"Red Dwarf" is out on DVD in the United States. We have the first one and we're currently watching it. "No Exit" in space. Brilliant stuff.
Always wondered: At one point in "The End," Holly gets so frustrated with Lister's inability to comprehend that everyone's dead he says, "Gordon Bennett, yes, they're all dead." Gordon Bennett? Huh? Who's Gordon Bennett? Kathleen claims it's Cockney rhyming slang, but I can't figure out what "Bennett" rhymes with. "Demmit?" Kind of a stretch. Anyone know?
PAD
Posted by Peter David at February 22, 2003 08:27 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentinghttp://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/164200.html
"James Gordon Bennet II, 1841 - 1918 is the man referred to, and was quite a colourful character. One of his many reported exploits was an incident where he flew an aeroplane through an open barn. The surprised onlookers were supposed to have said 'That was Gordon Bennett!', and hence onward to the current shortened phrase."
So now you know.
I used to love Red Dwarf...
I love Red Dwarf. I used to sit around the comic shop I worked in every day and watched the VHS editions.
What special features does the DVD have?
I have it on my "birthday list" for all those relatives who have no idea what I want for my birthday next week. Sadly, this means I can't buy it for myself, even when I see it spotlighted in the new Best Buy circular this week. Very frustrating. I want to be watching it now, darnit. ;-)
I just hope someone picks it up for me now. ::crossing fingers::
Maybe I'll just plunk in the Complete BlackAdder set into my DVD this weekend, instead, and be happy with that. That'll work.
-Augie
James Gordon Bennett (1841-1918) was an American newspaper tycoon and multi- millionaire who is listed in the GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS for "Greatest Engagement Faux Pas." Bennett's engagement to Caroline May was broken in 1877 after he arrived late and drunk at the May family's New York mansion and urinated in the living room fireplace in front of his hosts. Today, Bennett's name is used as an expression of disbelief in England, and is essentially a euphemism for "God".
>>Today, Bennett's name is used as an expression of disbelief in England, and is essentially a euphemism for "God".<<
Ah, like how W.C. Fields used to say: 'Godfrey Daniels!'!!
Hooper
I recall seeing "Gordon Bennett!" used as an expletive, I believe, in Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin's "Tank Girl" in the early '90s...
>>Today, Bennett's name is used as an expression of disbelief in England, and is essentially a euphemism for "God".<<
Ah, like how W.C.Fields used to say: 'Godfrey Daniels!'!!
Hooper
By the way, was there another season following the last one that aired on American T.V. (I think I already know the answer, but I'm asking anyway ) ?
The last thing I remember of the crew was Lister, Kryten, The Cat, and Kachanski fleeing into a parallel 'mirror dimension' to escape a rapidly disintegrating Red Dwarf. Rimmer...his egress into the route the others had taken, destroyed....kneed the Grim Reaper in the 'Netherworld Regions' and muttered something like: 'Not today, mate!'!!
Now I'm seeing rumors and reports of a feature film starting production.....??
Hooper
Actually, the movie is long overdue. I work for a PBS station, and Chloe Annett was our guest during what turned out to be our final Red Dwarf pledge drive. This was four years ago, and Chloe was under the impression that production was imminent. No idea what happened, but the official Red Dwarf site claims production is now "imminent".
Huh.
In DOCTOR WHO, The seventh Doctor's assistant Ace used to use the phrase "Gordon Bennett" a lot. Always wondered what that meant.
Funny how things come around.
- DB Bennett
Ah, Red Dwarf. I remember the night I discovered it.... It was late one Saturday in the eighth grade, and I was spending the night at my grandparents. I was about to go to bed when I stumbled upon the Saturday night Britcom block on Louisiana Public Broadcasting. I didn't have a clue what I was seeing at the time, of course. What I had found were strange looking people talking in British accents about very, very strange things... including a king of the potato people?? I had no idea what I'd seen, and on Monday tried my best to relate the whole thing to my best friend, with little success. Luckily, someone overheard me and could explain that I'd just seen an episode of Red Dwarf. Later that year, my friends and I performed that same scene for a class assignment, and brought down the house. Well, classroom of 18 people. Ah, good times... good times...
I asked Doug Naylor (co-creator/producer/writer of RD) a great many questions about the status of the movie and Series 9. The interview goes up Monday evening over at FilmForce.
-Ken
Ordered the first 2 seasons from Amazon.ca for shipment to the US. With a CA$10 off cupon it was CA$51.41. With the exchange it works out to about U$34.15
Can't wait. Hope the rest of the series follows fairly quickly. Haven't seen it in years.
I've always "Gordon Bennett" is a substitute for "God in Heaven"...?
From what I read, the rest of the series is coming out as two sets every February. I really hope that the article had it wrong and they come out faster.
Here comes the Brit to answer it... as best I can. No, it's not cockney slang, geezer. Gordon Bennett kind of has the same meaning as "Good gosh"... in fact it's more akin to those "Holy such-and-such" phrases Robin used in the Batman TV series.
I never knew R.D. was so popular in the US!
They should be making a movie soon-ish.
Some other Brit comedies you guys should really check out include
"I'm Alan Partridge", "Blackadder" and "Bottom". All greats.
Chris
Although I've been known to use the phrase from time to time I must admit that I never knew the etymology before but it certainly seems to be from this American publisher. The best site I've found for British slang is
Although I've been known to use the phrase from time to time I must admit that I never knew the etymology before but it certainly seems to be from this American publisher. The best site I've found for British slang is
Question: do these DVDs have the original beautiful magnificent model work or the shitty CGI they replaced all the model work with on the more recent VHS releases? (Yes, I'm biased. *grin*)
---KRAD
Is it a good collection of Cds ? Does it have Documentaries, interviews, or something that may explain why Holly turned in a "woman", or explaining If Lister really gives birth to twins ( Jim e Bexeley ) ?
Ick. I've despised Red Dwarf for years, even before it was known that the lead actor was a nasty little rapist. I tended to click the channel changer real fast whenever it came on. Just something about it rubbed me the wrong way; can't remember laughing even once, but squirmed all the way through the few episodes I forced myself to watch to make sure I gave it a fair chance. Same reaction, oddly, that I've had to Friends.
Lest anyone take Elayne's statement at face value, it should be noted that Craig Charles was charged with and found not guilty of rape. If Ms. Riggs has any evidence that the court did not consider, she ought put it forward.
Lest anyone take Elayne's statement at face value, it should be noted that Craig Charles was charged with and found not guilty of rape. If Ms. Riggs has any evidence that the court did not consider, she ought put it forward.
There is loads of information at the official Red Dwarf site:
Do a search under DVD and in the first article - DVD Plans Unveiled it says, "Fans will no doubt be interested to learn that the episodes will be released in their original, unremastered versions. Two discs per series."
There is probably more information elsewhere, but with luck that statement still holds.
Neil
They did change Holly to a pixilated version on a blue screen rather than the head in the box trick. I miss the old Holly.
Kath
Unfortunately, the release schedule is 2 Series every February, so we won't have the entire run until 2006. This was a BBC Home Video decision, not Grant/Naylor. As far as bonus materials go, keep an eye out for the Easter Eggs... Good fun.
-Ken
Anyone looking for the DVDs should check dvdpricesearch.com. Actually, I always check this site before I buy any DVDs. I found Season 1 for $20.99 and there is also a two pack of Seasons 1 & 2 for $36.99.
Fazhoul
According to Doug Naylor, they're hoping to start shooting the movie this summer. And I believe somebody may have mentioned it earlier, but the DVD releases are the original versions, not the so-called 're-mastered' versions. In Grant/Naylor's defense, they had been promised a pretty decent amount of money to revamp the visual FX, and most of that money suddenly disappeared. Not to mention the fact that the visual FX industry in the UK still wasn't quite up to snuff at that point. Give me the models and early motion control stuff any day. For me, the DVDs are worth it for the commentary tracks alone: Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett together, commenting on every episode. If you start listening, chances are that you'll leave the disk running into the next episode...and the next... Having spent several months with the cast and crew when I was writing my Red Dwarf book back in season six, I can safely say that this is what these guys are usually like. Lots of abuse about Chris Barrie's love of cars and motorcycles, Chris' uncanny impressions (his impression of Norman is virtually indistiguishable from the real thing, and all four basically making fun of each other at every opportunity. So hope that's answered a few queries.
I guess PAD was lucky to find these 'cause the official street date for the RD DVD sets aren't until this Tuesday (2/25). Just thought I'd mention this in case anyone was trying to find these sets in stores and coming up empty. Look for them Tuesday.
The DS9 Season One DVD set comes out Tuesday too (although my local Wal-Mart out them out already).
-Dennis
I can't wait for Tuesday. As i do every sunday, being a geek, i browsed Best Buy's flyer and was ecstatic with the nice reminder that Red Dwarf I and II were coming out. :)
And Hooper, no. Season 8, aka the Canary Season, was the last season.
I'm guessing Best Buy broke the street date in a lot of places, as Lowell Cunningham and I both picked up both our sets Thursday down here...
They're great sets... finally found both easter eggs on Series 1.... haven't looked on Series 2 yet... yet... :)
As another Brit has just mentioned the phrase Gordan Bennett is used as an expression of incredulity at something.
I have used this often myself but without any idea as to it's origin!!
For a great british comedy try "The Office" the first season is now out on DVD.
Elayne.
I thought you'd been burnt on this kind of thing before.
Hmm?
The Office is great. But don't dare overlook its inspiration "Knowing me Knowing You with Alan Partridge" & "I'm Alan Partridge".
Phoenix Nights is a great Brit sitcom too, another owing lots to Partridge. I'll stop saying Partridge now.
The thing is, there was no need to remaster Red Dwarf. The model work was nothing short of stunning (and award winning). It was a classic case of fixing something that wasn't in the least bit broken.
Glad to see these are the originals (albeit with Holly redone). Must pick this up...
---KRAD
While we're on the subject of good Brit Tele, anyone know if there are plans to release Bottom on DVD ?
I love red dwarf, but it seemed to go down hill in the end, I guess they just run out of idea's.
I'm not sure about Holly, but I thought Dave Lister was from Liverpool and as such wouldn’t have used cockney rhyming slang (in fact not many people out side of the Eastend of London use rhyming slang.)
I truly hate the office and phoenix nights, I think they are the worst comedies I have ever seen! Now Will and Grace, there’s something funny I’ve been getting into recently.
Probably completely wrong as I haven't the most reliable memory in the world, but...
I seem to remember that Season One RD DID feature a pixellated (sp?) Holly and Season Two was Norman Lovett au naturalle.
Yes indeedy.
Yes, 'Gordon Bennett' is a general expression of surprise or shock. (I've heard a few theories about where it comes from, but I don't know which is right.) It's been in use in Britain for ages.
Apparently the Japanese don't understand it, either - on the Japanese translation of episode one (of the features!), Holly says that Gordon Bennett is one of the dead...
Bottom is out on dvd - best place to get *I think* will be: http://www.play.com
Phoenix Nights, like Office & Partridge, is very much a thinking man's comedy: don't give up on it. I hated it at first, but when I watched the repeats I suddenly thought, hey this is actually good!
For HG:
From the (rapid) Star War style introduction to the first episode of Red Dwarf III:
"Three million years in the future, Dave Lister, the last Human being alive discovers he is pregnant after a liaison with his female self in a parallel universe. His pregnancy concludes with the successful delivery of twin boys, Jim and Bexley. However, because the twins were conceived in another universe, with different physical laws, they suffer from highly accelerated growth rates, and are both eighteen years old within three days of being born. In order to save their lives, Lister returns them to the universe of their origin, where they are reunited with their father (a woman), and are able to lead comparatively normal lives. Well, as normal as you can be if you've been born in a parallel universe and your father's a woman and your mother's a man and you're eighteen years three days after your birth. Shortly afterwards, Kryten, the service mechanoid who had left the ship after being rescued from his own crashed vessel, the Nova 5, is found in pieces after his space bike crash lands onto an asteroid. Lister rebuilds the 'noid, but is unable to recapture his former personality. Meanwhile, Holly, the increasingly erratic Red Dwarf computer, performs a head sex change operation on himself. He bases his new face on Hilly, a female computer with whom he'd once fallen madly in love. And now the saga continuums
AND NOW THE SAGA CONTINUUMS.... RED DWARF III: THE SAME GENERATION
- NEARLY -"
Here's something from my fellow Dwarfers (of whom I thought PAD was, but was never sure, until now!)
I finally got around to watching TOMB RAIDER, and guess who was her valet?
That's right, eveyone's favorite acerbic hologram, Chris Barrie.
Excellent performance, even to rival the Proper British Gentleman deportment of Mr. Stephen Fry.
If any one hasn't seen it, beg borrow, or (ahem) appropriate the video.
Not that Mlle. Jolie isn't reason enough to see it!!!