NHK Red Dwarf Edits and Translation

Cassandra and Peter Pt2 Japanese scripts — The actual scripts for Cassandra and Peter Part 2 for the NHK dubbing of the show. You can see the English titles were used, as the Japanese titles were still pending.

宇宙船レッド・ドワーフ号 Spaceship Red Dwarf is the name given to the Japanese dubbed version of the show. The first eight series were dubbed and broadcast by NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai - Japan Broadcasting Corporation) from 2 October 1998 to 5 November 1999 in the 00:30 time slot.

Between two and four minutes were cut from each episode for the Japanese releases. The Japanese version of Red Dwarf was based on the Remastered version. Because of this, there were already a some scenes and lines that were missing before NHK began editing the show for Japanese television. Mr Yasuhara, the translator of the Japanese Red Dwarf Complete Guide book suggests that NHK did not have the nerve to broadcast Red Dwarf uncut. He notes that in particular The Inquisitor was heavily edited for Japanese TV. He also suggests that any part that was not heavily connected to the plot was cut out. According to the main Japanese fan site, this was sometimes done to avoid "ethical problems".

Japan does not have laws about what cannot be broadcast on TV. However mass media companies self-regulate their content to prevent receiving bad press and complaints from viewers. For this reason, they tend to avoid comedy that is risqué, so jokes about mental illness or religion are avoided. In general Japanese comedy tends to avoid dark humor, so it's no surprise that stories such as "Lemming Sunday" were cut from the Japanese version.

As with the UK, the boundaries are pushed slightly with late night television, which is probably why Red Dwarf was shown later in the evenings in Japan. NHK in particular has a habit of reducing the amount of technical or difficult words, so that their broadcasts can be enjoyed by anyone. This presents a slight problem for shows in the sci-fi genre.

Names[]

There were very many minor edits and cuts made to the script to make the dialog flow more easily and require less explanation. For this reason, the names of people and places were often cut. Some examples are; The Aigburth Arms, Bing Baxter, Harry Beadlebaum, Myra Binglebat, Konchansk’s teddy bear Booboo, Caldicott, the name of the game Camelot, Reggie Dixon, the Dubois Brothers, Captain Tau, Sector 12, John Warburton, Reggie Wilson, etc. Numerous ship names were also cut such as The Scott Fitzgerald, The Enlightenment, The SCS Pioneer and The Gemini 12

General Terms that were changed[]

Because the word Smeg is not used in the Japanese dubb, various other words had to be substituted for it. For example, Rimmer's line in Series 8, "Why don't you smegging well smeg off you annoying little smeggy smegging smegger!" in the NHK dub becomes: しつこいせこいストーカーマシーン - "Persistent, petty, stalker machine! The translator of the guide offers this alternate translation which would be too long for TV but is closer to emotion of the original: クソ、いい加減に黙れやがれ、このクソやかましいスカタンのスメッグ野郎 - "Shit! Cut it out and shut up, you bloody loud Smeg Bastard!".

For simplicity, all of types of curry that Lister talks about were just translated to カーレ curry. For the same reason, the Vindaloovians become カーレ帝国 Kaare Teikoku or The Curry Empire. This led to some confusion amongst Japanese fans that listened to the original English voice tracks and wondered why Lister was not saying the word curry repeatedly.

Here are some other terms and their translations.

English	Japanese Translation
Smeg	クソ Shit / Poo バカ Idiot バカタレ Idiot ゴミ Rubbish / Garbage
Bonehead	変態マンPervert Man ピーマン頭 Green Pepper Head 間抜け Idiot
Gimboid	異常 Weirdo 頭空っぽ Airhead
Goit	ゴキブリ Cockroach
Polymorph	変身動物 Shapeshifting Animals
Skutters	ロボット Robots サービスロボット Service Robots
Rasterbilly Skank	耳をふさぎたくなるロック　"That Rock that makes my ears depressed."
Stasis	冷凍睡眠カプセル Frozen Sleep Capsule カプセル Capsule
Zero Gravity Football	Zero Gravity Soccer (Japanese follows American English in that regard.)
Rimmer Directives	リマーの鉄則 Rimmer’s Ironclad Rules
Kryten trying to swear at Rimmer	ウじむし Maggot, but he is unable to finish the word.
Navi Com	Referred to as The Radar or The Computer
DollarPound	Simply called the Pound.
Simulants	Androids　アンドロイド Space Gangs スペースギャン.

Series 1[]

The NHK version completely cuts Holly's narration at the beginning of episodes from Series 1 and 2. Instead Lister's voice actor gives a narration which quickly sums up the premise of the show.

The End

Instead of singing about “Ganymede and Titan”, Lister is singing a song with the lyrics “Space is wide, space is big!”
The first scene is cut right before Todhunter’s appearance.
In the next scene the Mary Queen of Scots joke was cut and instead Rimmer simply says "Oh McIntyre is today?". The joke was preserved in the subtitles however.
The scene with Peterson and the coin is cut. The party scene starts from Hollister's speech. The next scene is also cut, and begins with Lister getting Frankenstein's milk.
After waking from Stasis, Lister talking about Krissy and his plan to move to Fiji was cut.

Future Echoes

The third scene, the drive room scene, was cut completely, meaning we lose Rimmer's feelings about being a hologram.
Rimmer calls himself “Okama”, a slur for a transgender person, when he sees the haircut Holly gives him.
A reference to Lister’s marijuana and gin habit was removed. Probably because Japan has very strict drug laws. However, the story about the Titan Mushrooms in Stasis Leak was not cut. This shows how use the use of mushrooms is more culturally accepted (although still illegal) in Japanese society, Super Mario’s powerup mushrooms are another example.

Balance of Power

“4,691 irradiated haggis” was changed to “4,691 Precooked Space Meals” 加熱済み宇宙食
The scene of Rimmer studying of quasars was removed, this also removed the Cat crapping himself after eating too many Trout a la crème.
The take of Rimmer sleeping is two seconds longer.
Rimmer wakes up at 1:40, instead of 1:45 like in the original version.

Waiting for God

References to the Sacred Laws were skipped over.
Lister reading Cat literature; “Dick buys this ball, this big ball, this big red ball.” was cut.

Confidence and Paranoia

Although Yvonne MacGruder is referred to in other episodes the story about her was removed from this episode.
Lister’s “Indling song” was cut, likely because it seems impossible to translate.
Rimmer wakes with a start saying "Mum, my school bag is slipping". In the original he says "Yes, Mum, I'm just packing my satchel."

Me2

In response to “Like using my mother's photograph as an ashtray.” Lister now replies “I thought it was an ashtray with a picture of a gorilla.”
The reference to After 8 Mints was changed to just Chocolate.
A reference to Rimmer’s self-hypnosis tapes was cut.
Holly’s prank about the North Western Electricity Board was cut.

Series 2[]

Kryten

Rimmer’s quip about the number of books Lister has read (“The same number as champion the wonder horse! Zero!”) became “The same as the weight of your brain! Zero!”
Later on another line was changed from “Lister, we're not talking about books where the main character is a dog called "Ben." to “Lister we’re not talking about erotic books.”
Holly’s speech about his new musical genre “Hol Rock” was cut.
Holly praising the health benefits of Dogs milk was cut.
The references to cufflinks on Cat’s spacesuit were cut.

Better than Life

The Rubber Nuclear Weapons are changed to 超小型核爆弾 Extremely Small Nuclear Bombs.
When Lister is talking about the Christmas after his Dad died he says “I remember wishing a couple more people would die so I could complete my Lego set.” In Japanese he says “I remember thinking if my mum died too I could open a toy store!”
Although the joke about the English Underwater Hockey team was kept in, the fact that there were on a tour of Titan was removed.
The jokes about the mail pod taking 3 million years to arrive were cut.
The news report about The Revolutionary Working Front and the Perrier water poisoning was cut.
Rimmer’s references to his beloved peephole bras were cut from Better than Life and Parallel Universe

Thanks for the Memory

Instead of calling Hollister “Mr fat bastard 2044”, Rimmer calls him “The worst, most horrible idiot captain born this century.”
Listers says he saw the recipe for the Triple Fired Egg Butty with Chili Sauce and Chutney in a “Surprising Cuisine cook book.”
Hollys reference to Little Jimmy Osmond was cut.
Rimmer’s Deathday Cake scene was cut.

Stasis Leak

Holly says his “IQ is 6,000 times” that of Rimmer’s.
Future Lister warns past Lister not to watch “Back to the Future” rather than “Run for your Wife.”
Holly’s joke that Lister’s pockets remind him of the movie “Attack Of The Killer Gooseberries” was changed to “Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes.”
Rimmer’s story about killing his pet Lemming was cut, perhaps it was too dark for NHK.
A reference to Felicity Kendal was changed to Marylin Monroe for the remaster but then cut from the Japanese dub anyway.
The story about Lister’s friend Duncan was cut.
The scene of Rimmer walking past his past self and Lister was shown from a different angle.

Queeg

Hollys suggestions for games against Queeg “Subbuteo, snakes and ladders...” became “Hopping on one foot, or kick the can...”
In English the twisted tape that Cat and Lister enjoy is called “"Robert Hardy reads Tess Of The D'Urbervilles” but in Japanese it was changed to “Robbie Hardy, A Special Collection of Crazy Rock Lyrics.”　ロビーハーディ、やばい歌詞特集ロック
Brannigan is referred to as an Okama, a slur word for transgender individuals.
Lister’s story about Peterson’s Smart Shoes was cut.
Rimmer’s story about almost being eaten at Space Scout Camp by Porky Roebuck was cut. For this reason, in Marooned the story about the septic tank is kept by Roebucks name is cut.
The reference to Inflatable Ingrid was cut.
Listers story about his geography teacher Miss Foster who preferred machines was cut.

Parallel Universe

Rimmer’s story about Lorraine, the girl with the metal nose he picked up with hypnosis was cut.

Series 3[]

Backwards

The beginning title scroll was cut so Japanese viewers did not know what happened to Listers children.
Kryten also mentions that the emergency breaking time of Red Dwarf is four days.

Marooned

“Biggles Learns to Fly?” became “The guaranteed method of Seduction”.
The fact that a giant toupee was installed over the earth to cover the ozone layer was cut from Marooned.
The story about the bar fight in the Hacienda was cut.
Rimmer’s speech about being “Alexander the Great's chief eunuch” was cut.

Polymorph

"ALPHABETTI SPAGHETTI !?!" was changed to “ADULT TOYS !?!” 大人のおもちゃ！
Rimmer’s lie about losing his virginity to Sandra was cut.

Body Swap

The Mimean Bladderfish in Bodyswap is simply called “a fish”.
The dub does not mention White Midget.
Cat’s scramble suggestion “Jozxyqk” was cut, probably because it is an English based joke.

Time Slides

A refence to Sham Glam was changed.
The Tension Sheet was changed to Puchi Puchi Cushion プチプチクッション Puchi Puchi is an onomatopoeia word for bubble wrap.
A reference to “Dr Bob Porkman, father of the condom that calls you back” was cut.
Lister’s story about his school mate, Charles Keenan, the wife eater was cut.
Sadly the line “"Unpack Rachael and get out the puncture repair kit!” was cut. Rachael is simply referred to as a “dutch wife”, as this is a commonly understood word in Japanese.
The jokes about Dobbin becoming a “grand wizard in the Freemasons”, and Gazza joining a “large insurance company” were cut.

The Last Day

Parts of Lister and Kryten’s debate about Silicon Heaven were changed. In particular the jokes about Frying Pantheism and “the iron shall lie down with the lamp”. This was most likely changed because the jokes rely on English puns. But the idea that machines have souls is similar to a general superstition in Japanese society of Tsukumogami (tool spirits) 付喪神. This is the idea that objects that have been used for long enough become sentient. Although this belief declined in the 19th century it can still be seen in the way that the Japanese respect old objects. So, it is interesting that this particular part of the script was changed in the Japanese dub. References to Silicon Hell in Rimmer World and Gunmen of the Apocalypse was also cut.
Lister’s story about his school trip to Paris in Last Day is changed somewhat. The reference to Jackson Pollock was removed and the puking was changed to spilled wine.
The horrific events of Lemming Sunday were cut, most likely because suicide is not a joking topic in Japanese culture.
Rimmer’s story about his family of Seventh Day Advent Hoppists was cut.
The full details of Holly’s special mechanoid menu in were removed.

Series 4[]

Camille

The Pleasure Gelf is referred to as a Mirror Moon Star.
A reference to Listers Spiderman costume was cut.

DNA

Lister’s confession about going into a wine bar was cut.
Lister’s desire to swap places with a squirrel was cut.

Justice

Cat’s story about the “Iranian jird” which can do “150 pelvic thrusts a second” was cut.

White Hole

The story about Kryten’s friend Gilbert who preferred to be called "Rameses Niblick the Third, Kerplunk Kerplunk, Whoops, Where's My Thribble.”

Dimension Jump

The story of Listers childhood pastime of “Condom fishing” was cut.
A reference to the speed of reality was removed.
A reference to sending out a marine search probe was cut.
References to Hammond Organs were cut, as was the Hammond Organ ending.
The scene where Lister, the Cat and Rimmer read aloud from magazines was cut.

Melt Down

Rimmer's reference to his former club, The Recreators of the Battle of Neasden Society is abbreviated in the Japanese dub.

Series 5[]

Holoship

The computer Stocky’s name was cut and it was just referred to as Computer.
Rimmer’s cry of “Geronimo” before making love to Nirvana Crane was cut.

The Inquisitor

Rimmer pretending to be converted by image of the archangel Gabriel was cut.

Terrorform

The Terraform explanation at the beginning of Terrorform was cut.
Kryten’s reference to the serial Robbie Rocket Pants was cut.
The references to “the Wood of Humiliation” and “the Chasm of Hopelessness” were cut.

Quarantine

Rimmer's sprout menu jokes were cut.
Kryten's potted history of Martian power packs and Psi Scans was cut.

Demons and Angels

Kryten mentions that the Low’s fridge is “warm” inside.
The scene in which Lister is forced to eat a tarantula was cut.

Back to Reality

Rather than a terraforming vessel the SS Esparato is described as an “Undersea Operations Ship”.
The limpet mines were changed to “electric shocks”.
The line about “the clue in the dot on the i on Rimmer's swimming certificate” was cut.

Series 6[]

Rimmer's Space Corp Directive jokes were cut from all of series 6.

Psirens

The Synaptic Enhancer is simply called The Injectorお注射
Because the text scroll at the beginning of series 3 which resolved the plot of Lister’s sons, Jim and Bexley was cut out, another reference to Jim and Bexley was also removed from this episode.
The lines about Listers morning larger drinking habits was cut..

Legion

Rather than being happy about the lack of “Doug McClure” movies, Lister is happy to see there are “no educational films!”.
Kryten suggestion that he sacrifices himself by loading his body into the reverse-thrust tubes was cut. Perhaps because it sounds too similar to WWII Kamikaze tactics?
Legion does not name the geniuses who make up his personality.
The “Ionian Nerve Grip” joke was removed.
The details of Listers Curry Night schedule were cut.
The Blue Alert bulb scene was cut.

Gunmen of the Apocalypse

The Rogue Simulant Hunting Ground is changed to スペースギャンの縄張り Space Gang Territory.
Listers love affair with the ball girl from the Total Immersion Video Game; Wimbledon was cut.
The special outro theme to "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" was cut and replaced it with the generic ending.

Emohawk - Polymorph II

The story about “The Vidal Beast of Sharma II” was moved from Blue and inserted into Emo Hawk Polymorph II.
The 4th round of toast joke was cut.
Cat’s line “my nostril hairs are shimmying faster than a grass skirt on a fat Hawaiian hula hoop champion” was cut.
Rimmer's theory that “every major battle in history has been won by the side with the shortest haircuts” was cut.
The stories about Gelfs, “ they skin human beings alive and turn them into bean bags!”, were cut.

RimmerWorld

The explanation of Rimmer's T Count and his Hard Light Remote Belt were both cut out.

Out of Time

Future Kryten’s story about their friendship with the Hitlers and Georings were shortened significantly.
the Stella Fog is simply called 深い霧 deep fog/mist.
Rimmer's cry of “Better Dead than Smeg!” became “Better dead than fat!”
The Weekly Morale Meeting scene was cut.
The conversation about brewing wine from urine recyc was removed.
A reference to Solar Batteries was cut.
A reference to a Pan-Dimensional Liquid Beast from the Mogadon cluster was removed.

Series 7[]

Tikka To Ride

The explanation of the effects of the Time Drive on Starbug (expanding the cargo bay 212% etc.) were cut. This means the ship is suddenly bigger for no reason!
Cinzano Bianco became “cooking wine”.
Lister talking about a Reddy Moon was cut.

Stoke me a Clipper

The entire opening scene with the motor bike, Nazis and Bonjela Princess Beryl was cut.

OUROBOROS

Kochanski talking about “electro-magnetic phasing frequencies” was cut.
The story of the SS Augustus was cut.

Duct Soup

Rather than calling Cashier Number 4’s husband “bald”, Lister describes him as a “non famous actor.” And the play Lister is dumped naked into is not “The Importance of being Earnest” but a production called “The married woman’s lover.”
The Rusty Gate Anecdote was cut.
Kyrten's suggestion the Kochanski looks at Lister as if he is “a pot of cottage cheese with pineapple chunks” was cut.
The reference to Lister’s friend “Bent Bob” was cut.

Blue

In Blue Traka 16 simply called “the sand planet” 砂の星
“Baked Bean Bombshells Volume 12” became “The explosively huge breasted girls bare bottomed mortal combat.” 爆乳ギャル桃尻丸出しの死闘
A reference to “one hundred glow in the dark tampons” was cut.
Kryten's method of ironing bras on his head was cut.

Beyond A Joke

In Japanese, Jane Austin World and Pride and Prejudice Land are instead described as “The game in which you can experience high class 19th century society”
Krysten’s exposition about the SS Centauri was cut.
The story about Listers nickname “Fat Boy” at school was cut.
Lister's Curry World jokes were cut during the dinner scene.
A reference to Lister's T-shirt advertising the rock band 'Colostomy Explosion' was cut.

Epideme

Lister talking about his songs he wrote for Kochanski (underpantski) was cut.
Kryten’s story about attending Toilet University was cut.

Nanarchy

The Suspended Animation Booth is called The Sleeping Room 睡眠室 this is confusing because they used the same translation to refer to Sleeping Quarters in series 1.
“The All Girls Custard Wrestling Finals” became the “The All Girls Mud Wrestling Finals”
Kochanski’s knowledge of the “average rainfall of the oil-rich coastal low-lands of Venezuela” was cut.
Cats “one arm bandit joke” was cut much like Lister right arm was also cut off.

Series 8[]

Back in the Red Part 1

Lister threatens to fill Rimmer's boots with Soup again, not runny porridge.
When confronted by the T Rex, Cat’s old cat saying ("We are all gonna die!") is changed to “Now I understand how the mice feel. They’ve been really scared this whole time!”
The Brown Alert lines were cut.

Back in the Red Part 2

“Thai, Chinese. I’ll eat anything sir” became “Seabream, Shark. I’ll eat anything sir”
Rimmer’s story about being the “captain the school's skipping team” was cut.
A refence to Holister's wife, Martha was cut.
Listers line “The movers and the shakers? You're going to supper with some removal men and a group of people suffering from Parkinson's Disease?” was cut.

Back in the Red Part 3

Rimmer says “Holly used to have an IQ of 6,000 now he/she doesn’t even have a single hair.”
Rimmer's line “Two years with the scum of the universe, hardened criminals, deranged droids, people so unbalanced and debauched they could even get elected as President of the United States.” Is changed to “Everyone in here is a double dealing pervert. Worse than any president.”
Rimmer's scene with Angus Thornton was cut.
A reference to a book “Showing Compassion to Inmates” was cut.
Listers plan to make cheese toasties with the trouser presses in G Tower was cut.

Cassandra

The popular joke about the acronym for the Canaries being "Convict Army Nearly All Retarded Inbred Evil Sheepshaggers" was cut.

Krytie TV

Morris Dancer Monthly was changed to Costume Dancing Monthly 月刊仮装舞踏
Listers story about the song OM was cut.
Kill Crazy’s story about the mutant with “two heads and all these testicles” was cut.
The scene of Lister buying Kochanski two bags of flour was cut. This is a joke about Flowers and Flour so it wouldn’t work in Japanese.
Rimmer's line about a George Formby Season of movies was cut.

Pete (part 1)

Rimmer's excuse about the basketball game was changed from athletes foot to a poor excuse about not being able to stand up.
Listers story about his loud Uncle Dan was cut.
A reference to Steel Jimbo was cut.
References to Bobs wife Madge were cut.
Kill Crazy’s theories about plane toilets were cut.

Pete (part 2)

No major edits.

Only the Good

Hollister’s yellow fever was changed to mumps オタフク風邪
The scene with Big Meat and Kat in the tank was cut.