The Return of The Return of The Return of Red Dwarf

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

We are talking about a situation comedy which was always intended to be "Steptoe and Son in space", much as I liked series V and VI I think there's only so far you can push the sci-fi envelope without turning into something unbearably worthy.
Personally I'm glad that Doug's finally found the ability to write decent character episodes without Rob to help him along and without too much reliance on sci-fi (although arguably Sim Crawford and Pree the computer still count as "monsters of the week").
The actors are older and they're not going to gel in the same way they did when they were doing a new series every year back in the early 90s but for a show made in a single studio with only 3 or 4 standing sets per episode it's not doing badly.

As to them spending too much time on the Dwarf I'll just say keep watching.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Further to the Kryten mask debacle, what's going on with the cat? He used to actually look quite sharp all the time, now he looks like Liberace.

[Si Hunt]

I think Si Hunt made some good points.

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

[*whispers*]

Smeeee

[Slightly louder]

You're a Smeeee

[ Normal volume]

You're a Smeeeeee Heeeeee

[*runs away*]

[Rob McCow]

Interesting... but I think for re-booting the show there's been a bit of back-to-what-we'
re-good-at. So we've got four guys on a spaceship, having little adventures.

That said, there was more of Red Dwarf this week and it seems to me that the budgets are pretty similar to Series 3-4. The only thing that bugged me was that it was painfully obvious that there was only one 'Garby', no matter how loudly Cat shouted 'Look, there's another one!' Same goes for the dispensing machines.

There were actually a fair few effects this week, thinking back. Red Dwarf flying into the sun, Lister being pulled out of an airlock, his flight through the funnel of Red Dwarf and the whole medi-bot business - they were hardly confined to one room!

I didn't think it was as funny as last week's, but I enjoyed it. I kind of agree with Si, I'll be keen to see them get off Red Dwarf for a bit. Judging by the titles, they will be some exploration, plus Blue Midget to come!

[Dirk Gently]

"Rimmer! Sit Down!!"

Good episode that. Typical Red Dwarf time jumping story, it wouldn't be a good season without one time jump story.
Yes it was obvious that it was all set in about 4 sets but it was still good stuff.

[Dino]

"Life Of Brian" on a budget! Wasn't bad, but I am looking forward to next weeks episode.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

In case anyone's wondering I wasn't offended by last night's episode as I think they just about stayed on the right side of bad taste (although I could've happily lived without Kryten's "He hath risen" line) however as a friend has pointed out elsewhere, they wouldn't have chosen to do the story with someone called Mohammad.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Well, they do get awfully touchy those Mohammadens...

Even my mum says Kryten doesn't look like Kryten in this series, and she's hardly an avid viewer.

[Jason Thompson]

Why is the difference in Kryten's appearance a big deal? He's still very definitely Kryten, and his appearance changed far more dramatically between season 4 and 5 than it has here.

[Si Hunt]

WHAT JASON SAID.

Si.

[SiHart]

I wasn't so impressed with this week's episode. The jokes fell a bit flat for me and well it looked cheap. Hey ho.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Why is the difference in Kryten's appearance a big deal? He's still very definitely Kryten, and his appearance changed far more dramatically between season 4 and 5 than it has here.

It's not a big deal, it's just very noticeable and looks weird. And I disagree with the latter point.

[Anthony Williams]

I wasn't so impressed with this week's episode. The jokes fell a bit flat for me and well it looked cheap. Hey ho.

...wot Si said!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

There were certain aspects of "Lemons" I quite liked, particularly Howard Goodall recycling lots of classic music cues from the early series (especially the "Mister Arnold's tasks" theme from the episode Kryten) however on balance I'd rather they hadn't chosen to do an episode with such a difficult subject as its core gag.

[Dino]

Can anyone confirm that even though the end credits are longer, there are Airplane! style joke credits amongst the real ones? I think I only just noticed this on the Lemons credits. I'll look out for it this week.

[Jason Thompson]

on balance I'd rather they hadn't chosen to do an episode with such a difficult subject as its core gag.

While I certainly understand that view, and on first viewing I did wonder where they were going to go with it, I think the result was absolutely superb. I loved the central conceit that they (and the viewers) assumed that the bloke they ran into was the Jesus rather than just a Jesus, since the name was quite a common one at that time. According to this page, there were indeed about 70 of them known from around that time, and at least four mentioned in the Old Testament. Rimmer's 'church of Judas' business is not so far removed from the group that believe that Judas betrayed Jesus Christ because Jesus himself asked him to to fulfill his destiny to die for humanity, and therefore Judas sacrificed his own good name (though not his life) for Jesus: an interpretation of events that makes Judas one of the most loyal disciples rather than the slimy git he has generally come to be regarded as.

Putting it in a comedy series perhaps brought things a bit close to the line, but I also loved the idea that if the Jesus could see the future and knew what people would do in his name, he might well be horrified by it, and I really liked Lister's line about finding out that such a revered figure is still a man like him making him feel much better about himself. That struck a chord with me, though I am not religious, as I recall feeling similar to that when I have met some of my personal heroes or people I admire and found that they really are not so massively different from me after all. Obviously that's less significant than finding that out about a major religious icon, but still, it was an element that rang very true for me.

Having said all that, the bit where Lister says 'jesus' only for him to turn round and say 'yes?' would have been a laugh-out-loud gag even if it had just been a throwaway one in an otherwise unrelated episode.

The only bit that I thought was a slight mis-fire was giving the 'how old would he be?' question to the only character out of the four of them who might not be expected to be familiar with the AD dating system in the first place. With a human from whichever century he's from, a hologram of a human from the same period, a mechanoid programmed by humans from a similar time, and a creature whose species evolved on the ship in deep space and was born 3 million years after any of them, it didn't really make the Cat look as stupid as it was clearly intended to.

[Si Hunt]

I really enjoyed this weeks. It looked hugely cheap! And reminded me of an 80's Childrens ITV series like T-Bag, but that didn't seem to matter. The cast were as good as ever and I loved the story. It was incredibly dicey to tackle this subject head-on, and both Mr Williams and I felt a little uncomfortable at times, but it was sheer enjoyment for me, and I guessed the main twist as well.

Best one of the series so far!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

I too enjoyed 'Lemons'. Though it was the Shakespeare gags that made me laugh the most, mainly because it was a 'Rimmer gets annoyed at something innocent' kind of joke.

It was funny, cheaper than water and a little bit thought-provoking. Class stuff.

[SiHart]

Excellent first half, then it all fell apart in the second half. hey ho. Loved the coincidence stuff though- very well played by Danny John Jules and Robert Llewellyn.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I really enjoyed tonight's except possibly the very ending which was a little tacked on out of necessity.

I loved the line about them encountering a moon with life signs for only the second time in a decade as if to answer earlier criticisms of episode 1 suggesting that deep space is suddenly teeming with life. Also loved the referencing back to the accident that wiped out the original crew presumably suggesting that unless the events of Series VIII have been seriously retconned we have got the original hologram version of Rimmer (who left to become Ace in "Stoke me a clipper") back again!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Also loved the referencing back to the accident that wiped out the original crew presumably suggesting that unless the events of Series VIII have been seriously retconned we have got the original hologram version of Rimmer (who left to become Ace in "Stoke me a clipper") back again!

But that kind of IS a huge retcon in itself.

[SiHart]

Another good one tonight. Basically I've got the hang of this series now- it's like a new version of Season 1 with extra Kryten, isn't it?

[Si Hunt]

I'm thinking more Series 3 on a shoestring.

Si.

[SiHart]

That was why I was thinking Season 1!