The cult sci-fi comedy gets a disappointing comeback on British TV after more than 10 years with a subpar story that bares resemblance to League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
After years of development hell Red Dwarf has finally been given another outing, this time a three-part serial as part of popular digital channel Dave’s commitment to air original shows rather than repeats of Top Gear. The result is a complex and almost laughter free hour and a half of television.
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse lite
The plot centres on the Red Dwarf team constructing a machine that will allow them to return to Earth. But as ever on Red Dwarf not everything goes to plan and they end up punching through to a new reality, this time the modern day “real world” where they are fictional characters from a TV show. Once the better second part rolls into action everything turns a little League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, where the boys try to track down their creator before they cease to exist.
Like The League of Gentlemen film Back to Earth was a disappointment as the laugh count was very low and the forth wall demolishing story has already been done to death. It suffered from the curse of being style over substance with an added sheen and swish camera angles. The aesthetics were good and the visuals were more like a feature film, but Red Dwarf is much more pleasing and funnier with clunky models and cheap sets.
Kochanski is Gone and a New Hologram Threatens Rimmer with Deletion
The changes to the set up are bittersweet as it’s gone back to basics with a skeleton cast of four meaning Chloë Annett’s Kochanski is gone (yay!) but unfortunately deadpan computer Holly is no more. Sophie Winkleman (Big Suze in Peep Show) was crow barred in as a pouting new hologram with a stereotypical broken Russian accent. Her arrival as a more senior crew member served only to threaten Rimmer (Chris Barrie) with deletion but had nothing more to do than simply sit around looking beautiful.
In the hiatus writer/director Doug Naylor has clearly been watching the earlier series of Red Dwarf as the ship looked more like it did in series I and II and old character traits were used again – such as Lister (Craig Charles) ironing with his own spit or The Cat’s (Danny John-Jules) over-the-top yelling. The squid sequence was even lifted straight from series V’s Back To Reality with the wit and humour left behind. and the Blade Runner references went past the point of homage and into rip-off territory.
Back to Earth not as bad as Series VIII due to Chris Barrie
This was to be expected somewhat as following the departure of co-creator Rob Grant after series VI the show did take a huge nose dive in quality as Naylor remained as the creative head. The shift in series VII to a show bordering on a drama with flashy special effects was a huge faux pas as was the over compensation in series VIII by going too far in the other direction with silly storylines.
On the plus side Back to Earth wasn’t as bad as the last series - it would take a lot of effort to make it that dreadful - but it was three million years away from the show at its peak. Still it's nice to see Chris Barrie on TV doing comedy again as the “neurotic” Rimmer, especially his hilarious attempt at a northern accent in part three. He is such a criminally underused actor who hasn’t been given the chance to do much lately except star in the rubbish Tomb Raider films.
No Laughter Track or just No Laughter?
It’s hard to tell if these new episodes lacked the standard laughter track because of the naturalistic approach adopted by modern sitcoms or if it was a sign that there simply weren’t that many funny moments to justify using it.
There were few laughs throughout and that was the problem, with Red Dwarf you should get more than a couple of titters in an hour and a half and the fans should at least be able to quote some of the lines. It needs more than references to banks collapsing, mentioning the Dave channel or bounding through Coronation Street in a daft car.
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is out on DVD on June 15 and will no doubt be repeated on Dave ad nauseum.
The copyright of the article TV Review – Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (Dave) in British TV is owned by Steven Cookson. Permission to republish TV Review – Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (Dave) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I assumed that there was an audience, and they laughed at all zero good
jokes. It was well-acted and the special effects were pretty good, but the
script was a hash of repetitions, bad homages and constant
self-advertising. Clearly Rob Grant was the talented one all along.
Apr 14, 2009 3:00 AM
Guest :
I was disappointed as I'd always said that the series without Chris Barrie
was uneven at best.
As you say it was great to see Chris Barrie
back on TV, although his Rimmer was a little out of character - too much
me, me , me.
However, the lack of really fresh ideas, or good
jokes, does seem to suggest that Red Dwarf needs the talents of Naylor and
Grant, together.
Apr 14, 2009 3:48 AM
Guest :
I have to agree with a few others, there was almost NO laughs at all i
think i tittered a few times at little bits but all in all i dont think i
could have been more dissapointed! :(
Apr 14, 2009 6:43 AM
Guest :
"Lister to Red Dwarf... We have in our midst a complete
smegpot...brains in the anal region..." Am I the only one who
quite enjoyed it? Kryten's "Get your kecks on lads, we're sorted"
or the Cat's "it was this big...no...this big..." lines had me in
stitches. A lot of the humour was subtle (the Cat's resigned look after his
suggestion of the female squid's distinguishing features is refuted by
Kryten, for example) and the lack of a laugh track meant some people just
wouldn't even notice. It's not Doug Naylor's fault some people need humour
signposted in neon letters...or just don't have a sense of humour. The
resolution, basically that our reality is simply a consequence of the
Dwarfers' group hallucination, is especially clever, in the vein of classic
RD.... and that had nothing to do with League of bloody Gentlemen. It's a daft bit of escapism and your mind-meltingly dull analysis
indicates you were expecting something else. Bizet's Carmen, perhaps? A RSC
production of The Taming of the Shrew? Smeghead.
Apr 14, 2009 5:56 PM
Guest :
what a complete let down. looks like someone took a few pages out of the
old star wars book. take ten or so years off and then come out with a huge
steamy pile of dog poo.
Apr 15, 2009 8:41 PM
Guest :
First off, I love red dwarf. Series 1-6, however, were the point (for me
anyway) the series hit its mark (7 & 8 seemed too glossy, too overdone.
even the way it was filmed put me off) "Back to earth" continued
that unfortunately. Part 1 felt flat and lifeless and the female hologram
idea was superfluous at best. Part 2...I absolutely hated the shameless
plug for the dvds (which I own) and the "ad" for the
"BTE" dvd set. The whole episode was wasted, and, to some degree,
took the p**s out of the faithful fans. Part 3, HYPE! wasted ideas, a
ridiculous rejigging of blade runner, and a sour footnote of a big F U to
the longterm fans. I did however love the "CARBUG"!. As I stated,
I think it all went pear shaped around series 7 and 8, or at least when
Grant/Naylor became just Naylor. The original fun of dwarf was the fact
that it did seem so slapdash and a bit rough, and rather charming (and
funny!) for it. Put it this way...BTE was no "Gunmen of the
apocalypse", "Polymorph", "Meltdown", I could go
on. I realise its new, but it left me cold. I won't be buying the dvds. It
was just a cheap cashin on a great scifi comedy. Red Dwarf RIP. Two last
things: 1. Anyone notice they put classic dwarf episodes on directly
after BTE? To wash the taste away maybe? 2. The storyline was
irrelevant to series 8 last episode.
BTW Glad Kochanski was
dead, I hated that character anyway, particularly Chloe Annetts
portrayal.
To Naylor...leave well alone...
A
disappointed Dwarfer
Apr 16, 2009 4:32 AM
Guest :
I still can't believe they copied the league of gentlemen's film. They
didn't just steal one or two jokes, they actually took the whole storyline
of the film.
It had a quite clever end I guess where we become
the fictional characters, and not them; but Red Dwarf shouldn't be about
being clever, it should be about funny one-liners and interesting
storylines.
Apr 17, 2009 6:02 AM
Guest :
As a person who had only watched about two or three red dwarf episodes
before, I knew it was funny, so decided to tune in to Dave. And I loved
Back to Earth. Yes, after watching Quarantine etc. after the first episode,
I knew it wasn't as good as the original, but I think that most of the
people that didn't like it are too hooked on the past. Now I really hope
they make more Red Dwarf - no one's forcing you guys to watch it!
May 3, 2009 4:47 AM
Guest :
the only thing I can hope is that if they make more red dwarf, they get a
little less... jumpey about the idea... it seemed to me as if they were
concerned about the project not having enough mileage to be supported by
fans (which I can understand) so tried to "update" it with modern
cultural references which were never part of the original, the fact these
aren't in the original is that we have a series which essentially has awful
special effects, dodgy but loveable storylines, relying on a killer script,
still so current as there isn't anything in it to date it, no references to
current events which, in my opinion, often ruins comedy programming, leave
that stuff to mock the week... they are better at it.
Overall
it felt to me like the US pilot that was filmed (extras disc season V)
which was a painful rehash of the amazing first episode with all UK
references converted to US... (I think any mention of Liverpool was just
changed to Chicago... something like that)
I have to admit I
couldn't even watch the 3rd installment, my expectations were low, but
optimistic, i.e. I was expecting something bad, but had a glimmering hope
that it could be something fantastic. Overall I just felt cheated, felt
that the series had been sold out, lack of laughter track might seem
insignificant to some people but it was integral to the series originally,
I think (like Dr Who) it may be a healthier approach to consider this a
different TV show to the original.
The characters felt a
little wooden to start with, but picked up. I think I was just
disappointed that a show that could've been relied on in it's heyday to
some up with an original storyline had to rehash a) Bladerunner, b) League
of Gentlemen and c) itself!!! in order to come up with a palatable concept.
Doug, seriously before writing another one, get some proper
fans together, along with some people who have never seen it, and get them
all to help with the writing process, then you'll end up with something we
love, which is saleable to those of us unfortunate enough to not have a
love for the original.
I realise there is no structure to this
comment, apologies...
Ewan
Jul 3, 2009 2:14 PM
Guest :
I was introduced to Red Dwarf this year; I'm not from the UK so I had
rather missed out on this cult classic. I agree that there were faults
with BTE, but also think that as the three episodes progressed it flowed
better and I found myself laughing more. It's not quite there, and for
diehard fans of the original shows I doubt it ever will be, but for a new
wave of fandom it could work well. If Rob Grant doesn't ever want to
rejoin the writing team it might be an idea to get someone else, or even a
team. It may be that Doug Naylor just needs someone to bounce his ideas
off to weed out the unnecessary plot flotsam and to add some fresh ideas.
All in all it was not a paragon of modern day wit, but if I’m honest I
didn’t expect it to be. As far light hearted Sci-Fi comedy goes I quite
enjoyed it. I'd certainly give a new series a chance.
Apr 12, 2009
