Category Television

The A To Z Of Red Dwarf

Retrocosm 2 Comments

A to Z of Red Dwarf

As I increasingly seem to find myself doing these days I was sorting through a cupboard that had become another ‘throw in’ cupboard when I found hidden at the back my A to Z of Red Dwarf.

This is a genuine prop that I purchased several years ago and promptly tucked away and forgot about.  Seen throughout the early series as set dressing in various parts of Red Dwarf the A to Z featured heavily in the first series episode Me 2 (squared.)

Scene From Red Dwarf

The book, which is in reality a copy of ‘Lecture Notes on Pathology’ with a false cover presumably printed by the props department has a cut out section inside in which according to Red Dwarf legend Rimmer hid his diary.

A new series of Red Dwarf is currently scheduled for release in 2012.  I am a huge fan of the programme, and although the later series’ were a tad disappointing the early classics are well worth revisiting.

The images below show the book in detail and also some more stills of it on set.



I don’t know what the text on the back refers to, or if I’m honest even what language it is.  Below you can see where the book pages have been cut out so that Rimmer’s diary can be concealed inside, although of course Lister knew it was there and takes great delight in reading it.

Hot gazpacho soup anyone?

Panasonic TX-P42G20B Has Arrived

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As I mentioned in an earlier entry I had decided it was time to upgrade my main television to something that could handle full HD and was future proofed for Freeview HD.

The Panasonic TX-P42G20 I had my eye on is currently around £725 at Amazon, which given its abilities seems pretty good value to me.  Bear in mind a few years a go I bought an Ilayma 19 inch LCD computer monitor for more than this, in fact I ended up with two, quite an extravagance on reflection.

I am unable to criticise Amazon, I ordered the set at around mid-day and for only about £8 delivery it arrived the following morning at 11.  I was shocked to see the delivery driver walking up the drive carrying it with little difficulty, given my previous 37 inch plasma is barely liftable by one person.  This new unit must weigh less than half as much.

I hooked it up with little difficulty and am blown away by the quality.  I have ordered a Panasonic Blu Ray player which hasn’t arrived yet.  However I am frankly astonished by the quality of a regular DVD upscaled by my Denon DVD player connected via HDMI, my wife was convinced it was HD.

When the Blu Ray player arrives I’ll do a proper review but on first impressions things are looking very good.

(Update)

Arrrgh, Guide+, how did I fall into that trap?  This is turning out to be a great television but I really, really object to having adverts delivered to me when viewing the guide.  Not only is it completely unacceptable to force adverts on to your customers in this underhand manner when they’ve just bought your product but to add insult to injury the adverts make the guide almost unusable by stealing valuable screen estate.

I’m a great fan of Panasonic but this has made me seriously question whether I shall buy the brand again.

(Further Update)

Screen burn, something I thought had been resolved with modern plasma screens has reared its very ugly head.  Courtesy of Cbeebies and the BBC red button I now have the words ‘Come and play’ faintly but permanently etched into the top right corner of the screen.  I’m seriously irritated, not only with the TV but perhaps more so with the BBC red button service.

Which imbeciles decided it would be a good idea to create a solid high contrast graphic and place it permanently in the corner of the screen? Morons!

Incidentally my previous Panasonic Plasma which has seen many more hours of Cbeebies has no such problem.

Freeview HD Availibility

Retrocosm 1 Comment

I’ve been looking for a new TV, the Panasonic plasma I have is a fine box but it only has one HDMI slot and it can’t manage full HD, only 720P, plus I swear the streetlights in our road dim when you power it up. I haven’t yet upgraded to a Blu Ray player but intend to do so shortly, this will bring me to three HDMI connections required.

I have my eye on the Panasonic TX-P42G20B Plasma, it supports Freeview HD and Freesat HD has plenty of HDMI slots and despite having an extra 5 inches on the diagonal its overall dimensions are little larger than my current box, and it’s cheaper than that was.

Here’s the rub, Freeview HD is apparently not available in my area until April 2011 which is deeply irritating, the only other way I’m going to join the ranks of those enjoying HD broadcasts is to have a ‘chav lives here dish’ on the side of the house and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

With the highly likely VAT increase on the way coupled with fact that tv’s are fantastic value at the moment I feel a purchase may be likely anyway.