Waiting For God… News Posted by John Hoare on 19th April 2005, 23:42 …was on UKG2 a few hours ago. It was excellent. I LOL’d plenty. Rob Grant is an IDIOT. So, does anyone here disapprove of the ep? The only bit I don’t like is the Toaster’s “So what else is new?” Way to hammer a point into the fucking ground, guys…
I’ve got to admit, I disliked this episode absolutely every time I saw it until a few nights ago. It used to be that nothing in the show really struck me as great except for the Rimmer story… But now I realize the episode is much better than I thought, all except for that damn Cat Priest scene. Sorry. I just can’t do it. It’s not very funny, and I don’t think it’s particularly well-acted either. I can definitely see it working as a shorter piece, but as it stands it’s just about as dull as “See you in ten minutes?”
I quite like the Cat Priest scene… if only because the whole thing so so *odd*. I agree it’s hardly a classic, though. And a great example of Dwarf finding its feet – they never did anything like it again in the entire series. (I think there are great possibilities myself – of exploring obscure corners of the ship, and finding all kinds of odd things…) There is one great bit in that scene, though – when Cat enters, and bends down to the Cat statues and says “H-eeeey, fellas!” I remember me and Ian recorded a commentary (as yet unreleased – AFAICR it was not that good) for the ep, and we *both* noticed it for the first time ever and were nearly on the floor. And we’d both seen the ep *so* many times before…
It IS odd. One of the few things I like about it is the Cat Priest getting his hat back…a miracle since he had it burned. Okay. Good. And well done. I could do with that miracle and a gag or two about the Holy Custard Stains…but otherwise it suffered from severe padding. Still, you’re right, it WAS Dwarf finding its feet. And it is a bit odd that they didn’t have more “exploring the ship” plots. One of the best bits of series I for me is the bit in Confidence and Parnoia about Lister going up to the officer’s quarters, which haven’t been decontaminated yet. I don’t know why I like that so much…I guess it’s a much better plot device than Lister just catching a virus for no reason. The decontamination process being gradual makes it feel more realistic.
THE MAN HE SPEAK THE TRUTH. Speaking of realism, it would have been fantastic to have seen a glimpse of the old bunkroom at some point in III. I wonder what happened to the set – if it was put in storage again in case they needed it for III, surely they could have dragged it out again for one scene. Oh. Yes. Because it wouldn’t have been funny at all, and wouldn’t have added anything to the show – it would just have been wank material for about 20 geeks across the world. Still.
I’m torn on Waiting For God, as I really don’t like the Cat People stuff (it’s not a bad plot, I just don’t think it’s particularly well-done), but the Quagaars stuff is among the funniest material that Dwarf had to offer in its early series. “THIS IS SCIENCE, LADDIE!” is still one of my favourite ever RD moments.
Woah, hang on a second. I wondered what happened to those episode commentaries! I thought ‘The End’ one was fairly amusing (no, seriously). You should do some more, one episode for each series maybe. If only so the word ‘cunt’ can be heard over the likes of ‘Krytie TV’.
>Rob Grant is an IDIOT. I just noticed this. What, didn’t Rob like the episode? I’m guessing not, but I’d like to be clued in all the same.
>You should do some more, one episode for each series maybe. If only so the word ‘cunt’ can be heard over the likes of ‘Krytie TV’. Wait until Kirk gets round to sorting out and releasing what we recorded while we were all together making the film… ;-)
If I remember correctly, Rob hated the episode so much as they were making it that he’s not watched it since. (I can’t remember if he watched it when it was first aired or not.)
How could he hate it THAT much?? I’ll admit, it isn’t one of my favourites, possibly my least favourite of series I (though my opinions fluctuate), but there’s no episodes that I don’t actually enjoy watching (I’m talking pre-VII & VIII here…). Maybe certain ideas he had for the ep were rejected or didn’t come off as he had planned. Only fuck knows.
> So, does anyone here disapprove of the ep? The only bit I don’t like is > the Toaster’s “So what else is new?” Way to hammer a point into the > fucking ground, guys… A TRUE point.
> A TRUE point. Absolutely. But with all the more subtle, satirical, allegorical stuff that goes before and after it, I find that line a bit patronising. Most people with a brain larger than a grape will have spotted the link between the Cat religion and real religions by then, so it doesn’t need spelling out.
I think the “so what else is new?” line could be just about got away with, but I don’t like Lister’s reaction to it one bit. It really does feel like over-egging by that point.
Personally – I love Waiting for God. It certainly feels ‘odd’ compared to the usual Dwarf style but I love it all the same. The priest scene is very touching and, as John has pointed out, the Cat singing “Heeeey fellas” to ornamental moggies is very, very funneh. I’ll agree with the rubbish “So, what else is new” opinions on here, but Rimmer and Lister’s slagging match more than makes up for any scenes thats I would consider to be ‘a bit dodgey’. “WE’LL SOON SEE HOW TOTTY IT IS, THE QUARANTINE PERIOD’S NEARLY UP! BASTARD!”
