Brittas Series Two Review
Yes folks, in what we hope will be a nice bit of practice for Red Dwarf III, we've managed to pull one of our special contacts and get hold of a copy of The Brittas Empire Series Two on DVD, before the actual release date! And relax. The disc arrived yesterday, and I've written a nice little review, so you can decide whether or not to nip down to HMV tomorow morning. For those of you who can't be arsed reading the review, the short answer is: yes.
We've also updated the episode guide, with a full guest cast list for each series two episode. The bloody Radio Times didn't bother to list them all originally. *sigh* Still, I suppose Brittas does have quite a large regular cast, so there probably wasn't room for all those guests. But there's no excuse for STUPIDITY.
Comments
I have enjoyed the episodes I've seen on Granada Plus far too much not to invest in these.
There are far too many superb TV comedy DVDs coming out from now to Christmas - it's now my ambition to try and bag them all before 2004.
I will fail, obviously.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 20, 2003 01:52 AM
If you have Granada Plus, set the video for 4am-4:45am tomorrow (or tonight if you see it like that), because it's the Fegen and Norris swansong - the 'In the Beginning' 2019-set special, which should have ended the series, really.
I don't think Series 6 and 7 are even worth acknowledging. A load of jobbing hacks molesting the corpse of a great sitcom - not for me, thank you.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 20, 2003 10:01 PM
Thanks for the pointer, I'll tape that. I seem to recall liking the last two series at the time, but then, I was 10 and 11 when they aired.
Posted by Ian Symes at October 20, 2003 10:13 PM
I remember 'In The Beginning' being quite good as a drama, but not particuarly good in the comedy area of things. Seeing as I haven't got G+ though, I guess I'll have to wait for the DVD release. Which won't be far away if they keep releasing them at this rate.
Posted by John Hoare at October 22, 2003 02:26 AM
Thanx for the review :-)
I ordered my DVD from Amazon, and it STILL has not been dispatched! That's the last time I ever order from there! I can't wait to get it.
Posted by Bob the Skutter at October 22, 2003 08:50 AM
6.1 was on last night - it was fucking awful. Mere words cannot describe what a mockery it made of all the plot strands that had been carefully assembled by Fegen and Norris over the course of series 5.
It was virtually "hello Mr. Brittas, back from the dead I see, not taking your job in Brussels then? Oh, well, never mind, as Linda's pregnant, Carol's returned from Austria, Colin's stopped seeing the milkman, and there's a new character who does fuck-all. Bye. P.S. WE DO NOT MENTION LAURA. Oh, I almost forgot, we have an unresolved plot strand about a bomb which we've not pissed all over yet."
The 'Colin asking Linda to marry him' scenes were nicked virtually ad vertabim from an episode in the previous series involving Colin and Carol, as was a scene in which Helen is trying to have sex with Gordon in his office, also photocopied out of the previous run.
In short, it was even worse than I thought it would be. The last two series are a disgrace, due to the lack of the original writing team dynamic. Hmm, wonder where I've heard that sentence before...
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 22, 2003 05:08 PM
Ho! You final paragraph reminds me of an article I was going to do ages ago...
Posted by Ian Symes at October 22, 2003 08:29 PM
I'm quite surprised to say that 6.2 was excellent - I even remembered it from original transmission (it's the 'block of ice' one).
I shall be paying close attention to the writing credits for these last two series - perhaps some writers could hack it and others couldn't?
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 23, 2003 03:47 PM
Personally I think Red Dwarf hit what should have been its swansong at the end of series 5 with Back to Reality. Series 6 was funny and had many great moments, and also a good cliffhanger, but I wish it hadn't ended on a cliffhanger, because it necessitates the inclusion of series 7 for its completion, and that requires series 8.
I treat series 1-5 as *real* Red Dwarf, series 6 as superb additional material, and series 7-8 never happened. Not even as deleted scenes, folks.
And yes I know this is a Brittas Empire thread.
Posted by Pimperton Gales at October 24, 2003 11:21 AM
Interesting news - Granada Plus are playing series 6 in its original intended order, with 'We All Fall Down' (initally postponed due to the Dunblane massacre) appearing in its original place of 6.3.
6.1 is not a good judge of this series - the rest is actually quite good, surprisingly.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 24, 2003 04:41 PM
As for Dwarf, there's absolutely nothing wrong with series 6 is any way at all, and people complaining about the Space Corps Directives running joke are insane. Of course it's 'real Red Dwarf'! So are series 7 and 8, in fact.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 24, 2003 05:01 PM
Are you a VII and VIII fan, Darrell? If so, fancy doing another article for us? What d'you mean "fuck off, you cheeky cunt"?
Posted by Ian Symes at October 24, 2003 09:09 PM
I'm a VII fan, actually, and I quite like VIII as well. So there you go.
I'd happily do an article, but I haven't seen them for a while and don't have copies of either (loads of tapes of stuff I recorded disappeared in a house move). I'll try and badger someone for copies.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 24, 2003 09:31 PM
A series VII fanatic? Wow, I've heard of people finding it tolerable, but to go beyond liking it and into fanaticism is really unusual as far as my experience has shown. I'd like to read an article that reflects such a viewpoint. I'm sure I'd find it quite enlightening.
Posted by Standalone Version (Does Not Require Extra Parts) at October 24, 2003 11:52 PM
Gah - Darrell is a bigger RD fan than me or Ian!
Certain parts of VII are just brilliant. The whole Rimmer Experience is fantastic (the song is good, but doesn't work out of context; you need to watch the ep to appreciate it). The line "You're quite right sir, as usual. How could I have made such an elementary mistake? As usual." is one of my favourite jokes ever. As is the baked potato timer gag. As is Kryten's "Definitely hypnotic - but not in the right way." Blue is just great fullstop (opinion copyright Ian Symes). Actually, Tikka, Stoke, and Blue are quite good (with a few annoying bits - such as the start and end of Tikka). The rest of the episodes I find rather too patchy, although there is some great stuff in there. And some diabolical, or plain boring stuff too (most of the Kochanski bits, for instance).
As for VIII - well, first I liked it, then I hated it, now I quite like it again - if I'm in the right mood. Krytie TV is the perfect example of the dichotomy of VIII - some great jokes, the odd embarrassing bit, and it's just not really about much. Great on its own terms, but wanting when compared to older episodes. I do find them far more watchable than VII. Cassandra is brilliant, apart from a slightly dodgy start - if all the episodes had been like that I wouldn't be whinging.
I still maintain "The post's arrived" is a very good joke, despite Ian's protests.
Posted by John Hoare at October 25, 2003 06:35 AM
If you steal my opinions, get them right. I think Blue is brilliant in parts, but it goes very dull in the middle. Every time I find myself nearly liking VII or VIII, my mind is filled with thoughts of Ouroboros, Duct Soup, Beyond A Joke, Epideme, Nanarchy, Back In The Red Three, Pete Two...
Posted by Ian Symes at October 25, 2003 11:50 AM
Yes, you're quite correct. I got carried away. There are some very dodgy bits in Blue. But the great bits make it one of the best eps of VII, and well worth watching.
The thing is that this was never the case before. When people (specifically, fans) talk about hating an episode from the first six series, or disliking a huge chunk of an episode, I find it completely bizzare. There's the odd bit here and there that might be a bit poor, but 99% of it is fabulous. This is the problem with VII/VIII - they're patchy in a way that Red Dwarf *never* was before, in all 36 episodes. Even Series I.
Posted by John Hoare at October 25, 2003 01:17 PM
I've just realised I have something on tape that could be included on one of the DVDs! Eureka need to be told! Extra-good it that's it's from an ITV show, who are more helpful than the BBC, apparently.
A few years ago, Carlton made a comedy documentary series entitled 'What a Performance!' presented by Bob Monkhouse. In the 'Slapstick' episode, there was a little chunk about the slapstick elements of the Brittas Empire, which used several clips built around an interview with Harriet Thorpe (no pointless talking heads or anything). I have a copy of this, in fact. Essentially it's just an Thorpe interview - perfect for an extra!
I'll also go about tracking down a copy of that staff training video made out of Brittas clips. With a bit of luck we can get these on the DVDs!
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 26, 2003 11:01 PM
Darrell - I'll e-mail you with the address of my contact at Eureka. My e-mail isn't working at the moment, though...
Posted by Ian Symes at October 26, 2003 11:06 PM
Thanks for that. I've sent a lengthy email off in the hope that something can come of my suggestions.
Posted by Darrell Jones at October 27, 2003 12:06 AM
Exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent.
Posted by John Hoare at October 27, 2003 12:12 AM
Post a comment
<trackback>
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://admin.ofla.info/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/40
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Brittas Series Two Review' from Ganymede and Titan.