DwarfCasts (a Red Dwarf podcast)

DwarfCasts: because it’s easier to do one of these than write something.

The first Red Dwarf DVD was released twenty years ago today. Yes, we regret to inform you that you're old. The fourth of November 2002 is a date indelibly printed on the brains of fans who spent months being teased and tantalised into a frenzy. Kids today with your YouTubes and your Netflixes and your Ministry of Sound may not appreciate just how big of a deal it was for Dwarf to join the digital revolution in such a wholehearted way, so gather round and listen to your Uncles Cappsy, Danny and Ian as we kick off a new series of DwarfCast retrospectives. For each edition of Re-Disc-overy, we're going to be sharing our memories of each DVD release, looking back on the media and fandom landscapes of the time, and of course revisiting and reassessing the many, many special features. Plus, we've picked out one extra per series to receive the commentary treatment, and this time it could only be Launching Red Dwarf. So get that lovely red box off your shelf, remove the dust from your ageing DVD player and join us as we discuss Red Dwarf's greatest unsung hero, unicycling jugglers, embarrassing Dimension Jump memories, the glory of Woolworths and much much more.

Show notes

• "Because the Red Dwarf movie's happening at the moment, we thought now would be an ideal time."
• Ian's contemporary review, published on the day of release
• Cappsy's contemporary review, published 26 days after release. Just saying.
• The Series 1 extras don't have subtitles, because Doug Naylor hates deaf people. So Danny has compiled subs for Launching Red Dwarf if anyone wants them.
• The TOS archives aren't conclusive about whether or not the commentaries and Launching Red Dwarf interviews were recorded on the same day, but note that none of them are wearing the same things in the doc as they are in these pictures from the commentary session.
• A double page spread from the Making Of book, the context of which will become clear when you listen. Maybe.
• Eeeeeeggs dot com
• The link between Red Dwarf's menus and the "follow the white rabbit" feature of The Matrix DVD originated on TOS's Easter Egg guide
• Original BBC Two continuity, courtesy of Jim Lynn
• Sixteen-year-old Ian's entirely pointless but time-consuming analysis of the Drunk featurette
• The old Lee & Herring website is still online, as is Rob Sedgebeer's Mudhole - Ian just misremembered the URL.

Rounding out our immediate coverage of Give & Take we now present to you the archived version of this Thursday's LIVE DwarfCast, where we dissected the episode for all of its jucy, jucy kidneys. Present were Ian Symes, Tanya Jones, Jonathan Capps, Danny Stephenson, the Fan Club's Jo Sharples and an intermittently snoring and purring black short hair called CJ. Discussion topics this week include the large number of talking points generated by the episode, as well as some breaking DVD news, speculation as to how the mobile game will eventually represent the events of the episode and finally a preview of what's to come next week / today.

Join a luxuriously big hotel room full of very tired but very happy people, as we pick through the booze-soaked remains of the very latest and very greatest official Red Dwarf convention - Dimension Jump XVIII, held 1st-3rd May 2015 in Nottingham. Your hosts for this bleary-eyed Sunday night missive are G&T's Jonathan Capps, Danny Stephenson and Ian Symes, along with TORDFC team members Joey Cannon, Jez Harrison, Mick Hayes, Alex Newsome, Carrie Parsons, Jo Sharples and Shelley Smith, DJ helpers Kiran Parsons and Melissa Stanley, and attendees/friends Aimi Brear, Simon Peel and Danny Pendleton. Phew.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the non-live version of our second live Dwarfcast, our instant reaction to Fathers & Suns. Ian Symes, Jonathan Capps, Danny Stephenson and the Fan Club's Jo Sharples convene to talk about the daddy discipline, predictive Pree and Taiwan Tony, for a very long time. We're ably assisted by some of the least rubbish G&T commenters - Alex Newsome, Kris Carter and Rich 'p2p' Lawden - via Skype, and we've also got a fantastic interview with Pree herself, Rebecca Blackstone. All this, plus exclusive news about next year's Dimension Jump, a preview of next week's episode, and a final ten seconds that are probably the best thing this site has ever achieved.