RD Vlogs: Sdrawkcab (Backwards)

[@darkside9020]

I think the Ronald Reagan mask is a reference to the fact Chris Barrie used to voice him in the satirical sketch show Spitting Image

[@sirdeadlock]

Oh wow! You just made me realize that that's the voice he was using for Dangerous Dan McGrew, bare fist fighter extraordinaire. Ronald Reagan used to star in Westerns. I just looked up the wiki to check the name. And near the bottom it even says that!

[@Foebane72]

It was not actually that difficult to reverse the manager's speech back in the day, because I had a Commodore Amiga with a sound sampler, and all I had to do was to sample that section's audio and simply reverse it in a sample editor. I was embarrassed by what he said when he played it back, but I was quite pleased to show off this tech to my sister and grandmother who were there at the time.

[@jochenstacker7448]

It wasn't difficult with an Amiga*, but with a C64 it was impossible. You'd have to go analog and record it onto tape (video, cassette, reel to reel) off live TV and somehow manage to fumble it into the machine backwards. If you had it on video, you'd still have to get it onto audio tape first, so not easy at all. *Yeah, it kinda was, you'd still have to capture the audio off live TV or video and reverse it.

[@jaycee330]

@@jochenstacker7448 My solution was simpler. Reel to reel tape recorder which I flipped backwards.

[@thesmithersy]

So you were that one prat in the country! ;)

[@Foebane72]

@@JohnBloggs-m8l I did it the high tech way.

[@georgeowain]

Probably a few years late with this comment. But in the /backwards novel you mentioned. After the Dwarfers leave Backward Earth and go back through the Time Hole to rendezvous with Red Dwarf. They instead find RD gone, and Holly's CPU adrift in space. Holly, who is powered up, but only has minutes before his limited power sees him go off line for good, reveals that Red Dwarf was boarded by Argonoids. A more violent and machine like variant of the Simulans. Who after ripping Holly out and jettisoning him, they rebuilt Red Dwarf's interior in to battle arenas. However, pretty much the majority are slaughtered, with two making their way to Starbug. Ace is blown up but takes one of them with him. While the Dwarfers manage to kill the other. But not before he uploads the Armageddon Virus from Gunmen of the Apocalypse. As in that episode. Kryten attempts to eliminate the Virus in his Western dream state. Its origin revealed to be inspired by a book he was reading. And then gets help from the crew who link their VR game unit to him. Things however do get pretty violent when the virus affects the VR Unit. Kryten however prevails, but unlike the episode. His CPU gets burned out, as does Rimmer's hollow emitter, Resulting in their deaths. With nothing or no one left for them, Lister and Cat take Ace's craft and jump in to a reality. Where they encounter a Red Dwarf, manned only by Kryten and Rimmer. Who reveal that their counterparts died in the virtual game; Better than Life.

[@Cyborcat]

Wow, that's ... dark and weird.

[@MichaelCarter1967347053]

Fun fact, this episode made like the idea of stuff going backwards, mostly listening to music in reverse which is what my first KZbin video was

[@TheAbstruseOne]

The novel Backwards came out long after this episode was filmed - it was released during the hiatus between Series VI and Series VII. Doug Naylor and Rob Grant had stopped working together by this time and each released their own sequel novel to Better Than Life. Doug Naylor wrote a novel called Last Human while Rob Grant wrote the novel Backwards. Both of them picked up where Better Than Life. In fact, the only plotline from the TV series which showed up first in the novels was Series IV's "White Hole". At the end of Better Than Life, Red Dwarf is being sucked into a black hole causing relativistic time differences along the ship. To close these, Lister has to play pool with planets (this is the plot from "White Hole"), but ends up crashing on a garbage planet with evolved giant cockroaches he finds out is a semi-sentient Earth. Because of the time effects, the rest of the crew only takes a few hours to rescue Lister, but for him it had been decades. In order to de-age him and to get Holly back some of his operational lifespan (due to the intelligence compression similar to the episode "White Hole"), both Lister and Holly are sent to the backwards time world in order to live their lives backwards. A canister containing the remains of Kristine Kochanski is also sent. The big split between Last Human and Backwards is that in the former, Kochanski joins the crew similar to Series VII but in the latter, she leaves as though she were native to the backwards world after she is "introduced" to Lister at a party. Wow, I did not mean for this comment to go on that long...

[@Cyborcat]

+TheAbstruseOne "The novel Backwards came out long after this episode was filmed" You're the third person to tell me that. I guess I need to add an annotation.

[@TheAbstruseOne]

+Cyborcat Sorry. I checked the comments to see if someone said it, but I guess I missed it.

[@mrcritical6751]

There were also issues between VI and VII because Craig Charles was in jail for fake rape charges

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

That reverse manager speech. All this time, I never thought of recording it then playing backwards. It was hilarious. And it wouldn't have been that difficult you just have to flip the reels in the audio cassette.

[@jochenstacker7448]

You'd have to think to record it off the telly beforehand. Back then, if you missed it, you missed it.

[@mollymcdade4031]

I had to read Time’s Arrow for my University (the entire book runs backwards) and all I could think of was it was basically a gritty version of this episode.

[@djbowman332]

This episode would be one of my top fav episodes of the whole show if I ever made a top favorites list. I have fond memories of watching this one for the first time. :)

[@captainroger]

I'm addicted to this series

[@PassiveSmoking]

Another big change is the sets. The quarters set change is justified in universe with a little "officers quarters" plaque on the set, and why not? If the rest of the ship is empty why not claim nicer quarters? The change to the drive room set is pretty much just ignored.

[@PhialSubstance]

They don't visit the drive room again until season 8. The room you're thinking of is named as 'the scanning room' in DNA.

[@reloadpsi]

Anyone else notice Cat downed (well, upped) his pint faster than Lister?

[@whovianhistorybuff]

And he didn't unspill any of it.

[@RThyrring]

So how many are watching this episode after watching Tenet 😅

[@themagictheatre2965]

Have you read the Red Dwarf novels? The one for Backwards is really good, the episode pales in comparison..

[@InfectedChris]

One of my favorite episodes of this show! I just stumbled upon your channel and I'm loving working through these episodes. I've been watching RD since I was a kid and I saw it, along with Red Green, on PBS.

[@Cyborcat]

Thanks! Glad you like the videos, so far.

[@Cam-pg4wl]

Speaking personally, I've always had a little crush on Betty Rubble.It's the little things, like the way she would cover her mouth with her hand when she did that cute little giggle.

[@Majorhappysaccount]

Time slides should have really been the first episode, Kryten works in a pub here but doesn't know what one is in Time Slides.

[@SunnyIntervalsORG]

I only noticed recently that they 'borrowed' one of Ben Burtt's sound effects from Empire Strikes Back: The roaring sound just before the opening RD theme is the same sound we hear when Luke crashes his X-Wing into the swamp!

[@bsheets5888]

7:44 is awesome.never thought to play it backwards to find out what they said

[@Awakeandalive1]

Oh great! I can't stop seeing PSB in the episode now. XD "West End 'Droids..." Also, the line of the episode for me is definitely: "This isn't a barroom brawl, it's a barroom tidy! UNRUMBLE!"

[@Awakeandalive1]

+Awakeandalive1 Oh! Also, the novel was based on the episode not the other way 'round. And like most of the Red Dwarf novels it takes a simple episode idea and spins it into something larger and longer.

[@Cyborcat]

+Awakeandalive1 Ah, I figured it was like Infinity where the book came first. Tho it being written later does explain the inclusion of Ace =P

[@andreagaul4960]

This is the first episode I remember watching.

[@MegaFat1]

Any chance of reversing this and releasing on it's own. It would be pretty amusing to have a backwards version of this.

[@MedionSinger]

+MegaFat1 I believe that on the 3rd season DVD has the episode, well, reversed.

[@MegaFat1]

I mean a reversed version of the review, like the episode.

[@MedionSinger]

Oooh. Okay. Gotcha.

[@MegaFat1]

Katzman 79 I can see where you got confused.

[@Cyborcat]

+MegaFat1 I wish I had thought to do that for April Fools since that's the day this came out. Ah well.

[@obsidianserpent9585]

The book this episode is based on is fantastic.

[@MichaelBrookham]

I think this was one of the best they did. I don't watch a lot of Science Fiction shows, but I think this is the only one that I have seen where the crew actually goes to a backwards universe, which is handled very well by Red Dwarf. It was a great episode from start to finish. What is even funnier is that the Season 3 DVD set comes with a bonus CD that has this entire episode run the other way, which means it is called "Backwards Forwards". In this, you get to see what everybody who is speaking backwards is actually saying. The lady in the restaurant who is drinking her tea and eating her éclair backwards is actually saying to Rimmer "The service here is atrocious", or something to that effect. If you don't know what they are saying, then it is fun to try and pretend to know what they are saying. I also noticed something else about Season 3. Even though none of the episodes in this season actually feature a story about the Cat, it actually defines him very well in this season, and gives him more involvement in the plot of the stories.

[@MichaelBrookham]

Well don't forget that Holly is with Kryten and Rimmer. She would be able to give him the clothes that he needs.@@JohnBloggs-m8l

[@roberthunton8175]

That episode was awesome 👍

[@PhialSubstance]

It's so confusing because if things were moving forwards they would show up, start a fight, get given a job for a few weeks then disappear off the face of the earth lol

[@Cyborcat]

The more you think about this episode, the less sense it makes XD

[@The_Mighty_Fiction]

It makes even less sense if you think it through since run forwards, Lister apparently started a fight by walking into the bar and punching a dead-ass stranger in the teeth for no reason at all, Rimmer and the Cat got bawled out by the manager, lost the gig ... and then did another show when Lister and the Cat showed up _after_ the fight they started _before_ they got there. Then the taxi that drops them off at the club goes to pick them up where they left Starbug... and Lister pays the driver the fare _before_ they get in.

[@tyrant-den884]

This was one of my favorites.

[@quinnzykir]

I fucking love Girl Holly

[@kb9072]

Why? I hated her at the time. Now I'm OK with her but definitely prefer Norman.

[@timothystuedemann5390]

It took me watching the episode with my brother to understand what happened at the end. It was not a trait of cat but actually him going to the bathroom on a backwards world. Basically what comes out must come back in and it took him by surprise. This Also explains why he walks out of the bushes with stiff legs.

[@LordRyan88]

This is the first red dwarf episode i sew

[@MichaelCarter1967347053]

Same

[@buddha4tw]

You know how scientists are often inspired by science fiction they watched or read when they were young, can't wait to see what Red Dwarf inspires in our current new crop of scientists.

[@sterby1]

The unpoop toilet?

[@natakug1]

Spoiler: not spoiler in a future episode, its shown that the holograms in the show use a small device that projects the hologram around them. so in the ejection scene he could technically thrown out

[@Cyborcat]

+Mheros Ah, I wasn't thinking about the Light Bee. I guess that makes sense.

[@natakug1]

Cyborcat ^_^; it does....technically. But its more like retroactive thinking in season two. Cause for all the same reasons that it makes sense, it falls apart when you consider question "how did Lister walk through Rimmer without hitting the Light Bee. i wonder if they came up with that gag, around the same time as the Light Bee. Also.... LOVE YOUR WORK! ^_^

[@Cyborcat]

+Mheros Thankies.

[@mrcritical6751]

+Mheros my theory is 1. Rimmer's chair is holographic so he can sit on it like his exercise bike in Parallel Universe 2. I think his light bee was a direct result of his fate at the end of timeslides and because he died later in life tech was more advanced so he was built into a light bee 3. (This is unrelated) Rimmer can walk through walls in episodes like entangled because he has tech from alternate dimensions after spending some time as Ace so has been made into basically a human but made of light because in Trojan you see Howard's light bee so they still exist

[@bujin1977]

I think it's generally not a good idea to try to think too much about the hows and the whys. If you start pulling at that thread, you hit so many plot holes and inconsistencies throughout Red Dwarf, but especially in this episode. For example, when Lister and Cat are talking to the guy asking for a lift and point to where they want to go, the guy says "get in" and drives them there. But if you reverse that, why on earth would they get in the van at their destination, drive somewhere, get out of the van and then ask the guy if he can give them a lift? It's a comedy first and foremost, and will invent whatever it needs when it needs it to drive the humour.

[@RBEmpathy]

Hey again, I love your videos. They deserve so much more attention. Anyhow, I can't remember when they retconned the fact that Rimmer has a small physical presence, but maybe that would explain why he could get ejected from the starbug? The real question, for me, is how the hell the little hologram device floats in the air like that. Also I love that you were designing a Rimmer costume for someone. You sound like a great and fun friend.

[@Cyborcat]

Thanks. I was making it for my husband because I cosplay as Cat sometimes so I figure we should both have Red Dwarf costumes. Still haven't finished it, but I still have what I've done so far, so maybe someday =P

[@williamcrowe2576]

Crazy thing, bitter said backwards isn't pronounced "rettib".

[@Howyaduing]

That’s how you recon a show!!!

[@damimates]

That chapter "smoke me a kipper " too acey

[@Burori1]

As a Bulgarian, I don't know how to feel about the jabs, XD

[@Cyborcat]

+Burori1 If it makes you feel any better, they go after pretty much everyone at some point =P

[@Burori1]

Cyborcat Well at least it's equal opportunity, XD

[@tokuguythereviewer4496]

i am confused who did came first the book or the show

[@Cyborcat]

For some reason, I was under the impression that the books came out first when I made these videos, but I've since been told that the show did.

[@tokuguythereviewer4496]

@@Cyborcat so the show came first

[@peterxyz3541]

Pet shop boys? You my people 👍🏼. I just watch Cassandra before this, any chance for a deep dive on Chrisy Cachanski?

[@Cyborcat]

Nah, I don't think she's interesting enough. Always nice to meet a fellow PSB fan, tho ^.^

[@jankreft6753]

it's a shame that they couldn't get the pregnant Lister right. I'm sure it would be an pretty awesome episode :D

[@optimisticwhovian1726]

Yeh I duno what the issue was for them and considering this shitstorm of an episode was a complete mess plotwise what they had planned couldn't have been any worse this episode really looks rushed and badly formulated its not one of my favourites at all.

[@jamesatkinsonja]

They discuss this in the series 2 documentary. Long story short they just couldn't get it to work or be very funny so abandoned it.

[@saint23thomas]

Please tell me that you don't actually use IFLS as a source for science news.

[@Cyborcat]

+Thomas Waggoner I just did a google search and that was the first result that came up.

[@futureravenable]

Red Dwarf and Pet Shop Boys fangirling... sure you don't have any obscure British relatives?

[@Cyborcat]

+Manganese Hawk Heh. No, but I do have an old friend who was something of an anglophile and he was the one who got me into Pet Shop Boys and Siouxsie & The Banshees. I got into Red Dwarf and Blackaddar on my own, tho =P

[@futureravenable]

Clearly you both have fantastic taste :p I really look forward to your vlogs :)

[@mopanov]

Are you going to do a blog series like this for Blackadder? I (for one) would definitely watch it.

[@seanpatrickcain2]

6:04 LOL

[@kb9072]

Not one of my favourite episodes. Too silly even for Red Dwarf. Seems weird that Kryten was a new character, he seems so much part of the crew.

[@optimisticwhovian1726]

Despite this being a fan favourite I was never big on this episode for many reasons. Firstly they abort the plotline from the end of series 2 which when you watch this series for the first time is a real disappointment (or was for me anyway) until you get used to the fact Doug nearly always aborts cliffhanger plotlines by just using some half arsed explanation in the next series to skip it and sometimes not even that (series 8's finale being the prime example) then you suddenly have Kryten (and not even the same actor so there's a double shock since he doesn't even feel like the same character which makes it confusing as a viewer) and feel like you've missed a series entirely since there's no real introduction to him coming back thanks to the title crawl again skipping what should've been a proper episode introducing him. Next is the weird logic flaw that Rimmer would suddenly be changing uniforms despite there being no real reason he would need to other than to give the costume designer something to do and that was something they did every new series again without any reason for doing so when the uniforms of the space corp should've stayed the same especially since humanity is dead anyway. And then after that you have to grapple with the notion that Rimmer as a hologram could survive in a universe separate from Red Dwarf when it was established he needs Red Dwarf to project him (before the advent of the light bee) also how does Rimmer interact tangibly in this separate universe? He's shown holding things, changing costumes and sitting down on real objects which blows away all the rules set up in the show about holograms. Apart from that the logic of the backwards universe is all over the place, one moment its about time itself going backwards then other times its about words being backwards and then other times again it's about people and objects going backwards so the world itself makes no sense and the whole episode is a real come down from series 1 and 2 and is just a massive mess.

[@mplum4796]

You make some interesting points, but Rimmer was always able to sit on things, such as his bunk. Holly can produce things for Rimmer to "hold", and change his clothes for him. I agree that it seems odd that all of a sudden he has a "light bee" so he can function separately from RD, while in the first series he had to be in a special cage in order to leave the ship.

[@jamesatkinsonja]

The text crawl replaced the episode which was going to follow on from the cliffhanger but they couldn't get it to work. It's discussed at the end of the series 2 documentary.