Originally published July 19, 1996, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1183
Continuing thoughts, observations and this ‘n that from merry olde England…
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I’m in the heart of London… a first for me. Standing on a street corner, I look to the left, see no cars coming, and step out into the road. I nearly get run over as I’m reminded that people drive on the left in these parts.
* * *
I overhear some folks chattering away who are, by their demeanor, tourists. They’re from Germany. I’ve encountered quite a few Germans since I got to England, both at the convention and now here in London.
I’m reminded of Peter Jurasik’s appearance at an SF convention in Germany, an account of which was making the rounds at the Wolf 359 convention in Blackpool from which I’d just come. Jurasik, who plays Ambassador Londo Mollari on Babylon 5, appeared on stage in full Londo make-up and did an in-character question-and-answer with the audience. One of the first questions the Germans asked was why the Centauri (Londo’s people) were giving the Narns (their ancient enemies) such a miserable time. The Centauri, after all, had begun a war, levelled the Narn homeworld, and more-or-less enslaved the populace.
Peter-as-Londo defended his actions, bellowing in his Eastern European accent, “The Narns are barbarians! They should be exterminated! They do not deserve to be treated like civilized beings!”
This drew more challenges from the audience, with the fans still feeling that Londo’s actions were unwarranted and unconscionable. He had, after all, spearheaded a war against the Narns.
And Peter-as-Londo, in what has to get the Most Gutsy Convention Appearance Award, bellows at an audience full of Germans, “What, earth people have never started a war? Never tried to exterminate each other? I believe you yourselves have started a war or two in your time, yes?”
From what I was told, there was dead silence. “Londo” had flat out nailed them, making them think about what Londo stood for and about the kind of baggage that Germany carries with them. It was several minutes more before the audience started responding to him again; in the interval they just sat there stewing after Londo had knocked them down a few pegs.
Wish I’d been there. That must have been something to see.
* * *
Kristian Ayre (Radu from Space Cases) accompanies me to London, where I’m scheduled to do a couple of store appearances and a bunch of interviews, all set up by Simon and Schuster U.K. in order to promote my Star Trek books. Kristian, who was born in England but hasn’t been back for some years, is taking the opportunity to sight see for a day or two. We go to check in to our rooms at the hotel, the splendid London Metropol, and the desk clerk looks at teenaged Kristian and myself and says, “Father and son?”
“No,” I say.
At which point she looks at the two of us very suspiciously. And suddenly I find myself explaining to this complete stranger that I co-created this TV show that’s going to be on in England in October and Kristian is one of the cast members.
“How nice,” she says, but she still seems suspicious.
* * *
I’m standing at a street corner. This time I look to the right. You don’t catch me twice. There’s no cars coming. I step off the curb and almost get mowed down by a car whizzing past from the left. I hadn’t realized I’m standing at a one-way street running the other way. I seem to remember my mother telling me something about “looking both ways before crossing,” but the advice is a dim and distant memory. As I will be before too long if I don’t watch myself.
* * *
Both Kristian and I are big fans of the series Red Dwarf. After a three year hiatus, the show is up and running again, and is filming while we’re in England. Deciding to take a longshot, I use my few contacts with the BBC and inquire as to the possibility of our coming out to visit the set and meet the gang. We are, after all, the “new kids” in town, as it were. Space Cases owes a great deal to Red Dwarf which is, after all, the only other half-hour comedy adventure around about folks trekking through space.
Much to my utter astonishment, the Dwarfers are happy to meet with us. We cab out to the studios where producer Jo Bennett as offered to take us out to lunch at the studio commissary with the cast. Kristian and I are left in a small office while we wait for everyone to finish a rehearsal. During that time our will power is tested mightily, because we are surrounded by scripts for the upcoming season lying all over the place. But we want to respect the confidentiality of the series. Through sheer mastery and self-discipline (not to mention a certainty that we’ll be caught) we don’t so much as sneak a peek at a single script.
The first two cast members we encounter are nearly unrecognizable as “civilians.” Danny John-Jules, who plays the Cat, and Robert Llyewellyn, who plays the android Kryten, speak with British accents as opposed to the faultless American intonations with which they speak in the series. It’s rather disconcerting. To say nothing of the fact, of course, that Robert isn’t covered with the Kryten make-up, and Danny is far scruffier than his slick and pristine Cat persona.
Jo brings us down to lunch, where we are joined by Craig Charles (Lister, the last remaining human), Chris Barrie (Rimmer, his insufferable hologram associate), series co-creator Doug Naylor, and a couple of other writers and additional visitors.
Craig seems as irreverent and chipper as his fictional counterpart. He tries on my Babylon 5 watch and then loudly announces, “I hope you weren’t expecting to get this back.” (I was and I did.) He lights up a cigarette and then says to Christian, “Would you mind not eating while I’m smoking?”
Chris, meantime, is nothing like the perpetually weak-kneed Arnold J. Rimmer. Indeed, he seems more evocative of Rimmer’s other-dimensional alter-ego, “Ace” Rimmer, with a steely, confident gaze and a handshake that grinds your knuckles together.
The series faces several new challenges this year. First, co-creator Rob Grant has left the series. Although Doug has a hand in every episode, he’s only fully written two of the episodes for the new season. Furthermore, the usual Dwarf season is six episodes; this year (and next) will be eight. This will give them sufficient number for the series to be syndicated in foreign markets, which means that Red Dwarf will be that much more likely to show up on a station near you (as it is, it’s only sporadically shown on some PBS stations.)
Also, this is the first year that they will not be filming in front of a live audience. There will still be a laugh track, however, so the actors will have to allow time during their performance for laughs to be added. It sounds like a daunting proposition to me, but then again, I’m not an actor (just ask anyone who’s ever seen me act.)
I don’t get near enough time to talk to Doug Naylor as I’d like. There’s a number of questions I’d have liked to ask him, but he seemed both a little distracted and a little reserved during lunch, and I wasn’t sure how to approach him on what I wanted to know. Ah well. Maybe next time.
Overall, a great bunch of folks. Not a smeg-head in the bunch.
* * *
I saw two shows while in London. The first, recommended by Joe Straczynski, was “Buddy Holly.” Yes, that’s right. I flew thousands of miles to England and saw a show about an American icon featuring a cast of British actors putting on American accents. On the one hand I’m still annoyed with myself that I did so; on the other hand, boy, was it a fun show.
Two days later, though, I go to see the most appropriate thing to see on the English stage. No, it wasn’t The Mousetrap. Agatha Christie generally bores me. No, it wasn’t an Andrew Lloyd Webber play. They’re all on Broadway. No, my friends, I saw the Bard, as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (noted for such alumnae as Patrick Stewart). Their current production is “Julius Caesar.” I’ve only seen a few of Shakespeare’s plays on stage, so my frame of reference isn’t vast. I thought that what I saw was superb, but I’m no expert. Just settle for a layman’s opinion that it was a worthwhile evening of entertainment.
* * *
I prepare to cross a street in London, and instead of looking left or right, I look down. There at my feet, the words “Look right” have been painted. Apparently London has been made idiot-proof. Too bad they don’t do that in New York. Instead the signs would read, “Look right, ya jag-off!”
(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705. He’ll wrap up this diary next week.)
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*LOL* Crossing a street in London is not just crossing a street, it’s an extreme sport.
I confirm. Especially with the cyclists, who think they own the streets.
I’ll never forget the story my Okinawan landlord told me circa 1985 about what happened when the island of Okinawa made the final switch from American WW II-era control to Japanese control one day in 1978. At 6 a.m. on the transition date, the entire island of approximately one million people suddenly went from driving on the right to driving on the left. For weeks pedestrians and drivers alike were as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but, I was told, all things considered, the transition was a relatively smooth one.
Ah, yes, Japan, where it’s said that you should always look both ways before crossing the street … and twice on a one-way street.
I’m not sure about on mainland Japan, but on Okinawa, one other important traffic tip is this: When driving, once your light turns green at an intersection, always wait before proceeding because at least four or five cars will always go through the red light on the other street — as if the red light is a “soft red” for about the first 5 seconds or so after the light changes.
Maybe it’s my cold medication but I don’t get it. The audience tells Londo that what he’s doing was wrong, he essentially says well you’re German so you don’t get to pass judgement.
That just comes off as áššhølìšh to me. What am I missing?
I think it more is a matter of putting things in context.
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The audience was saying (sorta) “You are wrong and your actions are indefensible and we would never do anything like that.”
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Jurasik/Londo was merely saying. “Oh, yeah? What about when…”
Yeah, but that’s what you get when the kettle you’re calling black is Londo Mollari. Had it been Peter as Peter, discussing Londo’s actions, he would have handled it differently. But they wanted him to do an audience Q&A in character, full costume and make-up. So Londo Mollari, an alien conversant with Earth history, is getting called on the carpet by citizens of a country that just forty years earlier, systematically tried to kill an entire portion of its own citizenry and, oh yeah, conquer Europe. So naturally Londo is going to say, “Where the hëll do you get off criticizing me? You’ve done far worse. At least the Narn are another species. You waged war against, and slaughtered, millions of YOUR OWN species. What’s wrong with ME? What’s wrong with YOU!”
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The audience got what it asked for: A Q&A with an alien who had an alien’s POV and wasn’t afraid to call them on the hypocrisies of human behavior. You’d think they’d have seen it coming.
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PAD
Kudos to Jurasik for not taking an easy way out. Was he ever invited back, though?
Both Kristian and I are big fans of the series Red Dwarf. After a three year hiatus, the show is up and running again, and is filming while we’re in England.
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The timing of this article is once again excellent, as filming is currently underway on Red Dwarf (Series) X.
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Which followed the 2-year or so hiatus since Back to Earth, which itself followed a 10 year gap since Series VIII. 🙂
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First, co-creator Rob Grant has left the series.
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And I think that all Red Dwarf since has suffered for it, and will continue to do so with Series X.
I remember the one time I was in London, one of the shows I saw was West Side Story. The only character who had a noticeable British accent — was Bernardo.