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There's no kind of atmosphere
I hope Rob Grant would take it in the intended spirit that when I heard the news of his sudden death, all I could think was "All most of us get is 'Mind that bus!' 'What bus?' Splat!" The first six and a half series of original flavor Red Dwarf (1988–99) were a social staple of my sophomore year of college, watched primarily in my case from the top half of a bunk bed occupied by a structurally unwise number of students who would shortly branch out into whatever British television comedy we could get hold of the tapes for. It became an immediate and ineradicable part of our language. Decades later, the number of quotations from especially the first three series that have worked themselves into my present household lingo would be difficult to estimate without a rewatch. In storage with the rest of my library, I still have some of the tie-in novels, including at least one of the separately authored parallel continuations, which unfortunately for this memoriam may have been Doug Naylor's. I cannot find that I ever saw another project of Grant's except for the first series of The 10%ers (1993–96) and I am still stricken to lose yet another artist while Kissinger's heirs don't even seem to be in this machine. Not everybody has to be dead, Dave.
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I actually came to the show by way of the tie-in books instead of the other way around. I found the first one or two in a used bookstore in the early 90s, and didn't even know it was a TV show until quite a bit later. In college, I found and read some episode transcripts online, but it wasn't until the late 90s that I managed to see the actual show. I still have the first few season on DVD.
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That's very timely and should totally not have been in memoriam! I would have pounced on a behind-the-scenes Red Dwarf book if I had seen one in college.
I actually came to the show by way of the tie-in books instead of the other way around. I found the first one or two in a used bookstore in the early 90s, and didn't even know it was a TV show until quite a bit later. In college, I found and read some episode transcripts online, but it wasn't until the late 90s that I managed to see the actual show.
I had much the same experience with the original series of Star Trek. We had the short-story-ized volumes of all three seasons in the house and I read almost all of them before I could be exposed to any of the episodes on television. We also had a bunch of tie-in novels of which my far and away favorite was Diane Duane's Spock's World (1988). I have no idea if Jean Lorrah's The Vulcan Academy Murders (1984) was any good, but it was set on Vulcan and I read it. I cannot recommend James Blish's Spock Must Die! (1970).
I can't remember if I had even heard of Red Dwarf before it was pitched by [the college friend whom I would later date for about two years] who brought his tapes with him from Florida, but it became instantly one of those social glues that everyone would pour themselves into the same too-small double to watch.
I still have the first few season on DVD.
Nice.
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You're welcome! I'm sorry it was the news about Red Dwarf I had to bring!
I first ran into Red Dwarf in the late 90s, thanks to the same now defunct TV channel where I also discovered Sapphire & Steel, Department S, and a whole bunch of British TV.
What a godsend of a channel. My initial college friend group had one person who had imprinted on it and justly evangelized.
It's immensely quotable! ("You can't just whack Death on the head!" "If he comes near me I'm gonna rip his nipples off!")
"Now weary traveler, rest your head, for just like me, you're utterly dead."
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P.
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On perpetual rotation in any house graced by cat.
*hugs*
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"FISH!"
"Today's fish is... Trout a la Creme."
"FISH!"
And "Food escape!"
*hugs* It's a pity.
P.
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"Enjoy your meal."
"I WILL."
*hugs*
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Decades later, the number of quotations from especially the first three series that have worked themselves into my present household lingo would be difficult to estimate without a rewatch.
<3<3<3
A good source. "Are you sure, sir? It will mean changing the bulb!"
I watched RD for the first time at uni, too - my flatmate made me watch eps 5.6 to 6.5 that she had taped in succession and that did it. (After that we rented what we could find at random, until '97 when s7 turned up on TV and I managed to catch some of it). So... I started with Back to Reality! XD (I think that's a suitably RD place to start, really.)
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I know! I heard it from
I watched RD for the first time at uni, too - my flatmate made me watch eps 5.6 to 6.5 that she had taped in succession and that did it. (After that we rented what we could find at random, until '97 when s7 turned up on TV and I managed to catch some of it).
That's delightful. I was lucky enough to know someone who had six and a half series on VHS.
So... I started with Back to Reality! XD (I think that's a suitably RD place to start, really.)
Absolutely.
*hugs*
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The ratio is very off.