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Red Dwarf Specials (2020)

Started by Jim Bob, December 15, 2019, 07:48:37 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Jim Bob

The first recording of the upcoming Red Dwarf special took place on Friday and Ganymede & Titan has a set report.

JamesTC

I was right in the front row in the centre. I really enjoyed it.

If you liked XI/XII then you'll like this. If you didn't then you won't. Pretty much a seamless continuation of XI/XII in terms of tone.

Ian Boldsworth was splendid as warm-up. His bickering the Matt (who I think was the assistant director) was a joy to behold.

popcorn

A mate of my mine was doing some filming at Pinewood earlier this year and said he saw Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules.

Hope this info helps.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: JamesTC on December 15, 2019, 09:32:01 PMIan Boldsworth was splendid as warm-up. His bickering the Matt (who I think was the assistant director) was a joy to behold.

Sorry for taking this off topic so early, but I don't follow his thread - has he started doing stand-up again?

JamesTC

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on December 15, 2019, 10:17:52 PM
Sorry for taking this off topic so early, but I don't follow his thread - has he started doing stand-up again?

He came out of retirement for it. It was mentioned at the start.

I hope he continues to do it for Red Dwarf. He is a fan of the show (and was on it in XII) and you can really tell from his warm-up that he is a fan. Not that he littered the routine with Red Dwarf jokes (he didn't) but he knew the right tone for the evening.

olliebean

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on December 15, 2019, 10:17:52 PM
Sorry for taking this off topic so early, but I don't follow his thread - has he started doing stand-up again?

Only when he's not busy bickering the Matt.

Jim Bob

Quote from: JamesTC on December 15, 2019, 09:32:01 PM
I was right in the front row in the centre. I really enjoyed it.

If you liked XI/XII then you'll like this. If you didn't then you won't. Pretty much a seamless continuation of XI/XII in terms of tone.

Were there moments of pathos and were the jokes mostly derived from the characters' reactions to situations and their individual personalities, or was it just one big yuk fest, with largely interchangeable gags?  Easily the best episode of post VI Red Dwarf was 'M-Corp', because it actually had a genuine grounded sense of drama and pathos.  Something which has otherwise been pretty much absent from the entirity of post VI (or at least 'Back to Earth') Red Dwarf.

I did like series XI and XII overall ('Timewave' excepted) , but it frustrates me that Doug Naylor seems to no longer be interested in allowing the characters to have quieter moments, exploring their personalities and that he seems to be afraid to allow more than 3 seconds to go by without having a yuk yuk joke.  The classic series were never like that.  They were funny, but the show was fundamentally a character based comedy.  These days, it's just a full on treaditional sitcom.  By that, I mean that the characters are just vessels, existing to deliver whatever so-so gags Doug Naylor can think of.

JamesTC

Quote from: Jim Bob on December 15, 2019, 11:06:24 PM
Were there moments of pathos and were the jokes mostly derived from the characters' reactions to situations and their individual personalities, or was it just one big yuk fest, with largely interchangeable gags?  Easily the best episode of post VI Red Dwarf was 'M-Corp', because it actually had a genuine grounded sense of drama and pathos.  Something which has otherwise been pretty much absent from the entirity of post VI (or at least 'Back to Earth') Red Dwarf.

I don't remember any gags that are specifically interchangeable. The opening scene with the main gang is probably the closest to being described as a yuk fest but even then the comedy is derived from the situation/personalities. The tone of the whole thing and style of humour most resembles the episode Give & Take if I had to compare directly to an episode.

I'd say there is definitely much scope for it to have some pathos and drama in the second half with the way the story is going but up to now, it has been fast-paced comedy to set up the plot (and B-plots).

Jim Bob

Quote from: JamesTC on December 15, 2019, 11:26:59 PM
I'd say there is definitely much scope for it to have some pathos and drama in the second half with the way the story is going but up to now, it has been fast-paced comedy to set up the plot (and B-plots).

Oh no!  Not Doug Naylor and his dreaded B-plots.  Now that he's got a feature length episode to cover, I'm guessing that he'll be doubling down on awful B-plots.  Lowlights from the Dave era, thus far, include Taiwan Tony and the Cat needing to take a shit.

Looking forward to these quite a bit. Even with the odd crap episode, I really enjoyed Series 11 and 12. Loved Give & Take too, so glad to hear this is striking a similar tone.

JamesTC

Quote from: Jim Bob on December 16, 2019, 01:49:55 PM
Oh no!  Not Doug Naylor and his dreaded B-plots.  Now that he's got a feature length episode to cover, I'm guessing that he'll be doubling down on awful B-plots.  Lowlights from the Dave era, thus far, include Taiwan Tony and the Cat needing to take a shit.

The B-plot provides the biggest laughs of the story so far. It isn't like Taiwan Tony.

Jim Bob

Quote from: JamesTC on December 16, 2019, 07:20:53 PM
The B-plot provides the biggest laughs of the story so far. It isn't like Taiwan Tony.

We shall see, or rather I shall see, for you have already seen.


Malcy

Airing in April.

Plot


Spoiler alert
The posse meet three cat clerics who worship Lister as their God. Lister vows to help them as they're being hunted by Rodon, the ruthless feral cat leader who has vowed to wipe out all cats who worship anyone but him.
[close]

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: Malcy on February 14, 2020, 03:38:36 PM
Airing in April.

Plot


Spoiler alert
The posse meet three cat clerics who worship Lister as their God. Lister vows to help them as they're being hunted by Rodon, the ruthless feral cat leader who has vowed to wipe out all cats who worship anyone but him.
[close]
They haven't done anything with that particular bit of lore for aaaages so this might be good

Replies From View

Yeah it's funny how they never really went back to it after series 1.


Back in the early days there was more a sense of the universe being empty of life, and with that I always felt discovering the cat people would be quite exciting.  Nowadays I don't think it'll have as much of an impact.

Malcy


Shaky

Quote from: JamesTC on December 15, 2019, 09:32:01 PM
If you liked XI/XII then you'll like this. If you didn't then you won't. Pretty much a seamless continuation of XI/XII in terms of tone.


There are a set of six or seven good episodes across both those series (including two or three I *really* liked, to be fair) so the specials could go either way, for me.


Malcy



Malcy


idunnosomename

That trailer is a pretty weak hollywood teaser parody. Almost feel i could do better

Lemming

Yeah, that trailer has got to be a joke in itself, right?  Not being sarcastic, it properly strikes me as being intentionally overblown and melodramatic for a laugh - this series 11 trailer was the same way, making it look like some kind of dark sci-fi and obviously not reflective of the tone of the actual show.

Same for the movie-style poster, which is much more clearly a pisstake.

Replies From View

Series 8 had a Star Wars parody trailer too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OkdOscmjCo


Got me properly excited for it at the time, that.  I thought it meant series 8 would be continuing the dramatic, filmic trend of series 7, but with Chris Barrie, Norman Lovett and the live audience back.  What could possibly go wrong?

I think everyone forgot who they were supposed to be.

There's a fucking terrible line in series 7 or 8 where Lister says something like "yeah, we need oxygen otherwise me and the cat will die", but said in a kinda chirpy Coronation Street style way.

They were good when they all hated eachother. Genuine animosity. Which is  kinda what you want with Rimmer and Lister.

Replies From View


Lemming

It feels weird to say it but new Red Dwarf actually has a really cool aesthetic as a sci-fi show. The sets almost all looked great in the newer series and those pictures promise more of the same.

Quote from: Excellent_Biscuits on March 27, 2020, 07:55:09 AM
They were good when they all hated eachother. Genuine animosity. Which is  kinda what you want with Rimmer and Lister.

This is true but I do quite like the new dynamic with Rimmer and Lister in series 11 and 12, where they're basically best friends now and just keep throwing harmless insults at each other because they've become so used to it after doing it for so many years. Very believable way their relationship could have evolved in the decades that have elapsed since the first series.

JamesTC

Quote from: Excellent_Biscuits on March 27, 2020, 07:55:09 AM
There's a fucking terrible line in series 7 or 8 where Lister says something like "yeah, we need oxygen otherwise me and the cat will die", but said in a kinda chirpy Coronation Street style way.

I think that line was about water and it was in Back to Earth. The story where they go to Coronation Street.

Replies From View

Hard to believe that Back to Earth was eleven years ago.