Red Dwarf FAQ (frequently-asked questions) part 1 of 2
``~`` WWIVnet #8 AT 29963
Sat Apr 09 15:07:27 1994
0R: net33: @20 (via @1) [03:16 04/13/94]
0R: net33: @1 (via @1) [16:40 04/12/94]
0R: net33: @1025 (via @5) [00:46 04/11/94]
0R: net33: @5 [19:19 04/10/94]
0R: net33: @13457 (via @1021) [07:19 04/10/94]
0R 34 04/09 22:01 WWIVnet 1046->1021
0R: net33: @1046 (via @1050) [23:23 04/08/94]
0R: net33: @1050 (via @9955) [16:26 04/09/94]
0R: net33: @9955 (via @19953) [16:26 04/09/94]
0R: net33: @19953 (via @29963) [15:33 04/09/94]
           --------------------------------------------------------
            THE  "RED  DWARF"  FREQUENTLY - ASKED  QUESTIONS  LIST
           --------------------------------------------------------
Created by:  Michael J Montoure and Renee Byrd              RD.faq Version 3.8
Maintained by:  Pat Berry                                   Revised: 12/22/93
           --------------------------------------------------------
                        (part 1 of 2)
_____________________
CONTENTS OF THIS LIST

         1.  What is "Red Dwarf"?
         2.  Where can I see "Red Dwarf" in the United States?
         3.  Did "Red Dwarf" start on radio?
         4.  Is there an Episode Guide for "Red Dwarf"?
         5.  How do you know the title of the last episode of Series Two?
         6.  Why is Holly now a woman?  How did Kryten change?
         7.  What are the lyrics to the theme song from the end credits?
         8.  What are the lyrics to "Tongue Tied"?
         9.  What are they really saying in "Backwards?"
        10.  What does "smeg" mean?
        11.  What does "LEVEL NIVELO" mean?
        12.  Who is Gordon Bennett?
        13.  What are some of the foods mentioned on the show?
        14.  How many times has Rimmer had sex?
        15.  How many people were in Red Dwarf's crew?
        16.  How can Rimmer leave the ship?
        17.  How did the Polymorph touch Rimmer?
|       18.  How many times has Starbug crashed?
        19.  Is there going to be an American "Red Dwarf"?
        20.  Is there a "Red Dwarf" ftp site?
        21.  Are there "Red Dwarf" novels?
        22.  Are there books about "Red Dwarf"?
        23.  Are there "Red Dwarf" fan clubs?
        24.  Where else can I find out more about "Red Dwarf"?

|       New or changed information is marked with a vertical line in the
|       left margin.

_______________________
1. WHAT IS "RED DWARF"?

        "Red Dwarf" is a British science fiction comedy series that has
        been on the air for six seasons, each season lasting for six
        episodes.  It is the brainchild of "Grant Naylor", a creative
        team consisting of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who write and
        produce the show.  The show's sixth series has recently finished
        its first airing in England.

        The premise of the show is best summed up by the opening
	narration used in the first series:

        "This is an S.O.S. distress call from the mining ship Red Dwarf.
        The crew are dead, killed by a radiation leak.  The only
        survivors are Dave Lister, who was in suspended animation during
        the disaster, and his pregnant cat, who was safely sealed in the
        hold.  Revived three million years later, Lister's only
        companions are a life form who evolved from his cat, and Arnold
        Rimmer, a hologram simulation of one of the dead crew."
                                        --- Holly, the ship's computer

____________________________________________________
2. WHERE CAN I SEE "RED DWARF" IN THE UNITED STATES?

        "Red Dwarf" is seen on public television stations across the
        country.  If your local PBS station doesn't show it, write to
        them, and convince your friends to write to them, until they do!
        The first five series are all available for purchase by PBS
        stations.

        The BBC has also started to release videotapes.  Series One
        through Four have been released, and these tapes are now
        available in the U.S.

__________________________________
3. DID "RED DWARF" START ON RADIO?

        Not exactly.  There was an episode of the short-lived Radio 4
        series "Son of Cliche" that was written by Rob Grant and Doug
        Naylor which contained several ideas they later incorporated
        into "Red Dwarf".  A space cadet named Dave is trapped all alone
        on a spaceship with a slightly senile computer called HAB. (The
        voice of HAB, by the way, was provided by Chris Barrie, who
        later went on to star as Rimmer.)  While this was clearly the
        forerunner for "Red Dwarf," there isn't any direct connection.
	
        The script for this radio episode is included in the
        RED DWARF OMNIBUS (see #22).

___________________________________________
4. IS THERE AN EPISODE GUIDE FOR RED DWARF?

        Otto Heuer maintains a very good guide, available by
	anonymous ftp on toaster.ee.ubc.ca, but here's a quick list 
	to get you started: 

Series 1 - 1988                       Series 2 - 1988
---------------                       ---------------
1. The End...................15 Feb.   7. Kryten................... 6 Sept.
2. Future Echoes.............22 Feb.   8. Better Than Life.........13 Sept.
3. Balance of Power..........29 Feb.   9. Thanks for the Memory....20 Sept.
4. Waiting For God........... 7 Mar.  10. Stasis Leak..............27 Sept.
5. Confidence & Paranoia.....14 Mar.  11. Queeg.................... 4 Oct.
6. Me^^2.....................21 Mar.  12. Parallel Universe........11 Oct.

Series 3 - 1989                       Series 4 - 1991
---------------                       ---------------
13. Backwards................14 Nov.  19. Camille..................14 Feb.
14. Marooned.................21 Nov.  20. D.N.A....................21 Feb.
15. Polymorph................28 Nov.  21. Justice..................28 Feb.
16. Bodyswap................. 5 Dec.  22. White Hole................7 Mar.
17. Timeslides...............12 Dec.  23. Dimension Jump...........14 Mar.
18. The Last Day.............19 Dec.  24. Meltdown.................21 Feb.

Series 5 - 1992                       Series 6 - 1993
---------------                       ---------------
25. Holoship.................20 Feb.  31. Psirens.................. 7 Oct.
26. The Inquisitor...........27 Feb.  32. Legion...................14 Oct.
27. Terrorform............... 5 Mar.  33. Gunmen of the Apocalypse.21 Oct.
28. Quarantine...............12 Mar.  34. Emohawk: Polymorph II....28 Oct.
29. Demons and Angels........19 Mar.  35. Rimmerworld.............. 4 Nov.
30. Back To Reality..........26 Mar.  36. Out of Time..............11 Nov.

_______________________________________________________________
5. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE TITLE OF THE LAST EPISODE OF SERIES TWO?

        No title was given in the original broadcast.  The episode
        opened with a musical number instead of the normal titles.  Most
        British fans learned that the episode's name was "Parallel
        Universe" from its listing in the Radio Times; some American
        fans called it "Tongue Tied", after the song in the opening
        musical performance.  "Parallel Universe" was the most common
        title used, and it has now been confirmed as the official title
        as printed on the BBC videotape releases.

____________________________________________________
6. WHY IS HOLLY NOW A WOMAN?  HOW DID KRYTEN CHANGE?

        The original actor to play Holly, Norman Lovett, decided to
        leave the series to further his career.  (There is no truth to
        the rumor that he died.)  Kryten's original actor, David Ross,
        wasn't available to commit to a series when they decided to make
        Kryten a continuing character, so he was replaced by Robert
        Llewellyn.  (Ross later returned in "White Hole" as the new
        voice of Talkie Toaster.)

        Hattie Hayridge, the actress called in to play Holly, had
        previously appeared in "Parallel Universe" as Hilly, Holly's
        female counterpart.  "There were no plans to call me back,"
        Hayridge explains.  "When Norman said he wasn't doing another
        series, I auditioned."  The character of Holly kept the same
        name and personality despite the recasting.

        The reclassification of Red Dwarf from a Paul Jackson Production
        to a Grant Naylor Production (making it now officially a
        production outside the BBC, although it is still filmed at Noel
        Gay Television) brought with it several changes in the show's
        look between Series Two and Three, including changes in
        costumes, sets, and miniatures, particularly the addition of the
        Starbug and its hangar bay.

        Most of these changes were more or less explained by the
        following words that scrolled rapidly up the screen at the
        beginning of "Backwards":

        "Three million years in the future, Dave Lister, the last human
        being alive, discovers he is pregnant after a liaison with his
        female self in a parallel universe. His pregnancy concludes with
        the successful delivery of twin boys, Jim and Bexley. However,
        because the boys were conceived in another universe, with
        different physical laws, they suffer from highly accelerated
        growth rates and are both eighteen years old within three days
        of being born. In order to save their lives, Lister returns them
        to the universe of their origin, where they are reunited with
        their father (a woman), and are able to lead comparatively
        normal lives. Well, as normal as you can be if you've been born
        in a parallel universe and your father's a woman and your
        mother's a man and you're eighteen years old three days after
        your birth.  Shortly afterward, Kryten, the service mechanoid,
        who had left the ship after being rescued from his own crashed
        vessel, the Nova 5, is found in pieces after his space bike
        crashed into an asteroid. Lister rebuilds the 'noid, but is
        unable to recapture his former personality. Meanwhile, Holly,
        the increasingly erratic computer, performs a head sex change
        operation on himself. He bases his new face on Hilly, a female
        computer with whom he'd once fallen madly in love."
	
        It IS possible to read all this, using a VCR with good
        freeze-frame capabilities.  Try it.

______________________________________________________________
7. WHAT ARE THE LYRICS TO THE THEME SONG FROM THE END CREDITS?

        It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere
        I'm all alone, more or less
        Let me fly far away from here
        Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun

        I want to lie shipwrecked and comatose
        Drinking fresh mango juice
        Goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes  *
        Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun
        Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun

        *  There has been some debate over this line -- it is not sung
           very clearly, and many fans think it is simply "Goldfish ARE
           nibbling..."  However, in the fourth series episode
           "Meltdown," the end theme is performed by "Elvis" [Clayton
           Mark], and the word "shoals" is more distinct.  Also, some
           fans who have seen the episode on closed-captioned broadcasts
           report that the subtitles do read "shoals." A "shoal" is a
           school of fish.

________________________________________
8. WHAT ARE THE LYRICS TO "TONGUE TIED"?

        As mentioned in #5, "Parallel Universe" begins with a musical
        number that turns out to be a dream had by the self-centered
        Cat.  The studio audience's laughter makes the lyrics a little
        hard to understand, but combining a couple of different posters'
        ideas of what they were gave us this:

The Cat:					(Chorus -- Lister and Rimmer:)
 
When I saw you for the first time 		(first time)
My knees began to quiver 			(quiver)
And I got a funny feeling 			(feeling)
In my kidneys and my liver 			(digestive system baby)
 
My hands they started shakin' 			(shakin')
My heart began a-thumpin' 			(boom boom boom)
My breakfast left my body 			(huey huey huey)
It all really tells me something
 
Girl you make me tongue tied 			(tongue tied)
Tongue tied, whenever you are near me           (near me)
Tied tongue 					(tied tongue)
Tied tongue 					(tied tongue)
Whenever you're in town 
 
I saw you 'cross the dance floor                (dancin')
I thought of birds and bees 			(reproductive system baby)
And when I tried to speak to ya 		(talk talk)
My tongue unraveled to my knees 		(flippety-flippety-flop)
 
I tried to say I love you 			(love you)
But it came out kind of wrong, girl 		(wrong girl)
It sounded like "Nunubididoo"                   (tongue tied)
Nuh mur nuh murh ni nong nurl
 
'Cause you make me tongue tied	 		(tongue tied)
Tongue tied, whenever you are near me           (near me)
Be-dobby-durgle 				(dobby-durgle)
Tongue tied 					(tongue tied)
Whenever you're around
 
Oh I'm beggin' on my knees
Sweet, sweet darling, listen please
Understand me when I say
Bedurble-diggle-doggle-dooby-doggle-durgle-day
 
I'm trying to say nungy-nangy 			(nangy-nungy)
Ningy-nongy, why can't I tell you clearly 	(clearly)
Be-dobby-durgle 				(dobby-durgle)
Durgle-dobby 					(durgle-dobby)
Whenever you're around 				(around)
Whenever you're around 				(around)

        In the fall of 1993, "Tongue Tied" was released as a single in
        England and rose to #17 in the Gallup UK Top 40.  The artist was
        listed simply as "The Cat."  A music video of "Tongue Tied" was
        reportedly shown on the "Top of the Pops" show in England and on
        MTV in the States.

______________________________________________
9. WHAT ARE THEY REALLY SAYING IN "BACKWARDS"?

        Most of the reversed dialogue in the episode "Backwards" is
        pretty much either what the subtitles say it is or what you'd
        expect from context; some of it actually appears to be random
        noise.  There are two good exceptions, however.
	
        When Lister and the Cat steal a bicycle, its owner yells after
        them, "You scoundrels!  Return my bike immediately!" -- at
        least, according to the subtitles.  What he actually says,
        however, is, "Oi!  Hey!  Oi, you robbing bastards, that's our
        tandem!"

        Later, when the stage manager comes in to yell at Rimmer and
        Kryten, he appears to be blaming them for starting the "fight."
        Here's what he's actually saying:

        "Frankly, your act's crap.  Anyway, anybody could have done it.
        I hate the lot of you.  Bollocks to you! . . . You are a stupid,
        square-headed, bald git, aren't you?  I ain't pointing at you,
        I'm pointing at you.  But I'm not actually addressing you, I'm
        addressing the one prat in the country who's bothered to get
        hold of this recording, turn it round, and actually work out the
        rubbish that I'm saying.  What a poor, sad life he's got!"

__________________________
10. WHAT DOES "SMEG" MEAN?

        The characters in the show use it as an all-purpose profanity.
        Apparently derived from "smegma," the term for a particularly
        unpleasant bodily secretion, the slang term "smeg" was
        reportedly in use in England before the show premiered, although
        not commonly.  Grant Naylor presumably adopted this little-known
        bit of Scouse profanity as a blanket replacement for all other
        swearing, to keep them out of trouble with the BBC and to poke
        fun at the long-standing convention in science-fiction of
        inventing futuristic slang.

--- end of part 1 of 2
