28 Years A Smeghead: Red Dwarf Is Coming Back (theguardian.com) 153
BarbaraHudson writes: Unless you're a smeghead, you'll be excited to know that (after 28 years after the smash cult sitcom began) Red Dwarf seasons 11 and 12 are now in production. The Guardian reports: "'I've known these guys longer than I've known my wife,' says Charles (Lister). 'That was what it came down to -- a choice between staying in Coronation Street or doing this.' Last year, after 10 years on the cobbliest of soaps, Charles left. He missed comedy, and the opportunity to strap on the famous dreads came up. 'I was like 'I've got to do it.' It's a career-defining role.' As it was with Llewellyn's (Kryton) re-application of the rubber head: 'The only reason I do it now -- and I don't do any other acting, it drives me mad -- is because it's being with your mates for a few weeks.' 'There's nothing similar about us,' says John-Jules (Kat). 'Except we all have Red Dwarf.'"
Smeg (Score:1)
I don't know - Back To Earth seemed a (mostly) fitting finale. Some times you just have to move on...
Re:Smeg (Score:5, Insightful)
I couldn't watch it after the first part.
You either keep someone up year after year or you leave it alone after a hiatus. Coming back after so many years was a mistake, it didn't work.
Now if they CAN get back into the flow for two entire series, well done. But I've never seen it happen on any series ever.
Same with all the other recent BBC remakes - we can't make anything original (without selling it off to Channel 4 apparently), so we'll just bring back actors from 20 years ago and re-try what we did back then. Everything from Open All Hours to Only Fools and Horses, Yes Minister to Porridge. They've all been "re-visited" recently.
Strange, because the primary complaint about those programs is that the re-runs are shown ENDLESSLY on other channels. I guarantee I could watch one of them right now if I was to channel-surf.
Red Dwarf was great. Correct tense.
Re:Smeg (Score:5, Informative)
Are you aware that there was a fairly decent season 10 of Red Dwarf that aired during 2012? Back to Earth wasnt the last, and its not needed if you wanted to watch season 10.
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Having not liked Red Dwarf 7 so much, I liked Red Dwarf 8 (#) even less, to the extent that I've still never watched it all. (Tried once, abandoned halfway; started again a while later, even less successful).
In no hurry, I checked out Return to Earth a year or so after it first went out. My initial impression- that it wasn't as bad as I'd expected- was quickly revised as soon as I realised this was only because my expectations had been so lowered in the first place. The ultimate
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It went downhill when one of the writers left, is what happened.
Re:Smeg (Score:5, Interesting)
Then you lose. 10 was a really nice return to what made earlier Red Dwarf so fun. Was it perfect? No, but it was light-years ahead of 7, 8 and BTE and at it's best was as good as any smeg they ever put out. You're cheating yourself as a fan if you don't give it a chance.
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I agree. Series 10 was great. It felt much like series 5.
I especially like the episode 'Lemons'.
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Another recommendation for Series 10. Don't let 7 and 8 sour you (although I liked Series 7 a lot and 8 had its moments). Series 10 was an attempt to return to the earlier style of the show and I think they succeeded very well.
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Shows do that sometimes, don't they? Start out good, decay to mediocre (often looking bad in comparison to their earlier selves, but still better than a show which is actually shit) then go out with a bang.
I thought the 3 of Blackadder (Regency) was mostly crap, but 4 (WW1) was brilliant.
Think Spitting Image went through a similar decline before ending strongly. They should bring it back. It's not like there's a lack of source material, is it?
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Having not liked Red Dwarf 7 so much, I liked Red Dwarf 8 (#) even less,
Lasts longer than any other season, season 8. Why? No bugger'll watch it.
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It's one of dozens of cheap Coronation Street crossover shows and they've all done that. The Doctor Who one from way back was unwatchable despite the cast. The Red Dwarf one had some good jokes to make it worth it (eg. the "enhance" sequence that was very topical at the time due to it being an overused plot device in CSI type show
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It's one of dozens of cheap Coronation Street crossover shows and they've all done that. The Doctor Who one from way back was unwatchable despite the cast.
Are you thinking of the Doctor Who / EastEnders crossover they did to "celebrate" the 30th anniversary in 1993? That was eye-gougingly bad.
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The Red Dwarf one did at least have a couple of new jokes even though they recycled a plot.
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Coming back after so many years was a mistake, it didn't work.
And it didn't work either time. The Red Dwarf VI finale in 1993 was superb. Red Dwarf VII in 1997 was mediocre. VIII in 1999 had a very few high spots, but was basically just bland.
Back to Earth in 2009 was awful. Even Season VIII got a few chortles. I watched all of Back to Earth without laughing once and was left with no desire to watch any future Red Dwarf.
Apparently there was a direct-to-DVD Season X in 2012. Maybe it was okay, but at this point I think they've pissed off all but the most die-ha
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Season X wasnt direct-to-DVD, it was aired on Dave in prime time. Dave is doing some decent original programming these days, its not just a rerun channel.
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One of the writers left after VI - just at the point where it seemed the Beeb were prepared to up the budget. So decent writing gave way to CGI dinosaurs and other such nonsense.
Apparently there was a direct-to-DVD Season X in 2012.
It was on TV, and it was actually pretty good. It benefitted from having a much smaller budget, I suspect.
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Yes but still pretty good for a low budget Coronation Street crossover.
That's like comparing a Star Wars Christmas special to Empire Strikes Back.
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I couldn't watch it after the first part.
You either keep someone up year after year or you leave it alone after a hiatus. Coming back after so many years was a mistake, it didn't work.
Now if they CAN get back into the flow for two entire series, well done. But I've never seen it happen on any series ever.
Same with all the other recent BBC remakes - we can't make anything original (without selling it off to Channel 4 apparently), so we'll just bring back actors from 20 years ago and re-try what we did back then. Everything from Open All Hours to Only Fools and Horses, Yes Minister to Porridge. They've all been "re-visited" recently.
Strange, because the primary complaint about those programs is that the re-runs are shown ENDLESSLY on other channels. I guarantee I could watch one of them right now if I was to channel-surf.
Red Dwarf was great. Correct tense.
Red Dwarf 9 - back to earth was totally shite. ;)
Red Dwarf 10 wasn't so shite but not brilliant.. passable
Red Dwarf 11 has a budget and it shows AND it's very funny. I quite enjoyed the first episode and if you know where to look you can find it! [eztv.ag] and see for yourself
you'll find that this was brought back due to popular demand by the fans.
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It's like when you leave college, and a few years later you go back, and you go to the same bar, but somehow it's not the same.
Enough philosophy. We now return to your scheduled program.
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The BBC has a long weird history of never really cancelling a TV series. I guess they're too polite to every officially kill a series. Unfortunately, this has the unintended side effect of requiring the occasional revisit to a once-great series that's way, way past its prime. See Absolutely Fabulous, anything involving Ricky Gervais, the IT Crowd, etc., etc., etc.
I agree, sometimes you just have to let something go and treasure it for what it was. Trying to bring back a series long after-the-fact (Firefly f
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The BBC isnt involved in these new seasons, the series is now owned by the channel Dave.
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Dave is owned by UKTV
UKTV is "jointly owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive"
Why do you think they have basically nothing but wall-to-wall repeats of BBC content?
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Red Dwarf was great. Correct tense.
That opinion is making Mr. Flibble very cross.
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Do the same again with a quote from anything past Series 8.
Go on. See how difficult it is to do, and then see how many other people get it.
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They need to reboot The Young Ones.
I think they're still alive. Even the 5th flatmate.
(Oh.. Rick died two years ago.)
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There are still places for it to go so it doesn't have to be stale.
Re:Smeg (Score:5, Funny)
You sound stressed. Maybe you should sit down and relax with a couple slices of hot buttered toast. Wouldn't you like some toast?
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Look, *I* don't want any toast, and *he* doesn't want any toast. In fact, no one around here wants any toast. Not now, not ever. NO TOAST.
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What about a muffin?
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We want no muffins, no toast, no tea cakes, no buns, baps, baguettes, or bagels, no croissants, no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes, and no hot cross buns, and definetely, no smeggin' flapjacks!
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You sound stressed. Maybe you should sit down and relax with a couple slices of hot buttered toast. Wouldn't you like some toast?
Yes. I like Toast.
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I'm a computer with an IQ of 12,000. You don't seem to understand: I know the meaning of the universe.
Isn't that equivalent to 12,000 gym teachers?
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Yes, yes, we know. 42. But what's the real question?
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Does it have to do with toast?
(This thread actually got me wondering if the concept of GLaDOS was inspired in part by Talkie Toaster.... very different genres, but still, a sentient AI designed for a device that is grossly disproportionate to the level of intelligence that such a device actually needs. Do any earlier instances of this trope come to mind?)
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Sort of. As the ship's robot, there's actually good reason for him to be intelligent. They just gave him more intellectual capacity than was necessary. Versus a sentient toaster or de-icer ;)
Then again... didn't Marvin once claim that the best conversation he ever had was with a coffee maker? The coffee maker might count - unless he was meaning to imply that it said nothing.
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OFAH, Yes Minister, Open All Hours were respectively about the petty Thatcherism of the '80s, a competent but peculiar civil service that has mostly been replaced by neoliberals who act more like consultants to private enterprise, a dying breed of shopkeeper through the early '80s thanks to the rise of supermarkets.
Similar comments were made about the recent "Are You Being Served?" reboot, saying that the sort of department store it's based around are effectively an endangered species these days. (As if to ram this point home, it was made around the point that BHS [wikipedia.org] were finally closing their doors).
Red Dwarf could have been more timeless
Red Dwarf hasn't dated too badly- the first series possibly moreso- but the early episodes *were* partly shaped by the post-punk, alternative comedy influences of the 1980s. While not as badly dated as many 80s shows, it oft
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But didn't they set it in the 80s, i.e. not that much further along than the original?
Watched the first one, and frankly that was one too many. Shite.
The Porridge one I saw was sort of OK. Big shoes to fill, though.
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But didn't they set it in the 80s, i.e. not that much further along than the original?
Yes, but I think the point is that the basic setup is something that's becoming a thing of the past and (presumably) less easy for people to relate to, especially those not old enough to remember. Or maybe not.
That said, I wasn't a fan of Are You Being Served as a kid, and having seen repeats since, I still amn't. Haven't seen the new one anyway...
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My point was that they've neither modernised it (like they did with Porridge, where Fletch is a 733t h4x0r) nor left it where it was. Like remaking Sharpe in the Crimea or something. Falling between two stools.
Won't say it's my favourite either, though I have a few of the best episodes somewhere. Don't know how old you are, but there are certain things - like the class/hierarchy/brown-coated-union-man stuff - that I totally missed as a kid. Of course if you said it was mostly cheap poofter/knickers/boob
Re: Smeg (Score:1)
Cold Feet was never a sitcom, more a comedy-drama. All shows are products of their time: consider Red Dwarf, set in the 22nd century but full of late 20th century references.
The formula for a British sitcom is simple but to become a classic requires high quality scripts, usually written by two blokes after years of practice.
a) believable but exaggerated characters, preferably contrasting, maybe with a 'normal' protagonist.
b) convincing actors.
c) make it really funny. This is the tricky bit.
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For better or worse they'd already mentioned new seasons were coming, but personally I would've stopped with season 8
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I didn't particularly care for Back to Earth as a whole, even though it had some funny bits (such as the way Rimmer dealt with the other hologram, early on). X was better - a bit uneven, but worth watching. It takes a bit to adjust to just how much the actors have aged... although Danny J-J has kept it pretty darn together. But of course they're going to age, they're all going to die of old age on that ship.
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Pretty much this.
Usually, when British shows get canceled, you can't help but feel dissatisfied, for they are canceled way too early for your tastes. There once was a joke at the Simpsons (which would be a perfect example of stretching a show way past its best before date) about "the longest running British series with 5 episodes", which isn't that far fetched. How many comedy series from Britain can you name that made it past their second season? And how many that actually existed so long that you said "le
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Last Of The Summer Wine. It literally went on for two generations.
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Not a hard question...
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Are You Being Served
Blackadder
Benny Hill
Mrs Brown's Boys
Two Ronnies
There are probably loads more.
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How many comedy series from Britain can you name that made it past their second season?
'Allo 'Allo! - 9
2point4 Children - 8
Absolutely Fabulous - 5
Are You Being Served? - 10
Birds Of A Feather - 12
A Time Goes By - 10
Blackadder - 4
Bottom - 3
Bread - 7
Butterflies - 4
Dad's Army - 9
Father Ted - 3
Goodnight Sweetheart - 6
Hancock's Half Hour - 7
Hi-De-Hi - 8
It Ain't Half Hot Mum - 8
Just Good Friends - 3
Keeping Up Appearances - 5
Last Of The Summer Wine - 31. Yes, Thirty One
Men Behaving Badly - 6
One Foot In The Grave - 6
Only Fools And Horses - 7
Open All Hours - 4
The Good Life - 4
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H2G2
Just a Minute (that's on series ... I'm not exactly sure - somewhere in the 40s). ISIHAC is of comparable vintage and has survived the death of it's anchorman reasonably well.
Now, if you'd specified British comedy DRAMA series, you'd have a stronger point. Though I sometimes find the Archers to be utterly hilarious, and I'm sure it's deliberate.
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what the heck is it?
there really is oly one thing to say.... SWIRLY THING ALERT!
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Do we have to? I will have to change the bulb.
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Crude but funny (Score:1)
I remember watching Red Dwarf and Red Green on PBS a long time ago. As I remember, they were on back to back. I generally considered Red Green the better of the two just because Red Dwarf was so crude at times. Don't get me wrong, it was funny as hell at times, but the humor wasn't particularly clever or witty, just crude. I'm glad to see Red Dwarf come back, but I hope there's a little more going on than the crude humor I remember.
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When I studied for a semester in London in the 90s I remember a comedy show on TV that literally had a sketch where someone was telling jokes while sitting on the toilet. I wish I could remember the name of it....
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When in doubt, add more duct tape [imgur.com].
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:reboot! (Score:4, Funny)
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Lets hope its better than the last few series (Score:3)
The last few series of RD were a bit inconsistent and thats being kind. And the recent special was ok , but not hilarious. I can't help thinking a revival is partly a retirement fund for the writers and actors rather than because they have any new ideas and comedy. Still, fingers crossed. Also lets hope Chloe Annette is back in. She can't act for shit but boy is she still fit even in her 40s ;)
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It's a controversial opinion, but while I thought season 7 was mostly terrible, I actually liked where they went with the last season and actually hold it up as a rare example of a show managing to breath new life into something that's gone stale by introducing a major plot development near the end.
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It's a controversial opinion, but while I thought season 7 was mostly terrible, I actually liked where they went with the last season and actually hold it up as a rare example of a show managing to breath new life into something that's gone stale by introducing a major plot development near the end.
Nothing beats the scene of Kat trying to get sent to the hospital.
In Production? (Score:1)
How old is the source of the article? Filming on season 11 was in December 2015, with season 12 being filmed earlier this year. Season 11 airs on a weeks time in the UK, on the 22nd September...
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The first episode of Season 11 is already available (legally) on UKPlay [uktv.co.uk]
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Sorry, I'm such a smeghead. Here's the correct link [uktv.co.uk].
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The important part is the relevance, since it's actually available now. Unless you live in the US, where I don't think broadcast/streaming rights have even been sold yet.
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I think the "in production" thing is something you see from silly writers right up until the day the shows premier. The next two series of Red Dwarf went into production last fall and 11 is probably fully out of production by now.
Kat? (Score:3)
Kat?
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Summary needs correcting (Score:5, Informative)
Unless you're a smeghead, you'll be excited to know that (after 28 years after the smash cult sitcom began) Red Dwarf seasons 11 and 12 are now in production.
You should also know, unless you're a smeghead, that Red Dwarf series (not seasons) are numbered with Roman numerals.
As it was with Llewellyn's (Kryton)
Kryten.
John-Jules (Kat).
Cat. Jesus. I mean, he's actually a bloody cat. That's how he got the name.
Also you make it sound like this is the first time it's coming back since going off air, which isn't so. It has been four years since series X, though.
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Maths makes sense as a shortening of mathematics, which also ends in an 's.' But I do like the other shortening (sans 's') better.
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I would think the term "serial" would be more apt to describe a show which one should really watch in order, but that doesn't refer to where each episode fits into a sequence.
Was I supposed to watch Red Dwarf in order? Sure, some elements build on earlier episodes but it's not like watching many other shows where if you miss a few episodes you have no idea what happened to some characters or what is going on with certain sub-plots.
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The Romans didn't pronounce Roman numerals like that, so why do you think he would?
Remake of "backwards"-episode? (Score:2)
*kcon-kcon* ,frawd der"
"?ereht si ohw"
"!naiga
A welcome return... (Score:1)
Of course, the actual classic parts of the series was Series 2 to 5, and it lost a fair bit when Rob Grant left the series, so Seasons 6-9 were variable, what I've seen of Season 10 was good in the Season 6-9 scale.
Would have been nice for Rob Grant to have got back involved with it. I suppose some people just move on in the end.
But it does show that BBC cannot produce decent comedy nowadays. They don't seem to want to fund Red Dwarf, yet will fund appalling horrors such as Citizen Khan and Mrs Brown Boys (
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Of course, the actual classic parts of the series was Series 2 to 5, and it lost a fair bit when Rob Grant left the series, so Seasons 6-9 were variable, what I've seen of Season 10 was good in the Season 6-9 scale.
I'd include Series 6 as part of the golden age. In fact, I'd rank it as the best overall. Rob Grant left after Series 6, so his contribution must have been key, likely including the ability to weave in interesting science fiction concepts.
Series 7 and 8 were dire, except for Cassandra [wikipedia.org] in Season 8.
I watched Series 10. While not dire, I didn't find any to be a keeper. The first episode of Series 11 is getting good reviews, though I worry that this is due to deprived fans just thankful it isn't a total di
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The problem with Season 6 is that Season 5 ended on such a good episode, indeed the rated number one episode of the show ever, that it was hard to beat it. I suspect Rob Grant just went, "well, that's it for me, I'm off".
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The problem with Season 6 is that Season 5 ended on such a good episode, indeed the rated number one episode of the show ever, that it was hard to beat it. I suspect Rob Grant just went, "well, that's it for me, I'm off".
Back to Reality is my favourite episode as well. But Rob Grant did co-write all of Season 6 [wikipedia.org].
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> Of course, the actual classic parts of the series was Series 2 to 5, and it lost a fair bit when Rob Grant left the series, so Seasons 6-9 were variable, what I've seen of Season 10 was good in the Season 6-9 scale.
Actually, I thought the first 2 seasons were the best. Normally I can't stand low-budget Sci-Fi but Red Dwarf had a certain charm that was never quite replicated in the latter episodes.
IIRC they got more money and a new logo in Season 3 and that is when things started to change. Seasons 3 .
YYYYYYYYYY... (Score:2)
Excellent (Score:4, Informative)
Red Dwarf is one of my favourite shows, ever.
Yeah, series 8 was... well, bad, and most people are content to ignore (mini)series 9. But season 10 was pretty good and had some really, really funny moments (Lister's Father's Day thing, for example, took one of the more hilariously messed up aspects of the show and built on it).
So more Red Dwarf? I'll take it.
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Red Dwarf is one of my favourite shows, ever.
Mine too.
My computer naming convention has been RD characters for as long as I can remember.
My main computer is always named "Ace".... What a guy!
My favorite episode... (Score:2)
Is where the crew go back in time to accidentally mess up the JFK assassination, and, in order to reset the timeline, they take an older, more jaded and washed out JFK to assassinate himself.
Alternative fictional JFK assassins would include the Smoking Man from The X-Files and the Comedian in The Watchmen.
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Series 11 manages to not make them look so old (Score:2)
Series 10 was a bit jarring to see how old all the characters were (which is hard not to show since the actors are indeed 30 years older). Rimmer in particular appeared much older than the last time we saw him.
Even their movements and voices sounded older. In Series 11 so far it appears they have a lot better makeup as they appear younger than they did in series 10. They almost look like they could have hopped into the scene from series 8 and we might not have noticed.
Airs next week (Score:5, Informative)
The most important part is buried at the bottom of TFA:
Red Dwarf XI starts on 22 September at 9pm on Dave. It's available to preview on UKTV Play now.
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My favorite episode (Score:2)
I feel compelled to share my favorite episode: Better Than Life
I find Arnold Rimmer's plight in that episode to be absolutely hilarious. He can have anything he wants, simply by thinking of it.... and he ends up buried up to his neck in the ground with fire ants crawling all over his head.
The capacity for self sabotage is infinitely funny to me because it is my MO...
He's Arnold Arnold Arnold Rimmer (Score:4, Funny)
Have they run out of curry yet? (Score:2)
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After 28 years, you think they would be out of curry by now.
Holly: Hope they've got some odds and sods on board, we're short of a few supplies.
Lister: [drinking tea] Like what?
Holly: Cow's milk, ran out of that yonks ago. Fresh and dehydrated.
Lister: What kind of milk are we using now?
Holly: Emergency backup supply. We're on the dog's milk.
Lister: Dog's milk!
Holly: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. Full of goodness, full of vitamins, full of marrowbone jelly. Lasts longer than any other milk, dog's milk.
Lister: Why?
Holly: No bugger'll drink it. Plus of course
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How about a bagel?
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OR bagels! OR bagels! We don't LIKE bagels around here! We want no bagels, no toast, no teacakes, no buns, baps, or baguettes, no croissants, no crumpets, no muffins, no pancakes, no potato cakes and no hot-cross buns and *definitely* no smegging flapjacks!