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March 28, 2024, 07:31:48 PM

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Red Dwarf Specials (2020)

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

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idunnosomename

Quote from: Replies From View on April 01, 2020, 07:22:13 PM
Yes, very much so.  Sometimes it still has the tone of Last of the Summer Wine though, since in that show the pensioners behave as if they are 7 and living in Beanotown.
and it also went from being a slightly morose character study into chucklevision farce

Replies From View

Quote from: idunnosomename on April 02, 2020, 10:37:25 AM
and it also went from being a slightly morose character study into chucklevision farce

I'd say that's mostly confined to series 8, thankfully.

Mobbd

There are some review out for the special already and they're a bit middling. 3/5 in Radio Times.

I suspect they're right on the money and 3/5 is what we should brace ourselves for. But I'd rather look at those nice sets and hear about Rimmer being a smeg head than a lot of other things going on at the moment. CaBbers following the Star Trek: Picard thread in Picture Box will sympethise.

Malcy

Quote from: Mobbd on April 02, 2020, 05:19:06 PM
There are some review out for the special already and they're a bit middling. 3/5 in Radio Times.

I suspect they're right on the money and 3/5 is what we should brace ourselves for. But I'd rather look at those nice sets and hear about Rimmer being a smeg head than a lot of other things going on at the moment. CaBbers following the Star Trek: Picard thread in Picture Box will sympethise.

If it was them all sitting in the cockpit of Starbug saying nothing for 90 minutes it would still be better written and more entertaining than Picard!

Mobbd

Quote from: Malcy on April 02, 2020, 05:33:42 PM
If it was them all sitting in the cockpit of Starbug saying nothing for 90 minutes it would still be better written and more entertaining than Picard!

Good point! And that's not even sarcasm: it would be better! Actually better.

Deyv

Quote from: Replies From View on April 02, 2020, 11:05:12 AM
I'd say that's mostly confined to series 8, thankfully.

Thinking about it, Give & Take sounds like the title of a Chucklevision episode and involves a Chucklebrothers-y time heist thing in its third act. It's still good, mind. If there was a Chucklevision episode where one brother coked up big time and had to replace the other's kidneys, it would probably be really good with moody low lighting and Andrew Ellard script editing it. Sadly we may never know.

Dewt

Quote from: Mobbd on April 02, 2020, 05:55:29 PM
Good point! And that's not even sarcasm: it would be better! Actually better.
I'd actually go out of my way to watch it.

Make Red Dwarf Grey Again

idunnosomename


JamesTC

Quote from: Mobbd on April 02, 2020, 05:19:06 PM
There are some review out for the special already and they're a bit middling. 3/5 in Radio Times.

I suspect they're right on the money and 3/5 is what we should brace ourselves for. But I'd rather look at those nice sets and hear about Rimmer being a smeg head than a lot of other things going on at the moment. CaBbers following the Star Trek: Picard thread in Picture Box will sympethise.

I've seen two middling reviews with the rest more positive.

Oddly the one other middling review was from a film blog and it describes the highlight of the special as the one scene which I was a little uncomfortable with at the recording (I think they just about justify it but it could possibly offend).

Jim Bob

Quote from: JamesTC on April 02, 2020, 09:48:07 PM
Oddly the one other middling review was from a film blog and it describes the highlight of the special as the one scene which I was a little uncomfortable with at the recording (I think they just about justify it but it could possibly offend).

That'll be this then...

Quote from: Film '89"An early scene where Kryten attempts to
Spoiler alert
convince Cat to consider gender reassignment so that Lister can carry on the human race is top-notch.
[close]
"

Glinner will be fuming.

I've always wondered what happened to Listers mad Maralyn Monroe robot kit that he built for Kryten's leaving doo about 30 years ago. The one that punched through the wall never to be seen again


Errrr...hehe....are we... expected to believe she had....hah some kind of super batteries or something? Heh?

Or is she roaming the fucking ship??? ANSWER ME!

Malcy


Replies From View

Quote from: Malcy on April 03, 2020, 01:25:08 PM
Didn't watch but the first 5 mins have been released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3luF0AUOgw

I know that "three million years ago" is no secret, but wouldn't it have been better writing to use it as a punchline in that opening context, rather than the first line?  I'm being picky, but still.

ajsmith2

Quote from: Excellent_Biscuits on April 03, 2020, 05:45:38 AM
I've always wondered what happened to Listers mad Maralyn Monroe robot kit that he built for Kryten's leaving doo about 30 years ago. The one that punched through the wall never to be seen again


Errrr...hehe....are we... expected to believe she had....hah some kind of super batteries or something? Heh?

Or is she roaming the fucking ship??? ANSWER ME!

Dunno, but Ganymede and Titan took the trouble to interview the actress behind the role back in 2003:

http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/features/interviews/julie-higginson/

Now that's exhaustive!

Replies From View

#74
I know from the response to Back to Earth that people would be complaining if this lacked a laughter track, but its presence really annoys me here, in part because it doesn't feel authentic.  It was obvious what formation those spaceships were becoming well before it happened, yet BANG a sudden laugh at that point introduces the "live audience" that I forgot this filmic production would have.

Later, cat people using the massive cat flap got a big laugh for a second time.  No; it would get a laugh for the first time only, if that.  Don't try to trick me.  Also the joke (which is:  haha don't they look funny going on all fours to use the cat flap) doesn't make sense because the cat flap isn't short enough to warrant them crawling through it, rather than staying standing.  Things like this are annoying details.  Yes it's a fictional world but I can go along with it if the details make sense within themselves.  Otherwise you have a world that is illogical because it is just built on fleeting gags.

Back to Earth looked cheap, and it was strangely edited with pauses that didn't make sense, as if it was begging for a laugh track that wasn't there.

The more Red Dwarf moves towards an effective cinematic tone, the more out of place traditional sitcom editing and (obviously sweetened and edited) studio laughter are going to be.

Mango Chimes

Yes, the epic music as well, and to some extent the look of it. If you want a shitty old laugh track, it needs a shitty old soundtrack and some shitty old sets.

The old music and sets were good, but you know what I mean.

I haven't watched any Red Dwarf in years, but that clip is what I remember Series 7 being like. Plot focused, in need of punching up with gags.

[EDIT: number correction]

ajsmith2

Quote from: Mango Chimes on April 03, 2020, 02:12:58 PM


I haven't watched any Red Dwarf in years, but that clip is what I remember Series 8 being like. Plot focused, in need of punching up with gags.

Think you may be thinking of Series 7 there.


Replies From View

Series 8 was the one with the actors making a raucous, sycophantic audience laugh and clap by gurning at them, and all wacky jokes about shitting dinosaurs and scampering around putting pubes on soap.  In dire need of punching up with plot.

idunnosomename


Lemming

That was quite likeable. The audience literally applauding jokes that deserve a smile at best is annoying and is only gonna get moreso over the course of the full hour-and-half or whatever it is but there were a couple of decent jokes in there.

Again, the sets and visuals are really good. The cat ships have a cool design (even if it's in the service of making the dumb joke where they get into cat face formation), the interior sets look ace and the cockpit of the shuttle the cat exiles escaped in looks sick. Really like the vaguely 80s look of the monitors with the wireframe Red Dwarf model and all that.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Hate the laugh track. Totally unnecessary and I hope it's dubbed on. The laser pointer deserved a laugh, not a laugh and applause.

The cat-flap door is stupid. How would this species, who evolved on board a spaceship where pets were banned, even know what a cat-flap was and why would they use one? But other than that the rest of what we see of Cat culture and tech is brill. I love the cigarette in the ear as an accessory. The Feral King's vocalisations are great, the "claws" weapon is fab, they remembered that the Cat written language is one of smell. I'm keeping an open mind.

Replies From View

To be fair if they'd forgotten that cats read books by smelling them they'd be forgetting one of the only two or three things known about the cat race.

Quote from: Replies From View on April 03, 2020, 10:07:38 PM
To be fair if they'd forgotten that cats read books by smelling them they'd be forgetting one of the only two or three things known about the cat race.

It's bad that I can easily imagine that happening.

That said, thought those first 5 mins were okay. Liked the laser pointer gag (but nowhere near as much as the audience!) I imagine it'll be an enjoyable romp if nothing else.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

okay actually the cat flap door makes sense if the idea is to force those who enter the presence of the Feral King to crawl on all fours

but otherwise dumb

olliebean

I thought the laser pointer gag was a good funny idea, but very poorly realised.

Mango Chimes

I thought it was funny, but that was the one laugh. That's what I was referring to above: there was no laugh in the set up, there was no laugh in the escape afterwards. Fine in a film, but if you've got a laugh track you're not a film. Put some jokes in.

The opening text was really long and as Replies noted there's no punchline. Put a joke in your exposition, or just don't bother. The nerd audience of this thing don't need the backstory, and anyone who does will be baffled by the following five minutes repeating the same visual gag of ironic religious portraiture of a character they've not seen yet.

Replies From View

Quote from: Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse on April 03, 2020, 10:35:24 PM
okay actually the cat flap door makes sense if the idea is to force those who enter the presence of the Feral King to crawl on all fours

but otherwise dumb

And the cat-flap prop doesn't force anyone to crawl through it.  It's possible the main issue is one of failure by the designers to understand the written joke.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: Replies From View on April 04, 2020, 02:40:24 AM
And the cat-flap prop doesn't force anyone to crawl through it.  It's possible the main issue is one of failure by the designers to understand the written joke.
I think I'm just trying to world-build a little and imagine what a species which evolved from cats on board a spaceship, the majority of which was inaccessible due to radiation levels, would be like in terms of tech and culture.

JamesTC

Maybe in Lister's plans for his farm on Fiji, he included a cat flap on the design for his farmhouse and the cat people thought that this was how Cloister wanted cats to enter and exit rooms.