forum.comicostrich.com

[Ben Paddon]

I think at this stage Grant Naylor Productions might be better off cutting their losses and trying to recast for the film. Doug Naylor has been trying for ten years to get someone to pick it up and I think by now that the actors have simply aged out of their respective roles. It's a shame but it's true.

That said, I wouldn't mind seeing a fresh take on the characters. I've also been re-reading Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and I think that would adapt incredibly well as a motion picture if all else fails.
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[Selezen]

Agreed. I know you and the others talk a few times about comic retcons and reboots, and maybe it's time Grant Naylor (or whichever of them is still working on it) consolidated all the material they have put together and relaunch it. The books (especially the first two) kind of redefined the RD universe, and the series ran to catch up but never quite made it and ended up being a bastardised union of original series material and stuff from the books. Continuity became a swear word!

I think you're right - recast it and start over with a big movie (based on Infinity Welcomes...?) and see where it leads!

I think where it started to go wrong was when Kryten started to take over Holly's role (usually stated to be the start of series 4) and became more than just a simple bog-bot. Then the core of the series (the comic interaction between the characters) took second place to throwaway gags and one-line jibes. I think it reached rock bottom when the comedy all focused around the Cat's nasal abilities. By series 6 the show had lost everything that made it good - showcased by the fact that the fans had screamed for more episodes set on Red Dwarf itself and the producers' response was to lose Red Dwarf altogether! I know the story about Angels and Demons and blowing up the model and not being able to make another one and all the stuff around that, but seriously... Any production team with any sense would have cut thier losses at that point and said "ok, that's a good place to leave it, finish on a high" and stopped. Instead, what they did was grind the concept into the dirt. Series 8 was a good attempt at trying to get back to basics, and was better in parts than six and seven, but just wasn't the Red Dwarf that the fans wanted. It was more like a cross between a poor man's Star Trek and Blake's 7 with modern special effects. At least they managed to finally give the fans one thing they had asked for two series earlier - most of it was on the Red Dwarf!

See? Told you I can talk about it as much as you can! <winky smiley>
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[Ben Paddon]

Y'see, I enjoyed pretty much every series of the show except for the last one. The show did change a lot over the eleven years it was in production, but I think the constant change kept it fresh and new. Series VI is very different from series I, but they're still quality shows.

Series VII and VIII are a point of contention for a lot of fans. I honestly like series VII - it contains some of the best moments of the show overall. The Kennedy Assassination episode, while littered with Timedrive-related plotholes, is one of the finest episodes of the show to date. I loved that the show moved towards a story-driven format, although sacrificing much of the humour for this was a bit of a wonky trade-off. I also loved the production values. That film effect fans are constantly lamenting over added a nice layer of sheen to the show. It's just a shame that the CG was so wobbly - the "Remastered" version of Tikka To Ride on the Series VII DVD shows us just how good the CG could have been.

But I digress.
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[Selezen]

Yeah, the CGI elements in the latter series were damn good, especially considering the reluctance with which the BBC throw money at sci-fi things. Tikka To Ride was indeed good, and was probably my favourite of series VI/VII. The comedy was good and the concept was good.

It's a difficult thing to weight up, really (at least for me). Series 1 and 2 are always going to be classic red dwarf to me, and changing the format didn't sit well with me. I could cope with series 3, series 4 was my least favourite (apart from the Ace Rimmer concept) and Series 5 managed to be both funny and good sci-fi. If I'm being realistic I suppose that they had to change the format somewhat since it was probably easy to run out of ideas for the original format.

Series 8 was always a bit of a mixed bag to me. The concept was good, and I was looking forward to it. Episode 1 was good, but from there it slid into something less that what I was expecting. It lost a lot of the character interaction that made RD what it was, and the addition of the whole crew and a bunch of criminals made it something completely different...
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[Ben Paddon]

I really didn't like Season 8. I didn't have a problem with the crew being resurrected, but the prison stuff seemed incredibly forced. Also... a fucking dinosaur?!
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[Selezen]

Tell me about it. The dinosaur was too much.

Prison stuff wasn't funny, which is sad in a comedy show. The interaction with Captain Hollister was pretty good and always good for a laugh. Mac MacDonald is a funny looking man anyway, so that always works.
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[Ben Paddon]

Actually, I just remembered there's a dinosaur in Jump Leads #1 (or a giraffe, depending on which version you read).
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[Axonite]

[Ben Paddon]

No... not the American pilot! NOOO!!!!!

All jokes aside, there's a wonderful documentary on the Series V DVD about the making of this pilot. It goes into detail about the problems that Rob Grant and Doug Naylor ran into over in the US, and underlines the significant differences between how American networks make TV and how British networks do it.
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[Axonite]

The American pilot did seem like a strange cross between the original version and something a US network might expect! Parts of it did work (I liked the "fire exit" sign bit), but other parts just seemed awkward.
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[Selezen]

It's all just stereotypical American tv making.

SCENE: INT PRODUCERS OFFICE, 1980s DECOR

US: "So, why can't we change this Lister dude into a hunk?"

UK: "Because it's not funny! It's only funny if the last surviving human is a slob! A no-hoper! One who sweats curry! It's a dystopian view of what the ultimate destiny of the human race will be!!!"

US: "But if he's a slob, no-one will be able to identify with it, dude! No-one in the USA wears dirty clothes!! Have you ever seen Friends?"

UK: "No, it won;t be invented for another decade, my good fellow!"

US: "OK, how about if we make Lister be from New Jersey? Is that slobby enough?"
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[Entity325]

I'd have to see the British pilot to know what was changed, but from the 5 or so minutes I saw, that looked like a mash of British comedy with typical American sitcom fare.

Bleh. American sitcoms.

[Ben Paddon]

The entire British series is up on Vuze (http://www.vuze.com/) and NetFlix in the US. Obviously those are pay services, though.
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