Remakes and comebacks are always in vogue, but unfortunately they almost always disappoint. Whether it’s that a brand new take on an idea just doesn’t quite work as well, or whether it’s an original team getting back together after a decade or more apart and the spark has gone, too often there just seems to be something wrong or missing. I suggest that this tendency should be called ‘George Lucas Syndrome’, in homage of he who epitomised how far you can fall from the heady heights of bygone triumphs.
Red Dwarf was the latest casualty last night, returning after many years away for a one-off 3-parter. It ran for 8 series originally, and whilst the last 2 tailed off really badly it was regularly a really great show. Last night’s return though was pretty disappointing – the lines were far less snappy, the acting pretty wooden and lacking chemistry, many of the gags are recycled and pretty weak, the episode is shorter (to fit into a 30 minute slot with commercials since the return is on commercial channel Dave, instead of a full 30 minute slot like it was when it was on the BBC), and seemed obsessed with special effects and trying to shoehorn a plot in there instead of just focussing on quality comedy. I wonder whether in this case it’s just age, or whether the absence of Rob Grant (this time it’s just Doug Naylor of the duo writing it) that makes it fall a bit flat. I think the lack of a live studio audience detracts too.
All in all, it reminds me of the attrocious millennium edition of Blackadder (Back and Forth) which suffered from the same problems and should never have been created. I was hoping that this return might be like Blackadders Christmas Carol, which was an excellent addition, but sadly it was not to be. It was only made worse by the fact that they showed some of the classic Red Dwarf episodes afterwards – the contrast really was quite stark.
I’ll watch the other 2 just incase, but really this is the way to remember Red Dwarf:
April 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Could you post a video from the older versions for comparison?
April 11th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
That video *was* from the older versions – that’s Season 3.
April 12th, 2009 at 1:07 am
I thought just the same. The old episode that was on after the new one was so much better.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Ugh, the other 2 episodes were if anything even worse. Doug Naylor can’t write comedy on his own, or he doesn’t want to; I’m now convinced that Rob Grant was doing the heavy lifting during the times Red Dwarf was good. The BladeRunner parody was a one-trick pony that got old *really* fast, and the level of self-indulgence and poor attempts at fan connection were terrible. The rest of the ‘gags’ we tired, blunt and just not funny – and trying to shoehorn plot and drama in there was the last bullet in the brain for it. Utterly apalling.
April 15th, 2009 at 4:32 am
I noticed the same thing with the books. The books were great (a lot darker though) when both guys worked on them. Then Rob and Doug split and each wrote a book. I can’t remember much (many years ago), but one book was good and one wasn’t. I can’t remember which one was which.
To me Red Dwarf ended after season 6. The last 2 just didn’t feel right.
I also don’t like the enhanced early episodes with CG added, part of the appeal of the show was the cheap model work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwdxIUeMrSM
I once had a chance to do the light switch routine in an actual art gallery (they’d badly painted the switch to match the wall), but the 2 people with me had never heard of red dwarf.
I haven’t seen the new episodes, and I’m less inclined to now (although I already guessed they would suck).
April 16th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
LOL – “Alexander the Greats chief eunuch”. Funny stuff.