- Series X
With Series X just a few weeks away the wheels of the publicity machine for the series are really starting to turn rapidly, and this week there is an awful lot to cover. Early this week the UKTV showcase was held giving the press a first look at Trojan. As a consequence of this and press releases being sent out, a flood of pictures and reviews have started to make their way online. First of all, we have a variety of pictures from the screening including the costume display, the audience getting ready and the USB sticks handed out to the press.
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Next up, we have a variety of publicity shots. Some of these should be familiar as they were used for the official poster, but there are some lovely new shots that really show off the new costumes well. Most interestingly of all, we have a picture of the Drive Room set redressed as a diffferent cockpit (for a clue as to which, see Andrew Ellard’s comment that it’s ‘a particularly BLUE set‘). It’s an impressive redress job that manages to make the set different enough while using the similarities to give a consistency of look between the Dwarf and its minor ships.
With the press now free to start reviewing the episodes they have seen, reaction to the series has started to appear online. Here’s a smattering of the positive reactions that have appeared on Twitter:
@prog_rock_tues New Red Dwarf episode was awesome. Thank you #uktvshowcase.
@gregoryhudson Just seen the first episode of Red Dwarf X – very VERY funny – fantastic to see the crew back!
@diytv Chuffed to say that Red Dwarf is back to its best.
@CarlitoRemo Have seen the 1st episode and the boys are back!
@DeanPerry Red Dwarf X starts 4th October on Dave at 9pm – it’s superb 🙂
@Coops_tv Watched Red Dwarf X at the UKTV showcase yesterday. I larfed
@grant_williams Just watched Red Dwarf X Ep1. Show defo back to glory days of Series 5&6.
Full reviews of Trojan have also appeared online and you can find links to them below. All of these obviously come with spoiler warnings, so read at your own risk if you want to go in totally unspoiled.
– Chortle
Richard Naylor has also started a blog on which he intends to answer Red Dwarf X questions in more depth, whilst giving thoughts and info on it & other shows he is linked with. The first post is an interesting and quite funny report of the press screening at the UKTV showcase this week. It’s well worth a read and will surely be worth keeping an eye on in the future. Richard also accompanied the blog with this new picture of Rimmer in the sleeping quarters set:
The British Comedy Guide has updated their listing for Trojan with a synopsis and, most interestingly, a cast list. It is highly important if you are looking not to be spoiled that you do not read on any further. [Highlight for spoilers] The list provides us with the names of the two main guest actors; Mark Dexter as Howard Rimmer and Susan Earl as Sim Crawford, as well as also telling us that that Lucy Newman-Williams and Bryan Bounds are playing All Droid Shopping Channel presenters. The piece is accompanied by two new pictures featuring a shot taken on the set from the publicity photos earlier this week and a picture of the two Rimmer brothers in a brand new uniform, and revealing that like his brother, Howard is now a hologram.[Spoilers End]
Dave have changed their release schedule for Series X previews slightly, so that now Fridays see the release of new pictures while Saturdays see a brand new clip. This Friday’s pictures featured the Cat, and can be viewed below. Friday also saw a new episode of the Dave Weekly Podcast uploaded with Danny John Jules as the special guest following on from Robert last week. You can listen to the podcast here and next week’s episode will feature Chris Barrie.
Saturday’s Series VI marathon has given us the code ‘ASTRONAVS’, which could be used here to unlock a clip of Rimmer and Lister going through the contents of a post pod that should instantly make people think of a similar scene in Series II.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQChg6WlOzs&feature=youtu.be]
As well as the codes, the advert breaks also featured various new bumpers and an extension of the trailer that has been around for several weeks. Now replacing the ‘oh look a bit of poppadum’ line is a clip of Lister in full spacesuit floating past a window and asking Kryten to let him in as he has forgotten his key. You can see some screenshots from this new section below:
The model shot bumpers from last week have now been replaced by several different ones, each featuring a differnt member of the cast. You can view a picture from each one below along with a low resolution video compilation of all 4:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKHdIwYSaWQ]
Along with these TV trailers, three online retailers have uploaded specially filmed promotional trailers for the DVD of the new Series. While Amazon surprising doesn’t (yet) feature any specially filmed material, Play have a nice clip with Cat chasing the light from a laser pen, HMV have Cat doing a piece to camera and Zavvi have a short clip with Lister Rimmer and Cat, followed by a short clip of Blue Midget flying out of an explosion that looks absolutely fantastic. You can view all three below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU8nr4vu36I]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj0DIR2zBWU]
[youtube www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuHn7XcLwWI]
Promotion for the show is also starting to appear in print with magazines like VIZ and SFX featuring full page ads, as can be seen in the following pictures.
SFX’s new issue (out on Wednesday) also features a 4 page feature on the new series. Ganymede and Titan have some of the highlights on their site, and you can find them by clicking on the photo from Simon Bromley below:
Finally, as well as appearing in magazines, the Series X poster have been sighted out in the wild at various stations. Various people have been tweeting pictures of them, and you can find some of them below. According to Doug the posters in railway stations including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh as well as 16 London Underground stations
- Ganymede & Titan Articles
Ganymede and update 3 new articles of interest First up, to tie in with the current weekend marathons on Dave, John Hoare has compiled a wonderfully anal list of edits Dave have made to the shows. The first two articles cover Series VII and VIII with the rest to follow at a later date. Its well worth a read if for no other reason than to ponder the dichotomy that John raises early on: “how can a channel care so much aboutRed Dwarf to commission a new series, and yet give its repeats so little respect?”
G&T also celebrated their tenth anniversary this week, and as such have updated with an article detailing the history of the site. It’s a story of legal action, wars of words and a mole at the heart of the British Secret Service whose duplicitous actions led to the downfall of friends and enemies against a Cold War backdrop. Or maybe that’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Yes, my mistake, it’s that one. Still, their story has a full-blown flame war with a minor television personality and lots of swearing, so maybe give that a read after le Carré. Anyway, happy 10th anniversary G&T. Perhaps you can lend us fifteen quid to buy you a birthday card?
- The Red Dwarf Introcast
A new episode of The Red Dwarf Introcast covering Thanks for the Memory has been released. If you are unfamiliar with the podcast of the concept, it follows in the format of other introcasts by having 4 people watching Red Dwarf and then talking about it; two of whom haven’t seen any of it previously. The episode is available to download and you can find them on the podcast’s website and is also available on iTunes.
Heh. Always nice to be of use to somebody. 😉