Better Than Life
Better Than Life
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club newsletter Better Than Life is the most comprehensive Red dwarf publication ever. Written and managed by fans, this publications is published four times a year and often has as many as 44 pages entirely devoted to Red Dwarf.
Listed below are the contents that a standard issue includes and some further information about the
feature. Some items also have links so that you can read some of the pieces printed under that
section in back issues of Better Than Life.
Issues of BTL are currently sent out four times a year. Apart from special features such as Dimension Jump write ups, or cast and crew
interviews, the basic structure of each issue remains the same, which is as follows:
Contents of BTL
Balance of Power
These emerged from the basic editorial, and they are a chance for each team member to address
the readership with issues they have noticed over the last few months, and to perhaps clear up any
misunderstandings the membership may have had regarding their part of the running of the fan club.
News
The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club is amongst the first to get any news pertaining to the series, and
often carries information not published elsewhere, such as ratings for the show and details of
special fan clubs for cast members. A month after BTL is sent out we duplicate that news here for
non-members. This time around, as a new series is in the making, we have bent the rules a little and
some news which has not been printed can be found on the homepages.
Featured Episode
Each issue we choose an episode and invite the readership to write in giving comments on it, such
as whether they liked it, what their favourite or least favourite scenes or lines were, and how it rates
against other episodes. The feature is illustrated by Philippa Drakeford and is one of the most
popular we run.
Gazpacho Soup Day
Everyone has a moment in their life that they'd rather forget, but can't. To exorcise the
embarrassment and horror of that moment, we invite our members to share their most painful
experiences with us in true Rimmer style.
Gazpacho Soup Day excerpts
Marooned
This is something of a Desert Island Disks for Red Dwarf fans who get to choose episodes and
items from the Red Dwarf world to take with them to help them through life if shipwrecked on a
desert island. This feature is run by Steev.
Bay 47
Conversely, this is a feature which sees fans relegate items and people to Quarantine in Bay 47, in
the same way Room 101 worked. It's run by Basher Bev and has become another popular feature
of BTL.
Excerpts from Bay 47
Post Pod
Imagine a usenet newsgroup on paper, and with all the drivel removed. This is Post Pod, where
readers letters are assimilate and/or answered and almost everyone gets their say.
Reviews
The fan club receives a number of advance Red Dwarf releases such as pre-publication books and
videos, and the whole team share the effort of reviewing them for the readers. Items that have been
available to the public for a while are reviewed by the membership, and the reviews pages are a
good way to work out exactly what to put on your Christmas list and what's worth watching when
it makes it to screen.
A taste of some BTL reviews
Fiction
Where would a fanzine be without fiction? A space is reserved in each issue of BTL for fiction to
be printed, both in standard text form and as comic strips. Since the amount of fiction sent in is so
huge we print a selection of some of the best Red Dwarf stories available outside of the minds of
Rob and Doug.
Fiction: Resurrection
Puzzle Corner
A new feature of BTL, to date this has included a dot-to-dot of a future Lister, and a letters puzzle.
Slated for the future are wordsearches and crosswords amongst other things.
Merchandise
Fan club members are able to order merchandise not available elsewhere. This includes car
stickers, badges, T shirts and mugs. Each issue the list is updated.
Listings and Penpals
The penpals section, which is available in full from these pages, resides amongst listings of other fan
clubs, and members adverts where members can trade anything and everything, and many a
Tongue Tied or Smegazine deal is made.
Competitions
Newly claimed by Caroline, the competitions page runs easy to answer competitions with prizes
including anything from new Red Dwarf books and videos through to bars of chocolate.
Miscellaneous
Each issue is different, and from time to time something is submitted which does not fit into any of
the categories above. Other times we are able to get exclusive interviews with the stars of Red
Dwarf, and pages are devoted to that. The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club were the first people to
print an interview with Craig Charles after he was released from prison. We are the only people
with an interest in, and permission to bring people transcripts of Dave Hollins, the Son of Cliche
sketch from which Red Dwarf grew, and we have some of the most comprehensive background
information straight from the mouths of the stars of the show. A taster of some of the pieces we
have brought members in the past are available here:
Dave Hollins Space Cadet transcript
Red Drag
Dimension Jump Report
Rob Grant on IRC
Former features include:
Mother Theresa Absolves
Lt Col Mother Teresa, in the guise of Di Hinton takes letters from Red Dwarf fans seeking
repentence, and has answered such questions as what to do if you become a Star Trek fan, and
how to cope with renouncing the Dwarf. A cross between an agony column and a confession box,
Mother Teresa is the answer to all your problems.
Here is a sample of Better Than Life
News from BTL #18
It would be totally unfair to publish all the current Red Dwarf news we have on the World Wide
Web, since members pay to have this information sent to them. For that reason this page usually
only contains the news from the last issue of BTL sent out and is updated one month after BTL is
mailed to members.
Contents
Congratulations
Video news
Book news
10%ers screenings
Web pages
Watches
The Strangerers
See here
Spoilers
Congratulations
Congrats are due to Robert Llewellyn who took time out between the end of Red Dwarf filming
and his signing tour to attend the birth of his daughter, Holly. Judy Pascoe and the baby are doing
fine.
Video News
In February BBC Worldwide (or video to you and I) should be releasing the repackaged double
tapes of series 1, 2 and 3. More info next issue. Meanwhile, you can find adverts elsewhere in this
issue for the Starburst video which featuring Red Dwarf snips, and an also for an exclusive video
documentary filmed behind the scenes of Craig Charles' Live On Earth tour which isn't available in
the shops.
Book News
Published this Autumn in the UK:
Thin He Was and Filthy Haired:
Robert Llewellyn autobiography.
Therapy and How to Avoid It:
Robert Llewellyn and Nigel Planer.
Son of Soup: Second Red Dwarf script book, from Rob Grant.
Backwards: Rob Grant's sequel to Better Than Life issued in paperback.
Coming soon:
Random Abstract Memory:
Autobiograhical book from Hattie Hayridge.
Red Dwarf survival Guide
10%ers screenings
>The latest series from Grant Naylor Productions was broadcast on the following dates:
1 7/7/96 Table Eleven
2 14/7/96 Every Cloud
3 6/8/96 Revenge
4 13/8/96 Runner
5 20/8/96 Fear
6 27/8/96 Surprise
7 2/9/96 Wedding
Web Pages
As many of you will have seen announced in the likes of SFX magazine, Grant Naylor Productions
are to set up a World Wide Web site on the Internet. Despite what the magazine reported, the
pages were not up and running in August, and there is currently no available information on when
they will appear. We will, of course, keep you informed of the site's launch and an idea of the
contents here in BTL, and as soon as the site is up there will be a link from the Fan Club's own
pages.
Timely Gifts
News has reached us that a Red Dwarf alarm clock and watch will soon be available for you to
buy. Details are sketchy, although one of these will be out in time for Christmas.
Strangerers
Rob Grant's new production company has had a pilot SF show called The Strangerers accepted
by the BBC. Rob is currently writing the series and negotiating details regarding it. He also hopes
to have a Strangerers novel out soon, followed eventually by some at least one more Red Dwarf
novel.
See Hear
Red Dwarf: featured on Telly Addicts (a tv quiz show about tv) where one of the contestants
answered 'On The Box' individual questions on Red Dwarf (he got 7/10) BBC 1 23/9/96
Craig Charles: Launch of Radio 1 Web site (Aug), The 10%ers episode 'Revenge' 6/8/96. Voice
over announcer for the BBC2 bank holiday Star Trek evening 26/8/96. Captain Butler C4
now(ish!)
Norman Lovett: Jack & Jeremy's Real Lives episode Hospital Entrepreneurs C4 5/7/96. Norman
Lovett appeared at the Hatfield Campus of the University of Hertfordshire on 30th September.
Hattie Hayridge: Saturday Live ITV 15/6/96. Stand Up ITV (Anglia) 19/7/96 & 16/8/96.
Robert Llewellyn: I Camcorder episode Wedding repeat C4 29/7/96. Book signing tour for Thin
He Was... September. No Bananas
Red Dwarf VII news!
The episode titles for the new series can be confirmed as:
1: Tikka to Ride
2: Natural Born Rimmers
3: Ouroboros
4: Duct Soup
5: Heartache
6: Beyond a Joke
7: Epideme
8: Nanarchy
These titles are all subject to change, although the running order should remain the same.
Although other writers were involved with the writing of the new series Doug Naylor is
reported to have said that he wrote about 60 percent of the material.*
The much vaunted new character was revealed at Dimension Jump to be Kochanski with a
new face. This is the face of Chloe Annette who whilst not present at the convention did
speak to the crowds via a mobile phone and a microphone, saying:
Hi, you'll see me in January, I hope you like me, and if you don't, don't give me
a hard time!.*
Norman Lovett will appear in one episode of the new series.**
*Information cleared by Grant Naylor Productions and the BBC for publication and imparted by Jane Killick.
**Information cleared by Grant Naylor Productions and the BBC and imparted by Norman Lovett.
Copy written by Cma
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