Prelude to Nanarchy

Red Dwarf: Prelude to Nanarchy
Publication information
Publisher	Grant Naylor Productions, Across the Pond Comics, Studio Hubris
Publication date	2005
Main character(s)	Arnold Rimmer Dave Lister Kryten Cat Holly
Creative team
Created by	Rob Grant Doug Naylor
Written by	Adam Jewell,Damion Waldbrunn, and Andrew Ellard
Inker(s)	Mar Degano
Colorist(s)	Barry Williams

Prelude to Nanarchy is a webcomic produced in 2005 by Grant Naylor Productions and Across the Pond Comics, based on artwork and story concept created by Damion Waldbrunn and Adam Jewell of Studio Hubris.

It set between the fifth and sixth series of BBC science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It was published online at a page a day on the official Red Dwarf website. The last page was posted on 4 November 2005.

It follows immediately from the end of Back to Reality and sets key plot points for developments in the final three series of the show. The comic was produced 6 years after the then-most-recent episode of Red Dwarf was produced.

Story

Following Starbug's escape from the ocean world where they encountered the Despair Squid, the Nanobots inside Kryten decide they have had enough of simply repairing Kryten's body and have ambitions to see the Universe. They leave Kryten's body in the form of a red ear wax which Kryten unwittingly flicks out of his ear. The wax then squirms away out through a grate into the next room where they begin to tunnel out of the ship. The hull breach causes a vacuum - the crew are thrown about the ship.

Holly reports that there is a hull breach a moment too late. When the crew complain about this lapse in the computer's attention, she reports that the breach is aboard Red Dwarf itself. She then changes her mind, but her image flickers off of the screen and they are unable to recall it. They discover that Red Dwarf is speeding away at a phenomenal speed and Kryten stipulates that in order to catch up the rest of the crew will need to go into Deep Sleep.

Meanwhile, aboard a newly formed sand planet not too far away, a computer monitor aboard a junk pile flickers into life and the image of the original incarnation of Holly, albeit slightly balder, appears on the screen. He calls for them to come back, but Starbug cannot hear him.

Canon or Non-canon?

In Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, Cat claims that he brought the elation squid back from the ocean planet seen in Back To Reality. It was thought that this negates the events of Prelude to Nanarchy.

However, it is a common theme on Red Dwarf that the episodes are not occurring in moment-to-moment linear order, that other events are occurring between episodes and even between series (such as the fictitious Series 9 and 10 mentioned on Red Dwarf: Back to Earth).

Given this it is entirely possible that the Elation Squid was in Cat's possession, escaped the wreckage of Starbug (as seen in "Back in the Red" and took residence in the water tank. These events occurred off screen, hence the viewers lack of knowledge of them having occurred.

Whether this hypothesis is canon can be debated, however as Grant Naylor Productions has stated previously, any Red Dwarf material released by them or any party licensed by them to do so is considered canon.

External links

• Prelude to Nanarchy Web Comic - The full comic on the official Red Dwarf homepage
• Red Dwarf homepage
• [1] Studio Hubris page (under construction)