h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... try reversing what they say in 'Backwards'

Two Good examples of this are:- When The Cat and lister steal the bike

Subtitles:You scoundrels! Return my bike immediately!
Reversed:Oi! Hey! Oi, you robbing b******s, that's our
tandem!

And when the stage manager shouts at Rimmer and Kryten for starting the fight he really says:-

Frankly, your act's c**p. Anyway, anybody could have done it.
I hate the lot of you. B******s to you! . . . You are a stupid,
square-headed, bald git, aren't you? I ain't pointing at you,
I'm pointing at you. But I'm not actually addressing you, I'm
addressing the one prat in the country who's bothered to get
hold of this recording, turn it round, and actually work out the
rubbish that I'm saying. What a poor, sad life he's got!



He's talking about me

I had the good fortune to work as a boom operator on this episode; the entire section in the club was a nightmare to shoot!

We actually shot in reverse, starting with the end of the scene where the bar is tidy, and worked "forwards" to the start where it's trashed. The entire section was filmed in about 2 hours at the end of the rehearsal day, and by the end we were shooting completely unrehearsed (particularly Rimmer+Kryten's stage act)

Some sections were filmed normally and then reversed (such as the totally gross eclair eating), and other bits were filmed with the actors actually speaking the words backwards! (there is 1 shot where Kryten is arguing with the manager (played by Arthur Smith), and both of them are ad-libbing complete gibberish at random!)

good work fella. Backwards is one of the best episodes and sure to become a classic of british comedy. It must have been a lot of fun working on Red dwarf.

That translation was on the Smeg Outs tape, wasn't it?

Although that was good, I still prefer Demons and Angels. That was the best one

I recently had an opportunity to meet Rob Grant at the book signing of his book 'Colony' (quite a good book, if you're interested). A man with a very nervous disposition I thought, I don't know if he suffers from claustrophobia or anything but he seemed to be looking for a way to escape all the time.

Talking to him after the signing about Red Dwarf (the new series, he says he hasn't watched as it would be like watching your ex-wife on her second honey moon night). He said that originally Alan Rickman was due to play the part of Lister. Somehow Alan Rickman in that part I just can't imagine.

A very nice bloke though, very big too.

Cool.

No, I can't imagine him as Lister, either. But he was good in Galaxy Quest