Ian's Newsround - 09/01/04
This is quite a small newsround this week, seeing as John went and reported on all but one item from today's TOS update a couple of days ago. The big fanny.
Still, it's such a big item, it's worth mentioning twice. It's the Series IV DVD menus! It's the Series IV DVD menus! Yes folks, with the Region 1 release (BASTARDS) only three and a half weeks away, we get a nice gawp at what the Yanks (and Europeans with multi-region players) will be frantically navigating. And the first deviation from the previous release comes just after "you" get off Starbug - Series IV is written on the door. Then, when we get into the "science room/drive room/medi-bay/whatever", we see that the new artefacts on display are a parrot, some Leopard Lager, Rimmer's light bee, a massive fishing net and some sort of microphone. Now, forgive me if I'm being thicker than the offspring of a village idiot and a TV weather girl, but I can't place that microphone type thing. What's it from? Post what will inevitably be a ludicrously obvious answer below.
Let's have a goosey at the episode menu. All titles are spelt correctly, and are in the proper broadcast order. Huzzah! Not only that, there's a copy of "Up, Up and Away", the in-flight magazine from Dimension Jump. These menu shots also give us a sneak preview of the chapters for the first half of Dimension Jump - Ace In The Making, Rubber Shares, Gone Fishing and Front Seat Driver. So, the stuff set in Ace's dimension is being split in two. Hmm. Bit daft, but it's no use being cynical about something when it's note even going to be released in this country for another six weeks.
And that's Disc One sorted. On Disc Two, we come down the corridor, which has been decorated with a Titan Hilton towel; first seen back in Series I, and re-used when Lister is ill in Justice. Over in the bunkroom, some bugger has left the following items lying about: Lister's guitar (music cues?), Ace's helmet (Life In Lam�?), a curry (Can't Smeg Won't Smeg?), a pair of Justice boots, "Barbara Bellini"'s escape pod, Talkie Toaster, some polaroids (gallery?), Kryten's spare heads, a big red heart-shaped balloon and Talkie's start-up sequence on the vidscreen (trailers?). Excellently, the spare heads will move and talk, which I'm sure will be rather amusing. My one gripe is with the big red heart-shaped balloon. It's not a prop that's ever been used in the show. Mind you, what love-based props are there? Oh, and the polaroids should be of Robert Llewellyn's cock.
Don't forget, Series IV will feature the option of a text-based bonus features menu. News of a replacement disc for Series III is promised soon. I've not had problems with it myself, but there are still people who haven't seen the some of the extras, which is a pisser. Young Ellard also mentions that Series V will stick to the same shipbound formula as the last two releases, and VI will have a new menu system, set on Starbug. I imagine that V will have the same core menus as III and IV, then, with just the series-specific artefacts changed. Nowt at all wrong with that - why make two completely different menu systems, when the budget is tight enough as it is?
Oh, and let's deconstruct a paragraph from the listings report on TOS. In the bit about Britain's Best Sit-Com, Ellard lets slip that the three-hour show will feature "classic clips and Craig Charles's interview". So, Red Dwarf will be dealt with on the night, and not given it's own documentary. So, it's not in the top ten. Bah! Oh well; we weren't really expecting it to be. John will be doing a little report on the show this weekend.
Comments
Don't forget the hair dryer on top of the science room console. I have no clue as to the microphone, but I'm thinking it could belong to Elvis.
Posted by Austin Ross at January 9, 2004 11:43 PM
If the budget is as tight as they claim, they shouldn't waste it on the bloody menus to start with!
'Launching Red Dwarf' might have been the masterpiece it should have been had they not blown all that money on the menus. Also, it wouldn't take me an hour to get to an episode.
Posted by Darrell Jones at January 10, 2004 12:03 AM
The mystery microphone might actually be a fishing bobber/float- it looks like it has some sort of hook at the end. But I'd have to see the episode again to know for sure.
Posted by Robert Maitland at January 10, 2004 12:26 AM
For the RD bit in 'Britain's Best Sitcom', do you think they'll just re-use that Craig Charles interview from 'the sitcom story' where he describes RD as "like Porridge in Space?" I bet they will.
Posted by Simon at January 10, 2004 03:46 AM
Hmmm, This top 50 thingy seems a very closely guarded secret..I've spent considerable time (It's quiet at work, honest)searching for anything relating to it, with very little success several sites mention Dwarf, and it features heavily on several Beeb sites and apart from reading that Rimmer is the biggest Smeg Head on television, there are very few clues as to what shows will feature...Assuming that TOS have prior knowledge re: Andrews update then others must have had info as well..Considering the ammount of people/shows involved It's surprising that nobody has let something slip.....I suppose this means, We'll have to watch the show :-)
Posted by Cpt-D at January 10, 2004 11:46 AM
Following a trip to Blackadder hall, I was surprised to see how many listed Red Dwarf in their choice of top 5s/10s...It looks like simular discusssions are taking place everywhere...
Posted by Cpt-D at January 10, 2004 11:58 AM
It's pretty odd about the DVD menus. When it comes to the web I'm a stickler for content above presentation; I get very annoyed at sites that look nice, but are inaccessible, or have crap content, blah blah blah.
But I love the Dwarf DVD menus. I adore them. I never skip past them; I enjoy them every single time they come on. Sure, there are problems with them - the reuse of the Drive Room for II, which was also budget probs; the nasty flat piece of wall by the stairs as you go up to the Episode Selection menu on the III disc; the annoying navigation for the extras on all the releases (but the text menu will fix this).
But overall they are lovely (I doubt many people would argue with that) - but I love them so much I'm glad they spent the money on them; even to the detriment of the Launching Red Dwarf documentary. Which is odd, and I know I shouldn't really feel like that...
Posted by John Hoare at January 10, 2004 08:17 PM
I wonder why the VII repeats have been postponed/cancelled? It seems bloody stupid to only show one ep of it and then stop; they shouldn't have started in the first place.
Posted by John Hoare at January 14, 2004 07:45 PM
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