Female "Red Dwarf" fans?

[The Borgified Corpse]

"Sex and the City"? Makes me want to shoot myself in the head to make it stop. I hate that show with a passion.

Just me speculating here, but I'll bet the more feminine women tend toward "Sex and the City." The typical female stereotype obsessed with buying a million pairs of shoes and wearing frilly dresses and pampered princess mentalities. The "girly" girls, as it were. The chick lit genre was meant for these girls.

Then you get the geek tomboys who were almost never into the "girly" stuff as kids. I've been in fandom in some way, shape or form, for as long as I can remember, and I have yet to meet women in fandom who are into the "girly" girl stuff. I'm sure they're probably out there, but my experience is that they're few and far between.

Ironically, I'm a guy and I think I like Sex & the City more than most of my female friends do. In fact most of them wouldn't touch it with a 10ft. pole. Actually, neither would I at first. I only happened to catch some of it while my mother was watching it. I was surprised to discover that it's really good. The superficial materialism may be what originally got it headlines but at its core it's a genuine, earnest exploration of human emotions and the often confusing ways in which we treat each other.

You want something too girly? Try Charmed. It doesn't bother me that the women are the main characters. What bothers me is that the men are so poorly written. It's like the writers are only imagining fantasy men and have never met an actual man in their lives. The men are so poorly written, the show would be better off if it just didn't have any men at all.

My friend Brenda loves Charmed, Doctor Who, Stargate, & Disney princesses but has never seen Red Dwarf or Sex & the City. She's pretty girly but with a heavy sci-fi background. She's read more literary science fiction than anyone I know.

My friend Tracy is slightly more the standard sci-fi tomboy geek. She likes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Star Trek, and is probably one of the few women on the planet who loves Monty Python. But there seems to be something about Red Dwarf that she finds off-putting. Maybe it's the fearless sexual humor. Something like Sex & the City would probably make her eyeballs explode.

how do I convert my female friends and get them to love this show as much as I do?

Show them a lot of scenes with Kochanski?

I don't think that would work. Firstly, I don't think you'll find a single Dwarfer of any gender who will recommend Series VII & VIII as the best the show has to offer. Secondly, I think gags like the "Have a fantastic period!" sign from "Only the Good..." will just end up being counter-productive.

 

[SiorX]

"Sex and the City"? Makes me want Ironically, I'm a guy and I think I like Sex & the City more than most of my female friends do. In fact most of them wouldn't touch it with a 10ft. pole. Actually, neither would I at first. I only happened to catch some of it while my mother was watching it. I was surprised to discover that it's really good. The superficial materialism may be what originally got it headlines but at its core it's a genuine, earnest exploration of human emotions and the often confusing ways in which we treat each other.

I stayed the hell away from S&tC for years because I assumed from the promos that it was basically "Woe! I have spilt $100 champagne on my $1000 shoes." Then I actually sat down to watch it and was quite ashamed of myself for the snap judgement.

A lot of people (even Marge Simpson!) have read it as a story about four gay NY men, who happen to be played by women. I'm sure there're as many who'd disagree, but it says something about it's applicability, and how people identify. It has something to say to more people than just those who want the Carrie lifestyle.

Then again, the chick show/dude show as mutually exclusive categories always annoys me. There's so much plain bad television out there anyway, do we really have to gender it too? (I just read James Cameron yabbering about it wrt the Avatar movie. *Headdesk*)

She... is probably one of the few women on the planet who loves Monty Python.

Dude, I think you guys are hanging around the wrong parts of the internet.

 

[Deckerd]

They're hanging around the wrong countries. In the UK RD was just as popular with women as it was with men. However it is a product of its time, which is why only nerds are interested in it now.

 

[Jono]

My sister is a major fan of Red Dwarf. She owns up the VHS tapes and is own getting the DVDs. In fact I'm only a fan because she was and I got to watch her copies.

I've met other female fans. One of my female RAs at college loved Red Dwarf. One of the customer service girls at the place I bought one of the Red Dwarf DVDs for my sister took me she was a fan of the show too.

Out of sci-fi shows I've met more female Red Dwarf fans then Star Trek or Star Wars fans, though no as many Stargate female fans.

 

[Odo's Bucket]

It was my two step-sisters that introduced me to the show, so there are female fans out there.

 

[Loupjo]

I am a woman and I like Red Dwarf. I have watched Red Dwarf on and off for the past decade or so. I think it's a really funny show.
I like Sex and the City as well. So yes it is possible to like both. I actually like lots of different shows and can watch girly stuff as well as more male orientated stuff without any problem.

 

[tharpdevenport]

My favorite aunt, a female, loves the show. She's the one who introduced it to me, so they do exist.


And, The Borgified Corpse, the cast was -- as I recall -- only "All-male" for about three seasons. Holly, though just a floating computer head, was female (though weirdly male later), and after she left, we had Kochanski as a regular member for a year or two.

 

[auntiehill]

I love Red Dwarf. True, the later seasons were...not the best. But I have always been fond of it---you just don't find better lines than the ones you get from Rimmer!

I thought the show as a whole was better without Kochanski. She just wasn't funny.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

My favorite aunt, a female, loves the show. She's the one who introduced it to me, so they do exist.


And, The Borgified Corpse, the cast was -- as I recall -- only "All-male" for about three seasons. Holly, though just a floating computer head, was female (though weirdly male later), and after she left, we had Kochanski as a regular member for a year or two.

Holly was male for the first 2 series, then he changed his programming after meeting Hilly in Parallel Universe, then there was no Holly in series 6 and 7, the nano bots fixed his programming after series 7... That's the in universe explanation.

 

[WillsBabe]

I thought the show as a whole was better without Kochanski. She just wasn't funny.

I agree. I didn't think she lived up to the whole "myth" of Kochanski either.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I thought the show as a whole was better without Kochanski. She just wasn't funny.

I agree. I didn't think she lived up to the whole "myth" of Kochanski either.

I think part of the problem was Doug Naylor didn't know how to write funny very well on his own, never mind write for a female character who basically already had an expectation she was supposed to meet.

 

[WillsBabe]

never mind write for a female character who basically already had an expectation she was supposed to meet.

Also, I don't think the actress brought anything to the role that I'd been hoping for or expecting to see in Kochanski.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

never mind write for a female character who basically already had an expectation she was supposed to meet.

Also, I don't think the actress brought anything to the role that I'd been hoping for or expecting to see in Kochanski.

Yeah, it was kinda hard to see what made her so special to Lister, when it turned out she was basically a spoiled rich brat.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I told an air head manager she was more of a "Hilly" than a "Holly" once. She didn't get it. But I did.

I did.

 

[DevilEyes]

Maybe it's the male bonding aspect, on the flip side I personally never could really get into "Sex and the City".

Well I'm female and I hate Sex and the CIty.

I watched Red Dwarf on TV, it was a funny and enjoyable SF comedy. Does that make a fan? I wouldn't call it one of my all-time favorite shows, but I certainly liked it.

Just me speculating here, but I'll bet the more feminine women tend toward "Sex and the City." The typical female stereotype obsessed with buying a million pairs of shoes and wearing frilly dresses and pampered princess mentalities. The "girly" girls, as it were. The chick lit genre was meant for these girls.

I hate the idea that being a shallow superficial bimbo obsessed with collecting shoes and notches on the bedpost means being feminine.

My friend Tracy is slightly more the standard sci-fi tomboy geek. She likes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Star Trek, and is probably one of the few women on the planet who loves Monty Python.

Women aren't supposed to like Monty Python? Really?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

never mind write for a female character who basically already had an expectation she was supposed to meet.

Also, I don't think the actress brought anything to the role that I'd been hoping for or expecting to see in Kochanski.

Yeah, it was kinda hard to see what made her so special to Lister, when it turned out she was basically a spoiled rich brat.

Well, technically, the Kochanski from later years was the one from the alternate universe. The "real" Kochanski was the one played by the squeaky voiced lead singer of Altered Images.

 

[Steve Roby]

Well, technically, the Kochanski from later years was the one from the alternate universe. The "real" Kochanski was the one played by the squeaky voiced lead singer of Altered Images.

Ah, the magnificent Clare Grogan. There are those who favour the first or second albums, and there's no denying the appeal of songs like "I Could Be Happy," but for me, the third Altered Images, Bite, is the best one. "Don't Talk to Me About Love" is an absolutely classic, brilliant new wave/disco crossover.

(Her voice is a bit high pitched, but squeaky? Really?)

 

[milo bloom]

My wife's (female) friend and her husband introduced us to Red Dwarf, and my wife likes it way more than I do. She's also a fan Star Trek, Star Wars, Robotech, Monty Python, Invader Zim, a lot of our anime has a scifi bent to it (.hack, serial experiments: Lain, Tenchi Muyo, the aforementioned Robotech).

And just earlier this year, I got her into watching nuWho, to the effect that I think she wants to do unspeakable things to David Tennant*, and getting into classic Who she likes Tom Baker the best.


(*I'd only agree on the condition that I can join in...)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Women aren't supposed to like Monty Python? Really?

One wonders why they would, given how ridiculously over-the-top most of the pepperpots are, and they're 99% of all female characters in Python. Any characters that Carol Cleveland would play are relatively rare.

 

[WillsBabe]

The "real" Kochanski was the one played by the squeaky voiced lead singer of Altered Images.

I know. I suppose the Kochanski that we got was the Kochanski that was typical of a cruel and unusual Dwarf universe - ie Lister got what he wanted but it wasn't what he wanted!