Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf is a British comedy which primarily comprises ten series (the ninth being a mini-series) of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1993 and from 1997 to 1999, and on Dave in 2009 and 2012, gaining a cult following. In May 2015, it was announced that Series XI and XII will film back-to-back later in 2015 and will air exclusively on the Dave channel in 2016 and 2017.

The series was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. In addition to the television episodes, there are four novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, a radio version produced for BBC Radio 7, tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.

Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character-driven comedy, with off-the-wall science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the Odd Couple-style relationship between the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other and are trapped together deep in space. The main characters are Dave Lister, the last known human alive, and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram of Lister's dead bunkmate. The other regular characters are Cat, a lifeform which evolved from the descendants of Lister's pregnant pet cat Frankenstein; Holly, Red Dwarf's computer; Kryten, a service mechanoid; and, as of Series VII to Back to Earth, Kristine Kochanski, an alternative-reality version of Lister's long-lost love.

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (also referred to as Red Dwarf IX and Red Dwarf: Series IX) is a three-part miniseries continuation of the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf, broadcast on UK television channel Dave between 10 and 12 April 2009 and subsequently released on DVD on 15 June 2009 and on Blu-ray on 31 August 2009. It was the first television outing for Red Dwarf in over ten years, and features the characters Rimmer, Cat, Holly, Kryten and Lister. The storyline involves the characters arriving back on Earth, circa 2009, only to find that they are characters in a television series called "Red Dwarf".

Plot

"Part One" begins on Red Dwarf, nine years after the events of Series VIII. Kochanski (Chloë Annett) is dead and Holly is out of commission because Lister (Craig Charles) left a bath running in the officers' quarters for nearly nine years and the Skutters still have not finished drying him out. The crew have noted water supplies are low, and discover the cause—a giant squid in their water tank—after they go to investigate. After they barely escape from the encounter with their lives, the squid proceeds to vanish, and Katerina Bartikovsky (Sophie Winkleman), a former Red Dwarf science officer, materialises. Informing Rimmer (Chris Barrie) he is to be switched off in twenty-four hours, she uses the ship's equipment to analyse the leviathan's DNA and manages to turn a mining laser into a dimension cutter, in the hope of opening up a portal so that Lister can find a mate and restart the human race.

Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers

Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is a best-selling science fiction comedy novel by Grant Naylor, the collective name for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, co-creators and writers of the Red Dwarf television series, on which the novel is based. First published in 1989, the novel presents the plotline of the TV series as a cohesive linear narrative, providing expanded backstory of the Red Dwarf world and more fully developing each of the characters, particularly Lister and Rimmer. The book incorporates elements and scenes from the first and second season episodes The End, Future Echoes, Kryten, Me² and Better Than Life. In 1990 the book was followed by a sequel, Better Than Life.

The book has also been released in a 1992 Omnibus Edition and as an Unabridged Audiobook, read by Chris Barrie.

Plot summary

The book begins in 2180. Commercialism is still rife, and most of Earth's natural resources have been depleted. Most of the solid planets and moons in the solar system have been colonised. Having ended up in a supply port on Saturn's orbiting moon Mimas after celebrating his 24th birthday by binge drinking on a Monopoly Pub Crawl in London, Dave Lister is trying to earn enough money for a shuttle ticket home by stealing taxis and picking up fares while sleeping in a bus station locker. But since he always ends up losing the money, either by getting mugged or by getting drunk, it's obvious he won't be getting home any time soon.