Starbugging Around

News on just what you always wanted - your very own Starbug.

14 March, 2003

When Steve Walker of Product Enterprise showed up at the Grant Naylor office, he brought with him an item that now officially ranks in my Top Three Most Fabulous Things Ever (alongside DVD extras discs and Chlo� Annett's bottom).

The Starbug toy prototype, pictured here, is likely to become one of the coolest pieces of Dwarfendise yet released. The highly detailed ship doesn't just carefully follow the design of the model ship used on the show, it also has a few cunning extra features. The front two sections open up to create four of the 'Bug's rooms - cockpit, mid-section, bunkroom and Kryten's laundry room - which house miniature versions of Rimmer, Lister, Cat and Kryten.

"Being a fan of the series since the beginning, I was disappointed at the lack of [toy] merchandise that was available from Red Dwarf." Steve told reddwarf.co.uk. "Having established ourselves with our Dr Who toy line, I was able to look for other licences that we could turn our talents to - Red Dwarf was top of our list! We were really excited at getting the licence, [and] the first, and most obvious item to produce in the range was a Starbug playset."

The characters - which have yet to be sculpted in their proper versions - are joined by Talkie Toaster and Holly. "Press the 'toast' in Talkie Toaster and up pops Holly. A 'probe' is also launched from beneath the vehicle. The playset also features lights and sounds - engines light up, and there will be classic sound bites from the main characters."

So far, so cool - and no wonder. Steve's life with Red Dwarf started long before the development of the Starbug model: "My background is in special effects. After leaving film school I worked for a period at the BBC visual effects department then for about five years freelance on a host of British sci-fi shows." Steve was actually working for the department when they created the original Red Dwarf model shots.

The photographs included here are, of course, of the prototype - so what stages does it now have to go through before release? And what changes are likely to occur? "Once the engineering model is approved, this is sent to our factory in Hong Kong to be tooled. An engineer will work out how to break down the model into the most economical number of parts in order to effect a toy that can be quickly and easily assembled with as little compromise to the original as possible."

"There are certain changes that will have to occur by law. The finished product will have to pass stringent safety tests, so any sharp/pointy bits will have to be either made safe or produced in a soft material. Although the toy is aimed at an adult collector market, it is still a toy, and as such little Tommy shouldn't be able to poke his sisters eye out with a micro-Lister!"

While Steve had a great deal more to say on the subject, we were unfortunately distracted by Enterprise's stupidly-compulsive remote-control Dalek. Starbug will be available in shops from late October 2003, and more news will appear on reddwarf.co.uk later in the year. Exterminate! Exterminate!

You can check out the Product Enterprise website via our Links section.