WHAT IS THE RED DWARF ZONE?

Well what are we? Lets pull out my trusty dictionary and examine the title:

the: (def.art)
  1. a. Used before singular or plural nouns and noun phrases that denote particular, specified persons or things: the baby; the dress I wore. b. Used before a noun, and generally stressed, to emphasize one of a group or type as the most outstanding or prominent: considered Lake Shore Drive to be the neighborhood to live in these days. c. Used to indicate uniqueness: the Prince of Wales; the moon. d. Used before nouns that designate natural phenomena or points of the compass: the weather; a wind from the south. e. Used as the equivalent of a possessive adjective before names of some parts of the body: grab him by the neck; an infection of the hand. f. Used before a noun specifying a field of endeavor: the law; the film industry; the stage. g. Used before a proper name, as of a monument or ship: the Alamo; the Titanic. h. Used before the plural form of a numeral denoting a specific decade of a century or of a life span: rural life in the Thirties.
  2. Used before a singular noun indicating that the noun is generic: The wolf is an endangered species.
  3. a. Used before an adjective extending it to signify a class and giving it the function of a noun: the rich; the dead; the homeless. b. Used before an absolute adjective: the best we can offer.
  4. Used before a present participle, signifying the action in the abstract: the weaving of rugs.
  5. Used before a noun with the force of per: cherries at $1.50 the box.
   
red: (noun)
  1. a. The hue of the long-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 630 to 750 nanometers; any of a group of colors that may vary in lightness and saturation and whose hue resembles that of blood; one of the additive or light primaries; one of the psychological primary hues. b. A pigment or dye having a red hue. c. Something that has a red hue.
  2. a. often Red A Communist. b. A revolutionary activist.
   
dwarf: (noun)
  1. a. An abnormally small person, often having limbs and features atypically proportioned or formed. b. An atypically small animal or plant.
  2. A small creature resembling a human, often ugly, appearing in legends and fairy tales.
  3. A dwarf star.
   
zone: (noun)
  1. An area or a region distinguished from adjacent parts by a distinctive feature or characteristic.
  2. a. Any of the five regions of the surface of the earth that are loosely divided according to prevailing climate and latitude, including the Torrid Zone, the North and South Temperate zones, and the North and South Frigid zones. b. A similar division on any other planet. c. Mathematics A portion of a sphere bounded by the intersections of two parallel planes with the sphere.
  3. Ecology An area characterized by distinct physical conditions and populated by communities of certain kinds of organisms.
  4. Anatomy A ringlike or cylindrical growth or structure.
  5. Geology A region or stratum distinguished by composition or content.
  6. A section of an area or territory established for a specific purpose, as a section of a city restricted to a particular type of building, enterprise, or activity: a residential zone.
  7. An area of a given radius within which a uniform rate is charged, as for transportation or shipping.
  8. Computer Science a. A region on a punch card or on magnetic tape in which nondigital information is recorded. b. A section of storage to be used for a particular purpose.
  9. Archaic A belt or girdle.


So I think that's sorted out: The Red Dwarf Zone is a girdle belonging to an activist from a fairy tale land... maybe it's a hernia prevention belt!


EVOLUTION OF THE SITE

Back in 2002, my friend (Sarah Whitfield) and I (Danny Pendleton) decided to create a Red Dwarf web site to share our passion for the show with the world. Because neither of us had any web design skills and no budget, we were forced to look for a free web host which included an easy-to-use web design package. We eventually settled on MSN Groups, not the perfect place to host a web site but it was free and extremely easy to use.

We threw ideas at each other, and discussed what we needed to make our site popular. As far as we knew, there were no other Red Dwarf web sites still running that kept an up-to-date news section, so figured this would be the best direction to go, and would encourage people to revisit the web site.

We assumed the identities of Bob and Madge the Skutters, and on 6th May 2002 The Red Dwarf Zone web site opened. We were delighted to discover we had three visitors on the very first day, and within the first week we had several people join our MSN Group, and participate in the message boards!

Unfortunately we still did not have any news. Back then we didn't know where to look, all other fan sites were dormant, there was not much news for the official web site, and searching for "Red Dwarf" on search engines just brought up a load of old news and web sites which were still anticipating Series 7!
Our begging for news eventually paid off, and our very first news was from a guy claiming to have read the Red Dwarf: The Movie script! Being young and naive we took his report to be genuine and added our very first news article! We found it difficult to grasp the simple concept that this dude was probably just bullshitting, and excited with our news we e-mailed all the Red Dwarf fan sites we knew to share the information.

Slowly and surely we developed more news for our web site, and found new places to search for the latest Red Dwarf news. With Ganymede & Titan making a return with regular updates, more news was available for publish, and The Red Dwarf Zone was gradually accepted among other Dwarf web sites.

But the question was constantly asked, "Why do you do your site as an MSN group? It looks poor, man.", and my answer: "Because I'm a Student and have no money". But I knew they were right, if I was going to continue with The Red Dwarf Zone I would have to move away from MSN Groups.

With Madge the Skutter making hardly any contribution to the web site what-so-ever, I personally began looking at web design web sites, mainly W3 Schools and Page Resource, however I found the best way to build a web site was to find something I liked on another web site, and stealing the HTML! With this I opened up Notepad and began constructing my web site.

The new web site was almost complete, with a new logo and new content. On 11th May 2003 I displayed a teaser image of the upcoming new design for The Red Dwarf Zone V2.


I was unaware that disaster was about to strike! On 25th June, just before the planned 1st July relaunch, my computer contracted a virus and I was forced to wipe the hard drive, losing the only copy of the new web site. Keeping the loss of the new web site a secret to all readers of my site, I continued to update on MSN Groups.

I laid off the plans for the new site for a while, and focused on the current web site. But when my IT teacher announced that my coursework was to design and produce my very own web site, opportunity arose! I already had my design plans from my first attempt, so after a few adjustments I jumped right in and began construction on The Red Dwarf Zone V2.5!

Because it was coursework, I could work on my web site during lesson time, get help from my IT teacher, and use the facilities in college to create better logos and features for my web site. The new site was finally going to happen - The Red Dwarf Zone was evolving!


The coursework deadline was approaching, but I had already completed most of my web site, I only had a few things to complete which I just couldn't be arsed doing (such as my Series IV DVD review). I began looking for a suitable host for the new web site. I found Supa Names and knew it was just what I needed. It was cheap, reliable, and exactly what I needed!

I decided to upload my web site on the server on the last day available for coursework, I don't know why I guess it just felt kinda poetic! On 15th May 2004 my "Coming Soon" page was uploaded, and on the 19th (the final deadline for coursework), my entire new web site was transferred to the server. I had finally completed the new web site!

There are still the odd things here and there that need doing (*cough* Series IV DVD Review *cough*) but everything that was on the old site can now be found on the new one, and there are some new additions such as the activities, and the entire 1st US Pilot available for download. And most importantly, the news section is still running strong.

So no more Madge the Skutter and no more MSN Groups. But The Red Dwarf Zone is here to stay!

The old web site can still be found at http://groups.msn.com/thereddwarfzone.

Now if you have read all of this I applaud you! I don't even think anybody is interested in this little story, but it was a boring Saturday afternoon! Below you can read information on me, again not that I think you're interested but I've been extremely bored!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NAME: Danny Pendleton
AKA: Pendo
Action Dan
Bob the Skutter (from the old version of my site)
LOCATION: Liverpool, Merseyside, UK
E-MAIL: pendo@thereddwarfzone.co.uk
DOB: 6th April 1986
BACKGROUND: Well I'm just your normal, average, everyday, run-of-the-mill 18 year old. Well actually no I'm not, but I can hope!

I first became a Red Dwarf fan when I was 12 years old. My friend Sarah persuaded me to watch her Red Dwarf videos. Each day she would give me the next video until I had watched every episode. I was quickly hooked on the show, and if it wasn't for her I would never have discovered this amazing sit-com!

Although I consider Red Dwarf my number one show, I am a big fan of other British sit-coms, such as Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Father Ted, Are You Being Served, Phoenix Nights, and believe it or not I even enjoy The Office!

My main passion in life is Movies. Nothing beats going to the cinema to catch the latest movie, or sitting down to watch a DVD. I am a fan of many movies, including Star Wars, James Bond, Rocky, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, and many more. I am an avid DVD collector, and have over 200 DVDs in my collection. I would have more, but unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees! You can see what DVDs I have by clicking here. I admit that half of them are crap, but I no longer make blind purchases!

TV and Moves are not my only interest (I'm not that geekish!), I also love sports and keep fit. I regularly go jogging, swimming and the gym, along with playing football and studying Martial Arts. I have been doing Martial Arts since I was 6 years old, and am now a black belt in both Uechi-Ryu Karatedo, and Shorai Kickboxing.

I also have a keen interest in the Paranormal, and regularly research and study the different phenomena. I have been on several different Paranormal Investigations, and even had my own experiences. Although I am a believer in many different phenomena, I do try to remain skeptical and discover rational explanations for my experiences.

I suppose Computers and the Internet is another of my interests, if it wasn't you wouldn't be reading this now. I wouldn't say I am particularly amazing on them, I am slightly better than average but I just about get by! Everything I know on computers I had to teach myself, I even taught myself HTML to make this web site and am now fluent in it. I was tempted just to use a Web Design package, but decided to type everything by hand using HTML. I am currently learning PHP and MySQL but it's a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I'm slowly getting there!

I am currently a Computer Games Tester for SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) and get to test all the upcoming PlayStation games! It's every lad's dream job and I love it! I am aiming to get higher in the Computer Games Industry and hopefully become either a Computer Games Designer or a Developer, I haven't decided yet but I won't have to make that decision for some time yet.
I also have a part-time job of a weekend at Prescot Museum. Although you may think that sounds really boring, it is actually a really interesting job and I love that too! Hello to Vicky and Dave if you decide to visit my website :o)