I dont know your age but I was born in '95 and my dad gave me red dwarf and hitchhiker's guide when I was 10 or so, i read it every few years as a teen. That and the "myth" series it was a fantasy series with all books having myth in the title. Canr remember the author
Something I've never realised before is the way rimmers love of colouring is described - he's a self denying creative who's own desire to be something else is his biggest weakness. He'd be a glorious watercolourist if only he felt it was a practice worth pursuing.
If you've never heard it, you should listen to the original radio version of 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. It's here on RU-vid divided into three parts. Part one is titled 'Primary Phase [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Series]' and can be found at: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ciE0rAOjK0A.html
''Hey, did you hear there was a Red Dwarf Book?'' "Neat, I'll probably wait until christmas or som-" "There's an audio book of it narrated by Rimmer" "JUST TAKE MY MONEY!"
+Lee Hales Ha ha! :-D I love Rimmer too - He's my favourite. ^_^ I wished they had made an Ace Rimmer spin-off where we follow his adventures across space/time.
I never never thought I would hear this book again! The last time I listened to it was on my cassette player in the late 1990’s. Thank you so much!! (I still love Chris Barrie’s voice talents.)
Chris Barrie is a very talented impressionist, before he worked on Red Dwarf, he was in the comedy troupe “Spitting Image”, he voiced the Ronald Reagan puppet
I had forgotten just how much Chris can sound like Lister. It reminded me that when I first listened to this, I could get so absorbed in the story that I could easily forget that Dave was being voiced by “Rimmer”.
@@crazysiouxz this doesn't sound anything like lister... I'm not even exaggerating... Nothing like him! 🤣 I read your comment before hearing it, and I had to say something because I was expecting big things hahaha its just like a random semi scouse passer by, itcould be anybody!
These books read by Chris are sci-fi masterpieces. Just a joy. Particularly the deeper insights into the characters. I genuinely think Rimmer might be the greatest sitcom creation of all time.
It could definitely be made a case of. His character and story (delved into much further in the books) really is one of the most tragic and heart wrenching stories ever thought up
As a fan of red dwarf from season 1 how has it taken me all these decades to realise that Chris Barrie is putting on a completely different voice when he plays rimmer and that his real voice is much deeper
I read this so many times as a teenager I had passages of it I could recite by heart. Such wonderful backstory for an already seminal show. Lovely to see a bit of a return to form with series 11 too.
Ha, yeah, me too... this was one of those books that I genuinely read to pieces. I remember I hadn't even owned it that long before it started looking dog eared and battered, because I kept re-reading it. Well, technically I had the combined omnibus edition of the first two books, but same thing, really.
So what year was it published? I know I can just look it up but it’d be more fun to get the info from one of you. I loved the show as a kid when it came out and am just now being exposed to this masterpiece.
Damn man, maybe it was the quality of the books too, the cover came off my copy and I think the first two chapters separated and have gone elsewhere (damn softbacks)!
Got the abridged, two-cassette version of this for Christmas when I was a kid and remember feeling how grown-up it all was. Listening to it all these years later, it still gives me that same thrill.
Old comment I know but I thought you be interested; Chris Barrie started in show business as an impressionist, one of his earliest gigs was doing impressions of politicians for the comedy 'spitting image'
"I realised that biologically, she would be my sister, and so unable to take me as her lover. After much soul searching, I thought... sod it, I just wouldn't tell her." 😂
Chris Barrie was a comedian and impressionist, Robert Llewelyn was a comedian, Norman Lovett was a stand up, Danny John Jules was a singer, dancer and had gymnastics experience , they all stole the show with their talents.
listening to Rimmer's past and his own inner thoughts, it fills me with pity. Being forced to try and become a space officer, something he's not even personally interested in because of the expectations of his horrible parents and the pure mental torture it puts him in....when its so very clear that he should have become an artist.
Top1 love ya to Death ACE💜✌😎👌 Funniest book Eva, and I love Terry Pratchet and the Hitchhikers Guide! !! RED DWARF the most popular program Eva to be on B.B.C 2, Fact, LoVe ya forever ACE♠🎼🎶🎵I WANT TO FLY SHIP WRECKED 🎶AND COMATOSED!!🎵🎵FUN, FUN,FUN 👽👽👾👽👽💝👍😂👌
This cassette and Better than Life were my bedtime listening for what seems like years as a kid. Burning up with a stinking cold, so sticking this on for comfort while I try sleep. Looking forward to realising how many bits I didn't know I could remember.
Years ago I somehow made contact online with an Australian guy and eventually the subject of Red Dwarf came up and he asked if I had heard the audio books that came out alongside the TV show. I was like, Whaa? I thought I was a big fan and yet had no idea and had never heard of the audiobooks? He then told me that he had ALL FOUR of the books read out by Rimmer, Rob Grant and Lister and would I like copies of them? This was back in the days when transfer of large files was not exactly straightforward, especially to a relative newbie like me. After many hours I eventually figured out, with his help, how to download all the files from his server which included the abridged books with sound effects AND the full unabridged versions. Happy as a pig in ..., I then made the effort to get into the relatively new file sharing tools of Kazaa, and then later, Utorrent and uploaded all of the books to sites like Demonoid and Pirate Bay and for many years was the only user that was sharing all these files. Who knows, maybe these are in fact those very files? Anyways, I was very pleased that the stranger I met online was good enough to share his treasures with me and I am pleased to say that I got many comments and PM's from people all over the planet expressing the same joy from them that I had shared them online, too. How good is it to be a part of Dwarfer community :) P.S Many, many thanks to that anonymous hero from OZ, whoever you may be!
What are the titles of all four books please, I've read this one before but love it so like listening again but I'd like to listen to the ones I haven't, if you remember please let me know
Hey cwestern9440, yup the books, in order, are Infinity welcomes careful drivers ... then Better than life .... and then the last two books are really kinda both book 3, you'll see when you read them, but I liked to listen to Backwards then Last human. Infinity and Better than life were both read by Chris Barrie, Backwards was read by Rob Grant and Last human was read by Craig Charles. As far as I can remember there are the full unabridged versions and abridged versions of all four books and there are also a version of the first two books which are abridged and include sound effects, too. Personally I think the unabridged are the best. Also, Craig Charles does impressions of ... I forget the name but it's some kind of alien and it can be really jarring to hear lol, you'll know what I mean when you hear it :) Sorry for late reply but I didn't get any notifications.
This is like the guy who robbed your house popping up on the Internet to boast about it. If you're such a fan of Barrie / Dwarf why did you go out of your way to deny him the financial rewards for the work you claim to love?
I used to read the first two books constantly……literally finishing and immediately starting again. I wore the omnibus edition to tatters. I love how it linked up the various TV episodes into a cohesive narrative and gave more depth to Lister and Rimmer. It gave the story room to breathe and didn’t have to conform to a set of 22 minutes episodes. Hearing this again is a treat. Having Chris Barrie reading it is the icing on the cake.
LOVE THESE FOUR BOOKS... THE FIRST TWO ARE GREAT AS chris Barrie is doing ALL the voices, PERFECTLY, and the writting is VERY GOOD!!! The last two are really great too, even though the voices are not up to scratch although, they have their own delights, if you have an ear for it!!!
Really witch five people searched for this and then gave it a down vote, all I can say is thanks now I don't need to hear the intro every 21 min ☺thanks again love it
late to the party, now catching up during Red Dwarf rewatch on iplayer. Had this book for decades, re-read it recently and then found this! Chris Barrie can read me a story any time.. 🙂
Plus it provides an explanation as to why Lister had the cat. Lister’s book dumb, sure, but he’s not straight-up dumb. In the show it’s kind of implied that Lister is just dumb enough to have brought a cat on board without going through the right procedures, but in the book he specifically makes sure that Frankenstein is as healthy as possible so she doesn’t actually endanger anyone, and it’s all calculated so that he can get into stasis.
What I love about 80s Sci Fi is that they just couldn't predict how fast technology would move. It's the 23rd century and intergalactic spaceflight has become a mundane commute but Wifi, mobile phones don't exist and everyone is still using CRT Tvs.
Enzo: Makes the whole 'only able to power one at a time' thing a lot more plausible, doesn't it? I never bought that before, but now it makes total sense, hah.
Yeah, both great TV series & books, but not at all right for Hollywood. I thought the only good thing about the HGttG movie was Marvin being voiced by a really depressed Severus Snape. Red Dwarf series 7 & 9 were trying to showcase movie potential, and they reeked. They sold out when they dropped Claire Grogan because she wasn't glamorous enough for Hollywood.
This audio book is so awesome. Ive only listened to one 2 hour part, and to think, theres 3 others of the same length. What a fucking, i mean smegging treat. I never knew the red dwarf ship was so smegging huuuuge too. I thought it was a few hundred meters long or something. You dont really get the epic scale of thing in the title shot. It always bothered me how the cats (or 'vampires' as some people not invested in the series thought the cat was, which is really funny) could have survived and evolved in space over 3 million yeàrs. Now it makes total sense :)
I never knew, but should have. It always takes a special talent to play such an irritating character. It takes a certain genius to combine so many irritating traits and still have enough redeeming features in a character and not turn him silly.
Bought this book on a summer camp trip to Scotland when I was a kid, the only copy in the store. Guy in my group kept begging me to let him read it before we left for home. Finally I gave in and gave it to him, caught him engrossed by it a few hours later, forgetting where he was and who was around, picking monsters out of his nose, finger into his mouth, then same finger used to turn the pages of MY friggin book :/ I wasn't taking that back, but took the cost of it from him..... Spent 4 weeks scouring every bookstore within a bus trip away from me when I got back to Ireland, but couldn't find a copy. Eventually asked my local store to order a copy (at twice the price I paid in Scotland), took SIX feckin weeks to arrive. From the UK. Six weeks. It was almost like the gods of comedy were determined I wasn't to read this book. But it came, and I laughed my ass off. Must have read it twenty times before I ever saw the TV show, for sci-fi comedy you won't find better than this, only thing that comes close is Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Dirk Gently is waaaaaay back there in third. Anyways, fan for life, thanks for sharing!!
i remember wanting these tapes as a 8 year old in 1991 with a crush on chris barrie 😊 but sadly i never got them.however i used to take the novels to school in my early teens…till i got told by my english teacher to change to farthing wood and lion the witch and the wardrobe as they where sick of me writing essays on red dwarf funny but true 😂
