Red dwarf: The Promised Land
- Thread starter diankra
- Start date
They had talked about doing another series and I think it was announced too. I believe there is a thread on it here on BBS. Then they pulled the rug from under the fans and announced this with no mention of the next series despite the constant questioning by fans as to what this was and if we would still be getting another series. I remember the original plan was one more series followed by a stage show and then another series after that. Who knows what they will do now.
You're probably right. IDK, they've all gotten a bit long in the tooth for the characters. It's been one of my all time favorite shows, but maybe it's time to end.
MINOR SPOILERS MIGHT FOLLOW IN THIS POST
Shortly after Series XII had aired, rumors started about XIII. Naylor and others confirmed XIII would be made shortly after that. 2018 went by... then 2019... then we hear about a special...
...which was surprisingly good. The "Boys from the Dwarf" are still their sharp sardonic selves but there is still a larger sense of camaraderie and growth, which only seems natural. Everything about it does feel like proper Red Dwarf. Even if there's no huge plot sci-fi twist within a twist, but not every episode is going to be like "Cassandra", "Stasis Leak", or "The Inquisitor" either. This is more on the level of "Thanks for the Memory" where Lister is cheering Rimmer up. Just in new and surprisingly germane ways, I loved it...
SLIGHTLY LESS MINOR SPOILERS MIGHT FOLLOW
The sessions where they "brainstorm" just show how even something that sounds dumb on the surface can still be put to good use or remembered elsewhere. and that's something often forgotten, and Rimmer and Lister are perfect channels for this subplot.
SLIGHTLY LESS MINOR SPOILERS CONTINUE TO FOLLOW
The innovations with Starbug crashing and how they got Holly to save them were utterly brilliant! In grand Red Dwarf style.
MORE SLIGHTLY LESS MINOR SPOILERS STILL TO FOLLOW
The cliffhanger used probably could have been held back a minute or two, but still works.
TIRED OF REMINDERS ABOUT EVEN MORE MINOR SPOILERS THAT FOLLOW IN THIS SCRATCHING POST?
For a Cat-themed story, our Cat Danny did seem to hang around the Dwarfers more than other Cats but cats in real life aren't pack species and don't hang out with each other just because they're cats. One learns a lot in sheltering cats.
NO MORE SPOILERS
Series X and XI, to me, are still the 21st century's best outings and are better than VII, VIII, most of VI and most of I, but TPL is still above average for the 21st century era and hovers near Series IV. (II, III, V - in no order - are always the top three for me.) There are a few padded scenes, but they did put closure on a hanging plot thread with the Cat species. I wonder if XIII is still in the making, and if it will be the last. The actors are in their late-fifties or sixties (though Danny John-Jules still effortlessly dances like he's twenty! /envy) Save for Holly, who's pushing eighty but still hits it out of the park and it's always a joy to see Holly back!
THOUGH THIS MIGHT COUNT AS A TEENSY ONE, ALBEIT VISCERAL
The teal/orange puke set and color grading palette that's ubiquitous nowadays is a sheer contrast to previous years where they didn't try to be so lackadaisical with the pretentious palette and just had, oh gadzooks, a full array of colors and hues. Wouldn't it be cheaper to film in B&W if they want a faux noir look? (To be fair, to restrict hues DOES make the inclusion of CGI easier to blend in where needed... and most other contrasting color combinations (e.g. red/green, purple/yellow) could be summed up as "Oh carp it can be worse. So, NADA, NEVER, NEIN... NOOOOOOOOOOOO! give us back teal orange!")
8/10, can't wait for the blu-ray!
Not necessarily rug-pulling if not switch of plan for whatever reasons, including Danny's on that dancing show.
TPL was rather good but there was some padding, making me wonder if they had started with XIII but ran into creative roadblocks so they opted for a special to focus on instead. A special that adds in a closure, which could hint at an actual final series at one point. Which is ironic as Red Dwarf is a show that actively ditches continuity, and gets away with it because (a) it's a comedy (aka "rule of funny"), (b) it's a parody of sci-fi where the rules can be lighter (though the sci-fi concepts are far more original than a lot of pure sci-fi!, and (c) how they change things works so well it makes its own footing as a result. But if TPL is the final story ever, at least it's open-ended and fans can think up their own stories or they all continue on without the potentially overused trope of "bookend". And given how many times the show has ended on cliffhangers that could have been finales, it would be ironic the show ended on something so open-ended for good.
Indeed, the rust montage on both logo and Kryten's outfit, and puke orange palette that makes the whole ship look unintentionally rusty...
As much as I don't want it to end I would like some kind of conclusion. They find Earth, Lister gets Kochanski etc.
It's been a thing since the 80s about getting back to earth. Let's do it.
Sorry for the thread bump, but I only just saw The Promised Land. I discovered it a couple of weeks ago on the Crackle streaming site, but something about Crackle's commercials tends to overheat my poor old laptop and force a shutdown (though it might also have been because my cooling-fan platform had gotten really dusty), so I only got as far as "We found Holly's backup disk." I had to track down a copy through inter-library loan, which took two weeks to get here even though the city it came from is less than a 3-hour drive from here on I-71.
Anyway, I thought the opening was a bit slow and set up things that didn't have any payoff, like the conversation about Lister procreating. But the main story was really quite good, the best thing Doug Naylor has written solo in quite a while. It was an epic story that really put the characters through their paces, it had lots of cool action and FX, it was funny, and it was often quite heartfelt. The cat gags like the door flap and the laser pointer bit were hilarious, and it was great to see the cat-civilization business set up in season 1 finally get a payoff. Lister's talk with Rimmer about the Sun and the Moon was beautifully written and kinda brought a tear to my eye.
It was interesting how it was designed to work as a standalone as well as a continuation. I noted how the dialogue worked in a lot of recap of the characters' backstories, so the movie would be accessible to new viewers, yet it was done in a pretty organic way that didn't feel awkward to a veteran like me.
I agree with the above comments that they kind of overlooked the issue of how Cat would react to suddenly having access to a whole civilization's worth of cute lady cats. Or how it would relate to the earlier conversation about Lister procreating. (It raises the question of whether Homo sapiens and Felis sapiens would be genetically compatible, but I guess the advanced medical tech they salvaged would resolve that.)
As for how the Feral King could be Cat's older brother despite the Dwarfers having spent centuries in stasis, it's plausible if the Cat Fleet doesn't have FTL and travels at relativistic speeds, which would time-dilate them enough that they could live for centuries.
While that's generally true, I gather that farm cats tend to organize in a social structure very similar to lion prides. Which means that, really, the Feral King should've been a Feral Queen.
Anyway, I thought the opening was a bit slow and set up things that didn't have any payoff, like the conversation about Lister procreating. But the main story was really quite good, the best thing Doug Naylor has written solo in quite a while. It was an epic story that really put the characters through their paces, it had lots of cool action and FX, it was funny, and it was often quite heartfelt. The cat gags like the door flap and the laser pointer bit were hilarious, and it was great to see the cat-civilization business set up in season 1 finally get a payoff. Lister's talk with Rimmer about the Sun and the Moon was beautifully written and kinda brought a tear to my eye.
It was interesting how it was designed to work as a standalone as well as a continuation. I noted how the dialogue worked in a lot of recap of the characters' backstories, so the movie would be accessible to new viewers, yet it was done in a pretty organic way that didn't feel awkward to a veteran like me.
I agree with the above comments that they kind of overlooked the issue of how Cat would react to suddenly having access to a whole civilization's worth of cute lady cats. Or how it would relate to the earlier conversation about Lister procreating. (It raises the question of whether Homo sapiens and Felis sapiens would be genetically compatible, but I guess the advanced medical tech they salvaged would resolve that.)
As for how the Feral King could be Cat's older brother despite the Dwarfers having spent centuries in stasis, it's plausible if the Cat Fleet doesn't have FTL and travels at relativistic speeds, which would time-dilate them enough that they could live for centuries.
While that's generally true, I gather that farm cats tend to organize in a social structure very similar to lion prides. Which means that, really, the Feral King should've been a Feral Queen.
