Avaris
2009-04-11, 06:36 PM
Surprised there was no thread on this tbh... or at least none recently.
So, at time of writing we are 2 episodes into the three part 'Back to Earth' mini-series on Dave. I'm interested to know what peoples thoughts are... mine are certainly a mixed bag.
On the basis of the first episode alone, it felt poor. The lack of a studio audience really hurt it, and the story/jokes, while reasonable, were not up to old standard imo (though this is perhaps unfair; we remember the best jokes after all). The now cgi effects didn't add much, and in fact took away from the essential 'Red-dwarfiness'. If the series had continued this way, it would be an ignoble end to a once mighty show.
However...
The second episode was... interesting. Due to the nature of it, I feel spoiler text is appropriate.
Long story short, the characters discovered they were in a tv show, and ended up in present day earth. This was, to say the least, unexpected. It puts me in mind of the League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, and is essentially the same premise. Jokes etc were still nothing special, but episode 2 has completly changed my perspective of 'Back to Earth'.
It seems to me that the intention of Back to Earth was not merely to recreate Red Dwarf, but to signify a sort of rebirth for it, in a new home on Dave. The episode is clever in suggesting that in the reality they find themselves in there have been 10 series of Red Dwarf (at least) opposed to the 8 we have. This freed them from dealing with the cliffhanger of the last one. To me, the producers seem to have accepted that they will not be making Red Dwarf as it was, but I am expecting the final episode to indicate the direction Red Dwarf will take in the future. Thoughts?
So, at time of writing we are 2 episodes into the three part 'Back to Earth' mini-series on Dave. I'm interested to know what peoples thoughts are... mine are certainly a mixed bag.
On the basis of the first episode alone, it felt poor. The lack of a studio audience really hurt it, and the story/jokes, while reasonable, were not up to old standard imo (though this is perhaps unfair; we remember the best jokes after all). The now cgi effects didn't add much, and in fact took away from the essential 'Red-dwarfiness'. If the series had continued this way, it would be an ignoble end to a once mighty show.
However...
The second episode was... interesting. Due to the nature of it, I feel spoiler text is appropriate.
Long story short, the characters discovered they were in a tv show, and ended up in present day earth. This was, to say the least, unexpected. It puts me in mind of the League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, and is essentially the same premise. Jokes etc were still nothing special, but episode 2 has completly changed my perspective of 'Back to Earth'.
It seems to me that the intention of Back to Earth was not merely to recreate Red Dwarf, but to signify a sort of rebirth for it, in a new home on Dave. The episode is clever in suggesting that in the reality they find themselves in there have been 10 series of Red Dwarf (at least) opposed to the 8 we have. This freed them from dealing with the cliffhanger of the last one. To me, the producers seem to have accepted that they will not be making Red Dwarf as it was, but I am expecting the final episode to indicate the direction Red Dwarf will take in the future. Thoughts?