Spaceship
Starbug
Type	Jupiter Mining Corporation Class II ship-to-surface transport vehicle
Origin	Shuttle bays of Red Dwarf
Size	Three sections - front cockpit; mid-section for crew living space; and rear bulbous section for cargo and engineering. Approximately size of a house (Series III-VI) Interior massively enlarged by dimensional anomalies (Series VII)
Crew Complement	Sizeable for short journeys
Current Crew Numbers	Four
Propulsion	Conventional retro-booster rockets Hyperdrive for short bursts of faster-than-light flight

Starbug is a type of shuttle-craft, green in colour, somewhat resembling an insect from the exterior. The Jupiter Mining Corporation class II ship-to-surface transport vehicle first appears in the first episode of Series III, and is used as the background to the Series III DVD cover and artwork.

The hangar bays and cargo bays of Red Dwarf house a dozen or so Starbugs, most of which were crashed soon after their appearance. Whenever the boys from the Dwarf crash a Starbug, which is often, Kryten will re-sign Starbug 2 as Starbug 1 and so on.

Starbug is larger than Red Dwarf's earlier shuttle, Blue Midget, which only had a cockpit. Starbug is around the size of a three- or four-story house, with three bulbous sections; the front cockpit, mid-section containing a medical room, an operations room, an airlock, a kitchenette, small sleeping quarters with some stasis capability, and rear engine rooms. The rear section has three decks comprising both engineering and cargo.

Television Series

Early Appearances

Starbug replaced Blue Midget as the crew's primary choice of shuttle in Series III and became the show's primary vehicle throughout Series VI and VII.

Red Dwarf originally came equipped with at least a half dozen Starbug vessels, as Starbugs are abandoned in "Backwards", "Marooned", and "Terrorform" as a result of various crashes, with the others retrieving the other two in another Starbug both times, and in "Bodyswap" after Rimmer, using Lister's body, crashes it and is retrieved by the others in Blue Midget. One Starbug had a cloaking device ("Backwards"), and another had caterpillar tracks similar to Blue Midget and was able to move through swampland ("Terrorform"). Yet another was outfitted for underwater travel ("Back to Reality"), the latter being the same Starbug in which the crew are trapped during Series VI and Series VII.

The reconstructed Red Dwarf of the Series VIII "Back in the Red" episodes contained an entire fleet of Starbug and Blue Midget craft, but the nanobots reconstructed Red Dwarf to its original design specifications, before any and all budget cutbacks.

Series VI takes place a full two centuries after the final episodes of Series V. The internal layout of Starbug differs from that of the vessel's appearances in previous episodes. The new design featured four main areas: the cockpit in the front section, the midsection and galley on the middle section bottom deck, the observation room that doubled as quarters and medibay on the middle section top deck, and the engine room over all three decks of the rear section. In addition, Starbug was finally armed with laser cannons in the episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" by rogue simulants looking for a challenge. Previously the crew had shot molten piles of garbage out of the ship using an airlock. In later series, Starbug would reacquire its use of mining torpedoes.

Propulsion

Throughout Series VI and VII, Starbug regularly travels through different planetary systems and through completely different regions of interstellar space within short periods of time, thus Starbug is capable of interstellar travel. However, it is clearly stated that Starbug has no faster-than-light capability; it merely runs on hydrogen-powered thrusters. Super tachyon-powered drives are mentioned at various points in the Red Dwarf television series, such as in the episodes "Holoship" and "Ouroboros", during the latter of which they acquire one from Kochanski's dimension), so they are indeed part of the Red Dwarf canon.

Epideme also taught them how to make Starbug 300% faster in "Epideme".

A sign in the hangar bay of Starbug in "Backwards" mentions "Hyper Drives".

Enlarged Craft

For Series VII, Starbug was redesigned again, partially rendered in CGI and the sets were made substantially larger; the Starbug of Series VII was apparently similar to the TARDIS in Doctor Who, being larger on the inside than outside. The complex explanation on this occasion for the redesign was due to a time paradox caused by the battle with their technologically advanced future selves at the finale of the previous series (episodes "Out of Time" and "Tikka to Ride"). Kryten explains that "dimensional anomalies" caused by this time paradox had expanded the engineering section, the cargo bay section and the maintenance ducts by over 212%. Apparently, parts of the upgraded future version of Starbug from the timeline they erased also came to co-exist with the present Starbug, such as the ability to travel through space and time. The new model had a smaller cockpit window as a result of the rest of the craft being larger and newly backward-angled legs, and its larger size allowed for many extra rooms, including separate sleeping quarters, its own cargo bay, its own medi-bay, and a re-designed and upgraded AR Suite. A deleted scene in "Tikka to Ride" depicts this Starbug isolating and separating its rear section, with the remainder departing under their own power.

This version of Starbug would finally be destroyed when the ship crashed and exploded in the newly nanobot-rebuilt Red Dwarf at the beginning of Series VIII.

Fleets of Starbugs evacuate Red Dwarf, along with dozens of Blue Midgets, due to the Chameleonic Microbe in the Series VIII finale "Only the Good..."

Later Appearances

A new version of Starbug appears in the Series X opener "Trojan", but only as an external CGI model shot. Blue Midget is the main shuttle used in Series X. In Series VIII's "Only the Good...", the resurrected crew took every last shuttle in their evacuation of the decaying Red Dwarf, so the shuttlecraft used after this point must not have been flightworthy at the time of the crew's evacuation and could not be made so in time to escape the decaying mother ship.

According to Doug Naylor, since the main sets from Series X were reused in Series XI, the set budget allowed them to expand in scope to create things such as a new Starbug interior set.

Starbug appeared in the Series XI opener "Twentica" being piloted by the Dwarfers as they explore an uncharted area of Deep Space. This marks the first time the interior of a Starbug is shown since Series VIII. The newer Starbug still retains a retro feel, although it appears more high-tech, possibly due to it having more digital readouts and a blue-tinge similar to Blue Midget. After encountering a group of Expanoids, Starbug follows them through a time warp before crash landing on an alternate version of Earth in the 1920s, seemingly in a desert in America. This is due to an EMP completely knocking out all of the bug's electrical functions whilst in the Earth's atmosphere. However, as testament to the ship's exceptional durability on numerous previous occasions, Lister is able to restore power to Starbug and later pilot it back to Red Dwarf.

Later episodes in Series XI reveal that Red Dwarf has somehow reacquired its fleet of Starbugs from pre-Series XIII; for example in "Can of Worms" the Starbug is numbered as Starbug 19.

Series XII was filmed back-to-back with the previous series, and therefore the Starbug set was the same. However, the colour theme was changed and moved away from the blue-tinge to be more brightly-lit. The digital readouts were increased and given more complex designs.

Starbug appears in the 2020 television movie The Promised Land chased by fleets of the Felis sapiens under the command of the ruthless warlord Rodon.

Galleries

Series I-VI

Starbug 1 in the hangar of Red Dwarf ("Backwards")

Starbug 1 in space

Lister in a Starbug cockpit ("Bodyswap")

Starbug cockpit (Series VI)

"Blue Alert" ("Legion")

In the Starbug sleeping quarters, Lister emerges from two centuries in Deep Sleep ("Psirens")

An amnesiac Lister looks at his reflection in the Starbug porthole. "Who the hell are you?" ("Psirens")

The hologrammatic ops table on Starbug, mid-section room ("White Hole")

The Dwarfers celebrate surviving the battle with their future selves with Urine Recyc Wine ("Out of Time")

Kryten prepares Lister Space Weevil in the Starbug kitchenette ("Legion")

Lister in the AR Suite ("Gunmen of the Apocalypse")

The gang hunt for a Psiren in the rear decks of Starbug ("Psirens")

Starbug 2 smashing by a Red Dwarf shuttle bay door ("Demons & Angels")

Starbug 2 escaping an exploding Red Dwarf ("Demons & Angels")

A meteorite heading strait for Starbug ("Marooned")

The meteorite hits Starbug ("Marooned")

Starbug dive-bombing onto an ice moon ("Marooned")

Crashed on the an ice moon ("Marooned")

A crashed Starbug approached by Blue Midget ("Bodyswap")

The same scene in the remastered "Bodyswap"

Starbug fires laser cannons on a Simulant Battle Cruiser ("Gunmen of the Apocalypse")

Present and Future Starbugs prepare to go to war with laser cannons. "Out of Time", Series VI]]

Series VII - VIII

The cockpit of the time paradox upgraded Starbug, Series VII.

The crew speak with Epideme in the Starbug medi-bay ("Epideme")

Lister runs Kochanski a bath in the sleeping quarters ("Blue")

Lister and Kryten in the upgraded AR Suite ("Stoke Me a Clipper")

Lister and Cat in the Starbug cargo bay ("Blue")

Cat and Lister watch Kochanski's clothes in the laundry room ("Duct Soup")

In the paradox-enlarged vents ("Duct Soup")

In the vents ("Duct Soup")

The Dwarfers inside some of the time paradox-enlarged Starbug air ducts. "Tikka to Ride", Series VII

Wildfire docked in the rear section of Starbug ("Stoke Me a Clipper'")

Starbug separates into two halves (Additional scenes, "Tikka to Ride", Series VII DVD)

Starbug attempts to pass through a comet ("Blue")

The crew escape Starbug as it explodes in the Red Dwarf hangar ("Back in the Red")

Rimmer finds the sexual magnetism virus in the wreckage of Starbug ("Back in the Red")

Fleets of Starbugs and Blur Midgets escape Red Dwarf ("Only the Good...")

Series X - The Promised Land

A newer Starbug cockpit in Series XI

The interior of the blue-tinged, new Starbug cockpit is featured on the Series XI DVD cover

The boys in the Starbug cockpit from "Siliconia"

The Promised Land

Starbug leaving the Red Dwarf hangar

The mid-section (The Promised Land)

Starbug 19 separates into two halves over the desert planetoid (The Promised Land)

Starbug 19 cockpit on the desert planetoid

Another Starbug inside one of the ships of the Cat Fleet (The Promised Land)

Behind the Scenes

Starbug cockpit set (Series XII)^[1]

Cockpit front panels

Starbug cockpit set (Series XII)

The navicomp of Starbug (Series XII)

Starbug registry sign (Series XII)

Starbug mid-section room set (Series XII)

The set of Starbug 19 (The Promised Land)^[2]

Plaque (The Promised Land)

Starbug navicomp (The Promised Land)

Ignition button (The Promised Land)

Wall read-outs (The Promised Land)

Thrust control (The Promised Land)

Novels

Starbug makes multiple appearances in the Red Dwarf novels.

In Better Than Life, Starbug crashes onto an ice world: a rogue planet which, after being captured in a star's orbit and having its ice melted, turns out to be the Earth itself, which was ripped from its orbit after being officially renamed "Garbage World" and turned into the solar system's rubbish tip. Following the thawing of the ice, Starbug is all but destroyed by extremely concentrated acid rain.

Following an elderly Lister's death, the crew use another Starbug to deliver Lister's remains to the backwards universe using coordinates provided by Holly in a plan to bring him back to life. They also bring the remains of Kochanski in order to keep him company for the next thirty six years.

In Last Human, the crew use Starbug as their primary means of transport following their loss of Red Dwarf. The crew encounter an alternate dimension version of Starbug once piloted by alternate versions of themselves, found drifting through space with their alternate selves dead throughout the ship excluding Lister's other self.

Throughout the novel, Starbug is used to get the crew from destination-to-destination as well as inadvertently taking Lister's sociopathic doppelgänger and abandoning the real Lister.

In Backwards, the crew return to Niagara Falls to retrieve Lister on the backwards Earth, however they miss their deadline due to mysterious damage to the craft. The crew spend ten years marooned on the backwards Earth. Over the next ten years, the damage to Starbug is repaired due to the backwards time flow. The craft is flown backwards by the crew, and is unstruck by a missile, which repaired the ship. They leave the backwards universe and rendezvous with Red Dwarf which has been hijacked by agonoids. Starbug is later the target of an assault by Pizzak'Rapp and Djuhn'Keep, the latter manages to blow a hole in the cockpit and upload a virus into Starbug's software which renders the ship inoperable. Lister and Cat, the only survivors, escape using Wildfire as Starbug is abandoned.

Trivia

The introduction of Starbug was prompted by the introduction of Kryten as a main character, which required a new, bigger shuttle to hold the crew. The original concept of Starbug was named White Midget and was going to be white. With the second episode seeing Starbug crashing into a snow-covered planet the design team decided to re-colour the ship green to increase contrast and renamed it "Green Midget", before realizing its similarity to a bug and renaming it once more as Starbug. However, a script error does have Lister saying "How else can I pilot White Midget?" — although he was misnaming Blue Midget, the reference has left some fans intrigued. A ship named White Midget would finally appear on-screen in Series VII, in a flashback to Kristine Kochanski's alternate universe pre-accident. Like the crew's alternate uniforms in blue rather than beige, however, this is presumably a difference in her universe — although a different, unnamed, white ship would appear as the Canaries' primary transport in Series VIII.

The Official Red Dwarf Companion includes a sketch of an unused shuttlecraft design that is described as being the design for White Midget. This also features an early Starbug design labeled "Green Midget".

In the audio commentaries for the Series IV DVD, Chris Barrie surmised that the spherical construction of Starbug was the reason for its durability.

Merchandise

Starbug toys are one of the most common forms of merchandise based on the show, with numerous models commercially available.

An electronic Starbug playset

See Also

• Starbug Operator's Manual
• Blue Midget, another regularly used Red Dwarf shuttle

External Links

• Interstellar Spaceship Names

References