Written by whatsacow on 27.04.2010 at 05:06

I especially loved the removal of the laughing track. i hate laughing tracks.

Oooh this is what I hated most about it! They filmed a lot of the older episodes in front of live audiences, so there are many with LAUGHING but not a "laugh track." I miss that. It's weird to have a comedy such as this without laughing. It makes their sarcastic jokes seem weirdly serious. It was just off-putting at times....

Call me a purist but I didn't dig the Back to Earth stuff. The guys looked like they were having fun though, which was cool, but I couldn't really get into it as more than a novelty. I'm happy with my DVDs of series 1-7 to keep me happy

Written by Susan on 01.05.2010 at 23:52

Written by whatsacow on 27.04.2010 at 05:06

I especially loved the removal of the laughing track. i hate laughing tracks.

Oooh this is what I hated most about it! They filmed a lot of the older episodes in front of live audiences, so there are many with LAUGHING but not a "laugh track." I miss that. It's weird to have a comedy such as this without laughing. It makes their sarcastic jokes seem weirdly serious. It was just off-putting at times....

Call me a purist but I didn't dig the Back to Earth stuff. The guys looked like they were having fun though, which was cool, but I couldn't really get into it as more than a novelty. I'm happy with my DVDs of series 1-7 to keep me happy

I didn't love it, but i found it refreshing that even after all this time, they can still make me laugh, and if they done another series, it wouldnt be atrocious.

Written by Susan on 01.05.2010 at 23:52

Oooh this is what I hated most about it! They filmed a lot of the older episodes in front of live audiences, so there are many with LAUGHING but not a "laugh track." I miss that. It's weird to have a comedy such as this without laughing. It makes their sarcastic jokes seem weirdly serious. It was just off-putting at times....

Call me a purist but I didn't dig the Back to Earth stuff. The guys looked like they were having fun though, which was cool, but I couldn't really get into it as more than a novelty. I'm happy with my DVDs of series 1-7 to keep me happy

Strange you say series' 1-7, when 7 was done with a laughter track and 8 was done in front of live audiences.
Series 7 is the only one to be done with a laughter track. Even the new Back To Earth ones were done mostly in front of audiences.

My liking series 1-7 has nothing to do with whether or not they used a laugh track. Those are the quality episodes (well, mostly 1-6 but 7 has it's moments). After that it was just kinda crap.

I used to think that 7 was the black sheep... but I think after I watched it back the last time I was surprised that some of the episodes were actually quite good. Maybe you're right, maybe 8 is the worst.

Any other Dwarfers in here who have been watching the new series (Series X) so far? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

Written by Angelic Storm on 21.10.2012 at 00:41

Any other Dwarfers in here who have been watching the new series (Series X) so far? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

I've seen the first episode and it was surprisingly well done. I found it to be an amazing return to form, and I look forward to future episodes!

I haven't watched it purely because I love the series so damn much. From little I've heard it just doesn't work at all.

Written by Guest on 21.10.2012 at 07:09

I haven't watched it purely because I love the series so damn much. From little I've heard it just doesn't work at all.

I missed the first 3 episodes, but thanks to some kindly fellows on youtube, I got to watch all 3 of them yesterday.

I know exactly what you're saying. I didn't like Back To Earth, and also found some of series 7 (and most of series 8) very disappointing. So I had no expectations that the new series would be any good, quite the opposite, in fact. Having now watched the first 3 episodes of series X, I will say I was quite pleasantly surprised with them, especially the first 2. Compared with the best episodes from the classic series' (series' 1-6), they fall a little short. But I think the new episodes I've seen thus far are at least, a step in the right direction. There are amazingly, moments and gags that do actually hark back to the glory days of show, and although there are a couple of real cringe inducing gags/moments, it never reaches the depths reached by BTE, or some of the episodes from series 8, and the 2nd half of series 7.

I also love the show dearly, and was very sad at low the series had reached. The new series isn't quite a return to classic form, but it is much better than I was expecting, and I'm glad now the series wasn't retired after the terrible BTE. There's still some life yet in the boys from the Dwarf!

Written by Angelic Storm on 21.10.2012 at 09:44

Written by Guest on 21.10.2012 at 07:09

I haven't watched it purely because I love the series so damn much. From little I've heard it just doesn't work at all.

I missed the first 3 episodes, but thanks to some kindly fellows on youtube, I got to watch all 3 of them yesterday.

I know exactly what you're saying. I didn't like Back To Earth, and also found some of series 7 (and most of series 8) very disappointing. So I had no expectations that the new series would be any good, quite the opposite, in fact. Having now watched the first 3 episodes of series X, I will say I was quite pleasantly surprised with them, especially the first 2. Compared with the best episodes from the classic series' (series' 1-6), they fall a little short. But I think the new episodes I've seen thus far are at least, a step in the right direction. There are amazingly, moments and gags that do actually hark back to the glory days of show, and although there are a couple of real cringe inducing gags/moments, it never reaches the depths reached by BTE, or some of the episodes from series 8, and the 2nd half of series 7.

I also love the show dearly, and was very sad at low the series had reached. The new series isn't quite a return to classic form, but it is much better than I was expecting, and I'm glad now the series wasn't retired after the terrible BTE. There's still some life yet in the boys from the Dwarf!

Really? I didn't think they were up to season 3 and 4's quality, but at the very least they were season 1 quality. I've seen the first 2, and they were quite strong, especially given how long RD has sucked.

Written by whatsacow on 21.10.2012 at 15:38
Really? I didn't think they were up to season 3 and 4's quality, but at the very least they were season 1 quality. I've seen the first 2, and they were quite strong, especially given how long RD has sucked.

You overlooked the positive things I said about the new episodes. RD has sucked for a long time now, that is very true, which is why I had very low expectations for the new series being any good. The 3 new episodes so far certainly don't suck, and are definitely a step in the right direction, as I said. There are flaws, certainly, but some of the gags and scenes actually do feel like classic Dwarf, and I never thought I'd ever be saying that about any new episodes of the series.

"Trojan" for example, has a great running gag throughout the episode, and one of Cat's lines (directed at Rimmer) is already one of my all time favourite Red Dwarf lines! There are elements of the episode that are a bit iffy, but there is much to be positive about, and at points, it is genuinely hilarious. I'm certainly pleased with what I've seen so far!

Written by Angelic Storm on 21.10.2012 at 15:55

Written by whatsacow on 21.10.2012 at 15:38
Really? I didn't think they were up to season 3 and 4's quality, but at the very least they were season 1 quality. I've seen the first 2, and they were quite strong, especially given how long RD has sucked.

You overlooked the positive things I said about the new episodes. RD has sucked for a long time now, that is very true, which is why I had very low expectations for the new series being any good. The 3 new episodes so far certainly don't suck, and are definitely a step in the right direction, as I said. There are flaws, certainly, but some of the gags and scenes actually do feel like classic Dwarf, and I never thought I'd ever be saying that about any new episodes of the series.

"Trojan" for example, has a great running gag throughout the episode, and one of Cat's lines (directed at Rimmer) is already one of my all time favourite Red Dwarf lines! There are elements of the episode that are a bit iffy, but there is much to be positive about, and at points, it is genuinely hilarious. I'm certainly pleased with what I've seen so far!

Although I've always loved RD, I'll be the first to admit it was never perfect. A lot of jokes fell flat, even in the "great" episodes. However, the moments that worked are what made it a classic, which is why I don't view these as a failure.

I've quite enjoyed the new Red Dwarfs... Of course it's so hard for them to live up to the old, classic episodes, but they seem to have done a good enough job in making some entertaining episodes that don't try to be too outrageous or crazy in an attempt to be "better" or whatever. Series X will probably be one of my least favourite series' out of them all - but that doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying the new ones. Just that they are not destroying the reputation of Red Dwarf is an achievement enough!

Written by Baz Anderson on 22.10.2012 at 18:20

I've quite enjoyed the new Red Dwarfs... Of course it's so hard for them to live up to the old, classic episodes, but they seem to have done a good enough job in making some entertaining episodes that don't try to be too outrageous or crazy in an attempt to be "better" or whatever. Series X will probably be one of my least favourite series' out of them all - but that doesn't mean that I'm not enjoying the new ones. Just that they are not destroying the reputation of Red Dwarf is an achievement enough!

That pretty much sums up my feelings on the new episodes exactly! They actually were destroying the reputation of Red Dwarf with the later series' and Back To Earth. The new episodes I've seen thus far have gone some way to repairing some of that damage. If I could highlight one thing that is probably the missing ingredient, it's Rob Grant. When he left, that was when the series started taking a nosedive. Doug has done a good job with the new episodes so far, but I feel if he had Rob there to bounce ideas back and forth with, the result would be even better...

I'm quite enjoying the new Red Dwarf series at the minute. However, watching as a critic, I have to say that the only one I'd say completely lives up to the classics was the series opener, "Trojan" (although I have no issues with "Dear Dave" which would have me argue about it being flawed). My issues with the other episodes could pretty much go like this (obviously, potential spoilers below):

Episode 2 tried to cram in a bit too much into the time frame. We didn't really need Lister's father-son talks (as funny as they were), simply because the basic premise of the story was strong enough with the computer as it was. Overall, it felt like the addition of all of those talks were there to justify the way they stopped Pree (don't know if that's the correct spelling) for the benefit of the few people who hadn't watched anything from series 7-9 (where it is mentioned quite a few times that Lister is his own father). Which, considering the number of people who watch Red Dwarf will at least have seen most of the episodes in each series, is a bit unnecessary.
Episode 3 suffered from the opposite problem: there wasn't quite enough story to keep the whole episode running. It seems that they glossed over everything up to the meeting of Jesus, which I feel might have been fun to have seen some of it and had their return to the ship be the end of the episode (or even have meeting Jesus be the conclusion of the episode and have the following episode involve them being mistaken for angels sent from God).
Episode 4 was pretty funny throughout (although I've only watched it once, so my memory of it is a bit hazy), but I feel the ending was a bit rushed. I also found the way the doctor ended up being removed from the cast a bit too quick: a possibility is that she could have been implied to have got lost somewhere on the ship and simply never be seen again (bit like Crawford, who we last saw being used as a replacement Stir-Master).

All told, it's really not been a bad series, but it's been a bit hit-and-miss: one great episode, two good, two flawed-but-enjoyable. Looking forward to the series finale already!

I have to say, I found the episode last week ("Dear Dave") to be pretty awful. I'd also say that the series has gotten worse with each successive episode. "Trojan" was a very strong opening to the new series. A couple of ropey bits aside, it really felt like classic Dwarf for the most part. "Father And Suns" was another strong episode, I actually felt the Lister "Father/son chats" were very well done. Like "Trojan", there was a couple of ropey bits, and some overacting from the actors, but overall, I liked it a lot.

Episode 3, "Lemons" is an episode I didn't think much to on my first viewing of it, but it became stronger on subsequent viewings of it. The Jesus character was very annoying the first time I watched it, but became less so the second time. Plot wise, it's not as strong as the first two episodes, but some genuinely hilarious and heartwarming gags lifts it up to above average level. Definitely a grower this one, but it's worth sticking with it!

"Entangled" was the first episode in the new series where I actually cringed at certain points. The scene with the BEGGS was an inferior rehash of the much better and much funnier scene with the Gelfs from "Emohawk: Polymorph II". The last few minutes of the episode were cringeworthy to say the least, so much so, that the poor ending was almost like a welcome relief! There were some good moments in the episode, especially an absolutely classic line from Kryten about a space weevil outwitting The Cat, but this was the first new episode that really recalled some of the worst moments of the 2 series prior to this one.

"Dear Dave" took the bad elements of the previous episode, and seemed to ramp them up, and worse, they were prevelant for most of the episode. The mailbag/letter opening scene reminded me of a similar scene from "Better Than Life", only this one was completely devoid of the wit and charm of the scene from that classic episode. A very low-level, lad's mag type humour infested the episode, and there was precious little to laugh about in it, sadly.

Here's hoping the best episode has been saved for last!

Written by Angelic Storm on 05.11.2012 at 23:20

Here's hoping the best episode has been saved for last!

Well, Kryten's suggestion in the trailer of just looking out of the window was definitely one of my favourite trailer lines of the whole series, so there's definitely the potential for that. Guess we'll find out tonight how it works out...but I'll be irritated if it isn't at least one of the best three episodes of the series, since it really deserves to end on a strong note.

Written by Nemo Atkins on 08.11.2012 at 16:43
Well, Kryten's suggestion in the trailer of just looking out of the window was definitely one of my favourite trailer lines of the whole series, so there's definitely the potential for that. Guess we'll find out tonight how it works out...but I'll be irritated if it isn't at least one of the best three episodes of the series, since it really deserves to end on a strong note.

That was a great line indeed!

I've just watched the last episode of this series, and I was quite impressed I have to say! The opening scene gave me a sense of foreboding as it was pretty bad, but once the action shifted back to Red Dwarf, the episode really kicked into gear, and just went from strength to strength. Nice end to the series, and awesome final line from Rimmer!

Written by Angelic Storm on 09.11.2012 at 00:47

Written by Nemo Atkins on 08.11.2012 at 16:43
Well, Kryten's suggestion in the trailer of just looking out of the window was definitely one of my favourite trailer lines of the whole series, so there's definitely the potential for that. Guess we'll find out tonight how it works out...but I'll be irritated if it isn't at least one of the best three episodes of the series, since it really deserves to end on a strong note.

That was a great line indeed!

I've just watched the last episode of this series, and I was quite impressed I have to say! The opening scene gave me a sense of foreboding as it was pretty bad, but once the action shifted back to Red Dwarf, the episode really kicked into gear, and just went from strength to strength. Nice end to the series, and awesome final line from Rimmer!

Yep, it certainly managed to be (in my opinion) the second best episode of the series.

Written by Nemo Atkins on 09.11.2012 at 01:06
Yep, it certainly managed to be (in my opinion) the second best episode of the series.

Actually, after watching it again for a second time, I actually feel this episode is without doubt, the best episode of series 10. And it is actually better than some of the weaker episodes in the first 6 series', which I consider to be the "classic era" for Red Dwarf. Some of the earlier episodes in this series had elements of classic Dwarf in them, but "The Beginning" was like the finished article. It had the classic Dwarf feel the whole way through, particularly once the crew got inside Blue Midget to try and escape the simulants... best episode since the series 6 finale "Out Of Time" in my opinion.

Written by Angelic Storm on 09.11.2012 at 06:48

Written by Nemo Atkins on 09.11.2012 at 01:06
Yep, it certainly managed to be (in my opinion) the second best episode of the series.

Actually, after watching it again for a second time, I actually feel this episode is without doubt, the best episode of series 10. And it is actually better than some of the weaker episodes in the first 6 series', which I consider to be the "classic era" for Red Dwarf. Some of the earlier episodes in this series had elements of classic Dwarf in them, but "The Beginning" was like the finished article. It had the classic Dwarf feel the whole way through, particularly once the crew got inside Blue Midget to try and escape the simulants... best episode since the series 6 finale "Out Of Time" in my opinion.

My big issue with it (and the only reason I say that it was the second best episode of the series, although it is a close second) was the guy who challenged the crew to duels across time and space. I didn't dislike him, but I feel that he didn't really get enough backstory. I feel that there should have been more information given about him when he was introduced, since (to my knowledge) we've never seen him in the series before then. However, that was the only real issue I had: otherwise, it was an episode that perfectly captured the Red Dwarf classic era. I actually want there to be another series (or, at least, episode), just so I can see whether Rimmer's sudden character development lasts. Doubt it will (Status Quo and whatnot having him be a coward), but it'd definitely be nice to see him prove that there is more that hides under the self-loathing coward we usually see of him. Who knows, maybe he might finally become the Ace Rimmer he was born (or is it reborn?) to be.

Written by Nemo Atkins on 09.11.2012 at 12:15
My big issue with it (and the only reason I say that it was the second best episode of the series, although it is a close second) was the guy who challenged the crew to duels across time and space. I didn't dislike him, but I feel that he didn't really get enough backstory. I feel that there should have been more information given about him when he was introduced, since (to my knowledge) we've never seen him in the series before then. However, that was the only real issue I had: otherwise, it was an episode that perfectly captured the Red Dwarf classic era. I actually want there to be another series (or, at least, episode), just so I can see whether Rimmer's sudden character development lasts. Doubt it will (Status Quo and whatnot having him be a coward), but it'd definitely be nice to see him prove that there is more that hides under the self-loathing coward we usually see of him. Who knows, maybe he might finally become the Ace Rimmer he was born (or is it reborn?) to be.

The first time I watched the episode, I felt the same way about that. But you have to remember, there was a 9 year gap between the events of the series VIII finale in "Only The Good", and the start of series X. So obviously the Red Dwarf crew encountered the Hogey character (the guy who challenges the crew to duels across time and space!) at some point during those "lost years" of the series. The 2nd time I watched it, I noticed that Lister addresses him by name (something I missed the first time I watched it), and I started to become familiar and accustomed to Hogey, even though he'd never been in a previous episode. Once I realised what was going on, I really enjoyed the scene with him in it, and liked him as a character.

I really loved the scene where Rimmer discovers that his real father was his family's gardener "Dungo". It was also nice to see how that changed his character. But it will be interesting to see how he evolves if there is another series. We certainly had a glimpse of leadership and courage in Rimmer that he would require in order to become Ace Rimmer. Though his weasely-ness and cowardice were some of the things that made Rimmer such a great and funny comic creation. It'll be interesting to see how Doug Naylor tries to balance that with the revelations in "The Beginning".

The episode itself though was wonderful, and is the best episode of Dwarf since series 6. And the seppuku scene was just comedy magic!

Enjoying series 10. My favourite program, used to wish i was 3 million years in deep space. Didnt know the orignal writers left after series 7, but it makes sense now as series 8 was pretty poor an series 9 - back to earth was , made me worry about Dave buying up the rights an well an truely destroying what was once a good show.

Credit to them though, they brought back in Doug Naylor an co to write series 10 an it's like they havent missed a beat. An there finally back on Red Dwarf.

I watched the first two episodes of X and that was it really. I didn't feel compelled to continue it. The magic has gone for me.

Sure it's not the same, there playing with a story thats old now, there 3 million years in space, maybe why they quit while there we're ahead. It's back! The 4 are older, not as good, like bringing back the old Liverpool team, or Pathom lot, they'd be shit too. But Doug an co are subtly writing that in, cos Dave an co were always going to get old 3 million years into deep space. Wasn't buying it at first too, but persisted an theres that little magic still there. Or maybe the little fan boy talking.

I've not yet watched Season X. Not sure if I really want to either...I think it would just ruin fond memories of earlier seasons. I watched the Back To Earth eps and they were pretty shit.

Best season - 1 or 2
Best episode - Me2

Written by Guest on 22.11.2012 at 02:32

I watched the first two episodes of X and that was it really. I didn't feel compelled to continue it. The magic has gone for me.

The magic IS gone. Yes. I haven't watched any of this "X" crap, and could only stand a few minutes of the Back To Earth. Give it a rest, guys!!! The horse is dead. Put down the stick.


RIP Red Dwarf: A perfectly kick ass show that lasted 7 seasons.
(Or 6 if you're even more of a purist than I.)