• Series X

As another week comes to an end more work has been finalised on the new series. According to Doug and Richard Naylor’s tweet all VFX work has now been completed at ONIGHT UK. We even heard that the titles have been applied and in in Series III style. With that in mind, you may be wondering just how close we are to series actually being completed. Well Richard said on the 12^th that the series was 17 days away from being completed, so it would appear that we are looking at the 29^th as the sign off date. A tweet from Richard this afternoon shed a little light on the matter of what still remains to be done:

Mixing the sound for RDX show 6 today so it’s ready to be graded tomorrow. It’s all scarily close to being finished! Show 6 is very good.

Doug also mentions that once the grade is completed, the then DVD documentary, Smeg Ups and deleted scenes will be finished off. While on the subject of the DVD, a few little details were divulged by Doug and Richard. Here’s a summary of what they had to say:

• The DVD will contain seamless versions of the episodes with no advert breaks.
• It will be launched at same time Worldwide in November
• Among the extras will be the usual collections of Smeg Ups and deleted scenes.
• The making of documentary will run to around 2 hours, and is a ‘documentary with teeth’.
• One thing that will appear is a collection of fan reactions after Red Dwarf X show 1 live show. Richard Naylor was editing them this week and said ‘I forgot quite how overwhelmingly, amazingly, fantabulous the reaction was.’

There has also been some discussion about the marketing of the series with another meeting on Wednesday. One issue discussed on Twitter was whether or not to have hash tags for Twitter on the ad breaks. Here’s what Richard tweeted:

• 17 days until all six new episodes of Red Dwarf X are complete. How do you guys feel about #’s at the part breaks? Good idea or bad idea?
• They wouldn’t be on DVD version. What about if you had #spinmynipplenuts at the ad-break!? There’s gonna be a bumper for tx show either way.
• General feeling is 60 – 40 against I would say.
• I think having a single #reddwarf at the ‘out’ ad-bumper (tv only) is a good idea. Don’t think it’s desperate or forcing any conversation.

It’s an issue that led to some heated debate. My own personal feelings on the matter are that as long as it doesn’t interfere with the program itself then it’s fine by me. Currently, lots of people are adding hash tags to their posts about Series X, but they all use different tags such as #RedDwarf, #RedDwarfX and #RDX. I really wouldn’t like to see something like #spinmynipplenuts, but I do think having a uniform hash tag is a good idea. That said, there is no reason that this can’t be applied to trailers and posters instead. Whatever your feelings on the use of hash tags though, they do appear on an increasing number of programs including the likes of Have I Got News For You, and as such I really can’t see that anyone would realistically accuse the program of sinking to desperate measures to garner interest. Either way there is clearly a desire to try and use as many mediums as possible to promote the new series, (as has also been evident with the recent launch of the official YouTube channel,) which is surely to be applauded.

• Norman On Gorman

Today’s edition of Dave Gorman’s Absolute Radio show (with self-confessed Dwarf fan Danielle Ward and guest host Michael Legge) featured Norman Lovett and Chris Difford. The pair appeared to promote their current tour and upcoming Edinburgh show, the details of which can be found here. The show is now available for download here, or can alternatively be downloaded directly from iTunes. Here’s a photo of all of the above at the recording:

• Red Dwarf/Hello Kitty T-Shirt

Red Bubble user Yayzus has created a cute t-shirt that might well be an interest to some of you out there, featuring a cross between Red Dwarf and Hello Kitty. Here’s the blurb:

What do you get when you cross  a human, a hologram, a cat and a robot with a Japanese kawaii icon? Red Dwarf Kitty.

Traversing the depths of space the crew of Red Dwarf come across another version of themselves from another dimension…a dimension dominated by cats.

Unfortunately for Cat, these kitty’s don’t have the fashion or style one would expect of travellers from a Feline dimension.

Hello Kitty meets Red Dwarf in this moggy mash-up

You can choose from an array of colours and the design can also be applied to a hoodie, Baseball shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, V-neck t-shirt and girly fit t-shirt. You can order one on Red Bubble here.

• Tounge Tied 8-Bit

And finally, something of a curiosity. Here is a version of ‘Tongue Tied’ from YouTube user 9000pivot that has been chiptuned, played against an 8-bit style Red Dwarf title screen. You can download the track here watch the video below.