The series premiere of Red Dwarf X began with some familiar territory
for fans of the show’s earlier series’: Lister developing an obsession with
useless infomercial products (somewhat reminiscent of the mail-pod scene from
Series 2 episode Better Than Life),
and Rimmer once again attempting to pass his astro-navigation exams. Both of
these scenes had fairly predictable punch-lines, but they were well delivered,
and also contained some good comedic material in between. I enjoyed the
exchange between Lister and Cat about Moose-related accidents, as well as the
use of the phrase “Hey ho, pip and dandy!” which put a smile on my face. By no
means was it a sensational start to the new series, but it reaffirmed my faith
in the writers of the show in a way that Back
To Earth failed to do.
The main storyline of the episode brought some closure to a longstanding
storyline related to Rimmer’s character, in the form of the sudden arrival of
his older and more successful brother Howard (who had been mentioned many times
throughout the show’s history, but had never appeared until now). Before Howard
appeared I half expected him to also be played by Chris Barrie, as Barrie had
previously played the role of Rimmer’s brother Frank in Timeslides, but this wasn’t the case. I wasn’t too keen on Mark
Dexter’s portrayal as he overacted a bit too much, but I felt that the two of
them side by side looked believable as brothers.
The dynamic between the main cast was very strong once
again, and I enjoyed the farcical situation of the inept crew attempting to
come across as much more professional and effective, all so that Rimmer could
pretend that he was a success. It isn’t an original comedic situation by any
means, but it was done well, and lead to a couple of my favourite moments in
the episode: the first being the crew all simultaneously tilting to create the
illusion that the ship was turning, and the exchange concerning Kryten – “And
you rebuilt him, gave him something to live for?” “No, we just hosed him down
and gave him a hat!”
The twist that the stimulant was evil seemed to come out of
nowhere, so much so that it barely even seemed like a twist. However the twist
that Howard was a failure was a bit more surprising and I loved the fact that
Rimmer used this reveal as an opportunity to rub it in his face. Then the
ending when Howard was posthumously awarded with a high commendation for
bravery, thus elevating his status, was probably the best way to wrap up the
storyline with Rimmer and his brothers.
Overall I very much enjoyed this episode, it restored my
faith in the show and if this is to be the final series, I will be glad to see
it end on a positive note. I am aware that I focussed rather heavily on Rimmer
in this episode, but that was mainly due to the fact that this episode was
centred around him.
No comments:
Post a Comment