At the time of writing this the brand new series of Red
Dwarf is a few hours away from its premiere episode. I will be watching the new
series, but I have very mixed feelings about what to expect. The reasons for
these feelings I will attempt to validate here.
I first discovered Red Dwarf during the mid 90s, during what
I think was a repeated showing of series six. I would have been only six or
seven years old at the time but I really enjoyed the episodes I saw, I can
clearly remember the episodes Gunmen of
the Apocalypse, Emohawk: Polymorph II,
and the series finale Out of Time
although there may have been others. These are some of the best episodes from
the entire series, so I feel that my introduction to the show allowed me to see
it at its best. Series six has always been my favourite series, not just
because it was the first one I saw, but because I believe that it showcases
everything about the show to its fullest potential – the storylines, the sci-fi
elements, the comedy – but most importantly because the dynamic between the
four main cast members was never better than it was during this series.
Then a while later I was very excited to learn about the
prospect of a new series (Series VII) which would be coming soon. I watched the
first episode with great anticipation, and was rather underwhelmed. Everything looked
different, owing to the increase in budget, the cast were all noticeably starting
to show signs of ageing, and the episode itself (Tikka To Ride) wasn’t all that funny. The storyline was very dark,
revolving around the Kennedy assassination, which isn’t a great premise for a
comedy show. The only line I remember laughing at was spoken by Kryten: “It’s
not chicken sirs [...] it’s that man we found”. Things got worse as the season
went on, as they swiftly lost Rimmer (who has always been my favourite
character) and then replaced him with the tragically unfunny Kochanski (who I
would later discover wasn’t even the same actress who originated the role). I
don’t think I watched the entire series, as I can only remember bits and
pieces. Once Rimmer left, I think I lost interest.
Then Series VIII came a year or so later, and I was intrigued
once again to see that Chris Barrie had returned to the cast. So I tuned in to
watch the new series, but once again was left feeling let down. Somehow the
show had lost what made me enjoy it so much in the first place. I think I saw a
few episodes from the series during its original transmission, but I remember
very little about them.
For a long time the series vanished from my radar, until the
show was re-broadcast late at night during December 2003, showing repeats of
series 3 through 6. For me this was the first time seeing a lot of these
episodes, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. It was around this time that
the DVDs of each series were being released, and I would go on to buy each
series as they came out, from 1 to 6 at least. The re-broadcastings ended with
the first episode of series VII, which I thought I might enjoy a lot more this
time around; after all I was older, my sense of humour had developed, and I had
a better understanding of the show overall. Sadly this didn’t matter, as I
still failed to enjoy the seventh series. I didn’t even buy the DVD in the end,
and wasn’t tempted after borrowing a copy from a friend of mine. I couldn’t
believe how weak a lot of the material was in the seventh series: it wasn’t
just the loss of Chris Barrie from the main cast, and replacing him with Chloe
Annett. Kryten underwent serious character changes, and not for the better; he
became unbelievably annoying and self obsessed; The Cat was given very little
to do throughout the series; Craig Charles was looking unbelievably orange,
which I still find off-putting to this day; and all of Kochanski’s material
seemed to be comprised of unfunny one liners, which just served to emphasise
how big a mistake it was bringing her into the main cast. The highlight of the
series was the famous ‘Arnold Rimmer’ song at the end of the episode Blue, but one funny sequence was not
enough to save the sinking ship that is the seventh series of Red Dwarf.
Then I re-watched series VIII to see if time had served it
better, than its predecessor. Unfortunately it was even worse! The main reason
for this was that the entire crew of Red Dwarf had been resurrected in a rather
stupid plot twist. Characters such as The Cat and Holly (who had returned,
after initially being written out due to a lack of material) had already taken something
of a back seat in the previous series, but now with a load of new and
uninteresting characters taking up too much screen time, they barely got a look
in. I would go into a lot more detail, as it would be a lot of fun to dismantle
individual episodes, but that would also require watching those episodes again,
which is something I’m not willing to do. It saddens me whenever I see any
clips from series 7 or 8, because they just serve as reminders of how good the
show had been beforehand. In some ways I wish that series 6 had used its
original ending as opposed to the cliffhanger they ended up using. Maybe the
series could have ended there (even though the original ending didn’t exactly
provide conclusions to the overall story).
For about ten years the series lay dormant, as the plans for
a theatrical release languished in developmental hell. Then announcements were
made of a three part special, entitled Red
Dwarf: Back to Earth. Presumably this would finally wrap up the series with
a satisfying conclusion, which would tie up any loose ends, and leave long-term
fans of the show satisfied, as opposed to ending on another ‘To Be Continued...’
I was not sure what to expect, given just how much time had
passed, and also due to my strong dislike of the final two series’, but I read
in promotional material that the show would be returning to just the four main
cast members, without any of those unfunny extras. Sadly the specials failed to
deliver on laughs, and a satisfying plot resolution. I may sound cynical here,
but I don’t think that I’m alone in this opinion. The specials were hardly met
with glowing reviews, and the viewing figures took very noticeable drops from
episode to episode. I don’t remember much about it, aside from a lot of poorly
executed self-referential humour, a cringe-worthy scene involving Lister having
a chat with a young child on a bus (?!) about the show, the Red Dwarf crew
meeting up with Craig Charles the actor on the set of Coronation Street (What!),
and an overly long and laugh-free opening scene where Lister ironed his shirt
with one of his sneezes. I don’t think that the absence of a studio audience
made much of a difference to the number of laughs that weren’t heard!
So, while I have numerous misgivings about all of the recent
output from the developers of Red Dwarf, I’m still looking forward to the brand
new series Red Dwarf X. Part of the
reason for this is that despite all of the shortfalls within the series I still
consider myself a fan of the show, and would like to see it end on a high. The cast
is back to the principal four characters again which is no bad thing, and
having taken a look at the episode titles I noticed that the sixth episode is
entitled ‘The Beginning’, which when taking into account that the very first
episode was called ‘The End’ I can make the assumption that the writers have
finally come up with a conclusive ending for the overall series.
Will it deliver? Well, that remains to be seen, but I will
certainly be watching to find out.
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