Watching The Collector

Another Red Dwarf fan devotes time - and money! - to a prop collection.

4 February, 2011

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Nathan Pardue has been collecting props and costumes for around five years. "I collect from a range of film and TV productions," he told reddwarf.co.uk. "And I'm a member of the United Movie Collectors Guild and the Movie Props Association. Over the last two years or so my collection has become more focused on Red Dwarf than anything else."

Well, who can blame him? Like collector-fans James Bull and Joel Benson - featured here in our 2004 article - Nathan has found the steady trickle of genuine used-in-the-show Red Dwarf irresistible. "I've been a fan of the show for as long as I can remember, even though I hadn't been born when it first aired!"

The 21 year-old transport operator from Suffolk may have some way to go before his collection reaches the biggest out there, but there's something about Red Dwarf - with even basic props having to be somewhat bespoke to suit the future setting - that makes the challenge worthwhile. And official resellers Prop Store have made things a lot easier.

"The first thing I bought was a costume worn in Series VIII, from the Prop Store, and my collection grew from there," says Nathan. "Since then I have been fortunate enough to acquire some of the more recognisable pieces from the show - the Cat's pink suit, Lister's glove, Rimmer's light-bee - but no matter what it is there's always a tingle of excitement handling something that was made specifically for filming; especially when you've seen it on screen countless numbers of times."

Among the costumes Nathan has acquired are: a Series I crew uniform, a Nova 5 uniform, the Cat's suit from Demons & Angels and Pete Tranter's sister's slinky one-piece. Among the props: the self-loathing beast's hideous 'H' branding-iron, the joke book Lister brings Rimmer in Justice and one of the Canary guns from Series VIII.

The pink suit is the most expensive item in Nathan's collection - but not every treasure can be easily displayed. "Unfortunately I don't have a lot of space to display things, so most of the costumes are on hangers in sealed bags in a wardrobe, with two out on display which I swap every so often. Most of my props are either cased or in a display cabinet."

Nathan has set up a website, too. "I set up the site to display my collection to other fans interested in the production of the show, and as an ever growing record of the pieces - in some cases rather fragile - that have survived the heavy use of filming over the years. I also have various other things related to the show which currently do not feature on the site - signed photos, book covers, scripts, etc."

What do his friends and family make of it? "It's taken a while but they have finally started to accept it as one of my hobbies, and I have even had some pieces as gifts from family!" And what's on the wish-list for the future? "Number one on my list would be one of Lister's jackets - wishful thinking! One of Kryten's black costumes would also be high on my list. I'd quite like a bazookoid too!"

Wouldn't we all...

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