The Nine Lives of Red Dwarf

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

35 years ago, Doug Naylor co-created a sitcom called Red Dwarf about the last human left alive in the far future. But the character is not alone. The rest of the crew aboard the ship Red Dwarf includes an annoying hologram, a very helpful android, a very unhelpful A.I. and a cat-person with a great sense of style. The show was considered a huge gamble back then. Sci-fi and comedy were not supposed to mix. But Red Dwarf was a hit – and Doug Naylor has continued to revive the show over and over due to popular demand. I talked with him about why this existential comedy works so well, and how it continues to inspire him to create “emotion bombs.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend
0:05.6	our disbelief, I'm Eric Bulinsky.
0:08.9	In the last episode, we talked about shows or movies to watch until Hollywood is up
0:13.3	and running again.
0:15.2	This episode is my entry into that discussion, Red Dwarf.
0:19.8	I first discovered Red Dwarf during the pandemic.
0:21.9	I was talking with a friend about Dr. Who, and he was surprised that I hadn't heard of
0:25.6	this other really popular long-running British sci-fi show.
0:30.7	Red Dwarf takes place mostly on a spaceship, and it's a sitcom.
0:34.8	It's really funny, but also surprisingly existential.
0:38.9	I binged through it on the streaming service Britbox, and during the pandemic, the show
0:44.9	gave me a lot of laughs when the world felt pretty dark.
0:48.9	In the first episode, we meet Dave Lister.
0:51.5	He works on Red Dwarf, which is a mining ship.
0:54.8	Here's a cool guy.
0:55.8	I mean, even today, his outfits from back then look cool, like he went thrifting advantage
1:00.8	stores.
1:02.1	But Lister is also a total slacker, and a slob.
1:06.8	It's stupid anyway, all this maintenance business.
1:10.0	The only reason he don't give this job to the service robots is they've got a better union
1:13.9	than us.
1:14.9	Lister, that is absolute nonsense.
	...

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