Merchandise News

Latest deals done for Dwarfendise.

29 July, 2005

There are a few morsels on the merchandise platter at the moment, all filling but not at all fattening. Yum.

Firstly, Red Dwarf Headknockers are in development with new licensee T-2 Distribution, the wholesale division of Spytech. These 'bobbleheads-by-another-name' are shaping up to be the cutest Dwarf items ever, with Rimmer, Lister, Kryten and others currently at the sculpting stage. You can check out their website via Links - where the Alien and Predator headknockers alone are cause for impressed giggles.

Spytech have also made moves towards the much-requested Mr Flibble Glove Puppet! A clone has been created by series costume designer Howard Burden, and right now the company is looking into recreating his exact dimensions. "We are delighted to be developing these Red Dwarf goodies," said the company's Mark Hilliard. "Mr Flibble hopes we capture his good side - or he will be very cross!" Finally, the killer penguin can be yours!

There are also two calendars currently being created, both by Dwarf newcomers. In Australia a character-based design has come from World of Stars. "We at World of Stars are excited to be involved in the Red Dwarf product line," said company director Peter Hoffman. "Our designer Peter Shaw has been busy designing our first Red Dwarf product - that being the 2006 Australian calendar - which will be sold into book shops, newsagents, card stores, ABC Stores and many more traditional outlets."

But the UK also have a calendar planned for 2006. (And isn't it odd that every year now sounds like a science fiction date where we should all have hover cars and be called up to Carousel at the age of 30?) World of Calendars have a funky design that incorporates character bios and a running guide to Space Corps Directives.

World of Calendars' Jonathan Franks told reddwarf.co.uk, "We're chuffed to bits to be helping Dwarfers everywhere keep track of the days, weeks and months - as well as the full range of Space Corps Directives. You'll wonder how you coped without us!"

In DVD and episode news, the Czech Republic have scheduled Series I to IV for release on the following dates: August 24th, September 14th, October 12th and November 9th 2005. All four are vanilla (extras-free) releases based on the Czech broadcast versions, which means I to III will be remastered. (You can learn more about international DVD releases here.)

2 entertain, meanwhile, are fervent in their support of Dwarf, and have plans to float a test for a mobile phone ROM card. This card, which will contain three episodes of the show - Back to Reality, Gunmen of the Apocalypse and Tikka to Ride - will play video on your phone. It is, according to the RokPlayer.com website, just like DVD for your mobile.

ADDITIONAL: This release has now been confirmed for November, with cover art to follow shortly. Moving away from the episodes suggested above, Doug Naylor has opted for shows that rely less on the visuals and more on dialogue-based comedy. The chosen shows are now Marooned, Quarantineand Cassandra.

Finally, another new venture for Red Dwarf, established memorabilia producers Rye by Post are concocting a collection of framed film cells. What are they? They're 35mm film cells framed and mounted in a display collection.

Now, with a show shot on video, obviously there's no 'original' film footage of the cast, so the collection will be based on stills taken on-set. Several character-centric collections are currently in the offing, as well as some based on specific series.

"When we were informed that we would be acquiring the Red Dwarf license I think that we were all slightly in awe as it is such a giant and leader in comedy history," said Rye's licensing assistant Dawn Amos. "When we started this project there was so much good material that we did not know where to start, and because everyone in the office had a favourite character or series there was a certain degree of 'Kryten is the funniest character' or 'Series V had the best episodes'.

"This then became a bit of a paradox because if I believed that Cat was the best character - how could this be true if my colleagues believed that Rimmer was the best character? It was at this point that we turned to Grant Naylor in respect of overall popularity and feedback regarding popular scenes, characters and images.

"We feel that we have produced filmcells that represent and capture the essence of Red Dwarf. When you have high regard and respect for a production of this calibre I think you will always have doubts at to whether you have done justice in your work, but we do hope and feel that the huge fan base out there for Red Dwarf will be able to have their own piece from the show that will have special memories that are personal to them."

Both the Argos catalogue and Play.com have exclusive collections of the framed cells, and there's a wide variety of choices in the various sets. We'll be bringing you photos and artwork as soon as they're available, plus likely release dates and Red Dwarf Shop availability. With all this and the Red Dwarf magazine continuing towards production, it's an exciting time for series fans and collectors!

You can visit the various merchandise websites via Links.