Shuttle bays

Cat approaching a Blue Midget in Hangar 24
("Kryten", Series II)

The shuttle bays, also referred to as the docking bays, hangars and landing decks, are the names given to numerous locations aboard the city-sized JMC mining spaceship Red Dwarf which housed its dozens, if not hundreds, of shuttlecraft. These included fleets of Starbugs, Blue Midgets, White Giants, White Midgets, and presumably the ship scouters. In Series VIII the secretive transport ship of the Canaries is also seen, which is launched from a hidden landing deck on Floor 13.

The shuttle bays were first seen in Series II, and featured in every subsequent series where Red Dwarf itself appears; that is, every series except Series VI and only the final scene of VII. They often appear as landing strips down a long corridor, with a parking space for the shuttle at the end. Access to outer space is through massive heavy metal airlock doors, which remain sealed shut most of the time. The quarantine zone of Red Dwarf, Bay 47, also had its own landing deck. ("Quarantine")

Accordingly, the shuttle bays were located close to the exterior hull of the ship, and on the interior were connected to customs, the cargo bays and locker chamber. ("Blue") Sometimes the cargo bays were referred to interchangeably with the shuttle bays, for example the Dwarfers in Starbug telling Holly to open the cargo bay doors instead of shuttle bay doors. ("Demons and Angels") One Blue Midget was parked in Cargo Bay 3. ("The Beginning")

Gallery

Blue Midget in a Red Dwarf hangar ("Bodyswap")

Starbug in a hangar (Series III)

The landing strip and outer door during a hasty retreat ("Marooned", Series III)

Starbug escaping a doomed Red Dwarf ("Demons & Angels", Series V)

Starbug flies into a gigantic hangar filled with massive new 'bugs as the nanobots recreate Red Dwarf ("Nanarchy", Series VII)

Cat dances with Blue Midget to impress an attractive Ground Controller ("Back in the Red", Series VIII)

Starbug prepares to leave the landing bay ("Cured", Series XII)

Starbug emerges from the landing bay ("Cured", Series XII)

to be completed

See Also

• Ground Controllers

Trivia

A reference to another popular British sci-fi show

• In earlier series, the shuttle bays along with the shuttles themselves were portrayed with extensive model work. In later series, they were computer generated.
• An "Easter Egg" can be found in one of the earlier episodes, when the TARDIS from Doctor Who can be seen between a parked Starbug and Blue Midget. The Easter egg was filmed for the episode "Marooned", but the shot never made it to screen. It was eventually seen in the episode ""Demons & Angels".