Red Dwarf X - TV review
There was a time before the late 1980s when one word was associated by most folk with high-end electrical goods rather than science fiction.
True, Smeg has produced some mighty fine white goods over the decades, but utter the word around many a forty-something-year-old and you will conjure fond memories of a sit-com set onboard a rusty spaceship, populated by a suitably quirky crew.
Originally aired by auntie Beeb in 1988, Red Dwarf was a staple in BBC2s schedule until its demise in 1999.
Over the years a much-yearned for big screen adventure was muted, but never materialised.
It took the people at TV channel Dave to resurrect the franchise, with a three-parter in 2009 and now in Red Dwarf X, a six-part series that reunites Dwarf’s fantastic four.
It is indeed good to see the boys back in town, occupying a galaxy with infinite possibilities and spreading joy on whichever planet they land.
And the years don’t seem to have been too unkind to last living human Dave Lister, holographic Arnold Rimmer, Kryten the mechanoid and the oh so cool Cat.
They all look so fresh. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between how the crew looks now and back in the show’s earlier incarnations.
In contrast, cast your mind back to 1980 when a ‘rested’ crew of the USS Enterprise returned to continue the adventures of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and co. The crew had turned into planetary pensioners.
It is as if the crew of Red Dwarf had been cryogenically frozen. Not a girdle or hairpiece were evident last night. William Shatner are you listening?
Actually, for those not in the know, Red Dwarf is perhaps best described as a hybrid of Star Trek and Black Adder.
It’s a delicious combination of sci-fi and fabulously well-rounded characters, all with superb dialogue.
In last night’s episode, the crew stumbled upon an abandoned vessel and intercepted a distress call from Rimmer’s brother, Howard.
Rimmer’s hard drive goes into melt down, brought on by jealousy of his siblings successful career in the space corp and before beaming him aboard come up with new identities to impress him.
Yes, the plot is as flimsy as ever, but it was never the story that brought millions to their sofas over the years.
It has always been about the narrative.
And it’s good to know that even in space xenophobia still exists, explaining why my favourite line of the night was: “Your brain’s smaller than the salad section in a Scottish supermarket”, uttered by Howard in reference to his brother’s apparent aquirement of a decent military rank. Brilliant.
TV channel Dave appears to be on a mission to create a number of new series over the coming months.
If that is the case, it will make a refreshing change for the millions of viewers flicking endlessly through their dozens of Freeview channels, faced more often than not with reruns of Have I Got News For You, QI and Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
Will the show be a success in its new home?
I don’t see why not.
The recipe is unchanged and all the ingredients remain intact.
Who cares what oven you bake it in? The icing on the cake is that all four cast members agreed to bring the show back.
Of course, with this being Red Dwarf, there was a smeg here, and a smegging there, by way of a great method of replacing swear words.
Thinking about it, my fridge freezer is on the blink. Maybe I’ll buy myself a smegging Smeg in the near future?
What the smeg am I thinking? They are way too smegging expensive. Well, you get the picture.
Paul Naylor
Comments for: "Red Dwarf X - TV review"
Marie
I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of the new series. After getting used to the aged faces of the crew I was laughing my head off at the gags like old times. Bring on more like this!!
James
I roared with laughter all the way through it. One little complaint though. I found the laugh track to be a little overbearing. I can't remember it ever being so prominent in old Red Dwarf. And when does a program that i genuinely funny need laugh prompts anyhow?
Ashpryce
Wasnt a laugh track, this series was filmed in front of a live audience :)
alan scudds
In a class of it's own.
craigC
james, it was filmed infront of a studio audience, just like the old days.
Neil
What a blast! A massive improvement over the last two series which were, frankly, poor.
The Cat running off to find another marker had me in stitches! And the scene with Lister telling the Cat about mooses involved in accidents was reminiscent of Blackadder's "Prince & The Pauper" scene. Classic!
mark w
still as great as ever ,have all on dvd never get fed up of watching well done dave for bringing it back .
Phill
I only stumbled across the fact that they were making a new series about a week ago so when I looked at the launch date I thought all my Christmases had come at once. I got home from work early and flicked through the T.V listing on the set top box but what was that - No red dwarf X. I frantically ran up stairs and checked on the computer...Ahh! 21:00 hours...back to the T.V....Arrrgh the set top box listing would not update to show the programs from 21:00 onwards..as the time approached a advert announced "Red Dwarf X coming up next" I waited and waited and waited some more... The commercials seemed to go on for about thirty minutes but then finally there it was...i informed everyone they weren't to talk to me for the next half hour and I settled down to watch...
Initially it was a rather poor as each of the characters walked on and spewed out one of their signature lines but I guess this was more for the people who are new to the show. After this though the main "story" kicked in and it was like the gang had never gone away...as soon as they decided the best thing to do was to pretend they were all high flying member of the space core you knew it was going to be good...I just hope the series continues to get better and explores new ground. At least one thing is for sure, now the introductions are out of the way, the next episode will be 30 minutes of bliss.....
john allen
Brilliant fun. I am so happy this is back!!
Adm
OMG the red dwarf posse are back and on form. Rimmers face when everybody new the answer to the question and the fact that cat was to fast even to ask it had us rolling with laughter even my 4 year old was cracking up. For people confused why they are all on red dwarf after the virus was eating the ship and everyone but rimmer was in the mirror universe (last episode series 8) WELL that episode had an alternate ending where they beat the virus and left the rest of the crew flying off in the escape pods. Can not wait till next week just a pity its only the 6 episodes.
Krish
So glad it has gone back to the old formula. It was like classic Red Dwarf
Emma
Hey Ho Hip and Danny....classic, loved it welcome back
JamieD
I had been waiting for this new series run for start for weeks like a child waiting for christmas day , with utter non stop excitement , which was twinged with slight worry that it would be ruined by poor production n poo scripts. i was proven wrong thankfully on both accounts. The sets n clothing was all in step with what i loved visually n the script was wet your self good, if a bit slow going in the first portion ( having to re introduce character s to younger pre dwarf viewers ) but, the second portion with dave risking his life to complain about being put on hold for hours trying to purchase a "stirmaster" was a brilliant scene an was threaded through out the entire episodes length, and the hilarious scene between the brothers rimm , with henrys confession n rimmers brilliant one last twist of the knife had me howling with laughter . All in all a good come back for the gang and all i can say is "GIVE ME THE NEXT SMEGGING EPISODE"