"Sorry ladies, I'm married!"
Andy Longman joined Blue Dwarf in January 2001 with his first character Jay Chrysler.
Jay married Alota Viagra, who later became Captain of the Blue Dwarf but died at the hands of Jay's evil counterpart from a parallel universe. Jay them moved on to date Katrina Salter.
Andy's other characters are Vanessa Chrysler; Jay's sister who has recently given birth to Dr Keto's child, and Jayne Chrysler who is a female clone of Jay.
Andy Longman Interview - Captain Chrysler!
Added : 4th March 2009
Andy Longman's main character Jay Chrysler became Captain this year after the death of the previous Captain Jed Calvert. I wanted to interview Andy about what this means to him.
How long have you been a member of the Blue Dwarf now? And does it feel like a long time, or not that long?
Andy - Just over eight years! My first post was on 21 Jan 2001! It doesn't feel that long ago but when you think about everything that's happened in that time, two world cups, two olympics, the Tsunami, 9/11, it's bloody ages! And in all this time, no new Red Dwarf til now!
Jay is now Captain of the Blue Dwarf! A couple of years ago you were strictly against Jay being made Captain. So what has changed your mind?
Andy - It just felt like it was the right time. Jay's climbed the ladder slowly through the years, from being just another pilot, to Kayn Bestroms deputy, to taking over from him as Chief Navigation Officer. I guess I wanted something new to post about, to take the character down a different path.
Being Captain is quite a lot of responsability for your character, is Jay reacting well to it?
Andy - No! Not at all. He's finding it very difficult.
Do you think Jay's character has changed since being made Captain? And do you think he will change as time goes on and he has to start bossing around his friends?
Andy - He's definitely changed yes. Jays a dedicated officer who's used to taking things in his stride. He's never come across a challenge he can't handle before this. Suddenly he's been thrust into a position where the lives of the entire crew are his responsibility, he has to start looking at the bigger picture and he can't fix every problem he's faced with by throwing bullets at it anymore. He's terrified of letting the crew down and the stress of this is taking it's toll and is having a drastic effect on him, and his relationships with the crew.
As time goes on, Jay will start to see that he's a better captain than he gives himself credit for. He's certainly more concerned about the crew than Jed ever was, once he's settled into the role a bit, and has leaned to stop snapping at everyone he'll soon begin to revert back to his old, happy go lucky self.
What about your other characters. Do you have any interesting plans for them in the near future?
Andy - Without wanting to reveal too much, Vanessa will be struggling to cope with learning how to be a good mother and Jayne is currently considering a career change.....as for Katrina, her relationship with Jay will become strained as he struggles to cope with his captaincy, we'll have to wait and see how that pans out.
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