f13.net

Coming back at Easter and will be showing on Dave.  Believe it's going to be a series but possibly just a couple of episodes. (Info via Robert Llewellyn aka Kryten)

I heard that was a one off episode but they're talking about making a film.  Again.

Showing on Dave? What's Dave?

It's a goofy UK channel wot changes it's name all the time.

Yeah, looks to be a one off special in two parts with two extra programs about "The Making Of" and a special program about Red Dwarf stuff. They're in a deal with the BBC International who will probably distribute it internationally. Which is surprising given their name.

This show was terrible... The only thing that was good about this show was the cat.




(I'm sure i will go to British hell for that.)

It was the best show ever.

You must be thinking of the terrible American remake because the original fucking rocked.

To be fair the quality of each series was wildly variable. Some were absolute gold others were clearly phoning it in.

Waxworld was genius.

Yes, but we're not being fair, we're being all Vanguard Darkfall fanboi about it. Basically, if you didn't like it then you're not hardcore enough and fail at life.

Easily in my top 5 favorite TV comedies. Looking forward to it.

Any TV series which involves the killing of a giant Vindaloo monster with a can of lager has to be considered a classic.

Yes, some of the later episodes were starting to over rely on formula jokes, but the series is still outstanding.

Red Dwarf jumped the shark when they lost Holly, and then somehow jumped it again but even harder when they got him back.  But the first few seasons were DYNAMITE.

Look, by all standards, i watch some shitT (note extra, and capital T), And i am telling you, this show was ass.To each his own, but i found no redeeming value in any part of it, other than the cat. And i am quite sure i was watching the brit version, i had no idea there was a remake.The acting was ass, the jokes were stupid, most of the characters were simply dumb, like, StarHunter dumb, the set...was made of garbage. Tell me one reason this show should be watched. One. Really, i hear so many people say its great..i don't see it.

lol laugh track.

The one reason that this show should be watched is that it is funny. The writing was great, all the members of the cast were up to the task of delivering the punch. Norman Lovett was the funniest comedian on the show, but Chris Barrie was the best comic actor. If you say The Cat was the sole redeeming aspect, you don't understand funny. This show was not supposed to be a platform for character study.

The bit in "Future Echoes" with Lister and Rimmer having the same conversation twice was pure comic gold.

Attempting to link to that specific bit. (http://www.youtube.com/v/Cjj2mlAwiW0&start=240)

Smeghead.

The cat was the only part of the show that was funny. I think i got all of 4 episodes in before i stopped watching it. Mostly because the cat had worn thin, no matter how many times he came dancing in the room. I guess i don't know funny then. Because i did not laugh when the laugh track told me too. If it was funny, i would have watched it, fuck, i am quite sure i was high when i watched it too, i still couldn't take it.

Anyway, perhaps they will add some real funny in this remake, and maybe ill watch it. I assume its not the same actors (if you could call them that, i don't think they were acting, its was "just them", almost a MST3K cutscne like performance) is it? It could also be just that its a British thing, like that one show..about the store, the one with the money sound.  :oh_i_see: It was also, not funny.

Dissing "Are you Being Served?"?! Now I think you are just trolling.

The key to enjoying Red Dwarf in my opinion is to start at the beginning. I could see someone who jumped in at say season 6 not really getting the appeal - but what I find most comical about Bloodworth's assertation, is that Cat had become the most cliched and least funny part of the show by then.

Bloodworth, you should really go for the gusto here - take a shot or two at Faulty Towers.

Red Dwarf was filmed in front of a live audience. Dunno if they also put a laugh track on it in the US but over here at least the laughs are genuine.

I started from episode 1, and got to like 5.


I don't know, but what ever version I watched, sounded like a laugh track to me. It wasn't funny. "Are you Being Served?", also not funny. Faulty Towers, never even heard of it. No, I'm not trolling, its just my opinion.

Perhaps ill give it another go.... maybe its one of those you have to give it a season to grow on you, and i do watch some shitT.  :why_so_serious: I am sure my friend would love to make me watch it again.

Fair enough, you are entitled to your oppinion.


 :ye_gods:

I haven't either.  Was it some sort of spin-off of Fawlty Towers?

Mr. B. dislikes British Humor.  Make him watch Black Adder as punishment.

British humour has been crap ever since the Wrath of Khan.

Not quite what I mean.

You just stand off to the side out of the way of the hyperbole and the lynch mob. We'll get to you shortly.

To be honest, I never liked Are You Being Served and those sorts of comedy shows, either.  I think they're like old people humour.  Fawlty Tower and Black Adder are awesome, though.  And Red Dwarf is the best show ever.  THE. BEST. SHOW. EVER.  Stop saying it isn't funny because no one agrees and you're starting to piss me off.  Don't make me kick your ass.

Srsly.

 :ye_gods:

Son, you'd better sit down. We've got a lot to talk about. Please tell me that you've heard of "Monty Python".

I recently re-watched all of Red Dwarf and the season quality really was very variable. First season was pretty weak in a lot of ways and the last 2 and a half seasons or so sucked badly, but seasons 2-4 were great. Just took them a little while to hit their strides I think.

There should still be an edit button a day later. And there should also be a face-palm smiley.

(http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9286/facepalmsmiley1ti3.gif)

Yes sir, and its funny, sir.

Yer actually Llewtube announcement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnj_hYCVEXs

Concerning Red Dwarf: I'm actually somewhere in the same boat as bloodworth, although not entirely in agreement.  I'll admit I've watched maybe two seasons worth of episodes over the years when I've caught it, so maybe I just had bad luck.  Apart from an occasional bit that was funny or clever, the bulk of the show just didn't pull me in like it did to others.

Concerning Fawlty Towers: watch as much as you can.  It is mostly hilarious, which isn't all that surprising since you have to have a lot of things go wrong for a show with John Cleese to be unintentionally not-funny.  I'm guessing it's most widely recognized for it's episode with the germans, which has some epic physical comedy by Cleese.

The fact that the set was largely made out of gaffer tape, carboard and copper wire was all part of the charm. I love the show for its simple humor, and the relationships between the characters. Although I'll agree that the seasons are a bit hit and miss. The episode "Backwards" is still one of the most original I have ever seen on any show; and Chris Barrie is by far and away the best and most skillfully-acted character in the series. (Since we're digging up old BBC sitcoms, does anyone else remember the Brittas Empire?)

Related, I just bought all 8 seasons on DVD from amazon, rather than coming in a standard box like I expected it comes in a photo-album-esque folder with a double page of pictures for each season. A really nice and unexpected tough.

Yep. Brittas Empire was also good. The set you have is a new one which is just the shows. I bought Signe the older more expensive set with the extras & "smeg-ups".

Like you said, to each his own. Basically, if you think the joke's are stupid then you're never going to like it.  I won't excuse a lot of the humour because it's very British but it is very laddish humour. The fact that they got rid of the eponymous ship in season 3/4 with the premise that "they lost the ship because they were drunk" either tickles you or it doesn't. But to try and put some standards against the show that seem valid is actually a little unfair because Red Dwarf got made despite the best efforts of a lot of people who were in charge of the BBC at the time. 

The acting was ass - especially in season 1.  This is largely due to the fact that none of the principal cast were actors: you had a "punk" poet (Craig Charles), a stand-up comedian (Norman Lovett), a dancer (Danny John-Jules) and an impressionist (Craig Barrie).  When Red Dwarf got pitched to the BBC, it nearly didn't get made at all because the powers that be loathed sci-fi (as evidenced by the way they ran Dr. Who into the ground during the 80s). However, there was an available slot and little budget when a planned series didn't get made so they gave it to the Red Dwarf producers.  Then there was an electricians strike which nearly killed the whole thing but they managed to rush it into production and get it made even though they had the imminent threat of being taken off air at any time.

To complain about "garbage sets" is to not understand anything about the BBC or how it funds it's programs.  Basically, they have no money for sets or effects or anything like that. A few years back I had a chat with a woman who did the wardrobe and make-up for Blake's 7.  She told me that she had a set budget per episode for make-up, hair and wardrobe. That budget didn't change irrespective of how many people were in the episode - it was a set figure (something like £100). So if there were only five people then great - they could spend £20 per person. If there were 20 people then oh shit - that's a £5 each. 

Similarly, the effects people weren't given any money. So all the ships (like Red Dwarf and Starbug) and all the sets were cobbled out of whatever they could find. This wasn't ILM or Weta, this was a load of people gluing bits of old model airplanes to washing-up bottles and parts from broken televisions that they'd found in a skip.  Considering the constraints, the creativity was phenomenal.

I won't deny there are some ropey episodes and that season 7/8 were definitely below par (which is largely due to the two creators and writers, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, falling out and other writers being brought in to do those seasons with whichever one of them it was that stayed on.)  Then again, it's arguable that any series has it's ups and downs. 

None of this is a reason for you to like the series and none of this maybe of interest to anyone else. Red Dwarf survived and was a relative success in spite of itself and everything going on. Personally I think it's very funny and love watching it. YMMV and that's okay too.



Weirdo.

I wasn't even holding it up to the standards you give. I know it was a low budget show. I was holding them to the standards of low budget shows.

Obviously all your taste is in your mouth, MrB!

IIRC, Mr. B voluntarily played some of the worst MMOGs out there for months. Suffice it to say that his tastes run counter to mine.

Confirmation on the upcoming special:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7851989.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7851989.stm)

Red Dwarf always killed me. My favorite line:

Rimmer: Step up to Red Alert!
Kryten: Are you certain sir? It does mean changing the bulb.

The one thing I hated in later distributions of the show was the remake of the intros. I thought it was a bit tasteless trying to 'modernize' it with CGI and crappy metal versions of the theme. Lost all the charm of the original models and such. And one thing thats been bugging me for years. I was watching one of the newer releases and Holly goes into his 'supplemental' report and states that they found a moon or asteroid that looked exactly like Marilyn Monroe's bottom. I could SWEAR that I remember the original statement being that it looked like Felicity Kendall's bottom. Stupid thing to ask but can anyone confirm or deny this? Am I just senile now or was I wasted as a teenager?

I might just be very suggestable but Felicity Kendall rings a bell where Marilyn doesn't. I hope they didn't though...

I knew it! They did redo the intro at some point for the american audience. I guess we're just not educated enough in our britcom lore to know who Felicity Kendall is.  :uhrr: Speaking of which, they really need to bring back Good Neighbors. Which was originally called The Good Life, I know.

Are you talking about the show in Surbiton.  God, I hate Surbiton.  I lived there for a year!  Anyway, I wasn't nuts about the show.  It was just okay for me.  One good thing was Paul Eddington, who later starred in Yes, Minister which I LOVED!

I thought Richard Briers was great in it, and Felicity Kendall is cute in an annoying way. The show itself I found tedious.
I thought the Young Ones spoof of it was best.

Yay for new Red Dwarf though. Even if they are are old and have moved on. I'ma go listen to the Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show now.

This. I'm with Vyvyan:

"Vyvyan: No! No! NO! We're not watching the bloody Good Life! Bloody bloody bloody! I hate it! It's so bloody nice! Felicity "Treacle" Kendall and Richard "Sugar-Flavored-Snot" Briars! What do they do now? Chocolate bloody Button ads, that's what! They're just a couple of reactionary stereotypes, confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a lovable, middle-class eccentric - and I - HATE - THEM!"

 :awesome_for_real:

Maybe Paul Eddington would have done more stuff in his elder years but he went and popped his clogs, dammit. The only drawback to the show was the fact that it was Margaret Thatcher's favourite.  That almost makes me feel dirty for liking it so much.

PS  I love The Young Ones.  Huge Nigel Planer fan here, too.  Even just looking at his face puts me in a good mood.

I really dug the show. Maybe it was because I grew up on a small farm so a lot of the situations hit home (although we weren't as hardcore as they were). Also loved it for Penelope Keith who can just put me into stitches no matter what she does. Although it's usually how she says things. Loved To The Manor Born as well.

Hey, I've got strange tastes and we're not talking RD anymore. Sorry for the derail but thanks for the info.

Let's get back on track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV17GxTh3Mo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV17GxTh3Mo)

The boys are back in town.  But not looking so much like boys - just... old.

(http://static.dave.uktv.co.uk/site_media/images/uploaded/2009/02/04/Red-Dwarf_First-shot_1000v2.jpg)

My god, especially Chris Barrie. This could be very bad  :oh_i_see:

Kryten doesn't look old!

They've aged pretty well IMO.  Except maybe Chris Barrie, but that's just because his hair turned against him.  He still has a baby face.

He's making a frowny face which gives him frowny lines.  I saw some pics from that Massive Machines or whatever it was called and he looked great, only chubbier.  I think they all look great, too.  Lister always looks great to me.  That's why I named kitty after him.  I ignore the fact that he's a womanizing hard drug user in real life.  At least I'm pretty certain he's not a rapist!

I've also just noticed that part of the problem with Chris Barrie in that photo is that there's a grey line in the background that at first made me think his hair was mad grey and sticky-outy. It is still grey but not as bad as I thought at first.

When is this thing supposed to come out. I really should buy the rest of these on DVD at some stage, too...

Came out on TV around Easter in the UK. Is already out on DVD here. Can't comment on other countries/regions.