New Red Dwarf Episode?

[image=http://static.dave.uktv.co.uk/site_media/images/uploaded/2009/02/25/behind1-1000x664.jpg]

Military grey... or ocean grey?

 

Just a reminder that episode 1 is on tonight on Dave (Sky channel 111) from 9-930 pm. If you miss that one it's on again from 1130 pm - 1200 am. I've got the VCR set for that one since the earlier one clashes with the Dr Who Journey's End episode on BBC3. Part 2 is tomorrow night at 9-935 pm followed by The Smeg-Ups from 935-1015 pm. Part 3 is Sunday night from 9-930 pm followed by a 'Making of' special from 930-1000 pm. Parts 1-3 and the Making of episode are all repeated from 9pm on Monday in case you miss them. Also showing tonight-Sunday are episodes from various seasons.

 

No laugh track = fail

 

you think?

 

Yup. Completely lost the atmosphere. It went from a funny show to a bunch of guys dicking around. Really didn't work.

Tonight I shall be watching Britain's got Talent instead.

 

I thought it was OK. Not my favorite episode but not that bad either. I liked the Cat's purple suit..

 

I'm surprised about the lack of posts following the televisation of the shows.
I Sky+'d the whole lot (actually Virgin+'d, but the common verb appears to be Sky+'d) and watched it back to back after this evening's episode of Lost.

I'm so glad I was expecting it to be dreadful because it was absolutely horrid. The first episode was reasonably dwarf-like, but just lacked any reasonable plot or comedy. The second episode was 30mins of total nonsense, and cheap nonsense at that. The entire concept sucked and the use of Coronation Street made me want to throw things at the TV. Last episode slightly redeemed itself by revealing "it was all a dream" but left with the terrible non-ending leaving them deep in space.

The Bladerunner plot was shocking as was the over-arching plot which was a rehash of 'Back to Reality'. The original episode was clever because it was entirely plot-based around the back story of the characters. Only thing going for this one at all was that they didn't resort to cheap pops by bringing back dwayne dibbly or ace rimmer.

So, to summarise; no plot, no jokes, no good.

 

I watched parts 2 and 3 last night, and I find myself in pretty much complete disagreement with you (no surprise there!)

I thought the concept of them being actors quite refreshing and engaging. It was the stuff on the ship I found dull. And I wonder what happened to season 9

And Carbug = teh win.

 

I taped the third part but haven't watched it yet. I thought part 2 was better than part 1 though.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed parts two and three. The Blade Runner homage worked well and they even managed to make Corrie work in context, which took me by surprise. I want a Steve McDonald/Red Dwarf spin off.

 

I've never seen Blade Runner. What was that part?

 

Part 1 was a bit meh. Needed a laughter track and less crappy CGI, more crappy sets. Thats what made Dwarf.

Part 2 was just pants. Felt like I was watching a re-hash of the league of gentlemen film.

Part 3 completely redeemed the show for me. Some good jokes and a reasonable bit of drama to boot. Loved it when Lister thought he was making stuff happen.

 

It was just too cheesy for me, partially the Corrie part - totally out of keeping for typical dwarf plots. Yes, it was different, but a total hash for what was supposed to be the swan-song of the franchise. Based on that we'll never see them together again, despite Dave getting record viewers this weekend, and I believe largest audience for a non-terrestrial channel.

Sorry, but thats grounds for instant demotion on a SW / sci-fi forum. You are genuinely missing out having not seen that movie - especially seeing as it's now out on blu-ray with 1080p visuals and uncompressed sound track (the sound track is easily the best in a sci-fi movie).

The Bladerunner references started with Cat leaving the origami (sp?) paper things all over the place of the squid (I could explain the reference further, but would give away spoilers about Bladerunner incase you watch it soon). Then ended with the entire sequence when they meet the maker (and the building he's in). It was reasonably clever to have the cat leaving the origami given his resemblence to the same character in the Bladerunner movie (sharp suits and outfits).

 

Pretty much all of it. Off the top of my head I can remember:
The giant pyramid in London
The scene in the elevator to meet their "creator"
The part with their creator
The little origami models Cat was making
The scene with the nose guy in Ep 2
Running through the streets and getting shot
The final scene with Kachanski and Lister

You really must get ahold of Blade Runner. Incredible film.

 

Seems the BBC made a good move by not deciding to have anything to do with these specials and leaving it all to Dave, that way they can't take the blame for messing it up.


And shame on you hal for not having seen one of the greatest movies ever
That's like my Film Studies teacher at A-Level never having seen The Matrix or Lord of the Rings

 

Surely it would be more apt if those two examples were replaced by something less contemporary? needless ...

The Red Dwarf stuff: I'm torn.

Part One I dug. I liked it and left me excited for the double bill I was going to leave myself for Easter Sunday.

Part 2 the second then enter 'present day Earth' I was completely underwhelemed. The thought of them being characters in a TV show I thought was generally crap and corny and the idea of the story going in that direction did not entertain me one bit ( saying that, I LOVED 'the league of Gentlemen: Apocolypse ... So I'm a wee-bit hypocritical). I thought Part two was terrible, terrible, terrible

Part Three I thought the exact same untill the last 5 minutes: and this is where I'm torn. I thought the ending and explantion very interesting. the idea that the Earth we -the audience- are familiar with was a paradox universe created by that blissful-creating squid thing. Saying this though the Earth they entered wasn't quite OUR Earth, our universe, as the landscapes of London indicated that this was a different paradoxical universe that we are used to. Hmm ...

Anyways, I loved the ending, but I think it was sorta too little too late, in a way. I wasn't entertained one bit all of part 2 and MOST of part 3. But the explanation was really good, I wish they indicated this was the case earlier because I really didn't like what I was watching for most of 'Back To Earth'.



AAbotu the laughter track lack I liked that too. I liked how the camera was freed to move around the set. I liked this new aesthetic personally.

 

I despised it.

 

I finally got around to watching part 3 and the 'Making of' show. On the whole I liked the three-parter. However it doesn't stand with my favorite episodes but it certainly wasn't the worst.

 

I thought parts 1 and 3 were by far the strongest. I don't know what the hell happened with part 2??

It was like someone removed every other line from the script for no real reason. It was a really interesting concept and could have
given us a brilliant setup for some classic jokes and set pieces but instead the crew just wondered around a bit and did nothing.

I don't want to be overly critical but I could have written a script that was 10 times funnies than that. Not a single person even
came up to them and asked for a pciture or autograph?? Why?? If I had seen the crew of the Dwarf walking down the street, I would
have done or said something? Why was this not taken advantage of in the episode? Imagine some classic insults from Rimmer towards
a geeky fan, that would have actually been funny. Seeing them just walk around wasn't.

Think they might have overdone the whole Blade Runner thing also. I mean to be inspired by something is one thing, but to just rip
it off scene for scene is pretty lazy. I mean where's the humor in seeing an exact replica of the Asian girl giant screen advert?
If I wanted to see that then i'd just watch the bloody movie. Another example of a missed opportunity for a joke. Imagine how
much funnier it would have been if she was hocking herpes medication or a suicide pill.

Never mind, I suppose any Dwarf is better than no Dwarf, and as frustrated as I was with these episodes they were probably better
than series 8 and 9. Doug Naylor just really really really needs to bring someone in with fresh ideas and a sense of humor.

 

An encounter with a the female of the despair squid is a decent idea - however the execution was convoluted and unnecessary. What plot they had could've been covered in a traditional 30 minute episode. Cut a lot of the fat, remove the godawful part two which was essentially the same journey scene repeated over and over again and simply place the crew directly into the pleasurable situation. Then the comedy will feed into drama nicely instead of what we got - an awkward relatonship between the two.

If the idea was to present the Dwarfers with a scenario that induced pleasure, then the obvious thing to do was to utilise one of the scenarios unused (on screen) from the Better Than Life novel - namely Bedford Falls.

The episodes were about Dave Lister, and he had some genuinely good scenes. The best one being between him and Kochanski. So send them to a reality where Bedford Falls exists, and where Kochanski is waiting for him. That would allow for genuine drama lasting more than one compressed scene at the end. Forget all the metaphysical and postmodern crap (characters from a TV show!), and focus on one pivotal relationship. Put them somewhere like Bedford Falls. Lister can be happy there. He's wanted. IMO that speaks far more to the Red Dwarf universe than what we got - a for-the-most-part soulless effort. It would also make the character's acceptance of their situation far more likely, and surely not stretch the budget anymore than they did.

If you really must try and use drama instead of comedy to drive the plot, then there's plenty to be mined in the place where it's always Christmas Eve. Drama does not mean four characters trunching around slowly piecing together the parts of a plot with an obvious pot belly.

Basically, once the central conceit had finally been revealed late in part three, all I could think about was how much time had been wasted getting to that point. I felt like we'd been on a route march, and our meat was a paltry army ration late in the day. When the Dwarfers finally discovered this was a place they could be happy (and this is the vital information - ignored for almost the whole show), I became engaged. Briefly, so briefly, the characters had dilemmas - and we had drama. So little of it though. So little of it.

I think a desire to be cool and clever got the better of Doug Naylor. Again. Also Doug, split the characters up occasionally; they work better in pairs. Having practically every scene involving all four makes it feel like a exercise in giving everyone a line.

If Red Dwarf ever comes back again, it has to be better than this. Better dead than smeg.

 

Basically, once the central conceit had finally been revealed late in part three, all I could think about was how much time had been wasted getting to that point.

Yee-Mahn. Exactly!

 

Whilst I enjoyed the shows and the homage to Bladerunner I thought it could have been so much better and will not likely turn out anything more than a simple 3 show trick.

The possibility of it running into a new series is very unlikely!