Another week, another news roundup. Before we get to that however, if you didn’t see earlier in the week, we’re delighted to announce we’ve added a new contributor to our team; Andrew Moir. Andrew has contributed a fantastic new article which the ships encountered by the Red Dwarf crew, and questions just how advanced did the human race get and how far into space are the boys really? Please do have a read and give him a warm welcome. Outside of this site, we’ve also come across a short essay from Terence Eden entitled ‘Why can’t Red Dwarf predict the future?’, in which Terence examines the problems of making a television show that is set in the future. An interesting little read that’s worth a flick through. Plugs aside, here’s this weeks’ news:
- Series X
Danny John-Jules caused a bit of excitement on Tuesday, when he announced that he was running a lottery for one person to join him the following day to a screening of two episodes of the new series. This (not-so) secret screening was to review episodes 4 and 5; the two episodes that had the most material still to be filmed at the end of the audience recordings. Interestingly, it would seem that speculation that at the recording of episode 5 that a third was still to be filmed was indeed correct. Obviously, we wouldn’t dream of commenting further about this episode, except to say that it does mean that it is very hard to form any concrete opinion on it given that there is a substantial extra part that as of this moment in time has not been seen.
Here are some of the reactions to the screenings from Twitter:
Robert Llewellyn
We watched 2 nearly completed episodes of Red Dwarf X. I think it’s fair to say they looked pretty damn good.
Richard Naylor
Great day yesterday. Went to a bbc comedy social event then Red Dwarf X screening which went fantastic.
Seb Patrick
So yeah, of course I come out of a screening of two Red Dwarf eps and the first thing I talk about is the credits font. Schyeah. They’re VERY GOOD. Seriously, even from an “I’m a critical fan” perspective, Series X is the shiznit. Every episode (that I’ve seen – I’ve seen five out of the six) is reminiscent of a different earlier series, in a good way. Most importantly, though, they’re just funny. Proper, belly laugh, funny.
Richard Naylor also tweeted the following details about what he has been doing this week, along with a picture from the edit of Danny in episode 3:
Over here at Red Dwarf X we’re recording some ADR for a very unusual character.
Just made trailers for Red Dwarf X – a bunch of 10, 20, 30 second ones and also one 50 second one.
To round off the news on the new series, here are some of the tweets from Nathan Cubitt about the Behind the Scenes material that include some indication as to what rating the eventual DVD might be set for:
Argh! That moment you think you’ve finished bit of doc & then find awesome footage shot by your secret weapon. Back to the drawing board.
Reading the BBFC guidelines for 12/12A… hmmmm…..
Just had to type ‘Michael Boulton’ into the RDX log. Oh the humanity
- Dimension Jump XVII Logo Competition Winner
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club has chosen the winner of their competition to design a logo for Dimension Jump XVII next year. Having looked through the 60+ entries it was immediately apparent that they were of a particularly high standard, and it was very difficult to pick just a few favourites to vote for. With the votes collated, the winner was Christopher Williams with his Mugs Murphy t-shirt design. It’s sure to be a design that many attendees will want to get on a t-shirt, and we can’t wait to start putting it into action as we organise what promises to be an exciting Dimension Jump.
Here is Christopher’s winning design, along with the excellent 2nd (Helen Greenslade) and 3rd place (Venancia) designs. Once again, huge thanks to everyone that entered and we look forward to seeing you at next year!
- Robert Llewellyn: Man In The Rubber Mask Update, Unbound Live & Fully Charged
Various bits of Bobby-related news here. First up, for those of you that have subscribed to the ‘Man in The Rubber Mask’ updates, the latest chapter which covers Series VII is now available to download. If you haven’t already, you can download the audio book and subscribe to all further updates by making a one off subscription here for £4.99 for what will eventually amount to over 10 hours of audio. The full book will also be released in a Kindle/E-book edition once Series X has aired.
Next up is a chance to catch Robert live as part of Unbound Live at Le Baron, Embassy Mayfair. Here’s the blurb:
On Tuesday 15th May we are hosting our third Unbound Live event at Le Baron, Embassy Mayfair! For those new to Unbound Live, you’re in for a treat. The evening is like a cross between a book slam and an election hustings as Unbound authors go head-to-head pitching ideas for books they’d like to write, or telling you more about the books they’ve already written.
Tuesday promises to be a legendary night. We have:
Katy Brand, award-winning comedian and star of the Big Ass show reveals details of her planned novel FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME ANYWHERE!
Robert Llewellyn, star of Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge and Carpool takes us to a green and pleasant land called Gardenia.
Hardeep Singh Kohli, comedy, boadcaster and cook explains how what we eat explains who we are and why he wants to come and cook us all Sunday lunch.
Steve Colgan, writer, illustrator, former Police Constable 174702 and collector of arcane lore, unveils his fabulous Connectoscope.
Adrian Teal scandalises us with louche and sordid tales of life in Georgian England.
Keith Kahn-Harris returns from Luxembourg to tell us about his next adventure on the stranger-than-it-seems island of Alderney
George Chopping performs highlights from his very-soon-to-be-published-after-being-100% funded-by-Unbound poetry collection, Smoking with Crohn’s.
Graham Smith is on hand to sign copies of his exquisite illustrated history of 80s clubland, We Can Be Heroes.
and Miss V will provde a soulful musical interlude.
Tickets are avalible here. Included in the ticket price is a £10 voucher for those who attend the evening to pledge support to the author of your choice. Drinks and food can be purchased at the event, with the bar open from 6.45pm and performances starting at 7.15pm. There are only 100 tickets, so order now to avoid disapointment.
Lastly, since we last mentioned it, Robert has uploaded several more episodes of his series Fully Charged. As such, this is just a quick reminder that you can view all the episodes on subjects such as wind farms, hydrogen fuel cells and the national grid here.
- Scuttercast: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Our friends over at the Scuttercast are currently preparing their latest episode after a short hiatus. There is no date set for release yet, but the next episode will cover the first Red Dwarf novel, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, and they are looking asking for people to email their views and opinions. So if there is anything you’d like to comment on for the podcast then email them at ScutterCast@RedDwarfForum.com
Scutterkast
I now want to change the name of the podcast to Scutterkast.