back in the red: RED DWARF VIII SCRIPTBOOK (BOOK)
posted by Matt Drzymala, review by Sarah Cowieson

11 years and 7 brilliant series later, the eighth installment in our favourite last human's journey through deep space sees him crashing back on board the small rouge one...and straight into serious trouble! Even though Series 8 isn't one of my personal favourites, the lines are just as funny on paper as they are on screen. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments reading the scripts, including lines which were cut from original transmission.

Doug Naylor is our guide through the scripts for Back in the Red parts 1,2 and 3, Cassandra, Krytie TV, Pete parts 1 and 2 and finally, Only the Good... Each script is illustrated with photos from each episode and some behind the scenes shots, as well as costume the designs and storyboards.

The chuckles begin before you even get to the scripts. Doug Naylor tells us how Series 8 was inspired by a complimentary hotel mint! You have to read it to believe it!! He then goes on to tell us how we were lucky to get the last two series at all, but with a bit of gentle persuasion from his manager Doug managed to get the guys back on board and the last two series were born!

There's also a very funny anicdote of a moment in rehersal where the Rimmer in Chris Barrie becomes apparent! Doug's episode intros give us an idea of what it's like to write and film Red Dwarf with a limited budget, multi pierced extras, award winning guest stars, his biggest critics (his family) and rewrite after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite.....! They are just as funny as the scripts, each consisting of memorable moments for each episode. There's also an outro for Cassandra which is about the unfortunate incident where Doug bumped his car into Craig Charles' pride and joy, his Rolls Royce! It seems Chris Barrie isn't the only one with a bit of a passion for cars!! Reading the intros is like being sat in a pub with Doug, having a quiet pint and listening to him reminisce about what it's like to be involved with making and filming the shows. They make you feel more involved in what it's like to be behind the scenes without being all technical. There are also some amazing behind the scenes pictures scattered throughout as well as shots from the show. We get to see storyboards of Starbug crashing into Red Dwarf and the scene in Cassandra where the diving bell containing the Canaries boards the Silverberg.

There is also a detailed picture of the design for the Canaries uniforms and the design process of those rats!!! It's also interesting to see the lines which were cut from the shows. A lot of them are extra one liners or little bits of dialogue which were cut for time reasons I guess. I found that one or two of the cut bits of dialogue were better off out of it. The extra dialogue between Selby and Chen wasn't really that funny.

The cut line which I wish they'd left in would have to be:

"Rimmer: I'm not moving. I'm staying here. I'm being a good boy. I think I might tidy up the cell, arrange the rat droppings in alphabetical order or something, or better still write a nice poem about Captain Hollister"

"Lister: There was a nice captain called Hollister who... nothing rhymes with Hollister. Smeg."

Series 8 was left on a cliffhanger with Rimmer kneeing death in a rather delicate area! Red Dwarf is crumbling, has Rimmer's second go at life ended before it even began?

With the Movie taking a completely different route to the series we will have to sit, wait and wonder if this latest cliffhanger will ever be deleted. Lets hope we don't have to wait til the cast look like the future characters they played in Series 6!

I highly recommend it to any and every Red Dwarf fan!

by Sarah Cowieson