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Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charles

Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

"Dear Dave" actually reminded me a lot of S1/S2 Rd Dwarf. Few extra characters (and none really seen save for letters and talking vending machines), few special effects, and some weird plot machinations that mean a lot for some reason despite coming from dead people or machines you can't possibly have a real relationship with.

Still really confused with this JMC thing. Aren't they all dead? Why are they listening to them now? The Space Corps apparently figured into the first episode too. Why is deep space, 3M+ years in the future so full of people from their time?

Through S7 or so, nothing they ran into (derelicts, etc.) came from any later than the 30th century or so. I always took this to mean that humanity died out or otherwise vanished around then, and the Dwarf crew were generally picking through the leftovers without figuring out what happened...

Mark
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Still really confused with this JMC thing. Aren't they all dead? Why are they listening to them now? The Space Corps apparently figured into the first episode too. Why is deep space, 3M+ years in the future so full of people from their time?
There aren't any people. It's the ships JMC computer that they are having contact with.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Hum, I went back and you're indeed right. Perhaps this then is something that Holly would normally have taken care of, but without him now the gang has to deal with it.

Mark
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Probably the first real weak one, which considering we're near the end isn't to bad.

But because nothing much happened (though once again Cat stole the show) I wound up wondering about continuity. Which you should never do with Red Dwarf. Today I also happened to watch Better Than Life, the first episode with a mail pod reaching the ship. Which had me wondering at what point Earth stopped sending mail to this lost ship, and how one that reached the ship at least a decade after the first could have mail for Lister that must have been sent less than nine months before the accident...

And if there is still a Jupiter Mining Corporation out there that cares enough to pester Rimmer about his rank, surely they'd want their ship back? It's not as if they do any mining or anything like that. It's really strange to have Lister moaning about the loneliness of being out in space with no other humans and in complete isolation whilst Rimmer is having to deal with the bureaucracy of their original bosses.

As for the season to date as a whole... It's been fine. But I don't think there's been a single successful moment that wasn't very like something an earlier episode did better. As I said back with the first episode, it is Last of the Summer Wine for people who grew up in the '90's. Nice, safe and repetitive doing exactly what people expect it to do. Which is fine in and of itself, but not what the show used to be. Dave could quite happily have repeated old episodes in these slots and it would have been hard to tell the difference.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

I have to wonder what the responses would have been like every week had this board been around in when RD started in the 80s. Yes. The 80s. The fact that the cast look good and can still make us laugh is a fucking miracle. It also says a lot about what a risk the original commissioners took with a very young cast.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

I have to wonder what the responses would have been like every week had this board been around in when RD started in the 80s. Yes. The 80s. The fact that the cast look good and can still make us laugh is a fucking miracle. It also says a lot about what a risk the original commissioners took with a very young cast.

The response to series one was fairly mediocre at the time wasn't it? On the series two DVD easter egg (and likely elsewhere) Ed Bye and Rob'N'Doug talk about how they suspect the show only got recommissioned at all because Michael Grade wanted to give his successor an absolute stinker (likely a theory with no basis in reality, but the fact the people making the show find it plausible shows it wasn't all that well loved when it launched).
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

How many shows really bed in the first season? They got the gig for another season and the rest is history. Until they outstayed their welcome and then it all went to shit. Until recently.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

How many shows really bed in the first season? They got the gig for another season and the rest is history. Until they outstayed their welcome and then it all went to shit. Until recently.


So that still means the reaction of the internet if it had existed at the time would have been about the same as the general reaction was at the time (after all, no one watching knew it would go on to become a great show any more than they would have if they'd had the internet).

Craig Charles likes to joke that the number of people he's met over the years who have told him they were there from the start and always loved the show outstrip the first years ratings by a huge margin.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

I seem to remember watching S1 from episode 3 onwards when it was first broadcast - I didn't even know what it was until a friend told me about it...
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

The first season of Red Dwarf is still my favourite.

This season has been pretty strong, I enjoyed the most recent one.

It makes no sense for them to have gone back to the ship when they were on earth in the past, but TV rarely makes sense.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

I have to wonder what the responses would have been like every week had this board been around in when RD started in the 80s. Yes. The 80s. The fact that the cast look good and can still make us laugh is a fucking miracle. It also says a lot about what a risk the original commissioners took with a very young cast.

And in a VERY interesting note - I JUST found out this week that Janet Street Porter was one of the original commissioners of RD!!!

Weird, huh?!?!
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Not massively impressed by this week's ep, especially compared to last week's great fun, but it was OK. Rimmer watching Lister apparently humping the vending machine reminded me of the infamous Polymorph scene with Kryten, but paled a little by comparison. I wish they'd stop paraphrasing gags from the earlier seasons. It was a cute nod in the first couple of episodes, but is now starting to seem less like a homage and more like uninventiveness.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Is it possible that "Dear Dave" is the first episode that was filmed? It just felt really off: the writing, the performances, I just wasn't feeling it this week.

The only parts I liked involved Cat.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

A bit of a relative dip in quality this week, but still not too bad. Can't believe it's over on Thursday.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Is it possible that "Dear Dave" is the first episode that was filmed? It just felt really off: the writing, the performances, I just wasn't feeling it this week.

The only parts I liked involved Cat.

I've no idea of the veracity of this, but on another forum I frequent it was claimed this was, like Duct Soup, a late in the day replacement for something that proved too expensive. Next week's apparently rehashes a lot of the unused film script for similar reasons.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Seems there's been a lot of late replacement stuff. The addition if Irene last week, it should have been the ape all the way through, and a few scenes in this episode were added later. Apparently the scene with Rimmer putting his fingers through their paces was such a late addition the scene was green screen because the sets weren't up any more.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

Craig Charles likes to joke that the number of people he's met over the years who have told him they were there from the start and always loved the show outstrip the first years ratings by a huge margin.

That's probably true here in the US. I remember my roomie taping this at random off PBS and getting hooked almost immediately. Confused the heck out of a lot of people when we wore little foam H's taped to our heads while serving beer at the next convention.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

I watched the last three back to back and I have to say I'm finding the quality very lacking. I think the magic is truly gone. If another season comes to pass I would like the original writing team to be used.

Yeah, like that'll happen.
 
Re: Red Dwarf series 9 (or is it 10?) in 2012 confirmed by Craig Charl

It was ok, not terrible but made me giggle in places. Just didn't seem to go anywhere, I thought they were setting us up for something major with the toilet paper but they weren't, and I actually agree with Guy (well let's be clear here I agree with one thing Guy said) that they should have gone with him having an actual relationship with the vending machine with Kryton building her a body...obviously it'd have all gone wrong (maybe she'd run off with another vending machine called Roy) but at least it would have gone somewhere...and seriously who'd try and pick up a vending machine from the floor whilst still lying on top of it?
 
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