Hexus Mastermind Thread #7 - j1979 - Nodnol and other Naeporue Places!

[Galant]

HEXUS MASTERMIND #7 - j1979

Commencement Time: Monday July 21st 7:00PM.

Chosen subject areas:

Primary: Red Dwarf TV series
Secondary: European geography


See the Sign Up Thread for full details.

j1979, you now have 24 hours to answer them all below. All questions are to be answered from your own head only without reference to any outside sources. These Mastermind challenges are running on the honour system so please don't cheat!

Anyone wishing to sign-up to be a contestant in future editions, please sign-up in the thread in the Sticky section.

Cheers!


QUESTIONS

Q1. Which cast member worked as a shoe-maker for several years after being
expelled from high school?

Q2. Which production team members saw great success previously working on
Spitting Image before Red Dwarf as well as with the (in)famous 'Chicken Song'?

Q3. What are the dimensions of the the JMC Red Dwarf in miles - Length x
Width x Height?

Q4. What does JMC stand for, and what class of ship is the Red Dwarf?

Q5. Setting the scene for the series, the crew of the Red Dwarf were wiped out
by a radiation leak. What type of radiation was it/from what source?

Q6. Kryten - is what series of mechanoid, made by which company and was
found onboard what derelict vessel?

Q7. Cat's parents are described as being 'flawed' in what way? His felis sapiens
race had which two main figures in their religion, what future hope/destiny, and
fought a bloody war over what issue?

Q8. Name two episodes from each season of Red Dwarf.

Q9. Awards - Red Dwarf won an International Emmy award and 'Best BBC
Comedy Series' in a single year. It would be a later year that saw Red Dwarf's
highest viewing figures for a single season, however. In what two years did
these things happen and for what episode, of what season, did Red Dwarf win
the Emmy?

Q10. The Red Dwarf series is based on what earlier series of five sketches?
What year did those sketches run and in what format?

Q11. Who wrote the majority of the music and songs for the Red Dwarf series
and performed the vocals for 'The Rimmer Song'?

Q12. There are four main types of shuttle on-board Red Dwarf. Name them.

Q13. Due to cutbacks two alterations were made to Red Dwarf before it left
Earth for the last time. What was removed from G-Deck and what was removed
from the engine core?

Q14. Names the actors who play the following charcters:
Dave Lister
Arnold Rimmer
Ace Rimmer
The Cat
Kryten
Krissy Kochanski (First version)
Krissy Kochanski (Second/Alternate version)
Holly (Male version)
Holly (Female version)

Q15. What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?

Q16. What are the only wild primates in Europe (other than humans) and where
are they found?

Q17. What European country was the last one to give women the right to vote
and in what decade?

Q18. What's the highest point in Europe, in which country and how high to
within 50 metres?

Q19. Name the countries! - 85% required (42/49)


Q20. What is the size (area) of Europe, and the current population size (to within 10 million)?

[Galant]

j1979 - Sorry for the delay! I tried to send a message to let you know but I've just noticed I got a message box full notice and didn't see it so the message never reached you. Apologies.

The questions are now up!

Hope you enjoy them!

As usual. Answers are from your head only. And j1979 to answer only until he's done and the test is scored.


G.

[j1979]

j1979 - Sorry for the delay! I tried to send a message to let you know but I've just noticed I got a message box full notice and didn't see it so the message never reached you. Apologies.

The questions are now up!

Hope you enjoy them!

As usual. Answers are from your head only. And j1979 to answer only until he's done and the test is scored.


G.

No need to appologise, thanks for taking the time. Just logged in again now. Looked at Q1 and... ouch

[j1979]

QUESTIONS

Q1. Which cast member worked as a shoe-maker for several years after being
expelled from high school?

No sure, I will hazard a guess at Robert Llewelyn, just because, I don't think it's craig charles, or danny john jules.

Q2. Which production team members saw great success previously working on
Spitting Image before Red Dwarf as well as with the (in)famous 'Chicken Song'?

Again not sure I will guess at Chris Barrie.

Q3. What are the dimensions of the the JMC Red Dwarf in miles - Length x
Width x Height?

Ouch ... haha it's not going well. But I vaugly remeber from the book, it's something like 4 miles x 1 x 1.

Q4. What does JMC stand for, and what class of ship is the Red Dwarf?

Finally and easy one Jupiter Mining Corp.

Q5. Setting the scene for the series, the crew of the Red Dwarf were wiped out
by a radiation leak. What type of radiation was it/from what source?

I think it was a Gamma radiation leak, and it 100% came from the "drive plate"

Q6. Kryten - is what series of mechanoid, made by which company and was
found onboard what derelict vessel?

4000 series and he was found on the Nova 5.

Q7. Cat's parents are described as being 'flawed' in what way? His felis sapiens
race had which two main figures in their religion, what future hope/destiny, and
fought a bloody war over what issue?

This is sound like 4 questions do i get 4 points?

He was the son of a "cripple" and and "idiot".. not very PC )))

I only remember 1 figure in their religion "Cloister the stupid" later corrected to Lister the stupid.

The war was fought over the color of the hats! lol


Q8. Name two episodes from each season of Red Dwarf.

this will be tough!

S1 The END, Future echos.
s2 Kryten, thanks for the memories
s3, timeslides, camile
s4, backwards, polymorph
s5, holoship, gunmen of the apocalypse
s6, psirens, legion
s7, duct soup, epideme
s8, Back in the red, Krytie TV
sx, can't remember any.



Q9. Awards - Red Dwarf won an International Emmy award and 'Best BBC
Comedy Series' in a single year. It would be a later year that saw Red Dwarf's
highest viewing figures for a single season, however. In what two years did
these things happen and for what episode, of what season, did Red Dwarf win
the Emmy?

Gunmen of the Apocalypse as for the year I will take an educated guess at 1993

Q10. The Red Dwarf series is based on what earlier series of five sketches?
What year did those sketches run and in what format?

No idea on this, I thought it came straight from the book. I guess at the year as 1983

Q11. Who wrote the majority of the music and songs for the Red Dwarf series
and performed the vocals for 'The Rimmer Song'?

I think it was Chris Barrie, i'm singing it in m head now

Q12. There are four main types of shuttle on-board Red Dwarf. Name them.
Star-Bug 1, 2 and 3
Blue-Midget
Red-Midget (maybe i made that up)

Maybe it's obvious but that's all I can think of.


Q13. Due to cutbacks two alterations were made to Red Dwarf before it left
Earth for the last time. What was removed from G-Deck and what was removed
from the engine core?

Hyper Drive ? vague memory but again it's a guess.

Q14. Names the actors who play the following charcters:
Dave Lister. Craig Charles
Arnold Rimmer. Chris Barrie
Ace Rimmer. Chris Barrie
The Cat. Danny John Jules
Kryten. Robert llewellyn
Krissy Kochanski (First version).. Claire Grogan
Krissy Kochanski (Second/Alternate version)... Cloe Annet ??
Holly (Male version) Norman Lovett
Holly (Female version) Hattie Hetridge

Q15. What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?



Q16. What are the only wild primates in Europe (other than humans) and where
are they found? I know there are monkeys in Gibraltar, I have no idea what breed. For some reason I have marmosets in my head.

Q17. What European country was the last one to give women the right to vote
and in what decade? Gonna say Spain because of Franco and guess at 1980's

Q18. What's the highest point in Europe, in which country and how high to
within 50 metres?

Mt. Blonk, not sure on the height in meters but I will say 3 miles high

Q19. Name the countries! - 85% required (42/49)


1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Sweden
4 Finland
5. hmm.. russia (not worthy of a capital letter)
6. Latvia
7. Lituania
8. Estoia
9. Belarus
10. The Unspeakble Country
11. Georia
12. Moldova
13. Poland
14. Slovakia
15. Hungry
16. Romiania
17. Bugaria
18. Greece
19. kosova
20. FYRM
21. Serbia
22. Bosnia
23. Croatia
24. Slovinia
25. Austria
26. Czech Rep.
27. Germany
28. Denmark
29. Netherlands
30. Belgium
31. Luxemburg
32. Liectenstien
33. Switzerland
34. Italy
35. San marino ?
36. Vatican City
37. Monaco
38. France
39. Andora
40. Spain
41. Portugal
42. UK
43. Rep. Ireland
44. Malta
45. Crete
46. Turkey
47. Arminia
48. Azerbijan
49. Motenegro

Q20. What is the size (area) of Europe, and the current population size (to within 10 million)?

I presume the question means land area, this would be a guess... size 12000 sq miles? not including russia.

Population, I am guessing this also does not inclue russia, only looked it up a few months ago but forgot already. but I would say 750 million People excluding russia.

really not sure.. I should have done some revision

[j1979]

Q15 I really didn't understand the question. can you rephrase it?

What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?

maybe I don't understand the question because i don't know the answer lol..

I will just say Smeg! (pass)

[Galant]

Q15 I really didn't understand the question. can you rephrase it?

What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?

maybe I don't understand the question because i don't know the answer lol..

I will just say Smeg! (pass)

Q15. What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?

Fair point, I did struggle on the wording.

In a great many space-based sci-fi series there is one element they all include but which the writers of Red Dwarf decided to not include. Interestingly, throughout Red Dwarf there are instances which would seem like the element they decided to exclude but which instead are explained as being something else. What is the common element which the writers left out of Red Dwarf and what are the explanations given for those instances when you might think they changed the writers changed their minds?

[Galant]

Also - Question 9 - You missed a year. There is one year for the Emmy and the 'Best Comedy Series' award and a different, later year for the highest ever viewing. What's that second year?

[j1979]

Also - Question 9 - You missed a year. There is one year for the Emmy and the 'Best Comedy Series' award and a different, later year for the highest ever viewing. What's that second year?

oops

1992 for the high water make for viewing.. just a guess.

[j1979]

Fair point, I did struggle on the wording.

In a great many space-based sci-fi series there is one element they all include but which the writers of Red Dwarf decided to not include. Interestingly, throughout Red Dwarf there are instances which would seem like the element they decided to exclude but which instead are explained as being something else. What is the common element which the writers left out of Red Dwarf and what are the explanations given for those instances when you might think they changed the writers changed their minds?

There are several things running in my mind.. from warp speed to beam me up scottie.

But I will have to pass on this and kick myself later

[j1979]

Awesome questions by the way, really enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time

[Galant]

QUESTIONS

Q1. Which cast member worked as a shoe-maker for several years after being
expelled from high school?

No sure, I will hazard a guess at Robert Llewelyn, just because, I don't think it's craig charles, or danny john jules.

Correct! Expelled at 16. FYI He has a blog!

Q2. Which production team members saw great success previously working on
Spitting Image before Red Dwarf as well as with the (in)famous 'Chicken Song'?

Again not sure I will guess at Chris Barrie.

Incorrect. The writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. Evidently they started writing for Spitting Image when it was dying and turned it around. They also wrote this:

Q3. What are the dimensions of the the JMC Red Dwarf in miles - Length x
Width x Height?

Ouch ... haha it's not going well. But I vaugly remeber from the book, it's something like 4 miles x 1 x 1.

Incorrect. 6 long x 4 tall x 3 wide.

Q4. What does JMC stand for, and what class of ship is the Red Dwarf?

Finally and easy one Jupiter Mining Corp.

Bingo! Correct.

Q5. Setting the scene for the series, the crew of the Red Dwarf were wiped out
by a radiation leak. What type of radiation was it/from what source?

I think it was a Gamma radiation leak, and it 100% came from the "drive plate"

Incorrect. The faulty drive plate was the source but the type of radiation was Cadmium II....apparently.

Q6. Kryten - is what series of mechanoid, made by which company and was
found onboard what derelict vessel?

4000 series and he was found on the Nova 5.

Almost. Incorrect. Series 4000. Found on the Nova 5. Made by DivaDroid International.

[QUOTE]Q7. Cat's parents are described as being 'flawed' in what way? His felis sapiens
race had which two main figures in their religion, what future hope/destiny, and
fought a bloody war over what issue?

This is sound like 4 questions do i get 4 points?

He was the son of a "cripple" and and "idiot".. not very PC )))

I only remember 1 figure in their religion "Cloister the stupid" later corrected to Lister the stupid.

The war was fought over the color of the hats! lol[QUOTE]

Almost again. Incorrect. He was the son of a cripple and idiot, Cloister the Stupid was their god but Frankenstein, their ancestor, was the 'Holy Mother', their destiny/hope was Fuchal (the promised land - actually Fiji), and yes, the war was over the colour of hat, red vs. blue, although Lister said he would have preferred green.

Q8. Name two episodes from each season of Red Dwarf.

this will be tough!

S1 The END, Future echos.

Correct.

s2 Kryten, thanks for the memories

Correct (although it's actually 'Thanks for the Memory')

s3, timeslides, camile

Incorrect. Camille belongs to Season 4.

s4, backwards, polymorph

Incorrect. Both were Season 3.

s5, holoship, gunmen of the apocalypse

Incorrect. 'Gunmen' was Season 6.

s6, psirens, legion

Correct.

s7, duct soup, epideme

Correct.

s8, Back in the red, Krytie TV

Correct.

sx, can't remember any.

Incorrect.

There was also the short, three-episode, mini-series which makes up season nine, although I wasn't looking for it necessarily.

Q9. Awards - Red Dwarf won an International Emmy award and 'Best BBC
Comedy Series' in a single year. It would be a later year that saw Red Dwarf's
highest viewing figures for a single season, however. In what two years did
these things happen and for what episode, of what season, did Red Dwarf win
the Emmy?

Gunmen of the Apocalypse as for the year I will take an educated guess at 1993. 1992 for the high water make for viewing.. just a guess.

Incorrect. 'Gunmen' was the episode and 1993 the year but highest viewing came with season 8 - over 8,000,000 viewers for the first episode.

Q10. The Red Dwarf series is based on what earlier series of five sketches?
What year did those sketches run and in what format?

No idea on this, I thought it came straight from the book. I guess at the year as 1983

Incorrect. Close on the year though. Dave Hollins: Space Cadet (1984) on Radio 4.

Q11. Who wrote the majority of the music and songs for the Red Dwarf series
and performed the vocals for 'The Rimmer Song'?

I think it was Chris Barrie, i'm singing it in m head now

Barrie lip-synched to it but the main man behind the music and the singing (in that instance) was Howard Goodall.

Q12. There are four main types of shuttle on-board Red Dwarf. Name them.
Star-Bug 1, 2 and 3
Blue-Midget
Red-Midget (maybe i made that up)

Maybe it's obvious but that's all I can think of.

Incorrect. I have made a mistake though (becoming a habit, need to be more careful!).
The 4 types are Starbug, Blue Midget, White Midget and White Giant. However, the latter is only mentioned in the novels, not the TV series. It is questioned whether the ship used by the Canaries in season 8 is the white giant but it is unconfirmed.

Q13. Due to cutbacks two alterations were made to Red Dwarf before it left
Earth for the last time. What was removed from G-Deck and what was removed
from the engine core?

Hyper Drive ? vague memory but again it's a guess.

Incorrect. A karaoke bar and a quark-level matter/anti-matter generator.

Q14. Names the actors who play the following charcters:
Dave Lister. Craig Charles
Arnold Rimmer. Chris Barrie
Ace Rimmer. Chris Barrie
The Cat. Danny John Jules
Kryten. Robert llewellyn
Krissy Kochanski (First version).. Claire Grogan
Krissy Kochanski (Second/Alternate version)... Cloe Annet ??
Holly (Male version) Norman Lovett
Holly (Female version) Hattie Hetridge

Correct! Hattie Hayridge though, and Chloe Annett.

Q15. What common feature of space-faring sci-fi material was consciously left
out of the Red Dwarf series and how are the incidences of what are otherwise
similar to that feature therefore described/accounted for in Red Dwarf lore?

There are several things running in my mind.. from warp speed to beam me up scottie.

But I will have to pass on this and kick myself later

Incorrect. The missing feature is aliens/alien life. Grant and Naylor decided not to have any alien life present in the series. Instead all the 'weird' lifeforms encountered (which one might expect to be alien) are either GELFs (Genetically Engineered Life Forms), artificial 'life forms', or 'evolved' life forms.

Q16. What are the only wild primates in Europe (other than humans) and where
are they found? I know there are monkeys in Gibraltar, I have no idea what breed. For some reason I have marmosets in my head.

Correct! Specifically Macaques, which are tailless monkeys. Originally from Morocco, it is thought the Moors brought them over at some point although no one is sure.

Q17. What European country was the last one to give women the right to vote
and in what decade? Gonna say Spain because of Franco and guess at 1980's.

Incorrect. Switzerland! Introduced at the federal level in 1971, Liechtenstein then granted voting rights to women in 1984, but the last Swiss Canton held out until forced by the Federal Supreme Court to grant the right in 1990!

Q18. What's the highest point in Europe, in which country and how high to
within 50 metres?

Mt. Blonk, not sure on the height in meters but I will say 3 miles high

I was actually thinking the European continent however I didn't specify that an within the EU Mt. Blanc is the highest point and you're almost bang on with the height. 3 miles is 4828m and Mt. Blanc is 4810m! Correct. Well done!

Incidentally, in the European continent, the highest point is Mt. Elbrus, Russia, 5642m. It lies just on the European side of the Caucasus watershed divide.

Q19. Name the countries! - 85% required (42/49)


1. Iceland

Correct.

2. Norway

Correct.

3. Sweden

Correct.

4 Finland

Correct.Correct.

5. hmm.. russia (not worthy of a capital letter)

Correct.

6. Latvia

Incorrect. Estonia

7. Lituania

Incorrect. Lativa

8. Estoia

Incorrect. Lithuania!

9. Belarus

Correct.

10. The Unspeakble Country

Correct.

11. Georia

Georgia. Correct.

12. Moldova

Correct.

13. Poland

Correct.

14. Slovakia

Correct.

15. Hungry

Correct.

16. Romiania

Correct.

17. Bugaria

Correct.

18. Greece

Correct.

19. kosova

Incorrect. FYRM

20. FYRM

Incorrect. Albania

21. Serbia

Correct.

22. Bosnia

...and Herzegvonia. Correct.

23. Croatia

Correct.

24. Slovinia

Correct.

25. Austria

Correct.

26. Czech Rep.

Correct.

27. Germany

Correct.

28. Denmark

Correct.

29. Netherlands

Correct.

30. Belgium

Correct.

31. Luxemburg

Correct.

32. Liectenstien

Correct.

33. Switzerland

Correct.

34. Italy

Correct.

35. San marino ?

Correct.

36. Vatican City

Correct.

37. Monaco

Correct.

38. France

Correct.

39. Andora

Correct.

40. Spain

Correct.

41. Portugal

Correct.

42. UK

Correct.

43. Rep. Ireland

Correct.

44. Malta

Correct.

45. Crete

Correct.

46. Turkey

Correct.

47. Arminia

Correct.

48. Azerbijan

Correct.

49. Motenegro

Correct.

44/49 Correct! Nice going!

Q20. What is the size (area) of Europe, and the current population size (to within 10 million)?

I presume the question means land area, this would be a guess... size 12000 sq miles? not including russia.

Population, I am guessing this also does not inclue russia, only looked it up a few months ago but forgot already. but I would say 750 million People excluding russia.

really not sure.. I should have done some revision

Incorrect. Excluding Russia - The area of EU is 4,324,782 sq km (1,669,808 sq miles). Population is 511,434,812 (July 2014 est.)


6/20. Good effort j1979. Some close ones there, and some long questions, so well done!

[Galant]

Awesome questions by the way, really enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time

No problem! You're welcome!

[j1979]

6/20. Good effort j1979. Some close ones there, and some long questions, so well done!

It was tougher than I expected.. but it was good fun. I rushed a little bit and it's clear reading back I didn't read all the questions correctly.

6/20, "can do better" "must apply himself"

I was hoping for more character based questions, but that would be hard to write the questions unless you are also a big fan. Next year

[Galant]

It was tougher than I expected.. but it was good fun. I rushed a little bit and it's clear reading back I didn't read all the questions correctly.

6/20, "can do better" "must apply himself"

I was hoping for more character based questions, but that would be hard to write the questions unless you are also a big fan. Next year

With regard to the questions, if you take a look at the thread for Ttaskmaster who had a sci-fi movie as his chosen subject you'll see a similar selection. I've tried to make all of these as challenging as possible. None of the subjects so far have fallen into an area I know a lot about so I've have to do a fair bit of digging and at times I wondered what the right approach might be and if I made the questions too hard. I've decided to err on the side of making things too difficult though since the hope was for this to be a challenge for everyone.

I've been surprised how quickly everyone has answered the questions. I set aside 24 hours to answer them but I don't think anyone has taken more than 30-45 mins.

And as expected from Hexus, the level and breadth of knowledge shown has been impressive.

Thanks for your help with all the questions so far! I've really appreciated the input. Thanks also for participating!

[Allen]

I've been waiting for this one the most, being a huge fan of RD myself. However, I must say (and this is not meant to be negative towards you Galant, you're doing a great job), some of these questions are really "out there" in relation to RD. Actors and writers history shouldn't really come in to play when the questions should be specific to RD. Also, I don't know if it was agreed beforehand, but including questions that were only possible to answer if you have read the books when the subject was specified "Red Dwarf TV series"? I feel it a little unfair maybe?

[Galant]

I've been waiting for this one the most, being a huge fan of RD myself. However, I must say (and this is not meant to be negative towards you Galant, you're doing a great job), some of these questions are really "out there" in relation to RD. Actors and writers history shouldn't really come in to play when the questions should be specific to RD. Also, I don't know if it was agreed beforehand, but including questions that were only possible to answer if you have read the books when the subject was specified "Red Dwarf TV series"? I feel it a little unfair maybe?

Hi Allen, no offense taken.

In reverse, the White Giant inclusion (a book reference) was a mistake on my part that I admitted above. I do try hard to keep everything fair and 'knowable' and within the frame of the subject. I've made a few mistakes though and I apologise for those.

As for the range of questions, as I mentioned above I wanted these to be challenging. It's difficult/impossible to know exactly how much of an expert any one individual may be on their chosen subject however I decided to set the bar high. Several times I've wondered if I've set it too high, but then I've been amazed just how much knowledge has been shown. Take for example Ttaskmaster's quiz. He almost achieved 100% on the quiz which included some obscure references to interviews recorded in a magazine from the 80's. Turns out he owns those magazines and is, evidently, in love with the movie. I was glad, in the end, that I didn't go for more questions to do with quotes or scenes from the movie since I've no doubt he would have found those less challenging.

The same might be said for jim whose chosen subject area was extremely broad - Royal Navy in the 1700's. He didn't get as close to 100% as Ttaskmaster but I was amazed how much he knew.

Essentially, I try to fit my questions within the scope of the chosen subject area, however, within that scope I try to approach all the different facets of the subject area. So in the instance of a movie or TV series I've considered not only the material itself but also the production of the series and the people involved. One could say that it is in these 'outer-lying' areas that one can demonstrate mastery of the subject. Honestly, though, it's just been hard to know exactly where to set the limit and so, as mentioned, I decided to make it challenging and keep the bar high so that no-one feels as though it wasn't a challenge.

The flip-side, of course, is that it's possible for someone's intended subject area to be narrower than how I have perceived it. Maybe the best course of action would be to recommend that any remaining or future contestants not be afraid to be specific in their chosen subject areas so that the intended demarcations are clear. For example, if one were to choose the Asterix comic series but as a fan familiar only with the content of the comics themselves and not the wider subject area of the history, production or performance of the comics, then one might put forward 'The Asterix comics - The characters, world and storyline', or 'The World of the Asterix comic series'.

That way I can still try to fill out the range of questions to challenge on the intended subject without mistaking the intention.

It's a fair point you make and perhaps this should have been said earlier. What I will do is offer, for anyone who didn't feel they got the quiz they desired, to re-do their quiz with a new set of questions along the lines of a re-defined subject area. Current contestants can change their subjects now, and I'll PM them about it, and I'll modify the sign-up thread so that any future contestants are aware.