British Comedy Guide

Red Dwarf - Back To Earth Page 2

I enjoyed it but it was a little lacking but I hope part 2 and 3 are better. It was strange not having a laughter track but I did chuckle at the scene with the Tentacle creature and Rimmer listening to the music while the other three were struggling.

It was beautifully filmed with the Red One and CGI has come a long way since RD ended in 1999 but the monster and sets did look fake.

I think Katerina will play a bigger role in the coming episodes, it would be strange to have a known comedy actress like Sophie Winkleman and only use her briefly.

I can now breath a sigh of relief... they haven't ruined it. It definitely needed a live audience as others have said, but it was definitely still an entertaining half-hour.

As Jonwo says, it looked absolutely amazing. Really beautiful (and not just because Sophie Winkleman was on screen ;)).

Well, I missed the first couple of minutes, which apparently was just a caption saying "Nine years later...". A shame they didn't conclude the cliffhanger of series 8, but then Red Dwarf wasn't always about continuity. After all, series 3 began with that Star Wars scroll, and that worked.

First and foremost, I think it all looks stunning, including the CGI. Even the bits with the squid attacking the crew seemed fine, although it bordered on the sort of knockabout humour from series 7. But the cut to Rimmer listening to Ray Conniff helped make it that much less plastic-y. I think the HD release will make it even better.

The cast all look great too. The worst off, I thought at first, was Rimmer, not just because of his potentially receding hairline, but because of the new hardlight suit he was wearing, which looks like a set of pyjamas my grandad would wear. I much prefer his beefier hardlight costume from series 6 and 7, including the black trousers. The others all looked like they hadn't aged at all. Lister seemed just as Lister-y as ever, as did Cat, and while it was odd to see Kryten in a sombrero and Hawaiian shirt, his revert to form dispelled that image immediately. Sophie Winkleman seems to fit in well - she could make a good semi-recurring character if ever a full series was made.

The "no laughter" thing is a tough one for me. I did enjoy bits of it without the audience laughter, funnily enough, like the aforementioned Rimmer dance, but you could tell that bits of the episode needed it. From what I gather, they didn't use an audience because what with the internet, the entire episode would've been spoiled immediately. Fair enough, although they could've tried it with a "silence" contract, much like they did for the final episode of Seinfeld. It might not be guaranteed to work, but at least it's better than not trying.

Kochanski dead - a good idea, with no offence meant to either Clare Grogan or Chloe Annett, because the character could easily come back as a flashback or hologram or polymorph or something. It helps to re-establish the dream of Lister's to find his long-lost love, and his eternal loneliness as the last human, aside from a hologram, an evolved feline and a mechanoid.

No Holly - again, a difficult decision, one which Norman Lovett dislikes intensely, although Hattie Hayridge has said nothing on the subject. In series 5 and 6, Kryten took on much of Holly's role, so arguably it didn't matter, and in series 8, Holly only cropped up occasionally anyway, so a bit of a waste for the character. However, I can't shake the niggling feeling that if you were going to return to the series after 11 years with a near-full reunion, why not try making it a full one? After all, the Skutters appeared again. In fact, the only "full" reunion was in the Children in Need sketch between series 7 and 8. So a shame, but it didn't destroy the episode by any means.

Nor did the writing. Again, it would be nice to have Rob Grant back, who didn't want "Red Dwarf on his gravestone", hence his leaving after series 6. It's something some fans can pine for, but I'm content to have new Dwarf, and Doug Naylor does a sterling job, both as writer and director.

So mixed feelings, but I'm leaning towards the positive, especially if we get a Red Dwarf IX or X out of it, and if parts 2 and 3 are better than the first one, as this website's review said. One thing I will say about that - I think it would've indeed benefited more from being an hour-long episode (not 90 minutes, unless you're counting advert breaks - each part is about 20 minutes). That way, no one part would suffer at the expense of another. Hopefully, if the BBC are willing, they will show it all in one go on BBC2 at some point.

Anyway, it's back isn't it?

The smeg it is!

I really didn't think much of it. It looks great but there were very few laughs and the characterization was dire imo. Lister, for example, smiling at the thought that he and Cat were about to die. Then being angry with Rimmer.

It must improve though.

Have we all got our sitcom 'beer goggles' on or something?

Let's face facts: if this was a new sitcom, it would now be getting bashed worse than 'Coming of age' did!

I think we know who was the John Lennon of the Grant/Naylor writing partnership.

Don't presume that your opinion counts for everyone else's! (And don't mistake your opinion for 'facts'.)

Some people are going to think it was awful, but some genuinely enjoyed it.

Without beer goggles, or goggles of any sort.

(In fact, I liked it so much I'm watching the repeat right now) :)

To be on the geeky side, The Red One camera is amazing and is it Ultra High Defintion and the quality is very similar to a film camera and you can edit on site. It is used by a lot of film makers and television shows such as Jumper, Knowing, Angels and Demons, ER and now Red Dwarf.

Quote: Nick @ April 10 2009, 11:17 PM BST

I really didn't think much of it. It looks great but there were very few laughs and the characterization was dire imo. Lister, for example, smiling at the thought that he and Cat were about to die. Then being angry with Rimmer.

It must improve though.

Rimmer reading a car magazine!? I keep saying it but surely it'd be a Hammond Organ or Lamp post monthly! :P

Quote: Gluben @ April 10 2009, 11:14 PM BST

Again, it would be nice to have Rob Grant back, who didn't want "Red Dwarf on his gravestone", hence his leaving after series 6.

That baffles me, why wouldn't he want to be known for creating and writing one of the most popular sitcoms of the last twenty years?! He's a comedy writer, shouldn't that be goal achieved? And if it was just because he wanted to create other memorable shows to stand shoulder to shoulder with it, well; he hasn't. I'm surprised he wouldn't come back on board, after all this time, for these specials; it's like he's embarressed for creating a show people loved.

And some bright spark will probably put it on his gravestone.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 10 2009, 11:34 PM BST

I'm surprised he wouldn't come back on board, after all this time, for these specials; it's like he's embarressed for creating a show people loved.

Some people just want to move on.

Chris Barrie is not Rimmer anymore; it is not just a case of being old and fat, his facial expressions, the way he moves, none of it is properly Rimmeresque.

I thought he was very Rimmer, actually! Still a smeghead, anyway.

Okay.

First of all can I just apologize for my over-the-top rant in the other thread. Reading it back, I went too far. Especially calling the person who decided to do away with the laugh track a clueless moron. Not nice. Bad toad. So again, sorry.
That doesn't alter the fact that IMO this would have been ten times better WITH a laugh track of course, but there you go. There is no laugh track. It's odd, it's wrong, it's uncomfortable - but there it is. Or isn't.

Secondly I want to say how amazing it all looked. I mean, REALLY amazing. Loving the whole look, and that's coming from a Red Dwarf retro-purist who always said half the humour came from the dodgy rubber monsters. But this looks fantastic.

Performance-wise, I thought the cast did a great job considering they're stepping back into very old spaceboots, plus there was no audience to feed off, which makes it all the more impressive. Okay, Rimmer seemed ever-so-slightly-off, as did Listy - but this is 9 years later. People change.
The comments about how they look different are a bit silly. Of course they look different, they're all in their forties FFS. (By the way, I defy anyone to look as good as Danny John-Jules does in that skintight sparkly wetsuit at age 49! Christ, the guy has NO fat at all!)

Humourwise - not so great. I think most would agree this opening episode was largely LOL-free. There were certainly amusing parts - I sniggered at a few bits - there were a few classic Dwarfian moments, like when Lister had his contorted squashed face pressed up against the glass of the diving bell as an oblivious Rimmer conducted his dweeby music. But on the whole it felt frustratingly light on laughs to me.

But this Red Dwarf is a very different beast to the one I know and love. And I'm trying to love it, I really am. It may win me over yet. I'm hoping so. One thing though, the ending of episode 2 had better not suck quite so much as this one. It felt like some mad f**king lumberjack had lurched into the edit suite and swung his axe halfway through a scene. That's why everyone's saying the episode felt short.

So...ummm...yeah. Let's see.

Quote: Flaner @ April 10 2009, 11:18 PM BST

I think we know who was the John Lennon of the Grant/Naylor writing partnership.

Then Naylor must have been the Paul.
Equally talented, just as good & kept on trying.

I wanted Back to earth to be good, so I made sure I enjoyed it.
The Cat & Rimmer provided most of the best bits for me.
It seemed to finish too quickly but I suppose that's a result of two parts becoming three.

I'll enjoy these more second time around when I'm not so worried about how they'll turn out.
I even enjoyed the repeat of Tikka to ride, and I was extremely disappointed by that episode when I first saw it
(maybe it's a laughter track thing).

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