Red Dwarf

[QualityChimp]

Personally, I disagree.
I think it's the characters AND the setting working in tandem that elevates it.
Sometimes there are less-spacey episodes like the one on the ice planet where Lister burns his guitar, but usually they take a sci-fi concept and look at it through the Red Dwarf lens.

[Asura]

Personally, I disagree.
I think it's the characters AND the setting working in tandem that elevates it.
Sometimes there are less-spacey episodes like the one on the ice planet where Lister burns his guitar, but usually they take a sci-fi concept and look at it through the Red Dwarf lens.

I agree with you; I guess what I was saying in a roundabout way was that the strongest episodes are the ones which weave the two things together, and Future Echoes is a good example.

[QualityChimp]

Cool, cool.

Not arguing (on the internet!) with you, I just felt you did the show a disservice by saying you could transplant those characters elsewhere, when I think if Hawkeye and Radar started doing everything backwards, or did a body swap, or entered a VR Wild West or played pool with planets, the audience would be confused.

With Red Dwarf, the audience accept there's going to be sci-fi elements, but it doesn't spend time over-explaining why there's a heroic Rimmer, it just gets on with the laughs using those elements.

Either way, it's a great show and you've reminded me that I need to catch up with this as I've missed the last couple of series.
I was even rewatching the show for a while, but stopped at the prison series as it wasn't on whatever platform I was streaming it on.
Probably lost motivation too as I kind of liked the isolation of the earlier series, including the melancholy version of the theme tune.

Side note: anyone else laugh when they finally saw the extended cut of Aliens and saw the Captain appear on LV-426?

[Dogg Thang]

Probably lost motivation too as I kind of liked the isolation of the earlier series, including the melancholy version of the theme tune.

Yep, on a recent rewatch, I really gained a new appreciation for the first season, which is so small and so contained. It's a testament to the strength of the characters because it's largely based on Rimmer and Lister having a go at each other with Cat and Holly dropped into the mix now and again. Really tight and very funny. I do love the bigger sci-fi eps from season 3 on but that first season is full of brilliant moments.

[QualityChimp]

I have a really vivid memory of being at junior school, getting changed after swimming and two of the other boys talking about this new show with a talking cat.

When you think that series VIII came out in '99 around the time I was finishing university, your tastes are going to have changed a bit, but there's something in those earlier episodes with the ominous music that felt like the right mix of nihilism and laughs.
Even those opening shots of an astronaut painting white, then panning out to show the scale of the sign, the ship and space itself feels really isolating.

Even the poorer episodes have a familiar feel and the reboot of the show via Dave felt like spending time with mates you've not seen for a while, but they're still the same mates.

[QualityChimp]

If anyone else wants a rewatch, I've just had a look and S1-8 are on Netflix, BritBox and NowTv.

9 onwards looks like they're on demand via UKTV play.

[Neon Ignition]

Confidence and Paranoia
"You're lips have touched this, the king's kissing lips!"
I forgot how long this episode leaves things for both of the above characters to appear and just how small a role Paranoia has in it. It's probably for the best though as while the joke lands they're both pretty straight forward guest characters and it's nice that both are effectively taken out in a way that befits their nature, Paranoia via a scenario that he should ahve been paranoid about happening and Confidence via having too much of it.

Me2
"If you put Napoleon in quarters with Lister, he'd still be in Corsica peeling spuds"
Considering this is still the first series, this ep plays well because it is an early sign that Rimmer has some development over the six episodes in showing how his copy is just that bit more hard edged and brutal by comparison. Barrie plays the interactions between his two takes really well, the effect working well despite the over three decades old time that has passed since it was made.

Kryten
"Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dogs milk" "Why?" "No bugger would drink it"
The small details are nice, the attempt to make the bunks look more lived in now that some time is supposed to have passed. As much as I appreciate how loaded with quotable lines this episode is I've never been that warm to this version of Kryten, by any metric I'm glad they decided to retool him later on to something a little more clueless at first than overly wimpering even if a lot of those characteristics still last for a while. This isn't high on concept but it's a strong ep that gives all of the crew a lot to shine with.

[QualityChimp]

It's funny talking about LOST and me being angry at all the dropped ideas, then Red Dwarf, which has loads of dropped ideas that, as DT says, they just skip over in the opening space scroll or never mention again, but that's perfectly acceptable!

[Asura]

Kryten
"Lasts longer than any other type of milk, dogs milk" "Why?" "No bugger would drink it"
The small details are nice, the attempt to make the bunks look more lived in now that some time is supposed to have passed. As much as I appreciate how loaded with quotable lines this episode is I've never been that warm to this version of Kryten, by any metric I'm glad they decided to retool him later on to something a little more clueless at first than overly wimpering even if a lot of those characteristics still last for a while. This isn't high on concept but it's a strong ep that gives all of the crew a lot to shine with.

I can't remember, do they explain in the show why Kryten's ship, the Nova-5, is there? What its mission was?

In the book, I remember this was one of the funnier gags.

IIRC, they were part of a fleet that was going to set off hundreds of supernovas to spell out the Coca-Cola logo in the night sky as seen from Earth. The bit I remember which cracked me up was along the lines of "someone asked the CEO of Coke whether or not they could justify such wanton destruction, even of stars with no planets, just for the sake of a billboard ad - but the CEO just replied 'yeah, maybe, but come nightfall on the first of November, no ****er's gonna be drinking Pepsi'".

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, you're right. I hadn't put the two together, but Nova 5 in the book was part of the Coca-Cola fleet, but the show doesn't mention it:

https://reddwarf.fandom.com/wiki/Nova_5#Novels

It is a great gag and I've always remembered the "Pepsi would be *buried*" line after hearing Chris Barrie narrate the novels.

In fact I thought about the joke just this week after hearing certain headlines:

->Open Spoiler<-

Did Jeff Bezos Step Down at Amazon to Focus on a Space Empire?

In other Dwarf news, I watched the first episode at lunch and, apart from the odd lewd comment ("I'll never again interfere with a woman sexually") I might be able to watch it with my son!

[CMcK]

Are the streaming versions remastered at all? I have a lot of RD on DVD but some of those BBC DVDs are pretty ropey picture wise. I was watching Curse of Fenric the other night on DVD and the image is very soft.

[cutmymilk]

They would be the same as the Blu Ray versions, so better yeah.

[Neon Ignition]

After 34 years Red Dwarf hits a road block:

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2021/02/04/47778/legal_row_puts_future_of_red_dwarf_at_risk

Doug Naylor and Rob Grant have entered a legal battle over the rights to the show after Naylor was removed from Grant Naylor Productions board early last year with the company claiming ownership of all rights to the show and brand. Naylor says that he has been in discussions with UKTV to produce Red Dwarf XIV and Red Dwarf XV both as extended specials as was done with The Promised Land in 2020 however the talks ended once uncertainty over rights ownership began, Naylor says he wants the rights back so he can resume making the show he's steered alone for the last two decades.

https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/02/16/red-dwarf-trapped-in-limbo-amidst-legal-battle-between-series-creators/

However, at the recent Red Dwarf virtual annual convention Doug Naylor failed to attend but Rob Grant did alongside Paul Jackson saying that they intended for Red Dwarf to continue and for Doug Naylor to remain involved. Jackson suggested that a contract has already been agreed for Red Dwarf XIV in some form late last year though he won't confirm if it's still a special or now a series again and that Doug Naylor is in that contract as a key component.


Pure speculation but I do wonder if given the show continues to be a popular hit for Dave that the production company, Grant etc all want back in and to resume more control over the brand and Naylor is feeling understandably annoyed that they walked away from him 20 years ago and now have expected to wade back in when it suits them after he's spent so much time and energy keeping it going. It'd be a shame if they couldn't work it out as in theory the idea of Grant and Naylor making it together again should be a win.

[Dogg Thang]

That’s interesting. Yeah, it reads like either the end of Red Dwarf or the start of a new better Red Dwarf with Grant and Naylor together again.

[eastyy]

Always wondered what happened with Rob walking out all those years ago, i found it a bit weird that recently saw Rob more involved with Red dwarf with video streams etc.

Would be nice to see them two write together (cannot remember who said it but two writers who work well together make for a writer that is better than both of them).

I reckon Doug would win based on the things known in public as far as i know Rob was not really doing much with the company at all