From: pat@berry.Cary.NC.US (Pat Berry)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.red-dwarf
Subject: The Red Dwarf FAQ List
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 18:21:29 EDT
Organization: Berry Communications

I've received quite a few notes from people asking me to send them the
FAQ, so I'm reposting it.

(Note: I had nothing to do with compiling this list.  I just happen to
have saved a copy the last time it was posted.)

           --------------------------------------------------------
            THE  "RED  DWARF"  FREQUENTLY - ASKED  QUESTIONS  LIST
           --------------------------------------------------------
Prepared by:  Michael J                                     RD.faq Version 1.5 
Montoure and Renee Byrd					    Revised:  07/05/92
           --------------------------------------------------------

WHAT IS "RED DWARF"?

	"Red Dwarf" is a British Science-fiction comedy series that has been
        on the air for five 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 fifth season just finished on the BBC, and preparations are
        being made for a sixth season. 

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

	"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

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 won't show it, 
	write to them, and convince your friends to write to them,
	until they will!

	For those of you who have friends in England, the BBC has 
	started to release videotapes of the series.  Seasons 
	Two and Three have been released, and Season One should 
	be out by Christmas. 

HOW MANY EPISODES ARE THERE SO FAR?

	There are now five seasons of six episodes each, making a 
	total of thirty episodes.  The titles of these episodes are:

Series One:	Series Two:	Series Three:	Series Four:	Series Five:
-----------     -----------     -------------   ------------    ------------
"The End"       "Kryten"        "Backwards"      "Camille"      "Holoship"
"Future Echoes" "Better Than    "Marooned"       "D.N.A."       "The Inquisitor"
"Balance of        Life"        "Polymorph"      "Justice"      "Terrorform"
   Power"       "Thanks for     "Body Swap"      "White Hole"   "Quarantine"
"Waiting for       The Memory"  "Time Slides"    "Dimension     "Demons and 
   God"         "Stasis Leak"   "The Last Day"      Jump"          Angels"
"Confidence     "Queeg"                          "Melt Down"    "Back to 
   + Paranoia"  "Parallel Universe"                                Reality"  

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 sang very
	 clearly, and many fans think it is simply "Goldfish ARE nibbling..."
	 However, in the fourth season episode "Meltdown," the end theme is
	 performed by "Elvis" [Clayton Mark], and the word "shoals" is more
	 distinct.  A "shoal" is a school of fish.)  

WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE LAST EPISODE OF SEASON TWO?

	There is no title.  The episode opened with a musical number
	instead of the normal title sequence, and no title was given.
	Many fans call this episode "Parallel Universe", as a simple
	description of what the episode was about; others refer to it
	as "Tongue Tied", after the song in the opening musical
	performance.  "Parallel Universe" is the most common title
	used.

WHAT DOES "SMEG" MEAN?

	The characters in the show use it as an all-purpose profanity.
	Apparently derived from "smegma," the name of a particularly 
	unpleasant bodily secretion, the slang term "smeg" was reportedly
	in use in England before the show premiered, although not commonly.
	Grant and Naylor presumably adopted this little-known bit of 
	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. 

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.  Kryten's original
	actor, David Ross, wasn't available to commit to a series when
	they decided to make Kryten a continuing character.

	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.

	These changes, along with other changes between seasons two and
	three that came with a change in production companies (such as 
	news sets, costumes, and miniatures), were more or less explained 
	by the following explanation that scrolled up the screen at high-speed
	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 'roid, 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 slow-motion
	capabilities.  Try it.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FOODS MENTIONED ON THE SHOW?

	"Vindaloo," the most commonly referred to food item on the program,
	is a very, very hot Indian curry dish.  Most Indian restaurants will
	have them on the menu.  They can contain almost any variety of meat,
	thus Lister's references to "mutton vindaloo," "chicken vindaloo", etc.

	"Gazpacho soup" really does exist and really is meant to be served
	cold.  Several different recipes exist. 

	A "pot noodle" is, judging by its appearance, similar to the 
	American Cup O' Noodles.  Its quality is apparently very questionable. 

IS THERE GOING TO BE AN AMERICAN "RED DWARF"?

	Maybe.  A pilot was produced for NBC, involving Grant Naylor
	as technical consultants, Craig Bierko as Lister, Chris Eigelman
	as Rimmer, Jane Leeves as Holly, Tony award winner Hinton Battle 
	as Cat, and Robert Llewellyn reprising his role as Kryten from
	the British cast.

	Historically, many English shows have been redone for an American 
	audience ("Max Headroom" being an example), but many fans
	are still apprehensive about the uniquely British humor
	not translating too well.  

	The pilot reportedly was a retelling of "The End", with some
	elements of "Future Echoes" thrown in for good measure.

	Despite early reports that NBC had rejected the pilot,
	it is rumored that they are reconsidering it.  In any 
	event, the pilot IS finished, and we may still at
	least see that appear on our screens here in the States. 

IS THERE A "RED DWARF" FTP SITE?

	Yes.  Dave Gagne (daveg@ee.ubc.ca) has been kind enough to
	put an anonymous ftp site on toaster.ee.ubc.ca (137.82.56.10).
	There's a lot of good stuff including this FAQ and Otto Heuer's
	excellent program guide in /pub/red-dwarf.    

ARE THERE "RED DWARF" NOVELS?

	Yes -- two so far, "Red Dwarf:  Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" 
	and "Red Dwarf:  Better Than Life."  The books greatly expand on,
	and are greatly different from, the television series:  although they
	do contain several ideas from the series, these ideas are put 
	together in new and interesting ways.  

	The two books are published by Penguin Books.  The ISBN of 
	"IWCD" is 0-14-012437-3.  "BTL"'s ISBN is 0-14-012438-1.
	The books will reportedly be widely available in the U.S.
	sometime in August. 
	 
	A third novel is rumored to be in the works.

WHERE ELSE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT "RED DWARF"?

	There is now a new, fully sanctioned fan club for "Red Dwarf".
	Membership is $17 and includes four issues of their magazine,
	"Better than Life", a badge, and a membership card.  Write to:  

	THE OFFICIAL RED DWARF FAN CLUB 
	c/o MARK KENNEDY
	PO BOX 50552
	PALO ALTO, CA 94303

	There is also an official magazine for the series being 
	published in England.  We have no idea if there are overseas
	subscriptions available, but you can find it at some specialty
        shops and conventions.  For more information, write to:

	RED DWARF MAGAZINE
	FLEETWAY EDITIONS LIMITED
	3RD FLOOR
	GREATER LONDON HOUSE
	HAMPSTEAD ROAD 
	LONDON
	ENGLAND
	NW1 7QQ

	For those of you who are interested in fanzines (unofficial,
	fan-written publications), there is a new one being put out
	by Space Rat Press, entitled "Stasis Leak," including 
	several interviews and episode guides.  The first issue of
	the 'zine costs $10.00 plus $2.00 for postage and handling.
	(Make checks payable to Space Rat Press.)  Write to:

	SPACE RAT PRESS
	P.O. BOX 422
	PARK RIDGE, NJ  07656 

           --------------------------------------------------------
This F.A.Q. may be reproduced, electronically or in print, so long as the 
authors' names remain intact.   It may not be used for profit without the 
express written permission of both authors.  
           --------------------------------------------------------
MANY THANKS TO: Paul S. Winalski,           "There's an emergency going on."
D.J. Clark, Neil Postlethwaite,                 MICHAEL J MONTOURE AND 
Kimble Ketolainen, Jim Lyon,                        RENEE ANN BYRD 	
Dave Gagne, and Otto Heuer                      "It's still going on."
           --------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Pat Berry - Cary, North Carolina, USA   | Dave Barry for President
pat@berry.Cary.NC.US                    |  "He Probably Won't Use
**** Happy user of OS/2 2.0 ****        |     Nuclear Weapons"
Newsgroups: alt.tv.red-dwarf