The Mugs Murphy artwork of one of Dave Lister's most frequently-worn t-shirts
A Mugs Murphy cartoon showing in the cinema of Red Dwarf (Me²)
Mugs Murphy is a cartoon character in the Red Dwarf franchise, popular with the Boys from the Dwarf.
Description[]
The animation of Mugs Murphy was not dissimilar to older Earth cartoons, such as Looney Tunes.
Mugs Murphy is an anthropomorphic, talking gorilla. Mugs dresses as a Prohibition-era, 1930s American gangster, in a stripey suit and hat, and carries a Tommy Gun, similar to Al Capone.
In what is seen of his cartoon, Mugs Murphy could be seen running around dodging fire from other gorilla gangsters, and firing back at his assailants, resulting in numerous on-screen explosions.
Mugs' catchphrase, as seen in the cartoon and on Lister's t-shirt, was "D-D-Don't Shoot!" (RD: Me²)
Television series[]
Dave Lister was a big Mugs Murphy fan. Throughout the run of the television series, Lister can be frequently seen wearing a faded Mugs Murphy t-shirt, covered in custard and curry stains.
When Lister and the Cat were in the cinema of Red Dwarf, they watched a Mugs Murphy cartoon before the main film came on. Rimmer claimed to be a film fan, but mistook Mugs for Orson Welles when he saw the cartoon, assuming it was the film Citizen Kane (RD: Me²).
Behind the scenes[]
- Although only around 10-15 seconds was seen of the cartoons in the television series, what is seen of them was made specifically for the cinema scene "RD: Me²". The effects teams actually created a few more minutes of the cartoon in pre-production, that didn't make the broadcast edit.
- According to Craig Charles, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor wanted to write an episode in which Mugs Murphy came to life aboard Red Dwarf, but it never got past the planning stage.