The Return of The Return of The Return of Red Dwarf

[Si Hunt]

Didn't like tonight's episode much at all. Where was the plot? After last weeks adventures, it now feels just plain weird that the crew have regressed after all their adventures to once more thinking they are the only living people in the Universe marooned in deep space. So the Lister that once took on simulants and time-travelling androids is now back to waiting for the mail pod to arrive and getting excited over that. Both the Cat and Rimmer seem also to have returned in personality back to Series 1. It's just plain odd. Like they found a leftover script from before ten years of character development. Very poor after last weeks clever plot.

Si.

[Dino]

This has been my favourite episode of the series so far. I haven't bought the DVD.
I think it's like they are looking at each series and thinking "OK, we'll do a 3 series type episode, ok, we'll do a 4 series one."
This, as stated was first series with Kryten.
And I was wrong, there aren't any funny titles in the credits.
But if done by the BBC, would what Lister did pass the 9'0 Clock censors?
(Is it 9 O'Clock watershed or 10? Have they lowered it?)

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The watershed has always been 9 which is when Red Dwarf was always on on BBC2 although the real watershed is actually at 7 which is why EastEnders gets away with certain things which you wouldn't expect to see on Wizards vs Aliens.

Having just watched "Dear Dave" again I actually really appreciated it for what it was. A series II type "bottle" episode with some really fun character interplay. The one area this series has really succeeded is in properly re-establishing the spine of the Rimmer-Lister relationship.

I'd agree Series VIII did some good work in re-establishing what the show could be after Series VII took itself far too seriously but the resurrected crew resulted in there being too many regular characters so the original heart of the show was still a bit lost. I think the back to basics approach of focusing on the four main characters has really paid off in spades.

It's worth remembering that not everyone watching Dave in 2012 will have slavishly watched the first 8 series so I think they can afford to take the relaxed attitute to continuity which has always pervaded the show.

All that said it looks like the money saved on "Dear Dave" and a few of the other corners cut on previous episodes might be getting a bit of a pay off in next week's episode which I understand may have borrowed some ideas from one of the drafts of the aborted movie script.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Just tweeted by Doug Naylor:

#reddwarf Rimmer ages as he's there to keep Lister sane so his light bee ages him at same rate as Lister.

So there we have it.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'm not going to mention that episode 4 when Rimmer went into soft light mode he was able to pass through a solid wall without damaging his light bee.

Of course this concept didn't exist in the first couple of series when Rimmer was frequently able to pass through solid objects until it was invented during the writing of the first novel and subsequently introduced in the series IV episode "Meltdown"

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I've just had good intelligence that there are some major spoilers for tonight's series finale doing the rounds.

Please try to avoid as I'm advised that we'll enjoy the surprises a lot more if they are just that.

As I and a few others will not be able to watch live tonight can I also ask for some restraint in what those who you are at home tonight do post between now and tomorrow morning.

[Andrew Curnow]

After a very enjoyable series, a pretty disappointing finale. Hope they'll do some more though!

[Dino]

It wasn't a bad ending. Disappointed no Dibbley in this series. I used to know someone who got offended by him. And this is going to set me apart from other people, but I'm glad there was no Kochanski in this series. Always thought her pretty dull! Better when she wasn't seen and lusted after. (I'm turning more into Kryten by the day...)

[Si Hunt]

I'm really sad as I was looking forward to this and I didn't "get it" at all.

The money seemed to turn a cheap episode into a cheap one with more CGI inserts. The funny lines all seemed to be missing - I barely smiled The simulant organ stuff was all silly and desperately unfunny.

On the upside, I liked the Rimmer character development, and the plot resolution at the end. It was nice to see them in a space chase again.

I was expecting more clever plot twists and more laughs. For me this just wasn't a snappy or gag-packed script. It gives me no pleasure to say that; I was really hoping it would be brill.

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I agree with a lot of what Si said as there was a feeling that they'd used up their gag quota in "Dear Dave".

There was definitely a sense that this episode had the proposed plot of the unmade movie reduxed as a 30 minute episode and based on the evidence I'm slightly relieved we never got the movie version (although presumably that would have had more sets and a bigger budget).

That said there were lots of aspects I liked but we were almost back in the "Back to Earth" territory of making good use of characters and settings but not being very funny in doing so.

Also having had certain people on twitter tease with the promise of a mention of the unresolved series VIII cliffhanger it was rather rude to dangle that in our faces twice without telling us what actually happened.

Oh and I liked Hoguey the Roguey - apparently Richard O'Callaghan (who also appeared as The Creator in Back To Earth) was due to have played Hoguey in the movie if it had been made.
I once saw him on stage alongside David Suchet and Michael Jayston in which he played the (possibly) murdered Pope John Paul I. Brilliant actor.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Almost forgot to mention... I also enjoyed the Rimmer stuff but I'm feeling slightly ambivalent that someone else got to play the character I used to imagine myself playing when I was a teenager.

[Si Hunt]

Neither of us got the gag where they kept teasing Rimmers adventure!! And I only saw that episode last month! Am I dumb or what? But did they mention the mirror Universe? I didn't connect "nanos" with that series as it made me think of series 6.

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Well the Nanos themselved only actually "appeared" in the series VII episode Nanarchy.
Did the Nanos actually get a mention I only got the dual referencing to the corrosive Microbiomolecular virus?

I wonder if I'd have got that first time if the script editor hadn't dropped a heavy handed hint about it on twitter last week (apparently he suggested making a passing reference which Naylor expanded upon and wrote in the repeat at the end).

[Si Hunt]

Maybe it was us, but we just didn't connect with it. A shame, as it would have been a good gag if done properly. It all misfired a bit. Presumably we were meant to find it amusing when the hairy bogart at the beginning roamed in and they all ignored him, but again it felt like a joke I was missing, largely because this series (in its schizophrenic flits between wanting to be Series 4 and Series 1) can't quite decide weather they are alone in the Universe or in one teaming with life. Last week they were reflecting on how alone they were, this week was all space chases. And the frequent mentions of Kochanski made me wonder if she'd turn up at the end, but it wasn't even mentioned.

Si.

[SiHart]

Well, if that was the plot of the film it wouldn't have been worth the wait.

Sorry, but that was by far the weakest episode of the series. High concept and clever it may have been, but it wasn't actually funny. At least to some extent the rest of the season has been- but they forgot it all here. It's a shame because I have actually enjoyed this series a great deal, but I just found the last episode disappointing. It's also a shame that they clearly saved the CGI budget for this episode too. Hey ho.

But that said I've enjoyed the series, I've laughed at it a lot here and despite my huge reservations about the resurrection of the show, I am glad they did.

[Si Hunt]

I think maybe it was a mistake to try and hark back to previous glory days, always they should try and push the envelope and try something new. Even if the theme of the series was, say, getting marooned on a planet or something. You shouldn't try and pretend that previous character development since Series 1 never happened.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I enjoyed last nights episode, but it was more smiles than laughs here.
I liked the Rimmer development but really there wasn't anything to rip your sides open, which frankly I was expecting.

I can't think of one memorable or quote-able scene in the whole series.
No "What is it?" or "Smeeee Heeeee". Shame really, I was hoping they'd saved all the good jokes for the last episode, not use them all up (what there was of them) early on & have nothing left.
Still enjoyable but that's probably only because I'm a fan of the show.

[Si Hunt]

Who directed this? Some of the jokes were lost due to poor handling. The "How can we tell what's outside/look out the window?" Kryten gag could have been a winner, but the delivery and editing was laboured and it fell flat.

Edited to add: Naylor directed. Hmmm. Couldn't afford Ed Bye!

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I think that whole Hoguey thing made me realise what's been wrong with this series for me. I know it's meant to be a comedy, but never, ever before would something like a gun-wielding simulant/robot turning up and threateing to kill Lister been treated in such an offhand manner. Were they that blase about the simulant on Justice World, or the Inquisitor or even Hudzen 10? It's one thing making a joke about it happening all the time, but it's a bit much to have Kryten just absently directing him to Lister's quarters and then Lister not even caring when he got there. This whole series has been a bit like that, with the casual reintroduction and then immediate death of Rimmer's brother and him not caring, then the scientist woman (the only other living human in the entire universe) tripping into an airlock and being blasted into space and the only concern being the health and safety forms that need to be filled in. It's just descended into an utter parody of itself where the characters almost seem to know they're in a comedy show where nothing serious is ever going to happen to them.

And all the stuff where they keep having their crew status revoked and having to pass interviews and balance supply budgets with the medical board.... since when was that ever a concern for the last survivors of an accident 3 million years out into space? The only similar incidents were when Queeg made them work for their food, and Rimmer only gave them a single-berth quarantine suite because the Cat and Kryten weren't official crue members - but they were the result of a huge practical joke and Rimmer getting his revenge. This series it seems to have been happening all the time and everyone's treating it as normal and sane.

It's had some good enjoyable moments and jokes, but it's basically been Red Dwarf's version of The Curse of Fatal Death - all the right boxes ticked in terms of continuity and character traits, but devoid of any real substance.

[Dirk Gently]

I believe that the whole of Red Dwarf X can be seen back to back from 9pm this Saturday on Dave.

[Philipnet]

I've slowly been working my way through the series - I'm not quite at the end yet.

When I got to Entangled there was something weird with it and it felt wrong and out of place.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Edited to add: Naylor directed. Hmmm. Couldn't afford Ed Bye!

Naylor also directed Back to Earth. It is a little concerning for the future that he's reached the stage where he sees himself as the only person who knows how to make RD. Much as I enjoyed them one can't help wonder how much better both B2E and RDX might have been if they'd had someone like Andy De Emmony (director of series VI) at the helm.

[Rob McCow]

Wow! What a fabulous series. I loved the finale, that was great fun! And the shock revelation about Rimmer's parentage... superb stuff.

I quite enjoyed the Dear Dave episode too, but the highlight was Cat's search for loo paper. Puerile but funny!

Here's to another series of Old Git Dwarf!

[Dino]

Fast forward to 2.02 to see... the American version of Red Dwarf!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsMn6...&feature=share

What's wrong with this picture?...

[Dirk Gently]

Are they making an animated Red Dwarf?