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- “Far From Safe”

Story Bible

Page 1: INDEX

Page 2 : Red Dwarf – What's happened so far?

Page 3 : Setting

Page 4 – 11 : Principal Characters

Page 12 – 15: Supporting Characters

Page 16 – 18: Plot Devices (Phenomena & Technology)

Page 19 – 20: Threats

Page 21 - 22: Environments (Outside of Starbug)

Page 23: Relevant Video Materials

1 Red Dwarf: What's happened so far?

The setting of Red Dwarf is quite a simple one, in spite of its sci-fi setting.

David Lister is the being alive. He is in deep space, aboard a city-sized mining ship called “Red Dwarf.” The ship has been travelling into deep space for 3 million years, with Lister frozen in time. His fellow crew members were all wiped out by a lethal radiation leak that stopped them from returning to . The ship's computer- “” awakens Lister, explains the situation and then reanimates “Arnold Rimmer”- his former bunkmate in hologramatic form to keep him company.

Lister sets out to return to Earth, unprepared and unaware of the perils that await the ship out in deep space. During his travels, Lister and his comrades will face genetically engineered life forms or “”, battle droids, psychic hologramatic zombies and gestalt entities that draw on the crew's life-force.

2 Setting

The game will be set at of season 6, between episodes 5 & 6. At this point, the “Dwarfers” have lost Red Dwarf and are attempting to find it again. They are travelling in a much smaller vessel, designed for reconnaissance and short-range travel. “Starbug” is home to the Dwarfers while they try to find their way back home. The crew are on their own in this period, with Holly being part of Red Dwarf, making him absent from Starbug. This means that the Dwarfers are forced to fend for themselves, making them more capable space-farers who rely on each other and work in shifts to hunt for Red Dwarf.

Starbug is made of three large, bulbous sections; the cockpit, crew quarters and the engine room. It has been outfitted with a laser- cannon, although the nature of the show has always leaned towards making the crew run from trouble, rather than fight it. The television show has displayed the layout of the cockpit, galley, medical bay and crew quarters.

Starbug in low orbit over an ice .

3 Principal Characters

David (Dave) Lister

Before becoming the last human being alive; is the lowest ranked person aboard Red Dwarf. As a technician third-class, Lister performs tasks that are too menial for the service robots. A man in his mid-twenties; Lister drinks, smokes and eats endless junk food. He is lazy, uneducated and unmotivated. Lister is a man of many talents, however. He is fluent in Esperanto, a decent pilot and he is capable of fixing things.

In episode 5's “The Inquisitor” Lister faces a trial where he is his own judge. When questioning what he's done with the gift of life, he accuses himself: “You've got brains, man. Brains you've never used.” This scene shows that despite his lack of motivation, Lister knows that he could have done more with his life.

In later seasons, we also discover that Lister is in fact his own father, creating an eternal holding pattern where humanity always exists. This is done by going back and time and placing his own infant self under a pool table in a pub.

In some regards he is virtuous, and on numerous occasions, has shown that he is not willing to kill, as well as actively opposing more violent methods of dealing with problems. On the other hand; petty theft, breaking promises and playing pranks on others are all less than benevolent activities which Lister has partaken in on the show. Lister's goal is to get back home so he can live out his dream of

4 raising horses on a farm on Fiji, with his love interest “Kristine Kochanski”. This motivation becomes secondary after a while, as he becomes distracted by the many immediate dangers and curiosities that exist in deep space. In the later seasons, Lister brings a version of Kochanski back from an alternate reality where she is the last human alive. This set of circumstances serves to remind Lister that what he really wants is to be with her.

When it comes to his past romantic entanglements, he has mostly regrets. After losing his virginity aged 12 in a golf-course bunker or being locked in a crate by a jilted husband who threatened to kill him, the only real romance Lister had was with a girl called “Lise Yates”. This relationship ended when he told her he couldn't commit to her; something he clearly regrets in season 2's “Thanks for the memory” when he is forced to consider his past actions. His relationship with the other crew members is really what binds the show together. This is explained in series 3's “”, as it shows that without Lister bringing his “Frankenstein” aboard Red Dwarf, the cat race never exist, the crew never discover , and Rimmer isn't brought back as a hologram to keep him sane. In a show where causality and alternate realities are explored, Lister's importance is beyond a doubt.

His relationship with Rimmer is largely antagonistic. Early seasons of the show set Rimmer and Lister up as the stereotypical “odd- couple”. The irony of this is emphasised by the fact that these are two men who both came from broken homes, are stuck at the bottom end of society and are now in deep space. In later seasons, the two of them become friends, as they are forced to learn more about each other. In series 3's “Marooned” episode, Starbug crashes on a planet that is ravaged by blizzards. Trapped on board; Lister and Rimmer are forced to co-operate to keep Lister alive long enough for them to be found. This episode showcases how the hardships that they endure will bring them closer together. Without looking too far into it, season 7's “” involves a dream scene where Lister and Rimmer kiss. Lister awakes screaming, but later mentions how he misses certain elements of Rimmer's personality that used to drive him nuts.

5 Arnold Judas Rimmer

Almost the polar opposite of Lister; Rimmer is uptight, bureaucratic and callous. These factors are often exacerbated by Lister's desire to play pranks on Rimmer and drive him crazy. Before the crew are all killed, Rimmer is Lister's immediate superior and within five minutes of the very first episode “The End”, the groundwork for their relationship is firmly established. It is evident that the two hate each other, although it seems that Rimmer enjoys having someone around who is lower on the ladder than he is, while Lister seems too lazy to do anything about it. Once the crew is killed, the ship's computer brings Rimmer back to life as a hologram to keep Lister from going mad with cabin fever. It is proposed that because Rimmer was the person Lister talked to most, he was the one best suited to keeping his spirits up. Rimmer is positively brimming with self-loathing, doubt and fear. His cowardice is one of the immutable elements of the show and it is frequently referenced. Even when he becomes a hologram that can't be physically harmed, he is prone to hiding when trouble approaches. If there is one thing that Rimmer excels at it's making excuses for himself and this goes beyond explaining why he is always the first to run when danger is near. In episodes such as series 4's “”, we learn that Rimmer carries a great deal of guilt with him for his part in the disaster that wiped out Red Dwarf's crew. The audience sees that this deflecting of blame is a defence mechanism so he can avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

6 Rimmer blames his background for why he is a failure. When we are introduced to Rimmer's alter ego from a different dimension; “Ace Rimmer” - who is brave, smart, popular and charming, Rimmer takes an immediate dislike to him as he represents everything that Rimmer feels he could be if he had the chance. We later discover that the point where the two diverged is that Ace was held back a year at school which shamed him into improving himself.

It's never quite clear what Rimmer's overall motivation is. He is dead, and until he attains his “hardlight body” in series 6's “” episode, he is unable to physically interact with anything or anyone except other holograms. Grant and Naylor use his insecurity and need to succeed as incentive for Rimmer to do things. For the duration of the show, it seems that Rimmer's goal is to become an authority figure who is respected and admired. When it comes to relationships, Rimmer is ill-equipped. He has a book on hypnosis which he uses to try to trick women into sleeping with him. In season 2's “Thanks for the memory”, Rimmer drunkenly reveals to Lister that he's only ever had sex once and that it didn't last long. This woman; “Yvonne Mcgruder”, is referenced a couple of times in the show.

7 (The) Cat

The Cat is the last known surviving remnant of a race of bipedal humanoid cats that have evolved from Lister's original pet cat “Frankenstein”. He is selfish, rude, vain and stupid. In the early seasons, Lister discovers how the cat people came into existence and realises that their holy books describe him as their deity. Cat is the most shallow character in Red Dwarf as his motivations are a reflection of the animalistic nature of cats. During the first two seasons, Cat mostly sleeps and eats. The writers begin giving him more interesting character traits after this, such as friendship and a degree of loyalty to his comrades, but his personality remains mainly consistent throughout the entire show.

Despite never having actually met a female cat, Cat is obsessed with sex. He preens himself meticulously, ensuring that if he ever does meet a beautiful woman, he will impress her enough that she will sleep with him. To call his wardrobe “ostentatious” is to do it a disservice. He wears a lot of shiny, colourful costumes which often result in Lister & Rimmer mocking him. In season 2's episode “Kryten”, Cat spends 24 hours preparing to meet three crashed female astronauts. This venture results in a bright golden spacesuit with cufflinks and a giant helmet so that he doesn't mess up his hair.

8 Cat really just seems to follow wherever the crew go. His ambitions never seem to be more complicated than “settling down with the right girls, the 4 or 5 that are right for him”. He becomes friends with Lister, not believing his claim that the cat people's holy man is in fact Dave Lister, soup dispenser repair man. It's at the start of season 4 that Cat finds his function amongst the crew; his fast reflexes and sense of smell make him an ideal pilot, although the concept of being able to “smell” trouble ahead is never fully explained. Regardless, Cat becomes a useful member of the Red Dwarf team, despite never quite losing the stupidity and vanity that come to define him.

Cat also has an “alternate persona” in the form of “Dwayne Dibbley”. Much like Ace Rimmer is the opposite of Rimmer, Dibbley is buck-toothed, clumsy and unfashionable. He represents Cat's worst fears, as he is so incredibly shallow and vain.

9 Kryten ( 2X4B – 523P)

Kryten is a series 4000 “service mechanoid”: a cleaning robot, designed to do menial tasks such as housework and general chore duty. He possesses a set of emotions that were implanted by his creator; Professor Mamet. These emotions include jealousy, insecurity, pomposity and guilt. This element of his programming is inspired by Mamet's ex-fiancé, as he portrayed many of these emotions. Kryten is often the voice of reason and caution, holding the lives of his crewmates in higher regard than his own. He struggles with his place in the universe and has some of the most profound and meaningful episodes revolve around him. During the show's run, Kryten has experienced love, becoming human, facing his mortality as well as contemplating the afterlife for androids, known as “silicon heaven”.

The crew discover Kryten aboard a crashed ship called the Nova 5. When they go aboard to rescue the crew that Kryten has described on the intercom, they discover them to have been dead for so long that they are just skeletons. It takes a little convincing that the crew of the Nova 5 are actually dead before Kryten agrees to come back to Red Dwarf with them.

Once back aboard Red Dwarf, Lister attempts to free Kryten from the self-imposed slavery that he operates under. Taking the opposite approach, Rimmer takes advantage of Kryten's servile nature to have him do chores around the ship. At the end of season 2's “Kryten”, Lister convinces Kryten to rebel against Rimmer, with Kryten taking Lister's spacebike and disappearing into space. At the start of season 3, a styled wall of text scrolls through

10 space, detailing the occurrences between season 2 and 3. In this text, it's detailed that the crew find Kryten after he crashes Lister's bike, then Lister fixes him up and he joins the crew properly.

Kryten serves a multitude of functions and one of them is to remind Lister who he really is. Kryten admires Lister for his human traits, both positive and negative. In series 4's “”, Lister attempts to teach Kryten how to tell lies and insult people. Kryten is able to lie, but describes how he is fighting against his programming to perform these actions, and suffers “performance anxiety” when asked to repeat the feat outside the confines of the exercise.

Often the moral compass of the crew, Kryten often steers Lister's decisions by reminding him why he admires him so much. This does not mean he is above criticising or passive-aggressively antagonising Lister or any of the other crew, as his negative emotions do often result in him mentioning past mistakes and wrongdoings of his comrades. In season 7's “Duct Soup”, Kryten becomes extremely jealous of the returning Kochanski and engineers a plan to prevent Lister from trying to woo her once again. This episode highlights not only his jealousy, but his abandonment issues that arose after being alone on a spaceship for millennia before Red Dwarf found him.

In series 4's “DNA”; Kryten is transformed by a matter transmogrification device, into a human. At this point, we are led to believe that he desires to be human above all else. Lister realises quickly that he is fooling himself and before long, Kryten asks to be turned back. In this episode, we are informed that Kryten's body can perform a huge range of household tasks. His eyes can zoom, one nipple controls internal temperature while the other scrubs through radio signals, he charges through a socket in his backside and he becomes aroused at the sight of vacuum cleaners. We also know that he can attach numerous items to his groin socket; such as vacuum cleaners and electric whisks. During “DNA”, we also discover that Kryten's replacement heads and arms all have a degree of sentience and that he keeps them in a cleaning cupboard so he can chat with them.

11 Supporting Cast

Holly

Holly is arguably the fifth member of the Red Dwarf crew, as he is a major character in almost every season. Holly is the 10th generation AI computer that maintains and operates Red Dwarf. In the first episode, Holly boasts an IQ of 6,000, however after 3 million years on his own, he has become “computer senile” and often forgets the answers to basic questions. Holly is portrayed as a floating human head on a black background.

Holly is originally played by the middle aged and balding , but after an encounter with an alternate (female) version of himself, Holly falls in love and changes his image to that of Hattie Hayridge: a young blonde woman. Holly's personality doesn't change, just his appearance. During the period where the game is set, Holly is still appearing as a woman, although she does not actually appear in series 6 at all as she is part of Red Dwarf itself.

It's difficult to chart the exact intelligence of Holly, as he is capable of navigating through space at the speed of light, but he is also often found wanting whenever the crew ask him a question. There are episodes such as series 2's “” where he pretends to be usurped by a much more harsh and assertive AI. In this episode, the crew are forced to work hard for their food, instead of the easy lifestyle that they had grown accustomed to. Once the crew are broken men, Holly informs them that he created Queeg to teach them to appreciate him. It's possible that Holly is only pretending to be stupid, although this is not a theory that is supported by the show.

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Rimmer relies on Holly to sustain his hologramatic persona, as well as controlling navigation and other ship-related tasks. It's quite obvious that without Holly to control Red Dwarf, the crew would be in considerably more peril.

Talkie Toaster

Talkie is one of many anthropomorphised objects that exist on Red Dwarf. He is a toaster that is obsessed with making toast. He makes a couple of appearances in the show, but Lister hates him as he never shuts up about wanting to cook everyone toast. Even in the middle of a crisis, he will ask if anyone wants some, then complain that nobody wants any. He does have some artificial intelligence, allowing him to discuss some issues other than bread-based snacks. It never takes long before he steers the discussion back onto toast, though.

13 The Skutters

The service robots of Red Dwarf: the skutters are essentially claws that travel the ship on a little wheeled platform. They are at least sentient, with personalities of their own. They seem to be capable of writing, as in season 1's “” when they beg Lister not to leave them alone with Rimmer. When he says he has to, they bash their heads against the walls in frustration. In season 8, Lister is able to communicate with one by morse code, getting “Bob” to deliver Indian food in return for a spray of WD40. They also display signs of disrespect, making obscene gestures at Rimmer when he tells them to get to work, as well as possessing the sentience to dress up like cowboys and indians, before chasing each other through the ship with cap-guns. This point is elaborated on by Rimmer who states that the skutters have pin-ups of John Wayne in their storage locker and subscribe to “Film-Fun” magazine. They are not particularly capable or intelligent, but neither is the crew.

Ace Rimmer

Rimmer's alter ego is everything that Rimmer is not: brave, charismatic, charming, successful and popular. Rimmer hates him because he represents everything that he wishes he could be. “Ace Rimmer” is another Arnold Rimmer, sent from a different dimension on a special mission from the Space Corps. He flies a ship known as the “Wildfire”, which is capable of jumping between dimensions and he is on a quest to travel throughout the dimensions, meeting the many iterations of Arnold Rimmer.

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When he first enters the crew's dimension in season 4's “Dimension Jump”, he accidentally causes them to crash and decides to save them, despite his broken arm. In this episode, we discover that he is a capable surgeon, robotics expert and hand to hand combatant.

“Ace Rimmer” is a concept that Red Dwarf uses in series 6's “Emohawk” to describe what Arnold Rimmer becomes when he is drained of all of his negative elements. He makes several appearances after the period the game is set in, with one of these appearances informing the viewers that “Ace Rimmer” is a mantle that is passed down throughout the dimensions. At the end of series 7's “Stoke Me a Clipper” we see that there have been an almost infinitesimal number of “Ace Rimmers” that have died before passing on the mantle. Regardless of how he appears, he is always extravagantly friendly and comically charming with an element of smugness.

In his reality, almost the entire Red Dwarf cast has been represented in some form; Cat is a wise and sage priest, while Lister is a mechanic and Kryten is a human who is in charge of Ace's flight duties.

15 Equipment & Phenomena

Mutated “Pneumonia” - Tangible Dreams

In season 1's “Confidence and Paranoia”, Lister encounters a mutated strain of pneumonia that has the power to turn his fevered dreams into actual events. This includes a man spontaneously combusting, a personification of Lister's confidence and paranoia and a downpour of fish in the sleeping quarters as he sleeps fitfully. These kinds of strange illnesses could exist within the confines of the game.

Memory Wipes

Holly is capable of wiping the memory of not only Rimmer; but Lister and Cat, too. This could conceivably be used to maintain continuity if the game requires it.

Stasis Leak – Time Travel

Red Dwarf exhibits a phenomenon where a hole appears within part of the ship that allows the Dwarfers to pass back in time. They can alter the past to effect the future, but they are not able to bring anything back from this time without it turning to dust when it appears on the other side of the stasis leak.

“Holly Hop Drive” - Alternate Universes

Holly has created what he calls the “Holly Hop Drive”; originally with the intent of jumping the ship back to Earth instantaneously. It actually results in the crew jumping between dimensions, where they meet their female alter egos and Lister becomes pregnant.

16 Time Holes – Time Running

The crew have encountered a “time hole” that transports them back to a version of Earth where time is running backwards. Cause and effect are reversed here, although in the show there are some significant discrepancies that are used for comic effect.

Bodyswap – Putting Minds Into Different Bodies.

Red Dwarf possesses the technology to take a person's mind and store it on what appears to be a micro-cassette tape. This leaves the body vegetative until it receives a new mind.

Mutated Developing Fluid – Time Travel

Kryten has discovered that the developing fluid that he uses for his film has mutated. Any photos that he develops with it become windows into the timeframe and place that they were taken. The crew can enter these pockets of space and time to alter their situation in the future, but they cannot move outside of the frame of the photograph.

DNA Modifier - Metamorphosis

The crew discover a DNA modifier during season 4's “DNA” episode. This piece of highly advanced technology can change any biological being into any other living thing. It even turns Lister's vindaloo into a bipedal monster.

White Holes – Timeline Repetition

Red Dwarf has encountered an entity in space that was spewing time out of it, creating the effect of scenarios repeating themselves. Eventually Lister is able to plug this hole with a planet, but there could be many more out there for the game to utilise.

17 Matter Paddle – Instantaneous Transportation of Matter

The “matter paddle” is a somewhat overpowered device that is capable of transporting matter by converting them into digital data and transmitting them as lightbeams to another point in space. As far as an in-game item goes, it's probably not practical to let the crew have access to it at all times, as it can be used to teleport them out of trouble almost instantly.

Psi-moons – Physical Manifestations of the Mind

Psi-moons are artificial planetoids that terraform themselves to match the psyche of anyone who lands on it. Even Rimmer is susceptible and has a physical presence while on a psi-moon.

Positive Viruses – Short Term Beneficial “Illness”

The crew discover a pair of “positive viruses” that can be used to help them. When trapped inside , they use the luck virus to help them guess the door code and escape. The sexual magnetism virus is pretty self explanatory.

Triplicator – Replication of Matter

The matter paddle can be utilised as a “triplicator” which splits its beam three ways, leading to a normal, good and bad version appearing. This can be used to create multiples of something, but the duplicates always deteriorate after a short while.

Hard-light Holograms – “Solid” Holograms

The gestalt entity “Legion” gives Rimmer a hard-light body that allows him to do everything a human can do, with the added advantage that he is exceptionally difficult to hurt. He can feel pain, though. Rimmer will have this body during the period the game is set in, although he can turn it off if he likes.

18 Threats

Polymorph

The “” is a genetically engineered monster that is capable of shape-shifting and feeding on the emotions of its victims. The creature hunts by taking a form that will coax an emotional response out of the crew member, before sucking the emotion out of them. Creatures of this nature exist as pets for GELFs and could definitely be present within the game.

Psirens

Amidst an belt, the crew encounter a species of genetically altered creatures that are able to read their minds and project scenarios to lure them down onto the . Once they are grounded, the Psirens use the person's lust to make them submit to having the Psiren suck out their brain with a long metal straw.

Rogue Simulants

“Rogue Simulants” are battle-ready androids who are tough and inclined towards violence. They were created for a war that never took place and now they prowl through deep space in search of a worthy opponent. They are a real danger to the crew as they hate humanoids.

19 GELFs

Genetically engineered life- forms or “GELFs” are a varied group of creatures that exist throughout the Red Dwarf universe. Season 4's “Camille” introduces a GELF that is able to sense the desires of another being, then change to suit them. They are known as “pleasure GELFs”. There are other variations of GELFs that appear like yetis or bipedal bear creatures. In season 6's “Emohawk” episode, Lister is forced to marry a GELF chieftan's daughter in return for an oxygen regeneration unit. Lister runs out on her during her wedding night, leading her tribe to hunt him down for breaking his vows.

20 Environments

“Rimmerworld”

In season 6's “Rimmerworld”, a wormhole opens and swallows Rimmer into it. The crew go in to retrieve him, but because of time dilation, it takes them 600 years of Rimmer's time to catch up with him. During this period, Rimmer uses a cloning kit to cultivate a society that is made solely with his genetic make-up. This results in a culture that revels in all of the negative traits that make Rimmer who he is, such as snobbery, deceit and cowardice. Incidentally, this is the last episode before the events of the game will take place.

“Waxworld”

In season 4's “”, Kryten and Rimmer teleport down to a planet that was once a human-made amusement park that is filled with “wax droids” who have gained sentience. Rimmer's lust for glory and romanticising of war leads him to kill every wax droid on the planet in a needless campaign. Although this planet will be deserted during the game's timeline, there could easily be other like this one.

Holoship

Season 5's “Holoship” introduces the Dwarfers to a ship and crew that are both entirely hologramatic. The crew are all genius level officers, sent into deep space to conduct research and experiment. Their intelligence is accompanied by staggering snobbery and aloofness, making them appear to be everything that Rimmer associates with success. The only problem with introducing this ship in the game would be that life-forms cannot exist aboard it, meaning only Rimmer could visit.

21 Justice Zones

Season 4's “Justice” takes the Dwarfers to a prison with a “justice zone”. These zones enforce compliance with the law by making it impossible to commit a crime, then inflicting the crime on the perpetrator. This ranges from vandalism to murder, and both of these are shown in the episode.

Total Immersion Videogames

In season 2's “”, the concept of a “total immersion videogame” is introduced. The user puts on what appears to be a bicycle helmet with deely-boppers that allows them to pass out in real life and awake in a virtual reality environment. This is a concept that is brought up a couple of times during the show, and is a central plot device in both this episode and season 5's “Back To Reality”. It's also shown that Lister utilises the apparatus' “groinal socket” to act out his sexual fantasies in the game world.

22 Relevant Video Material

"Best of Red Dwarf” – The first 5 minutes and 20 seconds of this video shows some of the show's highlights, although some of the content is from later seasons. It is useful for tone, however.

"Red Dwarf: Comedy Connections” – This video contains interviews with the cast and crew, showing the background behind the show's formation. It may be helpful in understanding the ethos and tone of the show.

“Red Dwarf: Behind The Scenes” (Season 6) – These documentaries about the show are very in-depth and quite lengthy, but they contain many interviews with the cast and crew about the goings on during shooting. This particular episode covers season 6, which is the timeframe for the game.

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