# Red Dwarf: Back to Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684 "2009-04-10T20:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/21 "2009-04-12T21:40:22Z")
The last episode was my favorite of the three. What did everyone else think? I just wish they’d bothered to explain what happened after season 8. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/22 "2009-04-12T21:52:26Z")
I thought the story-line was rubbish. Still, it was good to see the boys from the Dwarf again. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/23 "2009-04-13T02:13:49Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#): > > The last episode was my favorite of the three. What did everyone else think? I’m still waiting for that one. As for Part 2, I think the best part was Rimmer’s confrontation with Katerina. I appreciated the _Blade Runner_ riff, but I thought it was a bit lazy. The thing that is in the back of my mind is that I’m really liking watching new episodes, but there’s only one left to see. I want it to go on. Maybe I should pull out the DVDs and start from Season 1… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/24 "2009-04-13T02:20:51Z")
I watched the last two episodes in one lump and I found them very amusing. It made me smile a lot. And I had wondered if… that squid in episode 1 was related toe the despair squid so it was nice that I was ahead of things. I don’t know if I’d want another full series but I liked it as a reunion special. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/25 "2009-04-13T06:00:02Z")
One or two _Bladerunner_ references or even an entire scene would have been funny, but they kept coming and coming. And then explicitly commenting on the references made sure the funny was dead. Actually, line about it being the inspiration for their lives and deaths struck me as odd, as it discounts the seemingly much greater influences of _Dark Star_ and _Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ on the series. Of course the whole concept of a sole “Creator” doesn’t fit with what we know of _Red Dwarf_, so I guess we can chalk that up to it taking place in an alternate universe where coincidentally the actors and characters have the same names but everything else about the series is different. It had some funny bits, but a dour tone overall. Lister’s typos were amusing, making Rimmer ram his genitals into the corner of a table over and over again was like **Family Guy** at it’s worst. (OK, probably not it’s worst, but not it’s best.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/26 "2009-04-13T09:02:06Z")
Pretty poor in my opinion. Rehashing old ideas, just like season 8 did with the ‘positive viruses’. The actual creator should have taken a page our of the fictional creator’s book; the star that burns half as long burns twice as bright. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/27 "2009-04-13T12:33:43Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The actual creator should have taken a page our of the fictional creator’s book; the star that burns half as long burns twice as bright. Perhaps he could have gone with “the gag that runs half as long has twice the chance of not boring the audience.” ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/28 "2009-04-13T21:00:30Z")
Just watched them. Oh dear. What utter tosh. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/29 "2009-04-17T00:45:49Z")
I just got around to watching them. I may have to change my name. Self-indulgent poorly-written rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/30 "2009-04-17T10:27:23Z")
The first episode was okay, though did seem like it missed the canned laughter, which is unusual. But the other two had me cringing to the point of anger. Which bunch of coked-up media in-jokers thought that could have been funny? ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/31 "2009-04-17T10:50:47Z")
Not worth saying twice… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/32 "2009-04-17T15:32:46Z")
Upon further reflection, I feel the need to expand on my reaction. Not because I suffer from the delusion that anyone will care, but just to get it off my chest. You see (rambling nostalgic nonsense START), I discovered Red Dwarf way back in high school. I was one of those friendless stay-at-home types that are far more common than most people think, and I was lucky enough to have a PBS station that had a great selection of British comedies. Saturday nights when everyone else was out having fun, I’d be home watching Red Dwarf, Black Adder, and Are You Being Served? Of course, looking back now, I can see the flaws, but back then they were something special to me. They were something I enjoyed that nobody else knew about. I guarantee I was the only kid in my high school that had seen every episode of those shows over and over. They inspired a love of British comedy and larger culture that has only grown over the years, to the point that my wife and I honeymooned in England and are seriously making plans to move there someday. It wasn’t just a cheaply produced sitcom about lonely guys in space. Well, it was. But it was more than that, too. And when it was good, it was very very very good. The early series were so low budget that they couldn’t rely on effects, and had to concentrate on actually writing good scripts. Some of those lines were breathtakingly brilliant (see Queeg, for instance). (rambling nostalgic nonsense END) And then it got stupid. They gave up on coming up with new ideas and gradually shifted to playing with effects, and later, on reliving great moments of the past. The last series or two were particularly bad - “Hey, remember Ace Rimmer? Dwayne Dibley? Weren’t they funny? Well here they are again, doing the same things! Great, right?!” This finale felt like that same old pattern - not just lifting occasional concepts or characters, but entire episodes. The entire thing was just the despair squid mixed with the backwards episode, with that “we’re just fictional characters” thing thrown in like a bit of turd frosting on the shit cake. And yeah, yeah, it’s just a show that was popular 20 years ago, but some of us have memories that are really tied up with emotions and bits of our past. The show deserved better. Granted, it deserved better round about series 5 or 6, but still. I think I’ll pull out my old DVDs and relive the good times when I can. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/33 "2009-04-17T15:49:54Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > Have to say that I thought the first episode was okay (though irritating that they’ve just dumped the cliff-hanger from series 8). The second episode was the worst Dwarf episode I’ve ever seen. And I include all of series 7 in that. I don’t know, the Russian hologram basically talking Rimmer into killing her (since she didn’t realize what a bastard he was) got to be pretty funny. So, why was there no Holly in this one? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/34 "2009-04-17T16:01:53Z")
And, as usual when I write a big long post, I forgot to mention the one thing I meant to - the one good part of the finale was when they did the “zoom…enhance…flip” thing to get the nose guy’s address. Hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/35 "2009-04-17T23:23:50Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I was one of those friendless stay-at-home types that are far more common than most people think… Are they? I never see them around. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/36 "2009-04-18T02:56:09Z")
I just watched all three on youtube. I thought they were fantastic - clever storyline with the dimension splitting off after finding the squid at the start of the first episode. I had to pause it several times so I could stop laughing before continuing. Comedy gold. I’m gonna watch them all again, I reckon they’ll be even funnier second time round. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/37 "2009-05-01T03:49:56Z")
JUst seen it. My god, that was dire. It makes the \*Only Fools And Horses \*finale look like Oscar Wilde, and that’s saying something. They might at least have continued from where they left off last time. Why no Holly? Why was Rimmer a hologram, when he was alive in the previous episodes. What was the point? Awful, just awful. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684/38 "2009-05-01T15:32:49Z")
The first episode started off pretty bad, but was good by the end and the other two episodes were very good. Loved the Blade Runner riffs. Overall, not as good as their best stuff, but much better than their worse and it was great to get some new Dwarf. Too bad it’s such a small bit and we’ll likely not get any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-dwarf-back-to-earth/492684.md?page=1)