Four Fuck's Sake
Yes folks, TOS (The Official Site - another acronym we're trying to introduce) has reported the Series IV is to be repeated on BBC TWO, starting on the 30th November. After the first three series were repeated earlier this year, IV will be the first to be shown in its entirity before being released on DVD (there were a few episodes of III shown before November, but it all cocked-up after a while). Once again, the show is destined for the graveyard slot of 11:20pm on Sunday nights, but we mustn't grumble. The more people who see what a fine series it is, the better. Meltdown is the most under-rated episode of anything ever.
There was another TOS update today, about The Prop Store, but, erm, ahem. To coin a phrase: whoops! Some exclusive news, however: my mate Curtis has bought a piece of set dressing. Hooray!
There is also a short note to explain that Mr. Flibble is on a ski-ing holiday. Does this mean there's going to be an interview with Mark Steel and Louisa Ruthven? (SPOILER: No.)
Comments
I agree, Meltdown is very under rated, how people can say its the worst episode ever when DNA is alot worse.
Meltdown rules!
Posted by Drzymala at November 21, 2003 08:00 PM
DNA is just as fantastic as Meltdown. I actually reckon IV is superior to III. Not many people agree with me though. What's the general feeling here?
Posted by Cappsy at November 22, 2003 12:15 AM
III and IV are probably my favorites of the whole show, although V and VI are fantastic. And DNA is excellent, yes.
Posted by Austin Ross at November 22, 2003 12:35 AM
I find DNA rather boring personally :\ oh well! :)
Posted by Drzymala at November 22, 2003 10:10 PM
They cover the situation better in the books, granted. But it's a million times better than the likes of the a certain 16 episodes that leap to mind.
Posted by Cappsy at November 22, 2003 11:01 PM
I don't like the "all of series 7 and 8 are crap and I refuse to elaborate" argument. I aim to address this, when I can be arsed.
Although even I'll be slightly astonished to be writing an article entitled 'Series VII and VIII Are Great, Actually'. There's clearly no ridiculous quality drop between 6 and 7.
Posted by Darrell Jones at November 22, 2003 11:20 PM
I'd controvershaly [Ok, can't spell it] have 8 down as my second favourite series...And my motto has always been 'A below par Dwarf is far greater than 99.9% of the Dross on TV'....
Posted by Cpt-D at November 23, 2003 12:08 AM
"There's clearly no ridiculous quality drop between 6 and 7."
Man, there *so* is! Series 6 is one of my favourite series, and Series 7 is probably my worst. As for why, it basically boils down to the jokes (as in - there aren't nearly as many good ones), and the characters (the whole Kochanski/Kryten stuff is just irritating - and this is a show that has barely put a foot wrong with characterisation in the past. Oh, and Rimmer is sorely missed; but that's hardly the show's fault.) On the other hand, there isn't much in there that is just embarassing, unlike Series 8.
I do agree that you can't just dismiss Series 7 (and indeed 8) as complete crap; there is great stuff in every episode. "Sorry, I was looking at the baked potato timer by mistake! Will people not leave it in here? It just makes it look like we don't know what the hell we're doing!"
I do however find it amusing that you can pick any one series, and some people will say it's their favourite, and others hate it beyond belief. Back to the old argument that "it's just what you like", although that isn't hugely helpful in terms of critically disussing comedy.
Posted by John Hoare at November 23, 2003 07:39 AM
I hate 7, cept eps 1 and 2 and there are a few good moments in it in other eps and I love 8. For me every series is great, except for most of 7.
Ok, ok the humour changed slightly in 7 and 8, but come on Doug Naylor was writing it with different people or ALONE. Rob Grants imput was bound to be missed.
Posted by Drzymala at November 23, 2003 10:52 AM
I don't think the series 4 DVD will get as good reviews simply because there isn't really a true classic episode which defines series 4. It was a quality series and every episode is excellent, but its missing a Polymorph, a Back To Reality or a Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Dimension Jump was put on 6 of the best but aside from the introduction of Ace Rimmer it wasnt really that memorable, just a bit like Marooned but more tense.
Posted by Ciaran at November 23, 2003 12:31 PM
There may not be a stand-out show in IV - but there are six excellent episodes. Isn't that enough?
Posted by Ian Symes at November 23, 2003 12:39 PM
If anything thats good for the series. The fact it should be judged as a whole not on the basis of one 'crown pleasing' episode. I hate the fact that the only episodes to get recognition are the 'stand-out' ones you mentioned. Polymorph really isn't all that special, nor is Gunmen.
Posted by Cappsy at November 23, 2003 12:59 PM
I'm not having that, man. They're both fantastic episodes. Possibly a tad over-rated, but they're memorable for a reason.
Non-fans never really mention some of the classics that don't have memorable or easily-quotable scenes. Timeslides springs to mind, as does Legion.
Posted by Ian Symes at November 23, 2003 01:09 PM
Besides, Dimension Jump is definitely a stand-out episode that everyone remembers; whether that's purely because of Ace or not is irrelevant - as he *is* the episode. It's like saying "Polymorph was only good because of the Polymorph..."
There is a reason why shows like Polymorph enter classic status; but oddly, I preferred Timeslides far more last time I watched III. Certainly, it has more resonance on a character level.
Posted by John Hoare at November 23, 2003 01:19 PM
Incidentally, this seems as good a place as anywhere to mention it - sorry for the downtime yesterday. The server this site is hosted on had a major hardware faliure, and a new machine had to be installed.
I BET YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT US.
Posted by John Hoare at November 23, 2003 01:54 PM
I was crying into my keyboard.
And Ian, I wasn't saying those episodes arn''t good. The point I was making was that it pisses me off how better episodes are overlooked beacsue of the 'classic' status of some of the others.
Posted by Cappsy at November 23, 2003 04:20 PM
Regarding Red Dwarf series VII and VIII - I posted this years ago on amazon.co.uk. I still agree with most of the things I said (although I've since seen series VI again and enjoyed it more than I did back then)
** A potentially good premise wasted with bad writing, 13 August, 2001
Reviewer: A viewer from London, England
Red Dwarf was once very good indeed. But somewhere around series 6 something went wrong and the programme began to go downhill. With Rob Grant still writing, he and Doug Naylor decided to lose the Red Dwarf ship (partly because the model no longer existed) so that they could dispense with Holly and give Kryten more lines (they were having trouble sharing out the science information between them), as well as attempting to make the episodes more tight and exciting.
Certainly they achieve this to some extent, with the hunt for their ship giving the series some sense of purpose. For me, Legion is a particularly good episode. However, my feeling is that by this stage, the long-running series had become formulaic. Almost every episode began with about 7 minutes of them in the cockpit, followed by a dilemma requiring them to leave the 'bug in some way, with everything being tied up by the end. Repeated jokes like Cat's "We're deader than... (an unfashionable item of clothing)" took their toll, as did Kryten correcting Rimmer's attempts at Space Corp Directives.
So series 7 took a different angle. Rob Grant had left the writing team. Much is said of why they didn't film with a studio audience, and many critised the series as it stood without Rimmer. Personally I think its biggest problems were the lack of decent characterisation and the terrible scripting. The Cat was no longer a cat, and Kryten no longer stood as a character different to the others. In fact, with the words they spoke and the way they behaved, each character was basically no different to any of the others in the crew. The writing and performance swayed between complete dullness (there were times when the lines they spoke could have been spoken by any of them - notice how all the characters, even Kryten and the man who discovers Lister's box under the pool table, regularly spurt the cheap line that uses the basic structure: "It's larger/sharper/flatter/whatever than (something that is very large/sharp/flat/whatever)"), and mindless parody of Red Dwarf itself. Lister's emotional performance which resulted from the ship's lack of curry was to me one of Red Dwarf's lowest moments. Toe-curlingly bad. Here, and elsewhere in series 7 we see that the characters have become pantomime re-inventions of their past selves. And without the tight hunt for Red Dwarf, series 7 lacked the urgency or need for anything. It was completely and utterly pointless. Two episodes stood out though: "Stoke me a Clipper", which respectfully dealt with Rimmer's exit in a suitable re-incorporation of Ace Rimmer (not like the daft re-incorporation of fan-loved characters in series 6's "Emohawk"); and "Blue", which highlighted Lister and Rimmer's relationship in a sensitive and (with the "Rimmer Experience" at the end) amusing way.
And onto series 8. I thought that the premise was fantastic. To bring back Red Dwarf with its crew had so much potential - potential which I think here is wasted. Why? Once again, terrible scripting and bad performances. The "Reservoir Dogs" walk through the corridor, Kryten's "I'm feeling an emotion, OOH! AAH! I'm feeling two emotions, my files are corrupting!", the snogging scenes following the use of the sexual magnetism virus, and the final caption: "The End ...the smeg it is" are only four examples (and series 8 is full of them) of the characters and humour being exaggerated and simplified to the point of such one-dimensionality that it is not only quite tedious and unremarkable, but uncomfortable to watch in the memory of what the series used to be.
And with the early series of Red Dwarf being remastered and those videos replacing all the originals, it is no longer possible for newcomers to the series to follow its natural evolution in style and content.
Posted by Walzing Matilda at November 23, 2003 04:37 PM
That was a review for the Series VIII, Byte I video by the way.
Posted by Walzing Matilda at November 23, 2003 04:40 PM
Just one point. Having no Red Dwarf model wouldn't have posed as a problem. They had enough stock footage of Red Dwarf to last them.
I agree with most of that, though. But I suppose all fan boys need something moan about with their favourate show.
Posted by Cappsy at November 23, 2003 06:50 PM
They also probably could have rebuilt the model, based on said stock footage.
Posted by Austin Ross at November 23, 2003 09:37 PM
I doubt they wanted to spend the money on rebuilding the Red Dwarf model when they couldn't really justify it. Spending thousands on a new model just for a couple of new stock shots would have been a big expense.
Posted by Adam Bailey at November 24, 2003 07:46 AM
They *did* rebuild the model, in fact - for Red Dwarf V. Indeed, if you look at the new shots of Red Dwarf in V, it's obviously a different model. Slightly less detailed, and a slightly different colour. Still looks great, though. (For a bit more on this, see the Model Behaviour article in the Movie section). They blew the model up for Demons and Angels, but there isn't any reason why they couldn't have rebuilt it again.
Excellent review though, Waltzing Matilda - it makes some interesting and cogent points. VI *is* quite formulaic - but my opinion tends to be that if the formula is that good, it doesn't matter. Also, as for VII not having any running plot like VI - I don't think that really matters, seeing as all previous series apart from VI didn't have an arc plot either. I do agree that the episodes lack urgency, though - comic energy, if you will. Scenes fall flat in a way that they never used to.
Absolutely agreed that Stoke and Blue are the best eps in VII - Stoke isn't actually that funny for a lot of it (although there is the odd gem), but it's the best possible way they could have written Rimmer out. (Off the point, but I really enjoy Emohawk, even if it is probably the weakest ep of VI - it's got some fantastic jokes in it, and you have to give the ep credit for being three sequels in one. It just falls down by being the first episode that isn't really *about* anything.) And Blue is very good indeed in places; the whole Rimmer Experience is one of my favourite pieces of Red Dwarf ever. Although one bit that always annoys me in Blue is when Lister calls Cat Rimmer - it's an odd bit of naturalistic dialogue embedded in the usual kind of sitcom-talk (for want of a better phrase), and it just seems totally out of place. Maybe it was supposed to be like that, though - feel awkward...
I should probably get on with some work. Ahem.
Posted by John Hoare at November 24, 2003 07:57 AM
Tikka really is infuriating, you know. It starts off terribly (the crap resolution to the VI ending, and that awful lost curry scene) - but from Kryten's head being opened up and propped open like a car bonnet, it's just brilliant. Really, really good - funny, beautifully shot (the location stuff is amazing, and the assasination itself just incredibly well done) - and it has plenty of comic energy. The Texas Book Depositary scene is just great; even the weaker jokes work, and work well.
After that ep, the series really goes down the pan comedywise. Not to say there aren't excellent jokes later on - but it's just not remotely consistent. The last 20mins of Tikka (bar the bad beating Lister stuff up at the end) - if all of VII had been like that, I wouldn't be whinging.
Posted by John Hoare at November 24, 2003 08:26 AM
After seeing the documentary on Kennedy's assassination last night I've decided that Tikka to Ride is even worse.
How about we just keep the bits of that episode that were left out (but included on extended), like the bit with Lister stuck on Starbug's rear section and drifting away into the distance, put them into a Stoke/Blue hybrid, then bin the rest of VII? Perhaps we could form a new resolution to the VI cliffhanger (with a series III style explanation? - or just leave it unexplained, or edit one from various conversations that work in a beginning of series VI way of recap), create one 90 minute thing, and call the episode something catchy, release it as what really happened after series VI, and pretend that the rest of series VII and VIII never happened.
Yada! What the remastered money should have been spent on!
Posted by Pumperknickle at November 24, 2003 10:46 AM
One 60 minute thing, I should have said. 90 minutes would be three entire episodes. It would be damn near impossible to even get 90 minutes of high-density good stuff from the entire series VII, so let's call it 60 minutes.
Posted by Pumperknickle at November 24, 2003 01:47 PM
What would have happenned if Rob Grant had done VII and VIII on his own? I think the outcome would have been much better.
Posted by Cappsy at November 24, 2003 03:29 PM
Thinking that Rob Grant is the better of the pair is a nasty assumption, and grounded in sod-all. Truth is, they were a bloody excellent writing *partnership*.
Naylor's solo Dwarf is generally disliked, but that does not mean that Rob Grant is what made Red Dwarf good. Had Grant written the last two series on his own it still wouldn't have been anything near to the standard of the partnership.
And when people use the old "ah, but Backwards is better than Last Human" 'argument', they never mention that most of Backwards is based on Grant and Naylor scripts anyway.
It's not as ridiculous as the people who assume any faults with series 1-6 are entirely the fault of Naylor, though. They're just idiots.
Posted by Darrell Jones at November 24, 2003 04:10 PM
I had an odd idea regarding a possible feature for
one of the RD related sites which could get everyone involved with input 'The Red Dwarf Comedy
Family Tree'....
We can all link Grant/Naylor, Chris and Robert with Spitting Image but what about the odd links
regarding people who have appeared, I was surprised to find a link directly to Python involving Don Henderson and Robert Bathurst while reading my Python Encyclopedia, I even came up with a strangulated link to Chloe Annett. There must be hundreds..Ok, just a thought and maybe I have too much time on my hands :)
Posted by Cpt-D at November 24, 2003 11:38 PM
reading that series 7 and 8, i agree with the comments on series 7, duct soup was the worst episode ever i think - and the extended version of that episdoe did not help matters further. Kochanski was completely annoying and whiney,
series 8 did perk up a little, but some of the eps sent me to snooze land early. i think pete prt 1 and 2 and the first back in the red epsiodes were the best ones out of that series and also casandra wasn't too bad.
Posted by klariza at November 25, 2003 12:17 AM
I can't believe it's that easy to slip into series 7/8 debate mode.
Posted by Joey at November 25, 2003 09:22 AM
I feel ashamed. A perfectly good chance to talk about the not-very-much-discussed-comparitavely IV, and we SPOIL IT.
Posted by John Hoare at November 25, 2003 09:30 AM
"Thinking that Rob Grant is the better of the pair is a nasty assumption, and grounded in sod-all. Truth is, they were a bloody excellent writing *partnership*."
I bet "what's an iguana?" was Naylor's line.
"It's not as ridiculous as the people who assume any faults with series 1-6 are entirely the fault of Naylor, though. They're just idiots."
UNTRUE. That is untrue.
Posted by Menues for Venues, Horses for Courses, Rafters for Afters at November 25, 2003 09:49 AM
The two episodes in series 7 which everybody says are the best in series 7, "Blue" and "Stoke Me A Clipper", are only the best because they involve Rimmer. All of the other episodes in series 7 don't involve Rimmer.
Posted by Jessica Malcolm at November 25, 2003 10:34 AM
Apart from Tikka to Ride. And Ouroboros (albiet briefly). But then, Tikka *is* one of the top three eps, along with Stoke and Blue. I agree that the series *would* have been far better with Rimmer there full-time - but it would also have been better if Kochanski was a better character (more like she is in Last Human). That's one thing they corrected slightly in VIII (ie. she's not annoying, and gets a few good lines. Hopefully she'll be much better than that in the movie, though.)
Best line in Blue: "You're quite right, sir, as usual. How could I have made such an elementary mistake? As usual."
Posted by John Hoare at November 25, 2003 10:44 AM
The reason Stoke and Blue are the best eps of VII is that they are better written and performed in a more relaxed, genuine way than the others. That they are *nostalgic* about Rimmer is probably more relevant than the fact he's in the episodes. There's poignancy in there, and it's done in an appropriate way. We feel sad that Rimmer is going, and they don't milk that but give us a moving farewell, rather than just a funny one (as a Holoship-style exit would have been).
Actually bringing (a different version of) the character back in for VIII cancelled this really casually, like "Oh never mind, he's back now", and left me feeling sad in the stomach like those recent Only Fools and Horses eps that cancelled out the "millionaire" scenario/conclusion.
Posted by Menues for Venues, Horses for Courses, Rafters for Afters at November 25, 2003 12:32 PM
Interestingly, one of the original endings to 'Only The Good...' was that Ace Rimmer would save the day (Chris Barrie was busy getting into his Ace gear when Doug thought of the current ending, it reveals in the VIII scriptbook). Now, that immediately sounds like a bloody awful idea - but if you think about it a bit more, it means our old Rimmer saving the resurrected Rimmer. Which puts a bit of a different spin on things. It could have been a good way of doing it after all; and given the resurrection of Rimmer a bit of resonance that was previously missing.
Throughout all of VIII you feel that Doug wanted to get the show back to being a COMEDY. Which is fine; but he probably went too far in trying to come up with the jokes, and spent not enough time on the characters/storyline/etc. Which is a pity. As I keep saying - combine the best bits of VII and VIII, and you'd have a wonderful series.
Posted by John Hoare at November 25, 2003 12:44 PM
I never thought the Ace Rimmer ending would have been particularly bad because I always had that in my mind. Bringing in Death seems like the result of trying too hard to come up with an original idea to me. Ace Rimmer is much more within the world of Dwarf (rather than attacking its inner consistency), and if done well would have been what you said, but if done badly (ie in the typical series VIII way) could have been just another audience pleasing "cheer, hooray it's Ace Rimmer" ala Emohawk. Just like the fucking Dibbley family were in fact, except we weren't say hooray, we were saying "oh god, no". I might add that had Death been mentioned earlier in the episode or series, and "kneeing him in the bollocks" used as a reincorporation of a similar line in Future Echoes, the Death sequence at the end of Only the Good would have felt less arbitrary and more satisfying. A storytelling tip there folks - shelve ideas and come back to them later to give them purpose. Populate your world with details so you have something to look back on when you need structure. Death was a typical example of "straining to find a good idea", looking desperately outwards rather than back, and it felt forced.
If done in a dream-like way, Rimmer's point of view, Ace Rimmer stepping into shot, holding out an arm, saying something appropriate in almost slow motion, it could have been really warming, something as touching and thrilling as the death of Ace Rimmer leaving our Rimmer alone in series VII. It could have been the soul to series VIII. It could have left the door open for series IX without promising it. It wouldn't have been a fucking stupid cliffhanger, and we would have been excited about what could happen next.
In the sense that we know Death won't be returning as a regular in series IX, we are left with much less of a cliffhanger than the Ace one would have been. We *know* that the sequence with death was Rimmer's imagination, so the opportunities for what happens next seems limited to either the 5 regular members alone on a cured Dwarf, or them racing around again in the 'bug or some other vessel like series VI - VII. Either way, a lot less mysterious than the consideration of which Rimmer we might be left with.
Some people have said there's to be no more Dwarf in TV series form. Even more reason not to have ended VIII the way they did, I say.
Posted by Menues for Venues, Horses for Courses, Rafters for Afters at November 25, 2003 02:09 PM
I absolutely agree. You've obviously thought it through a lot earlier and a lot better than I have. Hooray!
The Death stuff would have made an amusing enough "What the FUCK?" ending, to be honest, without the caption, although Ace would have been far better, obviously. I also *really* like the idea of the originally shot ending, where the Dwarfers gain control of the Red Dwarf again, returning the series to its status quo; and we have a montage of the Dwarfers doing all their usual fun type things. That would also have been a meaningful end to the series. As would have 'Earth'... in fact, *anything* but the one they ended up with!
My personal preference for winding up the cliffhanger (because I'm pretty certain there won't be another series) - the movie is a success, and they do more - and three or four movies down the line they enter a parallel universe and toss off a quick 2 minute ending to the series. Now, *that* would be funny; deliberately anti-climatic, and vaguely clever, if it was tied into the main plot in a good way and not awfully levered in.
Posted by John Hoare at November 25, 2003 02:46 PM
Actually, maybe levering it in roughly would be funnier...
Posted by John Hoare at November 25, 2003 02:48 PM
Talking of Stoke Me A Clipper... I think thats the most underated episode. It would have been taken much more seriously if it was aired further in the series
Posted by Curtis Threadgold at November 25, 2003 05:26 PM
Hang on !..Naylors stuff is largely disliked,!!
I can understand people not liking the latter series and that is their choice, But, correct me if I'm wrong but the BBC and GNP reckon the viewing figures for Ser VIII were higher than the earlier stuff..This may be down to a new generation of Kids tuning in for VIII, I know my Boy and his mates prefer VIII and have gone back to the earlier stuff after watching VIII...Maybe Ser VII and VIII are more in tune with a younger audiance, who knows...But saying they are largely disliked seems incorrect to me although perhaps the older fans who have grown with it from the start prefer the earlier joint efforts. I'm probably one of the Oldest/Aged fans on line and VIII is my favourite after III so I guess it's down to personal taste at the end of the day.
Posted by Cpt-D at November 25, 2003 08:47 PM
High viewing figures does not necesserily mean the series is well-recieved. After all, VIII ended with a quarter of the viewers it had at the start.
Posted by Ian Symes at November 25, 2003 09:25 PM
Really, I've been trying to find the figures but can't..I still think there are lot of people out there who like VIII..My view overall is everyone is entitled to a view and someones got to stick up for ser VII & VIII...BTL's DJ survey raised some interesting Points with VIII in 6th place and
VII last, whilst their previous survey showed VIII in 2nd place..The Poll also showed Ser II in second place now whereas it was 2nd from bottom last time out.....2 polls ago VII was runner up..
This of course only tells us, That Peoples views may change..And of Course last DJ was not long after the release of the Ser II DVD.....
Series V seems to have remained the top all round.
Surprisingly perhaps, Cassandra beat Backwards in the all time top episodes with Krytie TV only just behind..Maybe there are a few Ser VIII fans after all :)
Posted by Cpt-D at November 25, 2003 10:53 PM
Sorry, but there's no way I'm letting that be the final word on this thread.
Posted by Instead of Bawling at November 27, 2003 01:47 PM
I really like series 7, and don't really like 5.
I'll concede that series 8 is a mess with big flappy bollocks hanging off it, but it's still got some great bits in it.
Posted by Darrell Jones at November 27, 2003 08:50 PM
Darrell, you're welcome to series VII. Take it. You might as well take the series that follows it too, since the cliffhanger is unresolved without it.
Posted by Fuck off VII, VIII and Remastered at November 27, 2003 11:36 PM
"Fuck off VII, VIII and Remastered"
Controversy, there!
Posted by Darrell Jones at November 28, 2003 01:34 AM
He can't help it. It's his name.
Posted by Sideline at November 28, 2003 09:37 AM
Would this be a good place to point out that I've just bought the BBC videos in one foul swoop? I feel quite pleased with myself at present, as you can imagine.
Sorry about that, I just couldn't keep it to myself.
Posted by Darrell Jones at December 3, 2003 08:49 PM
By 'the BBC videos' I mean all the releases up to Xtended (not including Six of the Best). Vols 1-15 basically.
WOOHOO!
Posted by Darrell Jones at December 3, 2003 08:50 PM
Excellent.
Now, watch Series V and realise it's great. IMMEDIATELY.
Posted by John Hoare at December 3, 2003 09:06 PM
I've only ever watched V once, and I had to watch it whilst doing other things because I had to take the vids back to the library that day. Reasoned critique of series 5's Darrell Jones, there.
Anyway, it'll be the first one on the VCR when they arrive, so I'll let you know.
P.S. 'Back In The Red' part 1 is VERY GOOD.
Posted by Darrell Jones at December 3, 2003 09:57 PM
BITR starts off pretty bad in my view (the first new bunkroom scene is just plain not very good) - and the line "And don't say I didn't alert you!" ruins a perfectly good joke. But from the crash onwards, it is very good indeed; you can see exactly what Doug was trying to do with the series. If only there hadn't been the budget probs...
"Now, you're ROBOT, aren't you?"
Posted by John Hoare at December 4, 2003 07:58 AM
The endless repetition of the "double-check that the chair is really fixed down for me" line is fucking dreadful in my opinion.
Posted by Gorgonzola at December 4, 2003 01:56 PM
Oddly enough, I quite like that; I find the repetition funny. I know masses of people hate it, though.
I also find Hollister spraying the toilet as he comes out of it very funny; it's a very cheap joke, but Mac plays it so well.
Never liked the last line of the ep, though...
Posted by John Hoare at December 5, 2003 07:53 AM
What was that line?
Incidentally, anyone see the programme last night on sci-fi shows? I think RD was very near the top of the list. Showed loads of remastered clips though (grrr).
Posted by Sideline at December 5, 2003 09:41 AM
"The world loves a bastard!" It's just not a good line. Mind you, it's better than the last moments of BITR2 with the Dibbly skutters; a show just doesn't work when it's split up from an hour episode into three half hours...
Posted by John Hoare at December 5, 2003 11:13 AM
"a show just doesn't work when it's split up from an hour episode into three half hours..."
A stupid generalisation John. Doug Naylor was being crap, that's all.
Posted by Simcard at December 5, 2003 11:47 AM
Well, I was really specifically referring to cliffhangers; I should have made that a bit clearer. If you shoot a show as an hour long show, and then cut it into three and shoot some filler material, it'd be extremely difficult to get the ends of the eps to work. If they do, it's pure luck.
Posted by John Hoare at December 5, 2003 12:03 PM
> Incidentally, anyone see the programme last night on sci-fi shows? I think RD was very near the top of the list. Showed loads of remastered clips though (grrr).
FUCK
Posted by Ian Symes at December 5, 2003 02:00 PM
I watched all of series 4 today on video - I thought that the first three episodes were a bit bland and uneventful, yet the last three were fantastic, with 'Meltdown' and 'White Hole' in particular being superb and jam-packed with both engaging plot and amusing funnies.
Well whaddya know? I hadn't seen series 4 for ages and now I don't know what to make of it as a whole. I think 'White Hole' should have been on Six of the Best, even though that would have removed the possible subtitle to the set of 'The Watch Emohawk Comfortably Survival Pack'.
Posted by Darrell Jones at December 29, 2003 10:47 PM
I've just had another discussion on Usenet with someone who thinks that Dwarf went downhill after Series 3. And the same argument cropped up again - that after that series, the programme didn't have the same kind of feeling of loneliness as the first three series.
Which is fair enough - but then, is this really what made the show great in the first place? I always responded to the great jokes, character interaction, and interesting sci-fi ideas - not some kind of mood of loneliness. True, it's present to some extent in the first three series and then disappears (more or less) - but does this really matter? When you're sitting there pissing yourself over yet another superbly-crafted joke in VI, I can't feel that there is anything missing.
Posted by John Hoare at December 30, 2003 11:52 AM
Series 5 is brilliant!
I think Terrorform and Back To Reality are the weak ones. I know Back To Reality's really popular but there just isn't that much to laugh at in it. Terrorform's just dull, and it has a misjudged ending too.
Quarantine's my favourite - some brilliant character stuff in that amongst all the gingham antics that tend to overshadow the rest of it. The 'mad Rimmer' stuff *is* great, but so is the rest of the episode!
The Inquisitor and Demons and Angels are also belters - they feel very tightly packed.
I'd want to see the 42 minute version of Holoship (fingers crossed for the DVD) before judging it in too much detail.
Posted by Darrell Jones at December 30, 2003 06:20 PM
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