Reviews by Gavrielle News Posted by John Hoare on 4th July 2005, 00:49 Some decent Dwarf reviews on the net? What? Don’t get me wrong. I disagree with some of it. Actually, I disagree with most of it. In fact, I disagree with pretty much all of the negative stuff, particularly when it comes to VI. But it’s such a delight to read some decent Dwarf reviews with some thought-provoking opinions, isn’t it? EVEN IF A LOT OF THEM ARE WRONG.
“The adventures of this ill-assorted bunch are traced over six series (at least, the only six that count)” While I, shall we say, ‘dislike’ VII and VIII, I don’t think dismissing them altogether is a good idea at all. I mean, if it wasn’t for VII and VIII we wouldn’t have had Chloe to wan… to look at. AND we wouldn’t be looking forward to two more DVD releases of pure GNP goodness. Just don’t watch VII and VIII with someone new to Dwarf or someone you’re trying to f.. impress, because you can guarantee you’ll want to crawl into a ball and die at some moments with embarrassment for the series.
> While I, shall we say, ‘dislike’ VII and VIII, I don’t think dismissing them altogether is a good idea at all. You’re absolutely right. Dismissing VII/VIII as worthless is a bad idea in the extreme. They patently aren’t. There’s some very good stuff in there. There are, however, better things to be watching… Anyway, to try and stop this becoming a VII/VIII discussion… I think the review of Rimmerworld is interesting, as it brings up something that’s bothered me about the episode as well – that in what is ostensiably a Rimmer character episode, you don’t end up learning much about Rimmer at all, unlike Holoship, Timeslides, Dimension Jump, etc etc etc. I can forgive it, because there’s some great jokes in there, but the episode feels slightly shallow in the last half. It’s certainly no Timeslides. I really do disagree with a lot of the other criticisms of the other eps, though. And when the front page has “Continuity is dodgy at best” as one of the minus points for the series, you have to wonder whether they’re looking at the show in the right way… But at least they’re actual, proper, personal reviews, and are vaguely intelligent. A rarity, frankly.
I don’t have time to read all of this right now, but I’m glad it’s been linked to, it will make good reading. However she lists movies that Dwarf has made obvious references to, and Ghostbusters is among them. Did I miss this reference? Maybe she explains it later somewhere, but I’m just wondering if somebody less tired than me knows what she means.
Interesting to read, but she is wrong about series VI. Especially Out Of Time, which is one of the best episodes of anything, ever. And I don’t agree with this : The Cat flubs a line, saying: “You can?t forget me, I?m unforgettabibble!” Unless I’m mistaken, that’s not a fluff from Danny, but a deliberate stumbling.
Apparently, the Ghostbusters reference can be found in Legion where the anti-matter chopsticks sequence is *obviously* lifted from the whole ‘crossing the proton pack streams’. Feeble. Apart from that (and the occasional flaw of the sort that Seb mentions above), it’s not a bad bunch of reviews. Her comments on VI are mostly wrong but she makes some good points. I also have lingering problems with Emohawk. She has clearly been influneced by Virgin’s programme guides (though not Red Dwarfs, ironically).
“While I, shall we say, ‘dislike’ VII and VIII, I don’t think dismissing them altogether is a good idea at all.” It’s the only think you bloody talk about!
>Apparently, the Ghostbusters reference can be found in Legion > where the anti-matter chopsticks sequence is *obviously* lifted >from the whole ‘crossing the proton pack streams’. Ahh, thanks muchly. I’m willing to believe that could be a reference, yes. But I’m on your site in questioning the “obviously.”
“It’s the only think you bloody talk about!” Well…maybe it is, but while I think they deserve to be slagged off, any comments I’ve made about them being ‘the series that must not be named’ or anything are a little light-hearted most of the time. I realised before, how could I be really looking forward to the re-edited BITR so much if I despised the series so much? Granted, the Xtendeds are almost worthless (I’d prefer the extra bits in the deleted scenes), but I never thought for a second about not getting the DVDs. Maybe there should be an article about the merits of VII and VIII. Sorry if there has been one, I can’t remember.
“Well…maybe it is, but while I think they deserve to be slagged off, any comments I’ve made about them being ‘the series that must not be named’ or anything are a little light-hearted most of the time.” Oh, I know. The point I was making (light heartedly, for the record) was that you’re the last person who’d want to get rid of the series’ as you never seem to shut up about them! There’s some good pro VII and VIII articles on G&T if you look around a bit. Penned my Kirk Flibble, I think. When our episode review database goes up (one of the things to look forward to do in the ‘Stuff’ section) I’m writing a very ‘fair’ review of Tikka to Ride – it certainly doesn’t fall into the category of anti-VII, anyway.
Yeah, I forgot about the thing on VIII’s setting. Personally I don’t think the setting was the problem, just the lack of budget and decent writing from Doug.
