Looking forward to the new Red Dwarf series?

[Ironman5000]

The new series of Red Dwarf is supposed to be due out next month, I am an avid fan of the series but if from what I saw in the awkward Back To Earth...series(?) the jokes have become very diluted and lame.

 

Maybe it was due to the lack of a live audience, which seemed to leave gaps of silence that just didn't sit right for me or maybe the cast have gotten beyond the point where the type of comedy is relevant to them. I hope the new series will bring back the good old humour that made the show what it is.

[Vagrant0]

Maybe it was due to the lack of a live audience, which seemed to leave gaps of silence that just didn't sit right for me or maybe the cast have gotten beyond the point where the type of comedy is relevant to them. I hope the new series will bring back the good old humour that made the show what it is.

In many of the commentaries, the cast has pointed to this fact, and is one of the reasons why Season 3 and 4 (I think) were the ones that felt a little weak. I don't think the humor has really slipped away from the actors so much as taking on any good character can just come natural when you've played them enough. I'd say that most of it is really just that the actors are old now, and unlike most series, it has bridged across generations with mostly the same cast.

[Ironman5000]

I find that any program that leaves a large gap between series just seems like a shameless attempt to cash in on trying to reinvent itself, which really prevents me from enjoying it. I remember when blackadder did something similar but in movie format, which was just repeating jokes from the series. I felt dirty watching that! :yucky:

[Vagrant0]

I find that any program that leaves a large gap between series just seems like a shameless attempt to cash in on trying to reinvent itself, which really prevents me from enjoying it. I remember when blackadder did something similar but in movie format, which was just repeating jokes from the series. I felt dirty watching that! :yucky:

I thought that the last season or so was actually pretty good compared to the season before it. The addition of a female cast member (other than Holly 2.0) helped breathe some much needed life to the series, and bringing things back to the Dwarf helped make for a better range of things beyond the usual "crisis of the week" sort of stuff, and reinvigorated all the characters while still allowing the series to have the same sort of humor and situations.

 

The problems with most re-launches is not so much that time has passed, but that the re-launch usually ends up feeling tacked on or totally different due to having to replace a significant portion of the original cast, or totally changing fundamental aspects of the series. Stargate SG1 probably did this the worst, Dr. Who did this the best. Technically speaking, every season of Red Dwarf has been a re-launch since everything after the first season wasn't particularly planned. In a way, that's kinda what makes it uniquely epic.

[Illiad86]

Stargate Universe wasn't all that terrible, I suppose. I wish they gave it a proper ending though. The camera angles were pretty annoying though, too reality show style. Stargate probably would have continued the way it did if Richard Dean Anderson didn't get so fat lol :P I kid, but after so many years, it's time for a show to go.

 

I've only seen very few episodes of Red Dwarf and I found it pretty funny. But, I prefer sci-fi to be serious (military style) with a bit of comedy in it. Lexx is an exception, that was just bizarre :P

Edited August 15, 2012 by Illiad86

[Vagrant0]

Stargate

The problem with Stargate SG1 was that it kinda fell apart once it stopped being about exploring strange worlds and cultures, and just about this intergalactic war. Then when the war was over it became about this thing what was entirely different in an attempt to kinda keep the story going as the galaxy started falling apart, then cut short by a crisis that was averted.

 

Stargate Atlantis didn't really have this same problem, and was mostly a good run, but suffered from not having enough of a following and by trying to have too many enemy factions. The basic premise of the series was to do something like SG1, but have the group of protagonists feel much more cut-off from any sort of support. That was well and good, but seemed to ignore the fact that you can't have a series (well received) where the protagonist fails at the end. Meaning that the only way to keep things going was to increase the stakes after every season end the season on a cliffhanger, and make it an even greater victory before the next challenge appeared in the following season.

 

The problem with Stargate Universe is that they tried to re-do the isolation of Atlantis, but have the main antagonistic force just drama and internal conflicts. With the visual style appearing more raw and real, it just left most of the audience feeling like it was some sort of reality show. Combined with the timeslot and the severe departure from the original series in both theme and mood, it kinda killed the viewership.

[JimboUK]

The new series of Red Dwarf is supposed to be due out next month, I am an avid fan of the series but if from what I saw in the awkward Back To Earth...series(?) the jokes have become very diluted and lame.

 

Maybe it was due to the lack of a live audience, which seemed to leave gaps of silence that just didn't sit right for me or maybe the cast have gotten beyond the point where the type of comedy is relevant to them. I hope the new series will bring back the good old humour that made the show what it is.

 

The new series (10) was filmed in front of a live audience, that said I think the main problem with Back to Earth was a lack of Rob Grant rather than a lack of an audience, the series went downhill with only Doug Naylor writing.

[Illiad86]

Stargate

The problem with Stargate SG1 was that it kinda fell apart once it stopped being about exploring strange worlds and cultures, and just about this intergalactic war. Then when the war was over it became about this thing what was entirely different in an attempt to kinda keep the story going as the galaxy started falling apart, then cut short by a crisis that was averted.

 

Stargate Atlantis didn't really have this same problem, and was mostly a good run, but suffered from not having enough of a following and by trying to have too many enemy factions. The basic premise of the series was to do something like SG1, but have the group of protagonists feel much more cut-off from any sort of support. That was well and good, but seemed to ignore the fact that you can't have a series (well received) where the protagonist fails at the end. Meaning that the only way to keep things going was to increase the stakes after every season end the season on a cliffhanger, and make it an even greater victory before the next challenge appeared in the following season.

 

The problem with Stargate Universe is that they tried to re-do the isolation of Atlantis, but have the main antagonistic force just drama and internal conflicts. With the visual style appearing more raw and real, it just left most of the audience feeling like it was some sort of reality show. Combined with the timeslot and the severe departure from the original series in both theme and mood, it kinda killed the viewership.

 

True. The whole Ba'al clones was pretty lame. I really didn't like Mitchell so much as O'Neill too. I liked it was the guy from Farscape and Vala was too, but I just saw them as their Farscape characters more than anything. Wasn't the same without General Hammond in command either. We still occasionally watch SG1 over again, but I finally got my boyfriend to start watching TNG haha :D

 

The ending to Atlantis was pretty lame. I found it incredibly rushed. They were saying something about a movie to finish it, but it never came to be.

 

Anyways lol back on topic...I wonder if Netflix has some episodes of Red Dwarf. Like to see some more of it. But like I said, re-makes/reboots never seem to work all that well.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Illiad86

[Ironman5000]

The new series of Red Dwarf is supposed to be due out next month, I am an avid fan of the series but if from what I saw in the awkward Back To Earth...series(?) the jokes have become very diluted and lame.

 

Maybe it was due to the lack of a live audience, which seemed to leave gaps of silence that just didn't sit right for me or maybe the cast have gotten beyond the point where the type of comedy is relevant to them. I hope the new series will bring back the good old humour that made the show what it is.

 

The new series (10) was filmed in front of a live audience, that said I think the main problem with Back to Earth was a lack of Rob Grant rather than a lack of an audience, the series went downhill with only Doug Naylor writing.

 

Hmm it seems i'm confronted by bigger dwarf fans than me, with you and Vagrant :tongue: I only judged by what I saw, I didn't go as far as looking past the episodes normally (maybe series 3 & 4?) but it's instinctive when something doesn't sit right.

 

Are they back together then for X then? I'm sure no matter what rob llewellyn will get a laugh out of me, he's gotta be the best one for me in the later episodes.

[Ironman5000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7opdzX_4kE

 

Ok I am feeling a little bit more optimistic :tongue: ...but what is going on with Kryten's nose? Prosthetics should have covered that surely? Maybe it's another part of newly invented lore - android ageing?