reddwarfslash | General Red Dwarf Questions

Is it kosher to ask for a little help with questions about the series in regards to fic writing? Or is that just seen as cheating?

Since I haven't had years to watch the show and fully marinate myself in the loveliness that is Red Dwarf, I still find myself a bit stuck from time to time when I try to get the technical details right when writing about the show. I've read a lot of the behind the scenes information on the official website which has helped a lot, but not as much as having every episode memorized nearly word-for-word would. :)

In my current fic (the super long one... well long for ME anyway), it takes place on Starbug and I'm finding myself confused about the location of the medibay. Clearly they used the same set to represent both Lister's bunk area and the medibay, but I've never been quite sure whether we're supposed to think they literally are the same room being repurposed for two things, or if we were supposed to just ignore the fact that it was the same set and pretend it was two separate rooms. The fic takes place during series VI which I believe is before they expanded Starbug and it suddenly became a much larger ship than it had before (that was in series VII, right?). I believe that the Red Dwarf wiki states that the one room doubled for both uses, but I just want to be sure I have my facts straight.

Due to personal reasons my Red Dwarf watching has been hampered lately so I don't have a lot of time to re-watch episodes looking for little details and throwaway bits of dialogue that would probably clear things up. :-\

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janamelie.livejournal.com

Don't worry, the only thing I'd personally see as cheating would be lifting wholesale chunks from someone else's fic and just changing a few words like a certain regrettably successful published author. :p And no-one around here would do anything like that. ;)

Actually, Starbug expanded twice, once in VI and once in VII, but it was more noticeable the second time. The VI booklet suggests that Kryten rebuilt it during the two centuries of deep sleep which Lister and Cat wake up from in "Psirens". Some here have theorised that that's why Lister's apparently sharing with Cat rather than Rimmer - because Kryten's jealousy was developing and he sensed the growing bond between them, so assigned them separate rooms. Or it could be that they simply got on each other's nerves too much in the cramped confines of Starbug.

Regarding your question, I think we're supposed to believe that the medibay is a different room, but I couldn't say for sure.

lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com

Oh interesting, I definitely missed that they had expanded it for series VI as well.

I find it hilarious that Rimmer and Lister kept bunking together after the rest of the crew were killed when there must have been hundreds of free rooms. Honestly, that combined with low Rimmer blatantly saying he wanted to have Lister, combined with the kiss from Blue, sometimes I really wonder if the sexual undertones were deliberate on the writer's parts, whether subconsciously or otherwise. Although can something be deliberate if it's subconscious? Bah you know what I'm trying to say.

I think too much about this show. :D

It works both ways - you can interpret it as needing companionship and in Lister's case, irritation to keep him from sliding into depression. That's perfectly believable.

But of course the slashy explanation is more fun and doesn't negate the first one anyway. ;)

Don't forget the Highs - a lot subtler but can also be read as in love, platonically or otherwise.