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

Entry: Red Dwarf's Guide to Human History - A87898225
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

The most pointless thing in Peer Review, but hey, it's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere.

<BB<

That was like a trip down memory lane, I had quite a giggle reading it and remembering the various scenes referenced

Deb

Aha! Excellent to see this in Peer Review

I had a few queries and thoughts as I read through:

"While the Cat's chief interests are himself, fashion and narcissism and the android Kryten" - I think this sentence could do with being split in two...

Ah I didn't know Tony Hawks wrote a sequel to 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' - I shall have to investigate that, as the original was superb... I had to name my boiler (as you do...) and decided to call it Saoirse as it resembles a small fridge

"a comic-book version of Virgil's Aeneid" I probably could have done with that myself during my A-Levels...

"Curiously, the Psirens the crew encounter have similarities with the Sirens" - is that curious, or unsurprising?

"Romanesque captors" - I know what you mean, but 'Romanesque' is a technical term so maybe it needs to be 'Roman-esque', or something...

"The Renaissance is most famous for playwright William Shakespeare" - a bold claim!

"a soft rock version of 'The Happy Wanderer'" - that was brilliant!

I like your smooth segues between sections

Excellent concluding paragraph

Thanks for the read-through – this was a joy to write even though it remains a pointless entry. I must admit I bumped it up the queue to put in Peer Review at the first available moment. I've made a couple of tweaks. Glad you liked the segues (I must admit the person mentioned before Hitler was slightly on purpose too).

I'm lucky enough to have met Tony Hawks when he was doing his 'One Hit Wonderland' tour and have a signed copy of his . Though I have his first three books I must confess I haven't read his more recent books including 'The Fridge Hiker's Guide to Life', but had to include it because of the title .

<BB<

Yes, that is an apt title to include here

Hi BB, good to see this here. I like these kind of h2g2-specific entries which you can't find anywhere else on the 'web, or, indeed, anything similar.

Just a few nitpicks, if I may?

>>The first episode ends 3 million years later then that,<< *than* that

>>but have very different historic heroes<< I think that should be "historical"

>>It his ambition to become first an officer<< It *is* his

>>and later as great a leader as they.<< as they *were*?

>>While Lister tries and introduce<< tries *to* introduce

>>the Bennet sisters to curry<< Bennett

>>having treasured a tube of General George S Patton's sinal fluid<<
what is *sinal fluid"? Please tell me it's not the medical term for snot...

>>technology more sophisticated then that found in the 1920s has been outlawed<< *than* that

is it "wax-droid" or "waxdroid"? You have three of each spelling.

>>Is Chinese whiskers racist?<< isn't that supposed to be Chinese whispers?

Another link:
Doris Day A1021186

I love your endingperhaps a little tweak: All in all it's a miracle the timeline isn't any more smegged up than it [already] is.

Well done BB, enjoyed this

GB

Hello GB - nitpick away!
The trouble with these enjoyable entries is sometimes my enthusiasm gets away from me and I'm in too much of a rush to write everything I want to say, and then when I re-read later I re-read what I meant and not necessarily what I actually wrote. I've made the tweaks you've suggested.

>>Is Chinese whiskers racist?<< isn't that supposed to be 'Is Chinese whispers racist'?
I'm sure that sentence was supposed to be 'Do Siamese sisters wear knickers in stasis'

what is *sinal fluid"? Please tell me it's not the medical term for snot...
I don't know if it is strictly a 'medical term' per se …

<BB<

"...even though it remains a pointless entry."

Sorry, I need to disagree with that comment, BB! It made me chuckle, and anything which spreads good humour is certainly not pointless

Deb

Sometimes the more pointless something is, the more it is worth doing and the more enjoyable it is

<BB<

Yes, I agree it's not pointless to look at subjects from fresh angles - this will be an asset to the Edited Guide

Just reading this again to enjoy it some more

"Despite being dead and a hologram, Arnold Judas Rimmer believes that he is the reincarnation of Alexander the Great's Chief Eunuch."

This sentence is superb, but I wonder if Arnold had this belief before he was dead and a hologram.

"encourage Kryten to break his programme and disobey Rimmer" - programming?

At first mention, Messalina is not seen, but later she is seen - is that two different episodes?

There's a link for Toasted Teacake A87780388

In relation to the Middle Ages, is it again the case that in the far future, the herring rain is what is remembered about them?

I'm confused about the Time Drive - they can't travel through space, only time, but they go from 3 million ?light years away from Earth to Texas - is that because Texas was at that place at that time?

Thanks for your further comments, even further tweaks have been tweaked

I wonder if Arnold had this belief before he was dead and a hologram.
Yep. In episode 'Marooned' Rimmer says,'When I was fifteen, I went to Macedonia on a school trip, to the site of Alexander the Great's palace. And for the first time in my whole life, I felt ... I felt I was home. This place was where I belonged. Years later, I got friendly with a hypnotherapist, Donald, and told him about the Alexander the Great thing, and he said that he'd regress me back through my past lives. I was dubious, but I let him put me under. It turned out my instincts were absolutely correct - I had lived a past life in Macedonia. That palace was my home. Because, believe it or not, Lister, he told me that, in a past incarnation, I was Alexander the Great's chief eunuch.'

With Messalina, a waxdroid Messalina is mentioned but not seen in 'Meltdown', but an apparent clone of Messalina is met and interacted with in 'Cured'.

In the last episode of series six, a huge amount of fuss is made over the fact that the Time Drive can't travel through space, only time – and that they are still trapped 3 million years away from Earth. (Years rather than lightyears – it will take them three million years to get back). In the very next episode, the first of series seven, all this is chucked out the window as the Time Drive makes them appear in Dallas, Texas. Mainly 'cos Doug Naylor, the writer, shrugged and said 'hey, what the smeg?', being more interested in the comedy than continuity.

<BB<

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Thanks <BB<

Congratulations!