Completely Entitled

Documentary Names - by Andrew Ellard

13 July, 2007

A small but perfectly-formed DVD Details this time around, as we now have confirmed titles for the three documentaries appearing this October as part of The Bodysnatcher Collection.

The Series I doc is entitled The Beginning, sticking with the 'series subtitle' idea used previously with The Starbuggers (Back from the Dead (Series VII) and The Tank (Series VIII) - it's the caption that appears on-screen at the end of The End . As we were documenting the show's fumbling beginnings, it just seemed ideal.

Series II 's doc will be named It's Cold Outside. Partly because it's a lyric from the show's main theme song, and partly because the inclusion of location filming was a major change to the second series' production... and you'd better believe they didn't go anywhere hot!

Finally there's the remastered documentary: Re-Dwarf. You see what we did there. It's a title we especially like when spoken out loud. Go on, say it now. It's nifty.

The two series docs run 70 minutes apiece, each separated into seven sections - an introduction, plus six episode-based mini-docs. Aiming for a unifying style, they feature the same title/caption/credit designs as their Series III-VIII counterparts.

Re-Dwarf, meanwhile, goes a different way - opening on a version of the familiar logo, adapted to say 'Re-Dwarf', which is then painted over on-screen, by Lister, as part of the iconic opening title shot. (Dedicated fans will recall that a similar trick was used on the Series II VHS releases to show the 'name' of each tape.)

Aside from the closing credits - which run along the bottom of the screen over rushes footage of Craig painting the ship and falling painfully off his seat - and opening titles, Re-Dwarf's format differs in one other important way, too: this is the first newly-created DVD doc to include voiceover narration.

Re-Dwarf is one of the densest, fullest pieces we've produced, requiring more exposition and faster momentum than the episode docs. Although running at a sprightly 21 minutes, this style allows us to give it the depth of something much longer - which is why you'll be hearing my own hopefully-not-too-irritating tones narrating the story of this controversial period in Dwarf history.

Can there be any more to tell you? With so many revelations already made - commentaries, lost scripts, more commentaries, storyboards, deleted scenes - there are still four months to go before release. What else can we possibly reveal?

Well, obviously, that would be telling.

More DVD Details will follow soon...

Red Dwarf: The Bodysnatcher Collection will be out in the UK on October 22nd.

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