Red Dwarf III - 30th Anniversary

On this day on the 14th November 1989, came RED DWARF III.

Series III wasn't just another series of the Sci-Fi comedy . . it's really the one that gave the series a massive reboot, creating a template in how every single series of the program should look and feel, right up to the most recent series back in 2017, Series XII.

Creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor just never was happy with the look the series had back in 1988 for the first couple of series, with it's wooden looking sets, grey paint all over the place of the ship's interior, and the only real colour standing out from all that grey being Lister's Hawaiian shirt's !!.

So thank goodness for Series III, which gave the series the much needed facelift it deserved. Here are the key changes that helped reboot and modernise Red Dwarf into the series we know and love today.

NEW INTRO

For a fast paste comedy series, the 1988 titles, with it's shots of the Red Dwarf ship and slower theme tune, inspired by '2001 - A Space Oddessey' no doubt, had to go. In it's place was a new version of the 'Fun in the Sun' theme tune, and footage from each episode of Series III to give fan's a glimpse of the episodes yet to come . . also, it should be noted a mistake was made in the Series III titles, as a bit of footage from the Series II episode 'Thanks for the Memory' was accidently included, where Lister and Rimmer are seen in spacesuits carrying a grave stone saying 'To the memory of Lisa Yates' which they accidently drop onto their feet !.

Red Dwarf gained it's famous red oval logo with this series, debuting at the end of the new look titles for the debut story 'Backwards'. Series I and II simply had the shows name represented by the exterior of the ship with Lister seen in a spacesuit painting on the letter 'F'. The famous logo would appear on patches worn on jackets, painted on storage crates, personnel files, and even as a pin-badge on crew uniforms in Series VIII back in 1999 . . which I think at the time was also avalible to fan's to buy.

The late production designer Mel Bibby was unavalible for both Series I and II in 1988, but thankfully was hired for Series III. He gave Lister and Rimmer new sleeping quarters in the form of the brighter and much larger 'Officers Quarters', and even gave them new, more Sci-Fi film 'Alien' like corridors to be seen walking around in, away from all that grey from the first 2 series.

Kryten and Holly both underwent new appearances in Series III. The character Holly was originally male and played by Norman Lovett, but Norman did not want to travel an insane route from home in Edinburgh all the way to Manchester for filming, so he left the series, but thankfully, in the final episode of Series II, 'Parallel Universe' introduced Holly to his female counterpart known as Hilly, played by Hattie Heyridge, so for Series III, IV and V, she took over from him.

The Mechanoid Kryten was originally played in the Series II debut episode 'Kryten' by actor David Ross, and was only ment to be a one off character. The series creators decided they needed a robot for their series, so decided to bring Kryten back . . but David Ross was sadly now unable to return as he was busy on other projects at the time, so someone new had to stand in for him . . and has done ever since ! . . that someone offcourse was Robert Llewellyn, who at the time of uploading, is currently working on his 11th series of Red Dwarf as Kryten with the other main cast members, working at present on the 2 hour special for 2020.

Aside from Holly gaining more hair, and Kryten losing his butler outfit, Lister, Rimmer and Cat all gain new clothes, with Lister looking more bad ass then he ever did, Rimmer looking like his just turned up in a 'Captain Scarlet' uniform [Lieutenant Green, obviously !], and Cat looking more handsome then ever before . . owwww yeahhh !!.

In the early series, the Dwarfer's would get around in the small craft known as Blue Midget, looking like a blue painted Truck flying through space. But with Series III makiing Kryten a regular character, the cockpit of Blue Midget was just too small to fit 4 characters, so a new craft was needed.

Originally, Blue Midget was to be replaced by a new larger ship called 'White Midget'. During the creation of this new craft however, the designers began to notice the ship was looking more like a bug . . so they renamed 'White Midget' to their own suggested name - STARBUG 1 ! - and so, the series creators liked the name, and maybe it was the series creators who suggested it be painted green, which was a great idea, because the 2nd episode of Series III, 'Marooned' saw the craft crashed on an Ice Planet, and if Starbug 1 was painted white, as it very nearly could have been, then it probably would have been differcult for viewers to spot a white painted spaceship among all that snow !!.

Happy 30th Anniversary to Red Dwarf III. Not just another series of Red Dwarf, but the one which rebooted it into the series we know and love [and recognize !] today  

Recorded: 19.9.1989 Broadcast: 14.11.1989

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Recorded: 26.09.1989 Broadcast: 05.12.1989

Recorded: 12.09.1989 Broadcast: 12.12.1989

Recorded: 11.10.89 Broadcast: 19.12.89