The End: Capsule
Recorded: 27/9/1987 and 8/11/1987
Broadcast: 15/2/1988
Written by: Rob Grant and Doug Naylor
Directed by: Ed Bye
What is it?
A radiation leak wipes out the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf, leaving only one survivor - chicken soup machine repairman, Dave Lister. After three million years in suspended animation, Lister emerges to find he is the last human being in the universe. But he is not alone.
Production Notes
The first episode of Red Dwarf has a long and colourful history. Originally recorded on 27th September 1987, the crew were unhappy with the poor reaction in recieved from the audience.
Rob and Doug took the episode away and re-wrote many key scenes, including the opening scene of Lister and Rimmer working, the bunkroom scene prior to George McIntyre's party and The Cat's first entrance. These re-written scenes were filmed on 8th November 1987, in front of a new, much more appreciative audience. Nevertheless, Rob and Doug were reported to have been unhappy with the end product. Fools.
The only scene to be pre-recorded for this episode was the aforementioned party scene, as it involved a lot of extras, and a fair amount of empty chairs covered with coats.
The preferred take of the scene where Lister feeds Frankenstein had to be discarded, when it was discovered that Craig Charles' testicle made an unscheduled appearance. Unfortunately, this was not included on the Smeg Outs video.
Book Version
Like The End, the first part of Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers deals with setting up the premise and situation of Red Dwarf. However, the book spends much more time on pre-accident Red Dwarf, even detailing Lister's life before he signed up for the Space Corps, as a driver of a stolen taxi on Mimas.
Once we get on board, a lot of chapters are taken up by detailing the monotonous nature of life on board ship. We read about Arnie's Zed Shift, Lister's evenings spent in the Copacabana Cocktail Bar, and Rimmer's recreational use of the stasis booths.
A cruel twist was added to Rimmer's death in the novel. Just before the accident, Rimmer stopped to comb his hair, on his way to the spare stasis booth. Had he not done this, he would have got to the stasis booth in time to survive the accident.
In the novel, the Cat is introduced by Holly detecting a life form in the cargo decks, and Lister and Rimmer going to investigate. This is much more realistic than The Cat going to them in the series. Once the Cat has been discovered, we learn much more about the history of the Cat race than we do in the series. For example, their most important invention was not fire or the wheel, but the steam-operated trouser press.
Changes from Pilot Script
- Lister was originally 42, but due to a young Craig Charles being hired, Lister was turned into a sprightly 25.
- The time Lister spent in stasis was originally to be seven billion years, but was changed to a teensy little three million years.
- Holly was originally to be a woman, but Norman Lovett was just too perfect, and Holly was made into a man. At least until Series Three.
- Originally, Red Dwarf held 129 people, but this was changed to 169. At least until Series Four.
- In the Pilot Script, the song played at McIntyre's funeral was Heaven is Ten Zillion Light Years Away by Stevie Wonder. Due to copyright issues, this was changed to See Ya Later Alligator.
Deleted Scenes
The recent DVD release featured:
- An alternate version of part of the opening Rimmer-Lister scene.
- An alternate version of the very first bunkroom exchange.
- An extended scene of Lister flirting with Kochanski.
- The lost 'funeral' scene showing Lister bidding farewell to the crew's ashes, Rimmer giving his own eulogy, and the original introduction of the Cat.
Re-Mastered
- Two CGI skutters whizz past in the opening scene.
- Holly moans about his talents being wasted while Lister and Rimmer make their way to the Welcome Back George McIntyre Reception.
- George McIntyre's speech reduced to a couple of sentences. (Travesty!)
- Extra Holly line about random urine tests ("Any urine found cheating will be automatically disqualified.") [Thanks to friend-of-the-website Karl Eisenhauer for pointing that one out.]
- Various swirley stasis effects.
- Plenty of shots of the ship in space.
- Cat evolution diagram.
- Extra Holly Line: "Yes, God?" when Lister tells him to plot a course to Fiji.
Recycled Ideas
Rob and Doug first used the idea of a character dancing and fainting in an exam in their Radio 4 show Son of Cliché (1983-1984). The character was part of a regular series of sketches called Freshers, which was about a group of first-year university students.
Character Names
Rob and Doug took several names from their school days as inspiration for their characters. There was indeed and Lister and a Rimmer, and Kochanski was the school bully. For legal reasons, I should point out that Rob and Doug only lifted the surnames from their schoolmates, not the personalities.
Lister originated from the title character of Dave Hollins: Space Cadet, a regular sketch from Son of Cliché. The name of this character was changed, when a footballer, also called Dave Hollins, got into the Chelsea first team.
Although Rob and Doug have never mentioned the origins of Holly's name, we can speculate that it was chosen for its similarity to 'Hal', the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Incidentally, the computer in Dave Hollins was called Hab, another 2001-style name.
Apparantly, The Cat was so-called because he is descended from cats. Makes sense.
Credits
| Rimmer | Chris Barrie |
| Lister | Craig Charles |
| Cat | Danny John-Jules |
| Holly | Norman Lovett |
| Todhunter | Robert Bathurst |
| Chen | Paul Bradley |
| Selby | David Gillespie |
| Captain Hollister | Mac McDonald |
| McIntyre | Robert McCulley |
| Petersen | Mark Williams |
| Kochanski | C P Grogan |
| Written by | Rob Grant and Doug Naylor |
| Music | Howard Goodall |
| Developed for Television by | Paul Jackson Productions |
| Graphic Designer | Mark Allen |
| Visual Effects Designer | Peter Wragg |
| Properties Buyer | Duncan Wheeler |
| Assistant Floor Manager | Dona Distefano |
| Production Assistant | Alison Thornber |
| Unit Manager | Mario Dubois |
| Production Manager | George R. Clarke |
| Costume Designer | Jacki Pinks |
| Make-up Designer | Suzanne Jansen |
| Vision Mixer | Jill Dornan |
| Camera Supervisor | Melvyn Cross |
| Technical Co-ordinator | Ron Clare |
| Videotape Editor | Ed Wooden |
| Lighting Director | John Pomphrey |
| Sound Supervisor | Tony Worthington |
| Designer | Paul Montague |
| Executive Producer | Paul Jackson |
| Produced & Directed by | Ed Bye |
Uncredited Extras: Ysanne Jeffers, Johnny Barrs, Tony Kennedy, Nigel Peevers, Diana Thurlow, Giselle McKenzie, Mitzi Mueller, Don Poole, Reid Jones, Peter Ingham, Trevor Nelson, Kev James, Les Allen, Anne Nurser, Tracy Carlotti, Al Brierley, Elaine Fox, Maxine Turner, Lorna McDonough, Sue Clawson, Corbert Walker, Ken Bullen, Jon Ellis-Fox, Stephen Harrison, Jon Slater, Lesley Alexander, Sue Clark-Williams, Henry Morgan, Suzanne Belfield, Linda Lee Lewis, John Mercury, Rod McKinnon.