User:Technopeasant/BTE-Review

From Tongue Tied

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth - A Life Long Fan's Perspective

By Graham "Technopeasant" Wilson

Originally Written: April 12th to April 15th 2009.

THIS = BTE! ROCKING!

[edit] Introduction

What did I think of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth? Well, let me start this way. It is a chilly chutney sandwich, all of the ingredients are wrong. The actors are older, the previous series wasn't that good, it is still just Doug Naylor, there was CGI rather than good old plastic models... But for some reason it made a right. If you don't get what I am referencing watch "Thanks for the Memory" (Series II). My description only applies in total to the first two parts however, I will explain in a little.

My review is a detailed look at Back to Earth from the perspective a life-long Red Dwarf fan (I grew up with it), who is happy to see the Boys from the Dwarf back, so I don't recommend anyone new to the series to read this, and if you haven't watched Back to Earth yet (even before reading this, buy the DVD!) this might not make any sense as I am not here to summarize the plot (read our Tongue Tied article if you want, I wrote the original description for part one for Wikipedia and Tongue Tied, the bastards on Wikipedia butchered it by removing all the details. This is supposed to be an encyclopedia not the cliff-notes of the world!).

I would like to note one interesting thing up front, when the title "Back to Earth" was released everyone thought it unbelievably spoilerish. However, in the end the plot has nothing to do with them going "back to Earth", at least no more than they do in "Backwards" or "Tikka to Ride". It was this title that made many think that this mini-series was to end Red Dwarf, as going back to his home was always Lister's goal. In the end it leaves plenty of room for more Dwarf (whether it be great or not...).

[edit] Part One

Part one was mostly set-up and explanations, though it did have a few laughs. Doug Naylor does seem to be improving his form a bit when it comes to dealing with puns, especially of a dirtier nature. Cat's "testicle" versus "tentacle" mistake wouldn't have been funny if that was the joke, but Rimmer's straight faced "I hope so" line after Lister tells Cat that they are "tentacles" is what made me laugh. The skutter looked a little fakey, but it did the job and was a decent homage to Rimmer and the skutters in Series I, and after all, the guy who made it only asked for a signed copy of the script in return. The CGI Red Dwarf in Back to Earth was a hell of a lot better than the one in Series VIII, though it wasn't perfect and one side was better than the other (not by all that much. Actually, given the budget I was very happy with the ship).

The tomato sneezing scene was not the best writing, but it didn't stick out as all that bad, just not that good. The Cat, while still being a bit of a parody of his old character, was back in good form, rather than the seemingly not-there backup and mindless dumb character of Series VIII (the Red Dwarf crew are all very smart in their own way, just ignorant in some areas. Remember that Doug, NOT STUPID!). Kryten, apart from the pointless broom cupboard holiday jokes (though I liked Katerina's "Mechs don't on holiday, they are machines" line), was also back, being the character that explains everything and wields the psi-scan. Rimmer of course was rightfully a hologram once again, hard-light, but still had that good old made of light feel. His personality is much more like classic Rimmer unlike the asshole of Series VIII.

The feeling of the episode, once you got used to the lack of a laugh track (which takes around three viewings, next time add it folks so we can get into it right away!), was actually quite pleasant. It didn't feel like any of the original series (I-VI), but it didn't feel like Series VII and VIII, which was a very good thing. It did feel a bit like old Red Dwarf, even if the dialog was not as intelligent as it was in the good old days of "Grant Naylor". I enjoyed the reuse of the classic Red Dwarf ship scene music, and the use of classic door sound effects, but I wish it had more sounds and music (though given the music in the next two parts, it is probably a good thing, see more later on).

The sets were a bit too vast, the sleeping quarters and corridors. The novels described Red Dwarf as vast but claustrophobic (particularly the sleeping quarters) and the "seeing from the outside" CGI didn't work that well (though not terrible). I didn't particularly care for the grave scene, but they did need to explain what happened to the Kochanski (when I learned the truth about that scene, I wasn't best pleased). The diving bell CGI model was wonderful, it looked real, it is only a shame that the others weren't as good as it, but I am not complaining. The squid scene was probably stock film of a real squid, and the tentacles sticking into the bell where okay effects wise, though it did make me think "Men in Black" rather than "Red Dwarf".

Rimmer dancing to music while the crew got attacked behind him may be an old joke, but it was pulled off pretty well, though it went on a little too long (Doug Naylor as a director didn't do a perfect job at comic timing in several sketches). Though, shouldn't it have been playing a Hammond organ track (maybe the the Series IV Hammond theme or something by "Reggie Wilson")? Some complained about how it seemed a sudden plot switch when Katerina showed up, but I knew from the start that there would be a reason for this, sadly it wasn't a good reason, but I am not holding it against part one.

When Dave announced the Katerina character, I thought the whole point of her that was they didn't want the show to be entirely cast with aging men, which is why they cast in a young woman (though not even Chris Barrie was that old, once you got used to the slightly receded hairline!). However, Sophie Winkleman did not actually do that bad a job with her character, mostly in contorting her face into great reactions to the acts of our favourite crew. Again, the "dirt" scene was a old type of joke, with Rimmer not knowing his rival was behind him (reminiscent of a scene in Series VIII), and it didn't work as well as the music scene but eh, no problem. No one promised a masterpiece.

Katerina's "science" scene, despite having a little bit of plot value, should have been cut down a bit, as the time could have been used to throw in a joke or two. We don't need an extended scene of Katerina, desperately needing a comb, fiddling with microscopes. Her entire intent to replace Rimmer due to incompetence reeked of Holly (miss you, even if you were only given cheap one-liners in Series VIII) versus Queeg 500 in Series II, but I didn't mind it, I just liked the homage. The ending was a little sudden, but it made you want to watch part two. My only major problem with this episode is that they didn't have enough time to add back story resolving the Series VIII cliffhanger or telling us what really happened to the crew over the past nine years.

[edit] Part Two

Part two was the best of the episodes, although it didn't feel as Dwarf-ey as part one. The effects were a little odd looking, as you could tell the characters were simply superimposed over the background, but I did love Rimmer's light bee ricocheting across the television store. It has been stated that, unlike in the obvious inspiration of Back to Earth, "Back to Reality", they accepted being fictional characters too quick (especially since they where destined to die at the end of the series). I did feel that a bit, but Kryten's monologue about how they needed to just accept it and move on, before breaking down in sobs, seemed to cover it enough (besides, as Lister says in part three, they felt good ever since the moment they arrived on Earth).

A problem with Back to Earth is not the fault of the production team or anybody, it is a problem with television itself, a modern half hour episode it seems takes on average less than twenty minutes. All three "half hour" parts in the end only equal one hour of air time without ads, so there wasn't enough time to add as many jokes, explanations, and plot enhancements as would have done the show good. It is true as someone online pointed out that the recession jokes may or may not age well, but what the hell, they are funny now! The salesman's critique of science fiction and scanners like the psi-scan are the beginning of a lot of jokes pointed directly at stereotypical science fiction fandom, which was a little predictable, but a lot of them got a chuckle (though after watching part one I did ask how the psi-scan could know that it was a "dimension hopping" leviathan, so Doug kind of hit me there).

All in all, much better than the so-called "jokes" in Series VIII. This episode contains what I consider a classic scene, where Katerina has come to this world and is standing in the street waiting for Rimmer. There they discuss the ethics of erasing holograms, with "Kremlin Kate" arguing that since holograms are "already dead" it is perfectly fine, Rimmer then promptly takes her at her word and pushes her into incoming traffic. I laughed and laughed, particularly with Kryten's muttered line (though since Katerina did not reappear in Part Three for a final confrontation as I expected, this scene comes off as a little cruel, though it never explicitly says she died. She is after all hard-light which was described by Legion as "practically indestructible").

There where some cheap laughs in part two, which despite not being particularly intelligent, brought out a naughty chuckle. Again, there was a bit of bad timing in some scenes such as the "no... no..." cell phone gag. I liked a lot of the subtle in-jokes, such as the small wooden furniture version of the sleeping quarters in the mall. There was a reviewer online who criticized Back to Earth for having too many in-jokes (such as referencing the Holly Hop Dive, timeslides, and matter paddle in one scene), but hello? This is a "special", it is for the fans. I agreed with some of the things the reviewer said there, but he was bloody wrong on that point.

This episode was the beginning of a declining in quality soundtrack, with some stupid funky techno instead of typical Red Dwarf music - classical laced with guitar rock (I don't think it was Howard Goodall made the new music for Back to Earth, if they get a new commission they got to get him to make some classic Dwarf tracks or just reuse the thousands of Dwarf library tracks). The kids on the bus was far from a classic scene. In part because it seemed like shameless self promotion for the channel Dave, and was just annoying and scared me. I loved that Kochanski was gone (when I told my mother, she cheered), and I was really scared when they talked about her possibly being alive. Question, how could she use a Blue Midget to get off Red Dwarf? The full crew took every shuttle on the ship to escape Red Dwarf at the end of Series VIII (though you never see the Canary shuttle leave), leaving only our old friends since they were convicts. Now, this is Red Dwarf, so continuity is not important, but if it is for a good cause...

Anyway, this episode is also notable for having a lot of Blade Runner references ("I just make noses", hee, hee), which were funny and cute in this episode, but got old in the last one. I'm just happy that I saw Blade Runner for the first time on television last February, otherwise this wouldn't make any sense (I wasn't that impressed, it was okay. I have now seen the directors cut, it was better, but it still is just a good sci-fi film, not a classic in my book)! "Carbug", what a nice ugly wonderful poorly designed vehicle, loved it! Some online didn't seem to get that it was supposed to be silly, like Katerina's "Russian" accent, look this is a "comedy", not serious science fiction (others thought it was just a cheap replacement for the green ship itself, um, do you really think they would be that stupid?)!

[edit] Part Three

As I have said, I didn't consider part three to be a chilly chutney sandwich. It was the most disappointing of the bunch, not that most of the episode was bad, it just didn't follow the pattern of the episodes get better as it goes along. The quality of jokes in most of it was just a little bit worse than in part two, though I liked the bit where they met Craig Charles (sort of like past Rimmer and future Rimmer in "Stasis Leak"), where Kryten "talked" to the mailbox (though again it suffered from poor timing, it went on too long), and when the crew impersonated Coronation Street-type English accents (Chris Barrie showing off his wonderful impersonation ability, ever hear the audio book versions of "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" and "Better Than Life" or seen the episode "Queeg" and its deleted scenes?). I don't watch the infamous British soap, though my father does, so I got enough of the references. This was due to, if you don't know, Craig "Lister" Charles best known non-Red Dwarf character being Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street.

It was from this point on that the Blade Runner references moved on from being cute homages to an absolute rip-off, the bit about them looking for their creator? Okay. The nose building "Swallow" rather than "Chew"? Cute. The home of their creator being just like Tyrell HQ with similar odd Asian tastes in advertisement screens? Rip-off! Moving on from that, I was disappointed that the creator was not Doug Naylor himself, it wouldn't have fit the Blade Runner homage, which as I said had gotten old, but it would have been more accurate to Red Dwarf.

There where some nice touches like the Red Dwarf theme doorbell and the munchkin puppets form the Series VII "Rimmer Song" (one of the few really memorable moments from that series) being there. The creator was played by Richard O'Callaghan, who is best known to me for playing Merry in the second BBC The Lord of the Rings radio drama series (rather diverse roles eh?).

There in continued annoying, though bearable, Blade Runner fashion he explains that he won't rewrite the script to give the characters more life. Then Lister kicks the creator's gun to Cat and the crew hold their creator up at gun point and force him to write them a happy ending. This is when the best joke of the episode happens in my opinion, when the creator types "the gun flies out of the Cat's hands and is caught by the creator" and that just happens. Lister fights back and accidentally kills the creator, which makes you wonder how healthy the guy was in the first place eh? Then Lister starts typing at the creator's typewriter, at first trying things out and over time he gets too giddy with his power and starts writing in his crew mates hurting themselves in silly ways.At first it was worth a chuckle, but after Rimmer hurts his hard-light crotch for the 500th time it got old, see what I was saying about comic timing.

Sadly, this is when the episode goes down hill for a while. From this point they learn that it was not their creator controlling them, but this has all been a delusion caused by the squid, a female despair squid. Then comes the real crap, Lister imagines Kochanski coming in, and while the others wake up from their hallucinations, Lister stays with Kochanski until he convinces himself he can win her back in real life. She had not really died as the kids in the bad scene of the previous episode had said (my enjoyment metre came crashing down). It was emotional drivel, a thing that mixes with comedy and science fiction like arsenic does with a village drinking supply. Do I want drama in my Dwarf? Not really, but if Doug Naylor wants to add a love interest, make it with someone Lister should actually like, such as Clare Gorgan's original Kochanski (more on that later).

It did improve a little after Lister finally came "back to reality" fighting off the power of the despair squid (Cat's rendition of "I'm going to eat you little fishy" and the lines about a universe where we think the Red Dwarf guys are the fake ones were okay). I would have preferred it if the bits on Earth had been a real alternate reality, and that Katerina had really existed, as had all their adventure. The hallucination bit works for "Back to Reality" as that was one episode, it doesn't work so well for an entire mini-series (probably why they expanded the Ace Rimmer dimension theory to include dreams and hallucinations as well as decisions). The ending was well staged though, this filming of the Red Dwarf sets had a nice grungy appeal, and them discussing what happened was like the end of "Back to Reality".

Parts one and two were building up to a big climax, I was expecting some action, and maybe a spiffy one-liner or two, which is what I was getting up until bad 'ol officer Bud Babe came in. I would have loved it if Doug had taken from "Queeg" some more and had Katerina and Rimmer face up in a challenge for their position (like the chess scene). Hell, they even could have ended it as a love story between Kremlin Kate and Old Iron Balls (ala "Holoship"), better than what we got (in the end Katerina was wasted, which is odd given that they were giving Sophie Winkelmen almost equal billing). Well, can't expect everything. It was a disappointing ending, but other than that a decent episode and a decent mini-series.

[edit] The Making Of

• TBD

[edit] DVD

• TBD

[edit] Conclusion

Based on Back to Earth, I have come to my own conclusions about what I feel about the future of Red Dwarf. The actors did a great job bringing the characters back to life, but sadly they have one character back I didn't like, Kochanski. Doug Naylor's writing has improved a lot since Series VIII, but if he continues the stupid Kochanski-Lister plot line than I don't feel the show can regain its vitality of old. Lister should not love the parallel Kochanski, the original seemed like Lister's type: cheerful, perky, and fun, unlike the arty, emotional, snooty woman embodied in the parallel version. "I grew weary of you", the creator said to the boys, and all I can think is "and I have grown really weary of Kochanski". The bad scenes in part three only lasted four minutes, so it was not that bad, but I had to watch my old Dwarf DVDs to get the foul taste out of my mouth ("Gunmen of the Apocalypse", "Waiting for God", "Back to Reality", and "The Last Day". The next day we this finished by watching "Queeg", "Dimension Jump", "Epideme" and "Only the Good...", one from each series).

Back to Earth has won from me a lot of respect, but they need Rob Grant back on the writing team (he has "Colony", "Fat", and things like that on his tomb stone now, so why not?), they could use Ed Bye or someone like that back as director, and most of all they need to get rid of Kochanski (make her return to her Dave in her universe, that way everyone is happy. Please!!! Pretty please!!!). No offense to Chloë Annett, but your character sucks! I am optimistic on one front, but if they don't get rid of her, I don't know if I can keep watching any new Red Dwarf. Having had to bear the worst parts of Series VII and VIII and those parts of Back to Earth while trying to keep my fandom and hope for new greatness intact. However, in the end Dave gave me what they promised, three new Red Dwarf episodes with some decent jokes and characterizations to celebrate the twenty first anniversary of the show (and it got decent ratings, though sadly not nearly as much as Series VIII, there is no justice in this world...). Smegging cheers guys! I'm just glad Cat wasn't an idiot, Rimmer was a "smeg-head" not an "asshole", Kryten never bitched saying things like "you're lying", and Lister was well... Lister. I'm happy!

[edit] Random Thoughts

I will say that this has been a special Easter ("special"/"specials" pun unintended), and has started for us what might just be a new tradition. Our local satellite science fiction channel (with the uninspired title of "Space") has a special Christmas tradition, it plays every or most of the Star Trek films under the name "Trek-mas", accompanied by some deliberately cheesy Christmas/Star Trek themed adverts. Well, we now introduce "Dwarf-ster", thanks to Dave's choice of broadcast. Now then, all we need is a holiday for Star Wars (including Spaceballs), Doctor Who (classic, that new stuff makes the Back to Earth ending look as good as the showdown scene in "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" in comparison! Actually the main problem of Part Three is that it seemed to much like the terrible new Who), and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I have some of the books, the first four audio books, all the radio phases, and the film, which wasn't that good). We also came up with a story, based on the Christian version of Easter. "Rimmer, our greatest smeg-head died for... well... his own sins, and was brought back on the third day as... a hologram!"... LONG LIVE THE EASTER G.E.L.F.! WHOOT!

Now for your enjoyment: my worsts and favorites of Red Dwarf.

Worsts:

Most of these are actually really good, but there were even better episodes in the rest of their series.

• Series I: Confidence and Paranoia
• Series II: Thanks for the Memory
• Series III: Marooned
• Series IV: Camille
• Series V: Quarantine
• Series VI: Rimmerworld
• Series VII: Duct Soup
• Series VIII: Krytie TV
• Back to Earth: Part Three
• Novels: Last Human
• Versions: Remastered

Bests:

• Series I: Waiting for God
• Series II: Stasis Leak
• Series III: The Last Day
• Series IV: Meltdown
• Series V: The Inquisitor
• Series VI: Gunmen of the Apocalypse
• Series VII: Epideme
• Series VIII: Cassandra
• Back to Earth: Part Two
• Novels: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
• Versions: Originals, of course!

FROM GANEYMEDE TO TITAN, YES SIR, I'VE BEEN AROUND, BUT THERE AIN'T NO PLACE IN THE WHOLE OF SPACE LIKE THAT OL' TODDLIN' TOWN!.. LUNAR CITY SEVEN...!

Anyone want any toast?

Feel free to comment on this review's talk page Dwarfers!