It’s Been 42 Days… News Posted by Jonathan Capps on 27th January 2012, 12:00 …since Red Dwarf X had its first episode recording. Today is its last. And here we are. Five down, one to go. Once again, we know little of this episode (aside form the fact we saw the guest set for it last week, but that doesn’t give much away). However, if you scan through Richard Naylor’s Twitter feed you can glean that it’s a “totally different style to first 5” and features “possibly two of my fav. guest parts of any rd ever”. I’ll be providing your set report again this week, and summarising the series as a whole and how it’s all shaped up. So far I’m very positive about the whole venture, but I have the feeling this episode is going to be hugely important in how the series is received as a whole. Will it be Only The Good… or Out of Time? FIND OUT TONIGHT.
Hey yeah! So this is the Ultimate Question? “How many days did the main filming production phase of Red Dwarf X last?” …I was expecting a shorter question with more punch, but this’ll do. Zooey Deschanel? [insert drooling noise here] Seconded.
Let’s hope what could well be the last ever episode of Red Dwarf is a good one. Anything beats Only The Good, though.
I think it’s probably better than Only the Good, will have to see in the edit. It’s not as good as meeting Jonathan Capps though.
Hey dont take the first word you hear from a tired me, to mean anything specific. It’s definately better. There you go.
Again we didnt see all of it, middle scenes and alt scenes missing etc, cant really prejudge episodes as a whole yet. There is stuff I loved.
Poor Doug seemed to be suffering a major cold, and bobby sore eyes as well, here’s wishing both get well soon. Thanks for all the hard series work. It’s weird seeing Kryten in Glasses reading a script in front of me.
There seems to have been missing scenes in virtually every recording bar possibly the first one? Got to wonder if there are a few unexpected twists and turns coming up in September that even those who attended the live shows aren’t expecting.
There was only one missing scene in the show I saw recorded (episode 2) but the way it was described to us, matched with the aftermath we actually saw, didn’t really make a lot of sense. Unless all was not as we were told…
Yeah could be. Or could be just production plan and issues. Based on the abscense of a set tonight, I’ve got a feeling the week of pick ups is based around set related issue that might fill in the episodes a little.
For a fair few people that one was the best of the series. It’s sort of difficult to judge what to say about it for a few reasons, but it was good. Very good infact. I envy Cappsy writting the set report for this one as there’s some interesting stuff to comment on. I’ll wait until he and the others decide how to word it until I say much more though.
The word on Twitter would suggest that tonight’s was another corker, so this is going to be a hell of a series. You’ve got to wonder about the laugh track for scenes that have still to be shot – will they be ‘serious’ scenes, with no audience reaction? Will the filmed scenes be shown at a preview screening? Whatever. Roll on September.
What strikes me as we were going through all the scenes once we got back was how much stuff is in this episode. The missing scenes definitely won’t take up much time, but we also got the impression that some of the stuff shot tonight will need to be redone. I absolutely loved this episode, though. As always there are caveats to that, but it was a great story and really, properly funny. The story has so much going on and I promise will generate a metric fuck tonne of comments on broadcast for a number of reasons.
Is it giving too much away to answer that? All I’ll say is, there would be worse episodes to end the series on. It was definitely the strongest of the four I’ve seen being recorded (1, 4, 5, 6), and had a real Red Dwarf VI vibe about it. Richard Naylor tweeted that it had two of his favourite guest parts of any RD ep ever, and I’d have to agree; the guest actors really brought their A-game to the show, and will be as memorable as any of the guests from earlier series.
Put this down to post-live-filming rush if you want: but I have a feeling that when the finished version of this is broadcast, it stands a good chance of being considered in my top half of Red Dwarf episodes. Yeah.
Do we know, officially, if Doug Naylor wrote all of these shows solo? If so, what has changed? That even the most cynical group of Red Dwarf fans on the internet, some of whom have professed a dislike for the show since the Grant Naylor split, are bowled over by RDX is incredibly encouraging and exciting, of course… but how has Doug suddenly pulled this out of his hat after all this time? Not that I doubted him (I enjoyed many elements of VII and VIII – and BTE for that matter) but these reactions, coupled with my own experience at episode 2, just all point to Doug having written six episodes of seriously-close-to-if-not-equal-to-some-classic-era Dwarf all by himself, which makes you wonder why he didn’t do that all along?
Definitely better. It’s fair to say there are similarities, but this episode managed to be ‘bigger’ than the first, while keeping the comedy character-focused rather than the spectacle-based comedy of Series 7 and 8. Although reading glasses were a good look for Kryten! Incidentally, was it me or did Doug seem to confirm Series 11? Admittedly he was quite unwell, and he’s spoken about the hypothetical next series during the intro to every recording, but he seemed to have quietly dropped the ‘if we get one’ this time…
Pleased to hear that about the comedy being character-based. :) Kryten wearing reading glasses? I’m grinning just at the thought, although I guess you mean Robert between takes.
If so, what has changed? That even the most cynical group of Red Dwarf fans on the internet, some of whom have professed a dislike for the show since the Grant Naylor split, are bowled over by RDX is incredibly encouraging and exciting, of course… but how has Doug suddenly pulled this out of his hat after all this time? In part, I’d say it’s because the type of stories he is trying to tell fit better to his wrtting style than VII and VIII. Incidentally, was it me or did Doug seem to confirm Series 11? Admittedly he was quite unwell, and he’s spoken about the hypothetical next series during the intro to every recording, but he seemed to have quietly dropped the ‘if we get one’ this time… He said the same last week. The weeks before that, he said ‘if we get another series’, but these last two weeks have been ‘when we get another series’.
>these reactions, coupled with my own experience at episode 2, just all point to Doug having written six episodes of seriously-close-to-if-not-equal-to-some-classic-era Dwarf all by himself, which makes you wonder why he didn’t do that all along? Whenever a partnership ends, it is a loss and it takes time to find ones footing again or regain ones stride. I imagine it’s just as true of writing partnerships as anything else. Going by the reports, it sounds like he’s found it. :)
“Kryten wearing reading glasses? I’m grinning just at the thought, although I guess you mean Robert between takes.” Sort of – the set for one scene hadn’t been erected for the recording, so rather than skip the scene entirely they decided to record it on a different set (so they could get the laugh track I suppose), but because it wasn’t “For reals”, Robert wore reading glasses and had the script in his hand…
Perhaps it’s time as well that’s improved Doug’s RD writing – he’s had many years to let lots of things settle and have ideas form. I wonder if the standard will be kept up if he’s asked to write another series soon after this one, or whether things will slip.
I think Doug’s struggled to find his solo voice. I thought VII was mostly cack, and VIII was shit…but they’re completely different in style and writing. They have very little in common aside from the fact that they’re unloved by a lot of people. VIII was a case of “Well, that wasn’t very popular; let’s just try this instead…”. To be honest, from the sound of the other episodes and from what I saw of Episode 5 and Episode 1, Series X seems to veer quite wildly in terms of style. I definitely think that there will be episodes of this series that people enjoy A LOT more than others, just because its catering to so many different styles. And maybe that’s OK. It’ll be harder to judge it as a whole, mind. Neither of the episodes I saw was classic Dwarf or even “seriously close” to classic Dwarf (more 6/10 on the Dwarf scale) as there’s still some big problems present, but there were some really good moments in there. The best scene I saw was 2 minutes that made me think “This is smart and funny and must harken back to something I’ve seen before in 36 other episodes”. But it didn’t. It was a wonderful ORIGINAL moment for all the characters and made me laugh.
Going to go against the grain on this one. Not only preferred ep one, I had pretty much the polar opposite reaction to Seb! Had some great guest performances. A strong opening. Then for me fell rapidly away into weak punchlines, silly voices, OTT performances and back references. Felt the ghosts of both VII and VIII. Hoping very much that a tight edit, reshoots and time will make me 180. Concerned that I am no longer the audience that Red Dwarf wants to attract.
I think the thing is, Dax, that you tend to ignore all the positive comments that people have, and immediately zero in on one single negative remark that someone makes, blowing it out of proportion and assuming that just because one person gets a feeling, it’s definitely going to be the case. It’s wearying.
I think the thing is, Dax, that you tend to ignore all the positive comments that people have, and immediately zero in on one single negative remark that someone makes, blowing it out of proportion and assuming that just because one person gets a feeling, it’s definitely going to be the case. Quite. And I should point out that Karl was in the minority, not only of G&T people, but also of general reaction from the rest of the audience.
what can i say i hated series 8 and found BTE just ok really, and i want to like the new series more then anything but 3 things i dread that may kill the enjoyment of the series for me alone is self references, pantomime acting and anything even close to the humour of series 8 i suppose its easier to pin point the bad as at least if your prepared then you wont be disapointed come the day, unlike with BTE which i tried to stay positive about but found it not very enjoyable viewing :) but i suppose its wishful thinking to hope these things can be spotted early and fixed
>i suppose its easier to pin point the bad as at least if your prepared then you wont be disapointed come the day True. Many people take the same attitude towards consumership or government: A healthy dose of cynicism means you’re less likely to get bamboozled. The think about fandom is, we fans elevate the show to a status on par with those things that have so much impact on our lives, like government. When those things disappoint and fall short, at least we can escape here to our G&T enclave and root for RDX to do well. I’m personally not bothered when people zoom in and speculate on the negative aspects of reviews, but you might also include some words of hope now and then. It was reassuring in the last post when you said you want to like RDX, because that was the first time I heard that. Curiously, I have exactly the opposite tendency: always zooming in on all the positive aspects and glossing over the negatives. Off the top of my head I can recall that in the first set report Ian said Danny John-Jules got a huge laugh just by entering a room at a precisely timed moment. But if you asked me what Ian found lacking, I couldn’t tell you without rereading the report.
Absolutely. I’m genuinely happy the show has been well received. One point to consider is the thin line between back reference and character comedy. My opinion can and has changed overtime, it may yet happen again.
No negative comments here could stop me from being open-minded about this series. Especially considering the closest anyone has been to seeing a final product is last week’s screening of the ep 1 rough cut. Also, plenty classic episodes have contained ‘funny voices’ and the cast hamming up the screen like nobody’s business! Not that I’m expecting classics here; I’ll be happy with some decent, funny Dwarf! Even if it was VIII level that still wouldn’t kill the anticipation for me. Horses for courses…e.g. some people can’t stand Mrs Brown’s Boys but I’ve been in tears watching it (of laughter, I must stress…;P).
I will admit that there are two really, really major back references in ep six that come to mind for me. However, the first one is one that I can’t imagine any G&T reader being unhappy with. The second one is one that I can’t imagine any Red Dwarf fan full stop being unhappy with.
obviously there are things that are giving me high hopes for this series mostly looks wise from teasers as i havent seen any of the recordings but then again i sorta thought the same about back to earth
And, not wanting to piss on your parade or owt, lets not forget how well received by the audience Series VIII actually was….and look at how that turned out :P Seriously though, I went to a recording….and I haven’t got a fucking clue how it’ll be. There was a couple of things I was unsure about. There was a lot I did like…Until it airs, it’s a waste of time worrying about it.
>if you scan through Richard Naylor’s Twitter feed you can glean that it’s a “totally different style to first 5” Those in attendance, did you agree with this? He also says of episode 6, “Along with show 5 prob furthest from final show you’ll see in September.” So who knows how the finished product will look. I can’t wait.
>If so, what has changed? That even the most cynical group of Red Dwarf fans on >the internet, some of whom have professed a dislike for the show since the Grant >Naylor split, are bowled over by RDX is incredibly encouraging and exciting, of >course… but how has Doug suddenly pulled this out of his hat after all this >time? Everything Pete says, in my opinion too. The fact that a lot of moaning in the world doesnt like change, regardless of it’s benefits, and here Doug has a created from what I’ve seen, a series that is closer to setup of series people felt very warm about. And (I could be wrong on this come broadcast.) He’s written something very self contained again. I dont know what the mix of necessity and choice of direction that is, but it feels focussed, character driven and pure. And as ori says, apart from those lucky enough to see the rough cut, none of this comment yet reflects near broadcast feeling. A recording is stronger experience at times like enjoying a play, on a great night out, but also more drawn out. So another change is the internet meeting that.
>if you scan through Richard Naylor’s Twitter feed you can glean that it’s >a “totally different style to first 5” >>Those in attendance, did you agree with this? Personally, having seen only two recordings. No.
>I will admit that there are two really, really major back references in ep six >that come to mind for me. However, the first one is one that I can’t imagine any >G&T reader being unhappy with. The second one is one that I can’t imagine any >Red Dwarf fan full stop being unhappy with. The back references were gold, from massive to small. Of about 5, they were mostly vital and cool. Others enjoyable little character moments. That goes for episode 4 as well.
>He also says of episode 6, “Along with show 5 prob furthest from final show >you’ll see in September.” So who knows how the finished product will look. I >can’t wait. A lot of wibbly wobbly stuff to add on, as Krtyen told us. :-) FX/models and other sets etc. There was a lot more of the cast telling us stuff on microphone about the show, than there was, when I saw EP4. It’ll be cool to see come september. There was a bit I’m very unable to work out what the style of it is intended to be until I see the episode version. I loved Dannys costume in ep 6 more than ep 4.
That’s something that I meant to ask. I wasn’t sold on the Cat costume for Ep2. Looked cheap in real life and had a detail I wasn’t too sure about. But it may look fine on camera. Did Cat have a different outfit for each episode?
The only kind of back referencing i don’t like is the kind we got in Series 7, 8 and BtE. Back referencing such as ‘This is worse than Rimmerworld’ , talking about the Ohm song and the pointless mentioning of ‘Future Echoes’ in Series 8. You know, those kind of references that appear out of nowhere, are pointless to the actual story, and are not even funny in themselves. Stuff like reusing the positive viruses in Series 8 i didn’t mind because it at least did something new with them. There was a point in reusing them. Though some may argue whether it was worth it :)
>The only kind of back referencing i don’t like is the kind we got in Series 7, 8 and BtE. Back referencing such as ‘This is worse than Rimmerworld i agree that one felt the most forced >Stuff like reusing the positive viruses in Series 8 i didn’t mind because it at least did something new with them. There was a point in reusing them. Though some may argue whether it was worth it :) reusing the luck virus is like scraping the barrel really see i always think back to what doug said in the BTE commantary when he says he thought there was some coolness in using the same idea from back to reality in BTE and that he didnt think people would say oh he just ran out of ideas which sounds like alot of people did
> However, the first one is one that I can’t imagine any G&T reader being unhappy with. The second one is one that I can’t imagine any Red Dwarf fan full stop being unhappy with. That any G&T reader…I’m gonna take a wild guess that the first one is a reference to the ‘Ganymede & Titan, yes sir I’ve been around…’ song. If that’s the case then I’m already smiling at the thought. That would be a nice little full-circle moment. The second…no clue. Blue Midget dance??
Blue Midget dance?? On the first recording I remember saying, ‘If anyone sees Charles Augins hanging around Shepperton, give him a Babycham and tell him to fuck off.’
> Where’s me fucking set report?! It’s getting there. Such a difficult episode to talk about without spoilers.
>The second one is one that I can’t imagine any Red Dwarf fan full stop being unhappy with. Well Doug did say he would wait a little later on in the series to give an explanation as the cliffhanger at the end of Series VIII…
Okay: have we seen this, and is it a spoiler? http://twitter.com/#!/RichardDGNaylor/status/163351390285086721/photo/1
>That any G&T reader…I’m gonna take a wild guess that the first one is a reference to the ‘Ganymede & Titan, yes sir I’ve been around…’ song. If that’s the case then I’m already smiling at the thought. That would be a nice little full-circle moment. Yes, to get the whole song would be fantastic! I’m almost done fleshing it out myself actually. Just missing about 1/2 a verse of lyrics. Stay tuned. (:
> Thanks, si, that’s perfect for the set report! Glad to be of service. > Is It sad that I’m updating this site CONSTANTLY awaiting your fucking awesome set report? Oh, I’ve been doing that all afternoon.
Okay: have we seen this, and is it a spoiler? http://twitter.com/#!/RichardDGNaylor/status/163351390285086721/photo/1 Looks like Andrew Marr…
> the ‘Ganymede & Titan, yes sir I’ve been around…’ song. One more thought about this, then I’ll drop it: if the full song is in RDX – and I know we won’t know until September, but *if* – that would mean a composer is back on board and they don’t have to rely on library music clips. And if Doug approached Goodall and said, “I want you to score RDX including fleshing out ‘Lunar City 7’,” I think Goodall would say yes, because the song is very catchy and is great fun to work on. The melody Lister sings could be harmonized in many different ways; I chose bluesy 7th chords. Doug always comes up with fun lyrics, too. To summarize: this is a sliver of a smidgen of a sign that Goodall could, possibly, be back! Let’s hope so. Don’t ask me why I use Doug’s first name but Goodall’s last; I’ve never met either of them.
I highly doubt over everything that COULD return to Red Dwarf – that Goodall will be back. Ever. For shame.
I can think of four or five things, but as noted previously different people want different things. For years I wanted say Talkie Toaster to reappear. Now, I’m not sure that’s something I would want. Yet, I once would’ve got a kick out of it. I’d like to be a little defensive of my ‘moaning’ in that I’ve not set out to savage the show , set out Friday morning full of positivity and simply called in an honest reaction. Not one I wanted too have. Seb mentioned he couldn’t imagine a G&T not liking certain bits. I’m a G&T reader, in fact I’ve been one longer than Seb ;-) So yeah, at the moment I’m disappointed, unconvinced, but I hope it’s clear I’m not moaning or slating the show. The thrill of being in a RD audience was great. I’m absolutely wetting myself with excitement over the model shots we might get for this. It also struck me during the recording how great I think a RD stage play could have been. The hugest laughs seemed to come from the smeg-ups on Friday. The cast are all so loved by us they create a buzz just walking into a scene. There were positives. Guess I’m just at a crossroads with Dwarf. Some say sequels or more product doesn’t affect the quality of what went before. I think it does, or at least it changes public perception and it changes the brand. Someone said earlier that some people don’t like change. Sometimes you can get change and it not be the change you want. It sort of saddens me you don’t see many of the old guard anymore. I wonder why fans such as those on University Challenge aren’t around more (save for the obvious one that is). Sorry, for this semi-awake stream of rollocks. This series will do well, I’m sure. Me I might have to go back to throwing darts into a picture of Rob Grant.
>Seb mentioned he couldn’t imagine a G&T not liking certain bits. I’m a G&T reader, in fact I’ve been one longer than Seb ;-) Well, that remark was about a very specific bit of dialogue. The reason I said “G&T readers” specifically was because there’s a particular opinion that I think generally, readers of this site might be more likely to share than fans elsewhere. And this particular line of dialogue I’m thinking about is something that’s probably going to be quite satisfying for those people, as regards what it implies.
Very true! And perhaps to put any fears I’ve raised to bed, we’re not talking about an episode reliant on recycling for it’s plot. Far from it, the central arc is bold, new, potentially radical. So I can see why some have gone ‘Wow!’
Did anyone read the Episode title on the script that was placed on the lectern? Probably a shooting title but it did fit to what we saw.
Did anyone read the Episode title on the script that was placed on the lectern? Probably a shooting title but it did fit to what we saw. Episode titles are something I’m very excited about finding out. I tried desperately to see the episode title for the one I went to see being filmed (ep3).
We know about a few of the titles. Or rather the working titles. It’ll be interesting if they change in the run. As it’ll be the first time we’ve EVER known of an episode title shift during production…
Seb mentioned he couldn’t imagine a G&T not liking certain bits. I’m a G&T reader, in fact I’ve been one longer than Seb ;-) Well, that remark was about a very specific bit of dialogue. The reason I said “G&T readers” specifically was because there’s a particular opinion that I think generally, readers of this site might be more likely to share than fans elsewhere. And this particular line of dialogue I’m thinking about is something that’s probably going to be quite satisfying for those people, as regards what it implies. Has Doug managed to fit “Iain Lee is a cunt” into the script?? =P
We know about a few of the titles. Or rather the working titles. I thought the G&T guys knew about some working titles. Actually we know sod all about them, but if you’ve got a blocked nozzle. We’re your lads!
> And this particular line of dialogue I’m thinking about is something that’s probably going to be quite satisfying for those people, as regards what it implies. Perhaps final confirmation that this indeed is the original Rimmer we’re seeing since BtE?
They review and analyze their group hallucination from bte in a DwarfCast, discussing the mercurial nature of Lister’s scriptwriting.
I only know one episode title/working title, Ray mentioned it during the 4th or 5th recording, it’s for the episode that I didn’t see recorded (Ep3).
I only know one episode title/working title, Ray mentioned it during the 4th or 5th recording, it’s for the episode that I didn’t see recorded (Ep3). Oh, was that actually a title? I thought he was just referring to something in the episode.
I think Karl’s reaction to the recording of Ep 6 is the closest I’ve read to my reactions to Eps 2 and 3 – in that I think I enjoyed the *experience* of the recording more than the episode itself, and that I’m just Not Sure about the episodes at all. One of my favourite moments of the entire recording of Ep 2 was Robert reacting to two clapperboards being shoved in his face. (Which I REALLY HOPE will make it into the Smeg Ups in some way.) That’s perhaps an odd thing to take away as one of the funniest moments you saw during a recording. Of course, it’s worth pointing out there was that scene that was by FAR the cleverest scene I’ve seen in Dwarf since VI, and then another that nearly had me rolling around on the studio floor with laughter. It just didn’t feel it was consistent enough. It took far too long into the episode to get my first laugh. Basically, I dunno. I really, really, dunno. Onward to Autumn, I guess. This, at least, seems to be something most people can agree on – that it’s difficult to judge until we see the final episodes. (I think there’s been a few too many dropped scenes during these recordings for comfort, but that’s a separate issue.)
John, did you think that the episode 2 recording gave us a full episode? I know there were a couple of scenes missing that we were told about, but even taking that into account, I didn’t think we were anywhere near a 30 minute episode. Bearing in mind that 30 minutes is after a lot of editing and trimming….I have heard (not sure how true this is) that for a 30 minute episode, they would normally record over 40 minutes of material and edit down to the required length. I didn’t think we were anywhere near that.
Saw episode 2 and 3 and am confident that when all the jokes are crammed into the 28 minute running time (rather than spread across 3 or 4 hours) there’ll be enough good laughs to keep momentum. I actually found that I had forgotten many of the brilliant things in the episodes I saw by the time their respective recordings had finished but in the days following I randomly remembered many of those great moments, of which there seemed to be plenty. Even one moment that I found hilarious and probably gave me the biggest laugh of the night I totally forgot about (I assume because it was a VT that was only shown once very early in the evening). My only real problems were a couple of “pantomime” moments which each lasted all of a few seconds so really a minor problem. Other than that the cast were great. Only other programme I’ve seen filmed is The IT Crowd and it’s funny how with that, what you see is pretty much what will be on TV. With Dwarf it feels like you’ve seen so little of the final product. More like a tease of what the new series will be which is much more exciting as it means there’s much more to look forward to come broadcast.
John, did you think that the episode 2 recording gave us a full episode? I know there were a couple of scenes missing that we were told about, but even taking that into account, I didn’t think we were anywhere near a 30 minute episode. I didn’t think it felt like 30 minutes… but I’ve been to a lot of sitcom recordings, and in my experience, it *always* feels like it runs short. Then, you get to the finished episode, and it’s the correct length. I’ve never been able to understand why this is the case – the recordings last so long that you’d think you’d feel the opposite…
The rough cut of episode 1 we saw at the ep 5 recording ran to 31 minutes long at that stage, and that was minus opening credits and closing credits, and that fair ripped along. I’m confident the others will follow suit!
We got to see the opening credit sequence at the start of the recording for episode 6. God it was dull. A static logo on a black background, with the theme music over it.
I mean ok, someone will probably say not all the pictures are ready to go in it, but it’s just not good enough, I paid good money* to come and see Dwarf recorded, the least the cast could do is run around in the sets recreating reaction and action shots, with the cat doing quick costume changes, all in front of me in 30 seconds, so I could get a vague idea of what the opening is going to be like. A real poor effort that. (*mostly to the chip shop and barley mow)
>We got to see the opening credit sequence at the start of the recording for episode 6. God it was dull. A static logo on a black background, with the theme music over it. Less Is more.
John made a point break on the Dwarfcast prior to the recordings about how fandom becomes more than just the show. It’s been on my mind ever since. So really should blame him for me showing back up and all the garbage I’ve said since. John, quick question. In your experience have their ever been major changes in your opinions of eps between recordings and broadcast? Do you think you can walk out having one opinion and then have it changed or do you generally keep the same opinion?
John, quick question. In your experience have their ever been major changes in your opinions of eps between recordings and broadcast? Do you think you can walk out having one opinion and then have it changed or do you generally keep the same opinion? Yeah, it’s happened to me – though perhaps not “major”. I thought IT Crowd Series 4 was a less satisfying on telly than when I saw it recorded – but then, I did have some reservations during the recording, too.
