RED DWARF: THE MOVIE

STATUS: Preproduction/Rehearsals

WHO'S MAKING IT?: Grant Naylor Productions/ Winchester Films

WRITER: Doug Naylor

DIRECTOR: Doug Naylor

STARRING: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn, Norman Lovett, Chloe Annett.

RELEASE DATE: Summer 2004

COST: Current budget is £12 Million small for Sci-Fi HUGE for a Brit flick.

After spending much of 2000 writing the movie Doug Naylor turned the script over to an excited cast during Spring 2001. There was an exciting read through featuring all cast members which was even videotaped so reactions could be judged. It has been confirmed that filming will take place throughout the autumn/winter of 2003 at Fox Studios in Australia.

The official website has been offering a sneak peek thanks to storyboard previews. All we can make of these so far is there is a lot of water! There is also a spacecraft never seen before (possibly White Midget?) which spends some time lying at the bottom of the ocean. Starbug will make an appearance.

UPDATE Feb 27th 2003 - An unknown insider on the Red Dwarf project has released the first official movie poster showing a metallic RD logo bolted onto a ships porthole with a glimpse of Earth in the background. The design is reminiscent of the recent DVD packaging. Along with this poster the first official hint of the plot was also released:

RED DWARF THE MOVIE is set in the distant
future where Homo Sapienoids - a fearsome combination
of flesh and machine - have taken over the solar
system and almost wiped out the human race. The only
survivors are the crews of long-haul space freighters
that left Earth before the conflict began. The
Sapienoid's send forth fleets of Death Ships to hunt
them down. One by one - the human ships fall, until
only one remains. Its name is Red Dwarf...

Update August 18th 2003 - The latest is that Craig Charles received the final script a few weeks ago (despite rehearsals taking place as far back as May 2001!) He says the script is a blinder and he starts work on the shoot in 4 months time. (Commitments to Robot Wars are the main reason for the delay)

The shoot is taking place in Australia at the Fox soundstages home of The Matrix and Star Wars Eps II & III and not at Dwarfs traditional home of Shepperton Studios.

If the movie is a success expect more. Grant Naylor Productions wants to create a film franchise with the scope of the Trek series.

OWN RED DWARF - SORT OF....

The Prop store of London currently has stock of actual props from Red Dwarf on sale. Get your switch card at the ready to bid on prop cand of leopard lager, JMC Flight suits, Rimmers revision timetable and some of the Cat's funky outfits. Visit their site now! www.propstore.co.uk

THE BARRIE EMPIRE

Chris Barrie fans have had a good summer. First there was the release of The Brittas Empire Series 1 on DVD, then the release of Tomb Raider 2 featuring Chris as Lara Croft's butler and now news of the second series release of Brittas on DVD on October 20th. The second series will feature extras such as a GMTV interview and still as well as all seven episodes of the second series. In an interview on Red Dwarf.co.uk Barrire goes into detail about his memories of his time on Brittas and reveals that he's open to the possibilty of a future return to Whitbury Leisure Centre... "Every time I see Mike Stephens, or some of the other people from the cast, I always remember talking right at the end about a day in 15 years' time where they all meet up on a cruise liner. We all find our way back to each other somehow. Maybe when the people at the BBC who were fans of the show get into the [top] positions..."

RED DWARF IX

Red Dwarf VIII turned out to be BBC2's highest rated show ever so as you can imagine the BBC are quite keen to get another series in production. The actors have all said how much they enjoyed making RDVIII and wouldn’t mind doing it every 2 years or so (a bit like the current star trek movies) The fans are keen for a Red Dwarf IX especially after the juicy goodness of RD VIII. So why are there no plans for more episodes? Simple - Doug Naylor is too busy on the movie. Don't write off the chances of a new series though - after all the producers could save money by shooting a new series at the same time as a film and think of the publicity a new series would generate if it was screened just before the films release.

The official website received a new look in late 2002 to coincide with the DVD releases and the 15th anniversary. The navigation is a lot simpler and there is a teasing advert for production crew for a March 2003 shoot of the movie. A new UK official online shop is set to launch soon.

MERCHANDISE

After the amazing treatment the first two series received for DVD Grant Naylor have hinted that 3 & 4 will be even better. Red Dwarf III hits the shops on November 3rd 2003 in a tasteful green case. It will contain over an hour & a half of extra features including a group commentary by all the cast, Hattie Hayridge's convention diary, musical score, smeg-ups and talking book chapters. There are also deleted scenes including the famous poker scene from Marooned and a documentary on the making of series III. There's also a tribute to the late Mel Bibby Red Dwarf's set designer.  Series 4 will follow returning to the red case of series one in February 2004.

This October will see the release of the first ever model of Starbug. Designed to incorporate every detail the 'playset' can even be opened up for a peak inside. The set features ickle models of Rimmer, Cat, Kryten & Lister in Red Dwarf V clothing (looks like Demons & Angels!) Starbug its self is 21cm long, features actual sound from the show and a launching scouter. Finally the set includes an ickle Talkie Toaster. The set is designed and marketed by Product Enterprises who do a whole range of TV spinoffs.

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