Red Dwarf, this weekend

[Jadzia]

Their first Great Experiment™ with longer commissions for safe popular shows was 'Allo 'Allo I think

Clearly that was a huge gamble especially as the cast were largely unknowns at the time, although it was from the writer that also gave us Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum (the previous instalments of Croft's WW2 Trilogy) and Are You Being Served, so there was still some pedigree there. Nevertheless, it did lead to good moaning throughout the rest of the 80s thereafter.

It was a different age though. Television was more about innocent family shows, and less pre-judging a show by what actors star in it. It didn't matter back then if they were unknown actors, because we didn't prejudge.

It was people like David Jason and Ronnie Barker who helped define the celebrity protagonist. Modern tv programming seems to revolve around celebrity now.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Is it the original version or the "remastered" version(s)?

The individuals have the original episodes, plus loads of extras, then series 7 and 8 have extended, series 7 also has a Remastered episode or two.
Just the shows, is what it says on the box, original episodes.
The Bodysnatcher Collection is the first 3 series, remastered with extras that weren't on the original 3 sets.

Cheers. I might check them out at some point.

I believe Asda currently have the individual sets at £7 each, and they vary but are around that price online too.

 

[tharpdevenport]

As suspected, all three episodes are up on YouTube. I'm finishing up Episode 2.

The first one was rather hard t owatch. It's obviously been too long since they've played their characters, and it doesn't look like anybody watched any of the series (writers or actors) to help recapture the feel.

Three references to Kochanski, including how she died, saying also that it happened during season 10 -- the season Naylor says he wants to make (skipping season 9). Sort of a backwards thing, since it's revealed this three part series takes place after the yet-to-be-done season 10.

I'm sure those golden oragami things Cat has been leaving everywhere will mean something later.

Almost done with Episode 2 and I haven't laughed a single time. I sort of wanted to twice, but it's just not been funny.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Their first Great Experiment™ with longer commissions for safe popular shows was 'Allo 'Allo I think

Clearly that was a huge gamble especially as the cast were largely unknowns at the time, although it was from the writer that also gave us Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum (the previous instalments of Croft's WW2 Trilogy) and Are You Being Served, so there was still some pedigree there. Nevertheless, it did lead to good moaning throughout the rest of the 80s thereafter.

It was a different age though. Television was more about innocent family shows, and less pre-judging a show by what actors star in it. It didn't matter back then if they were unknown actors, because we didn't prejudge.

It was people like David Jason and Ronnie Barker who helped define the celebrity protagonist. Modern tv programming seems to revolve around celebrity now.

Allo Allo was hardly innocent family entertainment though.

But seriously, I see your point there. Nowadays a "star" billing will try and pull in punters, but even then it's no guarantee of critical acclaim, even though success (and endless later series) follows. My Family, anyone?

The individuals have the original episodes, plus loads of extras, then series 7 and 8 have extended, series 7 also has a Remastered episode or two.
Just the shows, is what it says on the box, original episodes.
The Bodysnatcher Collection is the first 3 series, remastered with extras that weren't on the original 3 sets.

Cheers. I might check them out at some point.

I believe Asda currently have the individual sets at £7 each, and they vary but are around that price online too.

I'lkl hunt around as usual.

I'm sure those golden oragami things Cat has been leaving everywhere will mean something later.

They most certainly do. Perhaps.

 

[Jon1701]

Fucking brilliant.

You know, I thought that was top drawer from start to finish. I knew we would have a decent pay off. One or two gags didn't play as they should, but the episode really fell into place at the end.

Loved all the Blade Runner stuff.

I disagree with a lot of the comments in this thread, but hey ho. We can't all agree. It wasn't even our reality. It was an alternate reality. Not sure why people have been having such a hard time handling this. Christ, dwarf has been doing this stuff for years. Ace Rimmer?

Coronation Street was perhaps a touch over the top but Krytens yorkshire accent had me in stitches.

Bring on Season 10!

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Ahem. I believe I called the Back to Reality resolution Lots of nice homages in this one. Much, much better than part 2. Ended up basically Back to Reality meets the novel version of Better Than Life!

Back to Earth was decent overall I guess. Part 2 was the weakest but probably funnier in my opinion. Part 3 I didn't like the typewriter stuff but the rest, especially the ending, was very good indeed. I didn't see the Kochanski cameo coming at all - no wonder Norman Lovett was so bitter! That put it up a notch for me, cos I love Chole Annet's Kochanski.

It just went to show that the best way to do Red Dwarf is on Red Dwarf itself. All the best bits were in parts 1 and 3 on the ship. Bring Katerina back by all means.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Episode 3 was definitively much better and felt like an average RD episode. A sad touching ending. Still disappointed to not see Holly.

 

[Kelso]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It may not have been as good as the glory days but it was a fun romp.


I'll plan on buying the DVD. Hopefully, they'll get to make a new series.


Stupid American Question: Is the TV channel really named after Lister? *prepares to feel silly*

 

[CaptainWacky]

Craig Charles is quite a good actor.

I liked Cat singing the "I'm going to eat you little fishie" song.

 

[Terrorfex]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It may not have been as good as the glory days but it was a fun romp.


I'll plan on buying the DVD. Hopefully, they'll get to make a new series.


Stupid American Question: Is the TV channel really named after Lister? *prepares to feel silly*

Nah. It was renamed "Dave" Because that's a stereotypical name for the average British "Bloke-in-a-pub" sort of "Working-class man". Maybe like "John Doe" in the US in terms of a generic name. (Not used to identify corpses though. :P

 

[Kelso]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It may not have been as good as the glory days but it was a fun romp.


I'll plan on buying the DVD. Hopefully, they'll get to make a new series.


Stupid American Question: Is the TV channel really named after Lister? *prepares to feel silly*

Nah. It was renamed "Dave" Because that's a stereotypical name for the average British "Bloke-in-a-pub" sort of "Working-class man". Maybe like "John Doe" in the US in terms of a generic name. (Not used to identify corpses though. :P

I had previously assumed that to be the case... I just thought I'd check.


In Atlanta, we actually have a radio station called Dave FM. AFAIK, it is also not named after Lister.

 

[Bacl]

Okay, so they cut an original cast member (Norman Lovett, i.e. Holly) from the "reunion" but paid for a very term addition to the cast (Chloe, i.e. Kochanski) to join the gang and be an important part of the story?? Why???

Baloney on the budget. They had to pay for Kochanski, they had to pay all those dozens of actors in Part 2, they had to pay for sets and overused effects and the stupid car. The truth is, they could have had him if they'd wanted him, but they didn't want him.

Okay, fine. Then get Holly2 in there if they've got a beef with the actor. To have Kochanski show up at the end like that, not to mention the horrible excuse of her not-quite-dead-yet-ness, is just pathetic.

 

[firehawk12]

So, I was kind of wondering if they were going to do Despair Squid 2.0 since... well, they said a squid showed up and I guess that's the way they went. Honestly, with a lot of cutting, this might have been an okay 30 minute episode but as it stands, the only decent parts of the show were when they were on Red Dwarf.

All the Blade Runner stuff was really pointless. It was never about that kind of humor and the post Coronation Street stuff was just tedium... It wasn't funny, so other than giving Kochanski a weird haircut, I'm not sure what the point was.

The Dave meets Craig thing was kind of pointless as well. I'm not sure what they could have done to make it funny... but all that happened was that they just met each other. Gleck.

I think the problem was that they turned this into an event when it would have been much better if they were forced to produce three 20 minute standalone episodes. They would have had to cut all the clunker jokes and the self-indulgent Blade Runner stuff.

That said, if there's more... I'd probably watch it. Yay nostalgia.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It may not have been as good as the glory days but it was a fun romp.


I'll plan on buying the DVD. Hopefully, they'll get to make a new series.


Stupid American Question: Is the TV channel really named after Lister? *prepares to feel silly*

Nah. It was renamed "Dave" Because that's a stereotypical name for the average British "Bloke-in-a-pub" sort of "Working-class man". Maybe like "John Doe" in the US in terms of a generic name. (Not used to identify corpses though. :P

The US has a lot of radio stations around the country named like "Dave" with the gimmick that they play a "variety hits" format. Doug, Mike, Simon, Charlie, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_hits

I hate that they put the station identification bug at the top of the screen which seems par for the course in England from what I've seen. Then again it's probably not fair for me to complain considering how I see them but still.

 

[Guy Gardener]

so other than giving Kochanski a weird haircut, I'm not sure what the point was.

Sean Young's Hair cuts from Blade Runner you mean?

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah. I mean, other than making the reference, was there a point?

The only thing I can think of is that they were trying to use the reference to try to allude to Lister's own journey to find Kochanski and the ultimate futility of the search (since the Blade Runner character will presumably die when her life span runs out). But I just don't believe that they were thinking that hard about it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You've been submerged in too much TV made by bastards.

Sure they were thinking hard. Problem is that were thinking too hard that thye mistook clever for funny. But anyone that's seen Fightclub knows the difference between clever and funny. I would rather be clever personally.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, the ending where he leaves the hallucination was most likely meant to be dramatic so I would hope that they were trying to be clever. But it just came off as a thud more than anything else.

In the making of thing, they mention that they homage Blade Runner but they don't really explain why. If anything, they should have just ripped off Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or the went the low brow route and ripped off Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (the Dwarfers have to stop a production of Red Dwarf! Hijinks ensue!).

Oh well.

 

[Jim Steele]

The Blade Runner stuff still doesn't sit right with me at all. It's just too blatant. Coronation Street wasn't quite as cringeworthy as I thought it was going to be, so hooray for that.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse. Parts 1 & 3 were actually pretty decent, and as pointed out in the making of - Craig Charles acted his socks off.

I just can't get over how fucking terrible part 2 was though. I wish he'd have toned it down, the meta-humour stuff. If Doug had been a bit more subtle about the events of the second part (ie no DVD product placement or namedropping the TV channel ), and scaled back the sheer blatancy of the Blade Runner nonsense, it could have been so much better. He needs a wirting partner to reign him in. Someone like Rob Grant, perhaps.

Nice twist on the despair squid idea, although "Back to Reality Redux" - is that really what we've been waiting for? Ten years for the show to disappear up its own arse in a compilation of its best bits?

Aaaaanyway. At the end, it left me hoping for a new full series and that's obviously the point, so I'm anxious for more.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

The Blade Runner stuff still doesn't sit right with me at all. It's just too blatant.

At the end of part 3 the guy who's supposed to be the writer actually say's in his own words the script he wrote was based on blade runner. Of course it's blatant, it's part of the joke.