World Famous Comics: Grant Naylor Red Dwarf: Graphic Novel (Penguin Graphic Fiction) Comics
Grant Naylor Red Dwarf: Graphic Novel (Penguin Graphic Fiction) Comics
By: Grant Naylor Publisher: Penguin Books Average Rating: Binding: Unknown Binding Format: Import Label: Penguin Books Number of Pages: 64 Publication Date: January 28, 1999
Rivals "Hitchiker's Guide" This book is at the same level of the original "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in terms of humor, characters, improbable plot, and overall good fun. Sadly, like HHGttG, the sequels rapidly lose the magic. But if you loved HHGttG and are looking for something else along those lines, this is the book for you.
J.Ja
If you've seen the TV series, you've read the book (well, mostly) After taking a Lit of Sci-Fi class in college, I found about this TV Series. So I checked them out from the library thinking, "Oh, great. They'll probably be boring and stupid." Was I wrong! The series was great, and my sister and I became mild fans. So, when I discovered that there were books and found them on sale, I snatched them up.
Plot: David Lister, third technician on Red Dwarf, a 6 mile long space mining ship, is sent to stasis just in time to avoid a radiation leak that wipes out the rest of the population on Red Dwarf. He exits three million years later to a senile computer named Holly, an annoying failure named Arnold J. Rimmer, and a highly evolved cat named Cat. Throughout the book, they encounter future echoes from traveling at faster than light speed, "alien" encounters, and discovering wrecks of other space ships.
Good: The biggest draw to Red Dwarf is one thing: the sarcastic humor. The humor in Red Dwarf is gut-wrenchingly funny, just as in the TV series (in fact, there is no much difference between the two mediums, but see below). Lister is a complete slob; Rimmer is his "Odd Couple" counterpart, a man who has failed the astronavigation exam 13 times in pursuit of being an officer. Nearly everything anyone says is meant to be sarcastic, though some of the jokes don't make sense to Americans (or at least this American). While this is likely to disturb those who are obsessed with continuity (I would normally be in that category), this book does have some distinct deviations from the TV series, which makes the relation of the episodes (more later) more cohesive. They become one story instead of a weekly engagement. Lastly, the third part was odd, but really interesting. I liked the stark divergence from the TV series on this and seeing what Lister, Rimmer, and Cat would imagine in their fantasies (minus the gratuitous sexual references, of course).
Bad: While the book makes some pretty interesting deviations from the TV series (namely how Rimmer and Lister first met--and this is a little raunchy, in my opinion--and in the final section of the book), overall, there really is not much difference between them. At times, I feel like I am reading one of the episode's screenplay. This is a little disappointing as I was expecting to read more about the lives of Lister and Rimmer beyond the TV series and not just a rehash of the same jokes and situations. The jokes were funny in the TV series; hearing them repeated without Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, or Norman Lovett's wonderful intonations is just eating the cake and scraping off the icing. Also, "Grant Naylor" rush past descriptions to get to the dialogue. They fail to note what the room looks like, what a person is doing, and what is happening in the background until after a person brings it up in dialogue. This makes the book difficult to understand and follow at times. Lastly, much of the humor in this book (as in the TV series) is merely reproductive humor. I will not blame the book for this "flaw" as the TV series was filled with it as well. I get tired of hearing jokes about the size of organs, sleeping around, and the like. Humor is more than just body functions and it takes true talent to be able to make something funny without stooping to this juvenile level.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence: Sh**, bas****, and a few other fairly mild profanities. Sexual situations crop up in jokes and surroundings (the beginning details a trek to an android brothel, Lister own a pair of underwear he considers very "lucky", Cat is sex obsessed, etc.) Violence includes a man committing suicide, descriptions of a man being blown up, and several deaths.
Overall: This was not bad, but if you are a Red Dwarf fan (like myself), you might be a little disappointed. The descriptions are lacking, there is little character development beyond what is seen in the TV series, and most of the humor is dependent on certain reproductive organs. Also, the book has a tendency to contradict the TV series (not bad, but worth noting). This book was not a bad way to spend my time, but not five star quality and not as funny as it implied it was (it was rather lame that most of the jokes were just carbon-copies of the ones delivered in the TV series).
Not Free SF Reader Red Dwarf is a very funny tv show, and this book is also pretty amusing. The whole situation Lister finds himself in as the last man alive is a lot easier to follow when someone actually writes it down for you.
A definitely entertaining volume, and certainly recommended for fans of Red Dwarf and funny sf stuff.
pretty good this book was a pretty quick read. it relies pretty heavily on season 1 of red dwarf, with many bits being exactly the same word for word as they were on the show. so if you've seen the first season of the show, you've pretty much read this book. unfortunately, all the red dwarf books have a tendency to rely on things we've already seen on the show. i've read all the red dwarf books, and the only one that's not really guilty of doing this is 'last human,' which i feel is probably the weakest of all the red dwarf novels.
on the other hand, there are some differences in the way these events occurred that are interesting. and it's also interesting to see inside the character's minds in a way that you can't by watching the show. i give this book four stars because i am a big fan of red dwarf and the jokes still hold up whether on the tv set or written on a page.
Feeling blue??? Read this book! This is possibly one of the most hilarious books that I have ever read! It's one of those books that I can pick up and read over and over again. It's very rare for me to actually laugh out loud with reading a book, most of the time I just smile or giggle a little. But with this book, full out belly laughs were definitely required.
Even if you're not a fan of science fiction, get this book. It's well worth it!
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