Red Dwarf To Return, Find Earth

Lawrence Person writes "Everyone's favorite live-action science fiction comedy series will finally return to TV, with Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and the Cat all making it to Earth. The new two-part series Red Dwarf: Back to Earth will appear on digital channel Dave, will be written and directed by Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor, and will reunite the line-up. 'It will sit alongside two further new episodes — the improvised Red Dwarf: Unplugged, which will feature the cast dealing with no sets, effects or autocue, and Red Dwarf: the Making of Back to Earth, a behind the scenes look at the new production.' Personally, I think this is pretty smegging fantastic."

They did the same thing on Lexx

[elrous0]

Usually these sort of "and then they came to earth..." plotlines are cost-cutting measures (so they can shoot in "regular" locations instead of on elaborate sets). They also often represent "jump the shark" moments for a series. When they did this on Lexx [wikipedia.org], the show (which had already begun to go way downhill in the previous season) went from bad to ABYSMAL.

Re:They did the same thing on Lexx

[Anonymous Coward]

Red Dwarf jumped the shark when they brought back the old crew.

Announced on twitter

[Tryfen]

...well, actually, Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) announced it on Llewtube [youtube.com] quite some time ago.

You can also get regular updates from him by following @bobbyllew [twitter.com] on twitter.

He's a really good user of social media - he's very active on YouTube and twitter.

t

Re:Written by Doug Naylor. So expect crap.

[VShael]

When it aired, I didn't manage to make it through season 7. It was just too painful. Never saw season 8 when it was airing, but borrowed the DVD's from a mate. Tried to watch some of them but... in the end settled for seeing how it ended. And it ended BADLY.

Rimmer kicking the anthropomorphic version of Death in the nuts? WTF?

Re:have you actually watched Red Dwarf?

[mrsquid0]

>Did you ever watch the show? They jumped the shark at least
>once an episode. That's part of what made it so great.

That is not what jumping the shark means. Jumping the shark is when a show does something so out of character that the basic premise of the show is destroyed. This is usually done to either boost ratings or because the writers have run out of ideas. It usually marks the point where a series turns from being clever and innovative to being trite and predictable.

gestalt entity fissioned

[junkgoof]

The Gestalt entity Grant Naylor fissioned, both Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, came out with crappy books, and, in spite of (or because of) the contributions of Robert Llewellyn the series went from amazing to crap.

Re:Aged badly

[bob.appleyard]

The thing is, Grant Naylor were a great comedy team. You can see what each provided to the mix -- when Grant left, the show lost a great deal.

Re:They did the same thing on Lexx

[Sockatume]

Red Dwarf's traditional picture of earth in 1M BC (from the novels) is a giant trash ball ruled by mutant shapeshifting horrors. Quite how that reduces the budget I'm not sure.

Re:Aged badly

[MattBD]

No. ITV is notoriously lacking in any kind of comedy whatsoever. Or if they do come up with something another channel steals it, as happened with Men Behaving Badly. Channel 4 were responsible for The IT Crowd. Graham Linehan, the creator, has worked with Channel 4 before, as he was co-creator with Arthur Matthews of Father Ted (genius comedy!), and also created Black Books.

Re:Aged badly

[Adam Hazzlebank]

Channel 4

Re:Aged badly

[Dues]

I think it's funny how you mentioned "Friends" and the US version of "Red Dwarf" in the same post. That "super jock" you mentioned was actually offered the roll of Joey on friends, but he turned it down and took the gig as Lister instead because he didn't think friends had any chance of success...

Re:They did the same thing on Lexx

[nategoose]

I enjoyed the on Earth Lexx episodes, but unless the Red Dwarf crew went back in time (or they adopt the circular time line from the Lexx universes) your argument is not relevant. The Red Dwarf is supposed to have left our solar system in our future and by the time they get back elaborate sets and props should be needed.