Red Dwarf Babies, we make our dreams come true

[ajsmith2]

'After this came the real surprise, when we were cautioned to definitely turn off any naughtily left-on recording devices – a short sizzle reel was screened, for a project to be called Red Dwarf: Titan, written by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall – Rob's recent writing partner on Quanderhorn and The Nether Regions.

This would be a prequel to Red Dwarf, apparently featuring Young Rimmer and Young Lister, named for Saturn's moon of Titan. It felt like it would occupy a similar space of the first section of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers while perhaps being a little more adventure-focused. No further information was provided. It's not even clear whether it would be a TV series or perhaps a radio thing. It could even be a book or a comic.'


https://www.ganymede.tv/2023/11/bfi-screening-report-and-red-dwarf-prequel-news/

[thr0b]

That's not a bad idea. That pre-disaster universe is worthy of exploring, and Marshall is a great writer.

Plus Rob Grant.

[Good Hank]

That section of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is about three chapters long.

[thr0b]

That section of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is about three chapters long.

It is, but there's a lot that can be done in expanding that whole plot.

I doubt it'll happen, but I like the idea.

[gilbertharding]

Oh - did they do the Quanderhorn stuff? That's good fun.

This'll be OK, I reckon. If you like that sort of thing.

[Toki]

I like Quanderhorn quite a lot, but it's very different to Red Dwarf and I'm not sure about this. I'm probably being overprotective of an interpretation of the show that stopped being what it is a decade or two ago, but if this gets made I'll still check it out.

Have they given up on Quanderhorn with the passing of John Sessions? If so, that's a shame. I liked what they did with Guuuurk in the second series and was hoping they'd give similarly well-developed arcs with decent emotional stakes to the rest of the characters. The cast all seemed perfectly suited to their roles too, elevating some pretty basic and predictable gags along the way.

But yeah, I'm cautiously interested in more Red Dwarf from a different angle.

[Shaky]

Hmmm... can't say I'm immediately taken with this idea. Who honestly has ever thought - beyond a few chapters in the book and the odd series flashback - "Yes, I'd love a Red Dwarf prequel"?

Although given it's unlikely to be a live-action thing so Rob won't tread on Doug's toes, maybe... something else could work.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Oh wow. I'd certainly watch/read it.

[bgmnts]

So it would fit an entire adventure novel in the moments just before the radiation leak?

The whole point is that life on board is so unbearably dull that Lister smuggles in the cat to deliberately speed up the trip by being put in stasis. Doesn't sound like good subject for a piece of fiction in that vein.

[Good Hank]

There's some mileage in the pub crawl that gets Lister to Mimas, and maybe in the what happens next. But yeah, as somebody said earlier, Mimas is such a depressing experience for Lister he just spends his money on getting slaughtered. No madcap adventures there, and certainly none with Rimmer beyond ferrying him to brothels.

[thr0b]

Of course, you assume it'd mostly be about Rimmer and Lister. There's a whole populated universe they were part of at the time. And that universe doesn't have to be exactly the same as the one we know from the show or the novels.

Also, wouldn't read much into "Red Dwarf". More "From The Worlds Of Red Dwarf: Titan"
(With Nick Briggs as everyone.)
BIG FINISH. WE LOVE STORIES.

[bgmnts]

Ahhhh so it could even be before Lister and Rimmer meet?

Don't think that'd work, as the premise so heavily revolves around their odd couple relationship.

[dissolute ocelot]

I can see something featuring Lister and Rimmer together as possibly working (although would Charles and Barrie provide voices or similar? de-age them?) You'd have to find a way of repeatedly putting them together and forcing them to rub up against each other, but I'm sure that would be possible, even if it's not quite canon. It's a sufficiently generic idea. Although you'd need to find the right references and tone and voice.

[thr0b]

And again, they don't need to be the main characters. They're not the main characters for the first couple of chapters of Infinity. Not immediately.

Arguably, George McIntyre is the main character for a bit.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I dunno, there's an entire sci-fi/future setting to explore there. I'd watch but only if it's done earnestly and isn't just a huge pile of references tossed in because hey remember Talky Toaster?! OOH OOH LISTER'S THINKING OF BUYING ONE OOOOOH

[Toki]

I'd watch but only if it's done earnestly and isn't just a huge pile of references tossed in because hey remember Talky Toaster?!

Yeah, it was bad enough in series 12. Getting David Ross back in to just do slight variations on old lines was such a waste. I know Grant wasn't involved, but hopefully Marshall will reign in any similar impulses Grant may have.

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/red-dwarf-prequel-tv-original-cast-exclusive-newsupdate/

"The important thing is, it's also one universe to the side, so that gives us some leeway in how we can handle things.

"Basically, Lister and Rimmer are bunkmates already, and they go down for shore leave on Titan. And Titan's like this hideous favela of rundown, dirty, dingy alleyways, street traders, criminals, and while they're there, they get a warning from some mysterious source and they have to go off on various escapades to get out of it."

Just make something new. None of this really needs to be Red Dwarf related or feature Lister and Rimmer. Just make a new story. I don't see this getting made as a TV show anyway so just write a new sci-fi story, slap "from the creator of Red Dwarf" on it, and folk will read it.

[ajsmith2]

Just make something new. None of this really needs to be Red Dwarf related or feature Lister and Rimmer. Just make a new story. I don't see this getting made as a TV show anyway so just write a new sci-fi story, slap "from the creator of Red Dwarf" on it, and folk will read it.

No, y'see it's all got to be part of the same never ending, ever expanding branded multimedia franchise. Can't make a new thing that's separate, it must be absorbed back into the motherblob.

[Mobbd]

I'm fine with this.

So it's about young Lister and Rimmer getting into a scrape on Titan. They're already bunkmates on Red Dwarf so it's not a 'how we met' story.

They do reminisce about shore leave on Titan in the main show. They meet some girls and Lister tells them that Rimmer works as a shelf. And Frankenstein was impregnated by "a big black Tom on Titan."

Maybe it will end with the accident?

And then if it's successful and they want to write another season, they can go back yet another stride in history to Mimas or whatever.

(PS: I don't think Lister brought the cat on board to get into stasis did he? You don't get paid in stasis. It was just his punishment. Unless I misremember?)

This is almost what I want. I hope hoping for Infinity as a three-hour Netflix-style thing. But this is kinda okay. I like that it's a fresh start, something a bit different, new cast.

I'm also fine with it being "one universe over." The novels are a different universe to the TV show. The audiobooks, as we were recently discussing on CaB, are yet another. Plus all the Holly Hopping and Dimension Jumping we've been doing on Red Dwarf since Series II.

[bgmnts]

(PS: I don't think Lister brought the cat on board to get into stasis did he? You don't get paid in stasis. It was just his punishment. Unless I misremember?)

He did indeed. He broke up with Kochanski, and found life on board so abysmally dull he deliberately got the cat on leave - the lowest risk of danger and smallest penalty possible - and got caught with it deliberately to get put into stasis and go back to Earth instantly.

I find this a much more interesting motivation than the tv show, where he's so stupid he just takes a photo for a laugh.

[Mobbd]

He did indeed. He broke up with Kochanski, and found life on board so abysmally dull he deliberately got the cat on leave - the lowest risk of danger and smallest penalty possible - and got caught with it deliberately to get put into stasis and go back to Earth instantly.

I find this a much more interesting motivation than the tv show, where he's so stupid he just takes a photo for a laugh.

That's twice you've pwned me this evening and I deserve it. I am a complete and total cockade.

[Mobbd]

I find this a much more interesting motivation than the tv show, where he's so stupid he just takes a photo for a laugh.

Oh wait, that motivation was just in the novels? Aaah, that's why I didn't remember it.

I don't know if Titan will go by novel logic or telly logic. Probably neither.

[bgmnts]

I mean, if you're not at least on nodding terms with French Revolutionary symbolism and the first few chapters of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers...

Edit - oh yeah in the show there is no motivation! I assumed this would go by novel continuity because it's more interesting!

[ProvanFan]

Comer as McGruder

[lauraxsynthesis]

Comer as McGruder

YES

[Rankersbo]

Oh wait, that motivation was just in the novels? Aaah, that's why I didn't remember it.

I don't know if Titan will go by novel logic or telly logic. Probably neither.

I think it was in the first novel, but I didn't think it actively contradicted the TV series, it was more stuff that wasn't spelt out on screen.