So the 10th series of Red Dwarf premiers tonight on Dave (UK).I'm looking forward to this but I hope it can get back to the standard of series 1-6 and not series 7 & 8. I thought Back to Earth was a marked improvement though. So is there any Red Dwarf fans on here?
A new season of Red Dwarf! Hooray! Unfortunately I don't live in the UK, so I will have to find other ways of catching it.
Luckily, BBC Entertainment started to show the first series again-it's been at least 10 years since I've seen it. God, I miss Lister....and that theme song...
Series 7 waned, series 8 was mediocre and Back to Earth was god awful... However, RDX does look like a return to a similar standard as series 1-6 so I'm cautiously looking forward about it..
What I am a little dubious about is Doug Naylor... Rob Grant left after series 6 which is when it started to wane. Naylor wrote most of series 7, most if not all of series 8 and he wrote and directed Back to Earth..... and now he's wrote/directed series 10. Of course, I'm not trying to solely pin it on him, I mean they did have other writers over the last couple series but I just wonder if, as dedicated and excited about Dwarf as he is, if Naylor is, perhaps, not as good without Grant..
There is one little thing that niggles me from all the photos and footage I have seen and that is Kryten.. Now obviously they have all aged and well, you can tell... now this isn't a problem but Kryten looks old. It's the eyes and the make around them.. you can see all the wrinkles and bags around his eyes.... I dunno, I just think, seen as his head is fully in prosphetics surely he is the one cast member that should look the same lol.. Anyway, it's neither here nor there really I guess, it just kinda sticks out like a sore thumb a bit..
That was actually really good. I mean BtE suffered due to the three part story, but over all I felt that was better than Series 7 and 8, which were terrible. But this was indeed a return to form. I look forward to seeing the rest of the episodes.
There's a bit of a backlash kicking up on some websites just now. Saying that the characters are shadowy parodies of what they used to be and the show is lacking sci fi ideas. I think it's a bit harsh to judge based on one episode.
Obviously Dave don't have as much money as the BBC to throw at shows so I thought it looked quite good and it was good to hear some of the old music cues. It was good to see them back in a familiar setting (and having a live audience back) and bits of it were pretty funny, namely the Moose payoff and the tw*t line. Generally it did feel like a return to series 3-6.
Cat was ok, Kryten was a little OTT in the phone scene and both Lister and Rimmer felt just a little hammy at times. Generally, I thought the performances improved over the course of the episode though.
Series 1 and 2 were great but I think it will be pretty hard to recapture anything before series 3, partly 'cos some of it's charm being down to the era it was made and well, I don't think the actors can get back to that now.. Line delivery felt a lot more natural in those first few series whereas in the last few series it feels a little more like a group of blokes having a giggle.
Ever since Naylor took over fully (series 7 onwards) there have been more and more sort of cultural references thrown in (something which I think Grant maybe kept a lid on) which I don't think really work... or atleast not the lame ones that Naylor seems to put in... Such as the android shop/phone thing... For me, it didn't really work but having said that the payoff was worth a giggle, if predictable.
Erm.. I think the biggest thing that I wasn't a fan of was the plot point about Rimmers brothers (what are the chances of bumping into him 3 million years later). Ok, so it was only one brother but the whole point of Rimmer is that he's a frustrated underachiever - his whole family are successes in life, and he isn't - by his own judgement. Bringing his family down to his level diminishes him, and I'm not sure it worth undermining what was previously a convincingly complex character for that lame reveal. It might have been cool to have Rimmer being caught out but then winning his brother round rather than the resentment overload joke being played out 3 times.
Red Dwarf has never been too continuity focused but I also thought it was a bit of an own goal making his brother a hard light hologram. Rimmer was suppose to be unique, having his lightbee specially made by Legion.
Also, for as long as I can remember in Dwarf a Simulant is a psychotic mech that wants only to kill humans. So based on previous run ins with one, why do the crew not run away or at least act suspicious or nervous around her? And why didn't she have two sets of eye brows?
As I said in a previous post, Krytens make up/costume is fairly horrible. He looks more akin to what they had in series 2.. Also you would think, given that he wears prosphetics that cover his face, he would be the one character where they can hide the fact that he's aged and have him look the same as before.
On the whole it was alright and good fun to see the boys from the dwarf back and a good indication the series might improve.
I dunno, even in the UK it's kind of a niche thing. Although it was mentioned in The Big Bang Theory, even though they got the episode count wrong for the boxset...
I still bet the BBC are kicking themselves though. Steve Coogan's taken himself to Sky, Red Dwarf is on Dave and I think there's talk of Dave bringing back Yes, Minister. It's amazing how terrible comedy on the BBC has gotten and yet good comedy still exists, the BBC just don't want it...
Definitely its a predominantly British and Gen X thing; most of the Canadian and American posters on the Hype are likely too young to have watched the show from the beginning. The way most North Americans like me first became attached to the show was through their broadcast on PBS stations (even then, only Seasons 1-3 seemed to be broadcast on a recurring basis) and that hasn't been done since the mid 1990s.
I dunno, even in the UK it's kind of a niche thing. Although it was mentioned in The Big Bang Theory, even though they got the episode count wrong for the boxset...
I still bet the BBC are kicking themselves though. Steve Coogan's taken himself to Sky, Red Dwarf is on Dave and I think there's talk of Dave bringing back Yes, Minister. It's amazing how terrible comedy on the BBC has gotten and yet good comedy still exists, the BBC just don't want it...
This episode did nothing for me.. It was like a re-tread of Queeg and I didn't like the whole thing of Lister talking to himself as his dad and then acting like a son to himself. At first I thought it might just be a nice reference (with the card and stuff) but it was just handled like a poor caricature of what the Lister character is (or was).
The cast interaction is good but individually only Rimmer and Cat feel like themselves (in part down to Chris and Danny been spot on). Kryten has been on and off and Lister feels a little... ok but almost like Craig is trying too hard. I don't know what is up with Cats wardrobe either, not keen on the choices made there and Krytens mask looks on par with Kryten from series 2.. I know I've mentioned it before but I just can't get past it.
Will check out the rest of the series but sadly, I'm not holding much hope. In all honesty, I think Doug Naylor has lost it but we shall see..
Just no. I had to turn it off once they got Jesus back to Red Dwarf... ugh.
Wouldn't Kryten have an electric current running through himself?
Why was there an - all too convenient - "returner remote" for a shower (which was operated by a main console)?
Also, weren't Rimmers parents 7th Day Hopists and not Judas Followers or whatever..?
And again with the pointless pop culture references for cheap laughs... I could let the reference about a "cell phone" (why not Mobile, it's british) in last weeks episode go 'cos one could humour the idea that mobile phones or similar upgrades would be available in the RD time but Ebay???? Sorry, I don't buy it. And they're 3 million years into deep space, where and how are they gonna sell stuff on ebay? I know it is to be taken light heartedly but I'm sorry, for a show that use to have clever writing and explore real sci-fi ideas, this was just too much..
I mentioned my fears that Doug Naylor had lost it after last weeks episode and I think this one pretty much confirms it... As I said, RD use to have clever writing and sharp jokes that would produce hearty belly laughs, now it all just feels so lazily written and it's all convenient science-magic mumbo jumbo that the Russell Davies Dr Who suffered from, not the witty science fiction of yesteryear...
Everyone is well aware that it started slipping from Series 7 but so far I have seen nothing, beyond a couple alright laughs, to redeem itself. This is a poor mans Red Dwarf.. Almost as if it has been taken over by people who had nothing to do with the original shows and they are just doing the best they can to immitate it...
Just no. I had to turn it off once they got Jesus back to Red Dwarf... ugh.
Wouldn't Kryten have an electric current running through himself?
Why was there an - all too convenient - "returner remote" for a shower (which was operated by a main console)?
Also, weren't Rimmers parents 7th Day Hopists and not Judas Followers or whatever..?
And again with the pointless pop culture references for cheap laughs... I could let the reference about a "cell phone" (why not Mobile, it's british) in last weeks episode go 'cos one could humour the idea that mobile phones or similar upgrades would be available in the RD time but Ebay???? Sorry, I don't buy it. And they're 3 million years into deep space, where and how are they gonna sell stuff on ebay? I know it is to be taken light heartedly but I'm sorry, for a show that use to have clever writing and explore real sci-fi ideas, this was just too much..
I mentioned my fears that Doug Naylor had lost it after last weeks episode and I think this one pretty much confirms it... As I said, RD use to have clever writing and sharp jokes that would produce hearty belly laughs, now it all just feels so lazily written and it's all convenient science-magic mumbo jumbo that the Russell Davies Dr Who suffered from, not the witty science fiction of yesteryear...
Everyone is well aware that it started slipping from Series 7 but so far I have seen nothing, beyond a couple alright laughs, to redeem itself. This is a poor mans Red Dwarf.. Almost as if it has been taken over by people who had nothing to do with the original shows and they are just doing the best they can to immitate it...
Entangled - Well I loved it. Really felt like a classic episode that would have fit into series 5 or 6, with a tone of great jokes. Nice to see soft light Rimmer again even if it was only for 3 seconds. t:
This is ture but the ones in the new series somehow feel a lot more cheap and forced than the references in the originals. The references in the old series felt a little more natural whereas the references in the new series feels like Naylor has just added them for the sake it, as if to just connect with pop culture and nothing else and not because he can get a genuinely good joke out of it... that's how it feels to me any way.
I'm a little mixed on the newest ep, Entagled. In some ways it is probably my favourite of this series so far but again, in some ways it just doesn't quite hit the mark. The set up of it feels a lot like a classic dwarf episode but I think Naylor fails to truly capitalise on the premise..
Kryten doing an experiment on some crystals that does nothing but somehow causes himself and Cat to become in sync felt a lot like a plot thread you would get in the original series but It's brought up minimally throughout the ep and nothing really becomes of it except that through some all too convenient writing it allows Kryten and Cat to deduce the Irene - Irony thing. The sync thing felt like it was just there as if for the sole purpose of providing a couple laughs... Could have done so much more with the idea.
And the idea of losing Rimmer in a game of Poker and Lister having his balls in a vice, again, both felt like plot elements you would find in an early ep but is handled more in a series 7/8 kind of way and doesn't really feel truly capitalised on..
Cat also isn't getting a lot of screen time... He seems almost deliberately kept off screen at some points and just pops up when we need a Cat line.
On the plus side, it's good to hear the old music cues back and Cat being a little more like he was in the early series (hunting a Weevil felt a little like him going round claiming "This is mine"). It was cool to see the softlight Rimmer back for a moment although how did he get his hardlight lightbee through the door? While I didn't laugh out loud at any point it's actually probably the episode I have found the most funny over all. Cat had some classic zingers and again, like with the previous episodes, Chris Barrie feels the most spot on with his character IMO. Kryten felt more normal to me in this episode than he has done and I think Lister is begining to feel like Lister again rather than just Craig reading his lines and over doing it.
I have noticed a pattern developing in Naylors writing for this new series... He opens the episode with the set up of a new joke or element and then we get the pay off at the end of the episode. (and in some cases the new element/payoff feels slightly deus ex machiny)..
eg. The whole Moose thing in ep 1. Lister re-signing up as his son allowing them to beat Pree's logic at the end in episode 2. Rimmer and his parents being judas followers and it not being the real jesus at the end of episode 3. And Rimmer with his new set of rules and leaving the box of forms by the space lock door and the women tripping over the box later.
And then he recycles an old idea either for the main plot or just a plot strand in the new episode
eg. Trojan felt like part Holoship. The episode with the female computer felt like a rehash of Queeg. Lemons felt a little like Tikka to Ride (idea of going back in time to earth). Entangled had aliens that looked like Gelf and that trading scene was more or less a straight copy of the trading scene with the Gelf in the Polymorph episode. The woman in a cryopod thing has also being done before..
The next episode features Lister learning he might be a dad which again is a plot that has at least in part being done before and the final episode at least sounds like it will be the most 'fresh' episode but does feature Simulants who Naylor always had a thing for and is said to show us how they escaped at the end of series 8 which is going back to something from a previous episode but i won't use it in my 'argument' as it will actually be quite cool to find out.
He also did it in the Back to Earth special with the Despair Squid popping up to reveal it's all for pretend like some sort of get out of jail free card..
I don't know... It all just feels every so slightly lazy to me... Like we know that Dwarf can be great and this isn't... One could argue that it won't ever be the same and that's probably ture and fine, I accept it won't be.... But we should be getting better than this.
I loved RDX, a welcome return to form imo. I hope there's another series down the line. To celebrate the new series, I made a set of sculptures of the cast. Over the past month, I have gotten each one signed by their respective actors. It's a nerdy delight for me, check them out:
I loved RDX, a welcome return to form imo. I hope there's another series down the line. To celebrate the new series, I made a set of sculptures of the cast. Over the past month, I have gotten each one signed by their respective actors. It's a nerdy delight for me, check them out:
That's really cool and nice work on the sculptures!
Just read back over a couple of my posts for RDX.. I sound a bit of an ass ha. Maybe I was being a bit harsh and over critical of a "light hearted comedy".... and maybe it's unfair of us to expect that 20 plus years later it is going to be the same/as good as it was.
It was (just) alright and i would like to see another series but I would like to see some serious effort put in to it and at least a return to doing some "serious sci-fi" ideas/based comedy.... Jesus creating the carrier bag is a low point IMHO.
In fairness, I haven't re-watched RDX since it aired either, maybe I would be more easy on it a second time around....
There are at least three other threads about Red Dwarf so I'm bumping this one to post about the news of another series, 11. t:
A big update came during the Sci-Fi Scarborough convention on Saturday a Red Dwarf panel comprised of Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn confirmed the news. John-Jules said that shooting is scheduled to get under-way in October 2014 with a view to being aired on Dave in Autumn 2015.
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