About book Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1992)
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor is a novel based on the British sci-fi comedy show Red Dwarf. Dave Lister, a lowly technician on the mining spaceship Red Dwarf, gets put into stasis as a punishment for smuggling a cat on board. When he emerges from stasis he finds that a nuclear accident wiped out the rest of the crew and it is now three million years in the future. The only other survivors are a feline-humanoid life form that evolved from his cat, and his bunk mate who died but was revived as a hologram. Tensions are high as they do their best to survive and navigate the various obstacles they must face as they try to make their way back to earth.This was a quick but fun read. The ending wasn't exactly a cliffhanger, but it did make me want to read the next book right away. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or anyone that just enjoys British humor. Though I did enjoy the book a lot, I thought the show was funnier. I think this is mostly due to the fact that sometimes humor translates better in an audio-visual format than the written word and for this reason I also found The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio plays to be funnier than the books. I don't think it's necessary to watch the show before you read the books, but it's more fun that way because it's easier to imagine the character's voices and what they look like. The book does give some background story to the show, but it's different in a lot of ways. Some events happen in a different order than they do in the show and many plot details are different. If you do decide to watch the show before reading the book, I'd recommend watching the entire series before starting the book. I started reading the book after I'd only watched most of the second season and then started going back and forth between the show and the book. I started to find this rather confusing due to the differences between the show and the book and it became harder to keep the storylines of each one straight in my mind. I'm hooked now though and I definitely couldn't wait to finish watching the entire series before starting the next book.
I've been seeing this book in stores for years, but I never bothered picking it up, figuring Red Dwarf is best in thirty minute bites and can't sustain an extended storyline. But Audible had this on sale recently, and it is read by Chris Barrie, so I decided to give it a shot.Storywise, the book is a mash-up of several episodes across the series' first two seasons, along with a significant portion of new material at the beginning. This new stuff, detailing how Lister joined the RD's crew (and what happened to poor McIntyre), is the best part of the book, giving us our only real glimpse into human society prior to "The End." Once Lister signs up, the book more or less follows the plots of the various episodes incorporated into the story ("The End," "Future Echoes," "Me^2," "Kryten" and "Better than Life"). Grant and Naylor do try to stitch these parts together, but while they add connecting material the result is still an rambling, picaresque tale.That's not to say that if you've seen the series you should skip the books. There are times when the text is little more than the script with some "he saids" added (which makes the audiobook somewhat bemusing, with Rimmer's voice speaking Lister, Holly and Cat's lines). But Grant and Naylor change things up enough to keep you on guard. Captain Hollister becomes a woman with the misfortune to be named Kirk. The events of "Me^2" are tied into the discovery of Kryten with the Kochansky subplot jettisoned. The biggest change, apart from the beginning, is at the end when we enter Better than Life. On the show, BtL was essentially one long gag with no more depth than the backwards Earth, but in the novel Grant and Naylor take the opportunity to flesh out the world and show the sort of lives Lister and Rimmer lead there. In doing so, BtL becomes more insidious than it was ever presented on the show, and the story ends with a surprisingly sad twist.
Do You like book Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1992)?
A strange expansion on the events of season 1. Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers is an entertaining retcon. See how Lister ended up on Red Dwarf. Witness the strangeness that is Arnie J. and learn how Kryten fits into this troop of losers as well as seeing a more logical retelling of the creation of the Cat Race. Full of the same brutally stupid humor as the show, it's delightful. If you listen to the audiobook version you get treated to Chris Barrie's impersonations of all of the major characters(mostly spot on.) Definitely worth a listen or read.
—Karen Kalbacher
Alright, so I'm kind of weird on this book. It sort of sent me in several directions emotionally, and I'm not sure a (semi) novelization of sci-fi comedy is supposed to do that. I mean, I did smile so much my face hurt (which also brought to me the realization that I don't smile very much) and also left me feeling extremely depressed (partly from that realization). I think that the overall tone was more serious and dark than the show, which never at all left me feeling sad. This book was more introspective about personal failure and the demands of society which almost no one can meet. Then there's the fact that I can relate to everyone hating/disliking me despite how hard I try at anything. So, yeah, sad.Also, the ending. Come on. You can't give me a downer book with a downer ending.Despite all that, it was funnier than most of what I've read recently, it gave me some awesome background on Red Dwarf, which I can now go around lecturing people on. (See, that's probably part of the people disliking me thing). Really, Naylor could have just stuck them all in a telenovela and I would've been pleased...oh wait.
—Ubiquitousbastard
By taking all of the best bits from the first couple of series of the TV show, tweaking them slightly and adding some new storylines – some of which were then incorporated into the later TV shows – Rob Grant and Doug Naylor have provided a very funny book. The first few series were not as good as the later series, and one of the reasons was that the sets and costumes were this dreary grey colour. This book proves what I’ve always said is true; books are so much better than TV programmes and films because the pictures are so much better!The way Lister becomes the sole survivor aboard Red Dwarf remains the same although the circumstances that cause the accident are different. This book also explains why a workshy slob like Lister should find himself aboard a mining ship in the first place. The revelations of the Cat and the back-story of how he came to be are also explained better in print than on the small screen. A good read for fans of the TV show and those that enjoy reading sci-fi and comedy books.
—Steve Mitchell
