the weird feeling of comforting, friendly loneliness you describe has genuinely perked me back up a bit. You've managed to capture what I love about this show beyond just it being a good sitcom; there's a feeling of home in a lot of the early-middle seasons in spite of (and maybe because of) the bleakness of the ship's surroundings. Brilliantly put my feelings into words.
Also, bonus points for mentioning the Danny John-Jules Labyrinth connection, that always entertains me a bit. (But minus points for the presence of Mr Blobby, that cursed hellspawn)
Boys from the Dwarf. *shakes hands*
The first two series were by far the best.
I liked the radio show version, as well as the TV show. I taped it off a friend, who had the official BBC Red Dwarf and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show boxsets. I used to often put it on to go to sleep, usually with headphones on, because I shared a room with my younger brother.
I did listen to some via CZcams fairly recently and really enjoyed it. Had the Hitchhiker's guide radio play on CD (still got it somewhere). Awesome stuff. Thanks for watching.
@@retromuel I wish that I still had the complete HGTTG. I enjoyed the TV series, and loved the fact that they kept the radio cast. That would never happen today. The fact that the TV version existed, really fleshed out my imagination when listening to the radio show. I also loved the fact that Chris Barrie did the Red Dwarf radio series, putting his impersonation skills to good use.
Take a look at the books, they are great. It's easy to see how they got the show commissioned on the basis of that excellent writing.
@@pseudonayme7717 Thanks for the recommendation!
I found this show while I was working nights at a factory. The rest of the family was on normal daylight hours, while even on weekends I was up all night because it was just too hard to switch back n forth. The first two series perfectly reflected the loneliness and melancholy I was feeling at the time and I just couldn’t stop watching it. It was great to hear someone else gets the feel of this classic.
From across the pond, it makes me realise one thing: everything now is so CLEAN and SAFE. Some of that is for the better, but the human soul has definitely influenced less.
Have you watched any Young Ones? It's... different
Red Dwarf without Grant/Naylor together is just not Red Dwarf.
Yep, was never the same after the split.
I found Red Dwarf in the late 90's on a local station here in the American Northeast. I immediately fell in love with the quirky show and still think it one of the best shows in it's genre.
Wow. I thought it was just me. I used to fall asleep listening to VHS recordings of the series and even to this day Red Dwarf is one of the few series I listen to on my phone to help me sleep at night. I am so gratified to hear/see I am not the only one who does this. 😃
The crushing loneliness of series one and two made me remember that I wasn't alone.
Red Dwarf was an absolute pleasure growing up with,
I don't think I've ever connected to a youtube video as much as this one. Every few months I rewatch all series falling asleep to them. I've watched them so many times I can just listen to it with my eyes closed and still visualise it. I also find the idea of space relaxing and peaceful where as people I've spoken to find it terrifying lol.
This is something I have watched since finding 2 vhs in a flat I moved into when I was 20, back in the 00's.
This show is unique, nostalgic and genuinely a part of my life.
When I was struggling to sleep back in the day due to Stress I used to Watch Red Dwarf and Space Dandy - two great Space comedies to get me get to sleep - its nice to know that im not the only one who did this - good video!
I remember when it started airing on PBS here in the States back in the early 90s. I was immediately hooked. I got my friends to start watching it, and we had our own little clique referencing and quoting it constantly. Such a brilliant show.
I Was Born in 1986. And Grow up with all of the Above and miss it.🏴🇬🇧
Red Dwarf was a brilliant futuristic sitcom. Such a classic show.
The 80s/90s UK comparison is so accurate. Love this show and spent a good few years falling asleep to it
I also spent a lot of time nights falling asleep to the early seasons on repeat. Good times! Also. Manchester isn’t Manchester without the rain.
I do EXACTLY the same when going to sleep. When I sleep I get Transported 3 million years into deep space. Bliss!
Thanks for bringing some more context for the beginning of Red Dwarf. It's definitely in my all-time top 10 shows.
I stumbled across this quite appropriately as I was winding down for the night and looking for a short, good natured video before turning in. What superbly put together video essay. Good writing, well delivered at just the right tone. And very relatable too😉
I would also point out on the terms of the actors backgrounds this was the first show on british TV to have the majority of the main cast from a minority background (Norman Lovett was not considered part of the main cast and is the reason he left the show over pay).
I also fell into the same ritual of playing an episode from series 1 or 2 while falling asleep. There was something so soothing about it. I thought I was the only one. Thanks for the memories 😴
From Last of the Summer Wine to Red Dwarf (Have You Been Served, Porridge, Fools and Horses, etc), this era of BBC TV has a special place in my heart. I endlessly try to explain why I'm drawn to them so much but I can't put my finger on what it is.
I would love to discover another series that I can add to my list but I'm afraid I've found them all.
Red Dwarf is my good place. The Good Place has become my new Red Dwarf. Crazy
Red dwarf is just one of those shows that can’t go bad
I remember watching Red Dwarf with my brothers when I was younger every year on PBS in the states. It was a big deal for us because the internet was years off getting into people's homes so we couldn't just stream it whenever we liked. The local PBS affiliate would put on a grand telethon running all available episodes and even as a younger kid I loved the weird comedy. Growing up the deeper themes stuck with me, one of them being the one-off "Gazpacho Soup" line that Rimmer spouts out as he's dying. Now I can't speak to the writer's intentions with this, it may have truly been just a silly gag meant to fill time and show Rimmer as a try-hard weirdo, but all these years it stuck with me in a way to show that the stupidest, embarrassing mistakes we make in life are what truly make us human in the end. Rimmer's explanation truly connected with me, even as a young kid trying to understand my anxiety issues, that everyone deals with tense, embarrassing moments that can be brought back at any time to shame us. It also showed a vulnerable side to him that I related to instantly. Again, just my take and art is subjective. The show always made me think and I appreciate that to this day. ❤
I watched Red dwarf endlessly on old VHS tapes through the 90s. It was the only way we were exposed to it here in the USA.
Excellent video... insightful and wholesome. 👍
I also spend a month or two each year drifting off to sleep with Red Dwarf on. I'm amused that I'm not the only one.
Edit: Also, I should have commended you on this docu video. I like how you drew parallels between British culture and economy at the time and the world the show has built.
Great work all around.
When I was a kid, our local PBS station would play Red Dwarf like 10pm-ish, and sometimes do marathons of it even, for pledge drives. I always looked forward to it.
I DO EXACTLY THIS. It's comfortable. Feels like I'm with old friends. Helps me sleep.
I love all red dwarf. Even the new stuff is funnier than you think and great on rewatch.
Absolutely agree, the melancholia of Red Dwarf always appealed to me, that long slow final march of the last man across the stars, to a home they could never reach, just spoke to me as an early teen filled with ennui. Still decades later, it has an absolute hold on me, 12 series and 4 books later. Those early seasons are easily my favourite though, and that original melancholic theme is just the cherry on top of the little red cake.
My ex gf is an architect and her company managed the moving of coronation street set to media city in Mcr. Met Craig Charles on the set a couple of times that I'd tag along on a weekend.
When you mentioned only middle class+ making the requirements my genuine instant thought was what about actors like Comer so respect for that. She is incredible 😍
Your analogy of Picadilly Gardens, spot on lul.
My goodness, the bleakness of Manchester... I feel it a lot in this video. My parents moved from outside Sheffield to Bury in 1990. It was a struggle as I had no childhood friends and I had to start almost anew.... I then had to do it again when I left for London in 2008 and again when I left the UK completely.
I love the show, still watch it now and then. I never found it depressing although there were moments and I agree the first 2 seasons were the best. Great video, thank you!
#Funfact I was actually born the very week Red Dwarf debuted on the BBC. Probably one of the many reasons why I have such an affinity for the show 😀😄
Excellent explanation of that extra dimension S1 and S2 have that the later seasons, great as they (mostly) are, just do not have. Alone in the big empty. The bleakness. The permanent isolation. The (superior, IMO) forlorn opening theme, playing over Lister futilely painting the side of ship. Even the window in the bunk room is coffin shaped.
Boss vid mate, I used to go to sleep to this, bottom, game on, telly used to be good 😢
I’m Canadian and I loved this show it was on some American pbs channel late at night along with doctor who. Good times
Thank you, great video. All the best nerds we loved the show. Growing up in Tasmania in the 80s and 90s. Suitably dystopian. I’m very happy for the cast and creators that it still lives on in many ways. Robert has a big future shoe in the electric vehicle world of media and futurism. 🎉
Brilliant essay, I still find this Sci-fi the most immersive and believable of all the great films and book series. See you around Picadilly Gardens sometime fellow 0161-er
Can't beat that intro tune
The books are amazing too.
Loved your video
Rhipnol is awesome stuff..........you get completely solid deep sleep and wake up almost euphoric. Apparently when Patrick Stewart saw Red Dwarf the first time (back in the day) he thought it was a parody of Star Trek TNG and was outraged, but then calmed down and realized that it was just British Humor.
You are awesome, I remember 1996 Florida PBS playing the marathon of Red Dwarf. This got me hooked, smoke me a kipper and I will be back for breakfast!
Hey I'm from Manchester (well Salford) from a similar era and also discovered RD in the early 90's so this resonated with me. Didn't know it was filmed on oxford rd. I'll walk around circle square with a different look now 😂. Thanks.
The books are amazing. So much more in depth.
The show is a hard sale outside the UK. Like many british shows, actually. League Of Gentlemen, the old classics (Fools and Horses, Black Adder, Porridge), I guess you had to be there.
Still, one of my favorite long standing comedy, if not the favorite. Some great episodes, Marooned, Dimension Jump, Inquisitor, Back To Reality, Justice, Queeg, Better Than Life, Polymorph. Season 1 to 6, good memories.
I totally agree! red dwarf is like a security blanket, so comforting to watch. I fall asleep to it as well. I don't watch past season 6 though.
Just to put this out there, I love these guys, even when they are not on Red Dwarf. Craig I loved as the narrator on Robot Wars. Robert I loved on Junkyard wars. Chris I loved on Chris Barry's massive Engines, as well as on Tomb Raider, and Danny on the Robin Hood spoof where he was the guy selling questionable good out of his coat. Why? IDK, I just like them okay?
I cannot more highly recommend the first Red Dwarf book. It’s one of the funniest books ever written. I must have read it half a dozen times and it never gets old. I think I enjoyed it more than the early series.
I was 12 and just starting high school when Red Dwarf first aired. Fittingly, when the let-down that was series 7 aired it coincided with me leaving school, getting a job and having to pay bills.
Those first seasons are magical...and the skutters are the best droids ever.
Season's 3 to 6 were perfect and cant be beaten.
Come to think of it, I always DID watch the episodes late at night. Thanks for the idea! 😴
Excellent retrospective. What I would consider, accurate insights. It only just randomly appeared in my recommended videos, today, but the title resonated with how I believe that Red Dwarf often felt whenever I watched it. Your title made me stop scrolling, and I clicked the video because it was definitely something I've thought about regarding Red Dwarf before. It can be interpreted light-hearted comedy set in space, yes, though with a somewhat serious undertone. The bleakness of deep space. Sure, it's just a model moving slowly past a camera with a bit of special effects to give that impression. It is still thought provoking, all the same.
In a similar way, 3 million years could easily sound like a throwaway time span further into the future. In hindsight, when I hear that, part of me is immediately expecting it to be pointless, as though they could have said 30 million years and not cared about the specifics. Then again, we don't necessarily need all the Red Dwarf universe mapped and padded out to explain the 3 million years thing meticulously. I will explain in the next paragraph onward. The long and the short of it, is the enormity of the universe.
There is a common trope when handling vast spans of time, and trying to convey what that means to anyone in particular. There is something called science communication and conveying the concepts within it, in a pithy and effective manner, which is understandable to a wider range of people. Subject specific jargon can be overwhelming, and how are random folk meant to relate to what this or that vast span of time means? Sometimes, it's not required to (like with Red Dwarf) You can take it or leave it as a random figure someone dreamt up in the 1980's while making the series, and not read too much into it. You can accept it for the likely throwaway lore it may well be, and move on without a second thought. But for what it's worth, I do think that it made me think of many random concepts for how and why this would happen.
To nerd out a bit here, let's face it, 3 million years is a very long time on a human level. That's obvious, anyone can see that. The point here, is why did they pick 3 million and not, say, something more 'reasonable' like, 300,000 years, or 30,000 years, or even 'just' 3,000 years? Framing wise, it does feel to be a bleak future, with so much having been lost. Stranded impossibly far from home. Why 3 million in particular? It made me wonder. It's all about perspective. On the geological timescale, or in astronomical terms, the timespan of 3,000,000 Earth years is not really that long. Earth is ~4,567 million years old, so not even 1,000th that timespan.
Befitting a setting where the immensity of space and the wider universe, engulfs all human endeavour, the timescale involved is also overwhelming. Perhaps deliberately so. Or maybe it doesn't even matter. Nevertheless, I want to explore this a bit. Let's imagine that something _did_ happen at some point in those 3 million years from our time in the real-world, when humanity reached out across the stars, settling on countless planets and extending it's knowledge of the universe beyond anything we can currently imagine. Plenty of fictional universes have timescales exceeding 3 million years, as well. It's not the timespan that gets me, with Red Dwarf, it's the sheer remoteness and loneliness of the ship, both temporally _and_ physically. It is so, so far gone. To all intents and purposes, gone without hope of return (I know the show does contradict that a bit at times but it's largely the case)
A lot can happen in 3 million years. The Necrons in Warhammer 40,000, were asleep for around 60 million years, waiting to reclaim the Milky Way galaxy. The Forerunners in HALO had begun over 15 million years prior to the events of the HALO games, peaking as a civilization long prior to their 300 year nightmare war with the Flood which brought them down for the most part. Then there are other universes in science fiction or sci-fi fantasy, where you have truly insane timespans. The Time Lords in Dr Who (or at least, the Gallifreyans) were pottering around doing random things for roughly 13 billion years. They are one of the eldest of all species in the 'n-universe' (aka the Whoniverse) 13,000,000,000 years is nearly incomprehensible at a glance. It just sounds like gibberish in a passing sense. Why 13 billion? Wouldn't 10 billion or 2 billion be enough? Why be that ancient and still fail to defeat the entirely upstart Daleks? etc etc...
There is a lot of this kind of 'temporal inconsistency' across sci-fi. People come up with timespans they deem fit in their universes, and run with it. Comparing and contrasting Red Dwarf's timeline to other fictional universes, I know it feels slightly silly because it's not meant to be taken too seriously in the medium it is framed within. Even so, I still can't help but think this through. The logical question would be, 'what happened?'.
Presumably something appalling. In a way, it's darkly unsettling that a ship could be lost for so long. It definitely has a horror element. There is almost something amusing in a uniquely British way, of characters like Cat and Rimmer being around 3 million years after humanity first went to the Moon. There is something paradoxically ironic about it, as though, at the end of all things, there shall still be some British cat mutant at the end of meaningful time, on a human scale, dressing in 1980's fashion and basically being the ship's cat immortalised. It's insane and bleak in an oddly funny way. Why these three fruitcakes? How long can it continue? Would they really survive like this? (probably not)
The grimdark version of Red Dwarf, would be more akin to what happens regarding the Engineers in the Alien franchise and universe, or the souls of the Necrons (or should I say more accurately, in context, the Necrontyr) in W40K. It probably wouldn't be so cheerful with all manner of madness unfolding. That a trio of relative incompetents can keep the ship functional at all is not only impressive, but strangely endearing. Why them? Because it is, and that's all we the audience need to know. Whittled down to three goofs with some additional computer intelligence assistance. They persist, with seemingly no end to their task. In a way, 3 million years on an eternal voyage, is as tragic as it is humbling.
When trying to convey what 3 million years _really_ means, how do we relate to that? The Dinosaurs (the non-Avian forms, at least) lasted for roughly 170 million years (167 million years, provably, with fossil evidence) from the Carnian Age of the Late Triassic Period, to the Maastrichtian Age of the Late Cretaceous Period. Just saying that might not mean much though. This is why science communication has to be more helpful. If I were to say, the Dinosaurs evolved in at least the 5th of 30 Ages of the Mesozoic Era, that goes someway to demonstrating just _how long_ that dynasty lasted (and it doesn't even count the Avian Dinosaurs which endured beyond the Mesozoic, into the Cenozoic Era, which we are still in 66 million years after the Mesozoic Era ended.
I'd further contextualise this by pointing out that the Dinosaurs were present for no fewer than 26 of the 30 geological ages/stages of the Mesozoic; for 3 out of 7 of the Triassic Period Ages (the last 3 of those; Carnian, Norian and Rhaetian - though some palaeontologists speculate that they went further back, before the Carnian, into the Ladinian, or even the Anisian; it gets increasingly difficult to delineate true Dinosaurs from their gangly, Dinosauromorph kin and close but no cigar lookalikes, in the wider Archosauromorpha, but I digress; long story short: finding 'Dinosaur Zero' is not easy, and may be impossible in a completely proven way); for 11 out of 11 of the Jurassic Period Ages; and for 12 out of 12 of the Cretaceous Period Ages.
[part 1/2; part 2 in reply to myself below]
[part 2/2] There are practical constraints on this. For instance, we know that, there is absolutely zero chance of any Dinosaur being pre-Mesozoic (aka, Palaeozoic Era in age) We can safely rule out the Early Triassic. The only real question that matters, is where we draw the line where and when the first true Dinosaur evolved from out of the Dinosauromorpha. The base of the Triassic is ~251.902 Ma (mega-annum; millions of years ago) The first provably true Dinosaurs (on anatomical diagnostic characteristics) are from the middle of the Carnian Age, around ~233.23 Ma.
That is in itself, during what is known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode/Event, which may well have been part of the reason why Dinosaurs evolved (certainly spurring on their evolution and further success, although it could also be the case that the first true Dinosaur evolved just before that, with the Carnian Pluvial Episode, happening between roughly 234 - 232 Ma BP (Before Present) Subtract 233.23 from 251.902 and you get 18.672 million years left in between the base of the Triassic and the earliest known true Dinosaurs (from the Santa Maria Formation, in South-East Brazil; species like _Saturnalia tupiniquim_ and _Gnathovorax cabreirai_ for instance)
The Carnian Age/Stage (the geochronological term, being Age; the chronostratigraphical term, being Stage; used mostly interchangeably though the stratigraphic view of geological strata, always uses Stage exclusively; with a group of Stages making a Series; with the more poetic geochronological term for Series, simply being Epoch; stratigraphy purely being interested in rock matrix sequences and strata aka layers of rock, in sequence, according to various laws within geological science e.g. the Law of Superposition as a generality) is the earliest Late Triassic Age.
18.672 million years (to reiterate, a not so insubstantial sum of eighteen million, six-hundred and seventy-two thousand years; I mention the decimal place figures, because 672,000 years is about thrice the timespan _Homo sapiens_ has even existed for full-stop thus far; again, it's not just a matter of a rounding up remainder, it's a huge amount of time in it's own right) Now, basically half that right away to about 9.336 million years, and that add it to the evidence based 233 Ma BP figure, and is roughly about how old _some_ palaeontologists are trying to claim the true Dinosaurs go back to (in places like South Africa and Madagascar; with these claims being based largely on highly fragmentary remains, lacking enough diagnostic evidence to prove they are removed enough from the numerous close cousins and more primitive forms that were still around well into the Late Triassic) The oldest undisputed fossils of true Dinosaurs, come from about 233 Ma BP.
If you look at that chunk of time before then, in between the beginning of the Triassic Period (in the Induan Age, followed by the Olenekian and then the Anisian and the Ladinian) you can quite well imagine that there would be plenty of Dinosaur-like critters running around (we have plenty of their fossils already) and the first known Dinosaurs, then it becomes clear that, in the grander scheme of things, they wouldn't have appeared that much earlier than the likes of the animals known from the Santa Maria Formation. It starts to become a futile endeavour. What does it really matter anyway? We know they certainly weren't from the Permian Period or the Early Triassic. It is just debated whether they evolved in the Ladinian, rather than the Carnian. I could accept that if evidence arises, but not the Anisian. That'd just be too far back in my opinion.
The contextualisation of the vastness of Deep Time, is important. 3 million years begins to feel outrageous in the context of Red Dwarf, but in the geological timespan, that isn't even that long. For most of the 200,000-300,000 years that _Homo sapiens_ has been around, we've been hunter-gatherers. If going with the 200,000 figure rather than 300,000 (I would say we evolved about 205,000-210,000 years ago, but some people swear that it should be 300,000 hence why I bothered to include that range; I think that's too high a figure, though) only about the last 1/20th of the last 200,000 years, had proper farming and full-time sedentary settlements.
Basically, the last 10,000-12,000 or so years. 8,000 or much less in plenty of parts of the world. 3 million years seems impossibly vast. From the scope of the geoscientist or astronomer, that is not that long at all. 3 million years into humanity's future is a _staggeringly_ long time. All of our story as a species thus far, is not even 1/10th that sum. Point being, so much would happen in 3 million years for a spacefaring civilization, that it isn't any surprise at all that it may or may not have collapsed. This is both depressing and oddly endearing, because it shows how, even in such a dire predicament, there will always be some British dudes goofing around after the complete collapse of a civilization which used to be quite something. 10 years in the present day is a very long time on a societal level. Social evolution and world history is unfolding at a rapid and relentless pace. Imagine what can happen within 3 million years (or 300,000 decades) That is a scary span of time for a sentient human, however 'insignificant' it is on the geological timescale.
I always wanted them to just keep making episodes as the cast continues to grow older, flying threw space until the ultimate end of their lives.
Even though I grew up in the early 2000s in America I was lucky enough to still watch Red Dwarf and other British TV through the channel PBS. I remember watching this late at night on weekends, sometimes with my brother or mom. I have a lot of nostalgia with this show and it really is the perfect show to watch just before bed/while going to bed. I now have a need to rewatch this. Great video and thank you for reminding me of this show again 😊