Radio Times Readers In “Not Stupid” Shock News Posted by Seb Patrick on 16th July 2007, 13:05 We’ll write up something proper on this when the issue itself comes out this week, but in the meantime : WHAT THE FUCK?!? Admittedly Who was deliberately excluded from the poll. But if it hadn’t been, you can simply assume that Dwarf would have come second, and that’s still an amazing result. More on this (and potential ramifications in terms of the BBC realising what Dwarf means to people, which may sound silly, but remember when Who won that “Auntie” poll?) later in the week…
This is the best triumph since Red Dwarf was voted third best sci-fi in that 2001 Channel 4 show. Top Fucking Banana!
Yeah and we never heard of the poll, so it’s not like you could say Red Dwarf fans voted fifty times each to get it there.
To quote the Cat- “Twice in one lifetime? When you’re hot, you’re hot!” Maybe it’ll give somebody up in BBC Towers a prod, but I doubt it.
Doug should send that to potential backers of the film, to quell any doubts they might have about investing in the project!
> ran for 10 years and was a cult hit. Shove your ‘cult’ up your cunt! Galactica should be a lot higher on that list. So should Babylon 5. Life On Mars should be right down.
You’re always going to get the more current stuff in these polls as well as the classics, a lot of TV fans seem to have short memories… But this is an extraordinary result however you look at it.. Hoorah etc..
I enjoyed Life on Mars to. It was kinda TV by numbers though. 20 Percent Quantum leap, 50 percent The Sweeny, 20 percent prime suspect etc. 2 Percent Randal and Hopkirk deceased, 2 percent twin peaks, 2 percent the professionals etc. 1 Percent police squad, 1 Percent camblewick green etc. and 1 percent I love the nineteen seventies clip show. I’ll still be tuning in for Ashes to Ashes.
I’m slightly confused at the point of conducting a poll if you’re going to automatically exclude the “clear winner”. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth that “Red Dwarf has been voted the Top Sci-fi show of all time…but only because we didn’t include Doctor Who.” Maybe this is how they should conduct general elections? There’s a load of crud on that list. Perhaps the biggest shock aside from the “winner” is the second place. The X Files stopped being flavour of the month a long time ago.
Isn’t he just saying that it played heavily on a lot of allready established TV concepts? I mean he’s right about The Sweeney influence.
Frankly, I just don’t see how LoM counts as a science fiction show. johnsmad: 20 Percent Quantum leap, 50 percent The Sweeny [sic], 20 percent prime suspect etc. 2 Percent Randal and Hopkirk deceased, 2 percent twin peaks, 2 percent the professionals etc. 1 Percent police squad, 1 Percent camblewick [sic] green etc. and 1 percent I love the nineteen seventies clip show. That’s 99%. What’s the other 1%? :p
> Yeah, Life on Mars turned out to not be science fiction at all, really? MEDICAL science fiction, maybe… Let’s settle on fantasy, shall we?
I seem to remember Red Dwarf coming 11th when the BBC did that ’10 greatest sitcoms of all time’ (or something like that) show a couple of years ago, i’d have thought that would’ve prooved Dwarf still had fans, it came in miles ahead of newer stuff like the office. Then again, perhaps I just dreamt it in my subconcious wishes that the rest of the world either shared my view of the Office’s shiteness, or at least clued me in on what’s supposed to be funny about it.
Red Dwarf came 18th and was beaten by Keeping up Appearances. If I remember though the selection procedure for the Top 100 did involve something like picking your top five and ranking them in order of preference. If you could only vote for one, you never know, Red Dwarf might have made it higher. Maybe.
Red Dwarf came 18th and was beaten by Keeping up Appearances. It was also beaten by The Vicar of Dibley and Last of the Summer Wine, both of which are far, far worse than Keeping Up Appearances…
Er. Yeah good point “Somebody”, that doesnt add up. So 1% total genius I guess. Which I’m obviously not, Is that why I’m a massive Idiot Ian cus I can’t count? Fair point, Or because I’ll still tune in to the sequel? Or if it’s just because I said something bad about Life on Mars.. Well I suppose you should have said “You great… soft… sissy… girlie… nancy… French… bender… Man United supporting POOF!!”
If we’re on a Keeping Up Appearances for a minute, then I’d like to add how much I love it. And it’s got even funnier for me the older I’ve got. An over-used comparison it might be, but it really has got a lot of Bennett about it. Lots of lovely subtle character comedy… and Hyacinth falling into a lake. The best of both worlds. Roy Clarke wrote Open All Hours and Keeping Up Appearances – two fucking fantastic sitcoms. Why does he keep churning out endless LOTSW? Well, I think we probably all know – but it’s *such* a waste…
I’m rather pleased that the X-Files got in there, given that this was an ‘all time’ poll. Most polls of this kind tend to throw up a large percentage of recent stuff especially when younger viewers vote… I can also see why Doctor Who was left out seeing as it was what triggered the poll, it would look a bit stupid and pointless if everyone voted for one show, which could happen… Like I said, looking at this list, it is extraordinary and one hell of a result for Dwarf despite what we as individuals think of the other 19..
Jonsmad: I was a little drunk when I posted last night. I apologise unreservedly for the idiot comment. I still disagree with the opinion that LoM is “TV by numbers” though, when it’s the most original piece of TV drama this millenium.
> it?s the most original piece of TV drama this millenium. So you obviously don’t count The Flintstones in that.
Mike’s almost finished watching LoM (and offering violence to people who start talking about what happened in the final episode before he’s managed to see it) and he thinks it’s great. What he’s enjoying even more, however, is BBC’s Jekyll.
No worries. I suppose TV by Numbers is too harsh it implys that, the writers in some way were lazy or just copied loads of ideas, which I dont think. I should have said they drew on lots of great influences. I think the episodes themselves, and the story arch across the two series were very well written. I should have made it clearer that I like the show, and have the dvd’s.
>Perhaps the biggest shock aside from the ?winner? is the second place. The X Files stopped being flavour of the month a long time ago. TXF still has quite an active fanbase; it’s easy to underestimate it- just as many people outside the Dwarf universe underestimates all Dwarf fans. However, it really wasn’t science fiction- Drama/Fantasy is where I’d personally put that show…
The main reason I reckon LoM should be down on the list is that it’s hardly a sci-fi show. Some people don’t treat new Who as sci-fi either. I heard someone say ‘it’s not science-fiction, it’s science-affliction’. I told them to shut up, the twat. It’s great that Lost (which I love) is now considered to be sci-fi. I like how Damon Lindelof reeled a large audience into the show in the first season with the survivor element, adventure and mystery, with plenty of angsty drama going on in the flashbacks (trying hard to think of a character without ‘Daddy issues’), and NOW it’s pretty much an out-and-out sci-fi/fantasy geek fest (apologies for using the words ‘geek’ and ‘fest’, and in the same sentence too…) with time travel, sonic fence defence systems, fertility experiments, the creepy ‘Jacob’ (like a scene from The X-Files). The show has turned to gold after a fairly lacklustre second season which had many people switching off. The twist in the season 3 finale will go down in history as one of the best ever.
> The twist in the season 3 finale will go down in history as one of the best ever. And one of the most annoying points for the season to end.
God, season 3 was just brilliant, wasn’t it? Even the ‘shit at the time’ first six episodes all make sense, now. It’s got to rank along season 4 of B5 and season 3 of Buffy as one of the best seasons of telly, like, EVUR.
Firstly; why are people questioning the placing of LoM when that utter piece of shite ‘Torchwood” made the list? At least LoM isn’t slowly poisoning ‘Who’ for me. Also, why is ‘Lost’ good? To me its pretty much a soapy. People may has well have voted for ‘Passions’.
> Also, why is ?Lost? good? To me its pretty much a soapy. People may has well have voted for ?Passions?. Woo-hoo! Yes! Marry me this instant!
> Firstly; why are people questioning the placing of LoM when that utter piece of shite ?Torchwood? made the list? At least LoM isn?t slowly poisoning ?Who? for me. If we were debating the actual quality of Life on Mars then you might have a point, but we’re not, we’re debating whether it counts as a sci-fi. Torchwood, no matter what you think of it, is definitely sci-fi and so belongs on a list if enough people enjoy it. Which they do. > Also, why is ?Lost? good? To me its pretty much a soapy. People may has well have voted for ?Passions?. Have you never encountered any sci-fi elements in Lost, then?
> Woo-hoo! Yes! Marry me this instant! Oi, you, did you ever get past 3.6? I’d be interested to hear what you think of season 3 as a whole.
Actually, yes – as someone who hated Lost for the first two seasons (and indeed the “mini-season” at the start of 3), I’m amazed by the way the rest of season three actually grabbed me. So if anyone’s an advert for how possible it is to be converted…
Did you actually ‘hate’ it before, though? I always thought you were just uninterested rather than actively against?
Also, the first 6 episodes are entirely validated by the shot of the plane crashing in epsiode 1 and Eko being mauled by the smoke monster in episode 5.
Season 3 was brilliant episode after brilliant episode. Episodes 3.19 ‘The Brig’ and 3.20 ‘The Man Behind The Curtain’ became two of my all-time favourites. Other excellent ones were ‘The Man From Tallahasee’ where we find out how Locke ended up in a wheelchair, ‘Flashes Before Your Eyes’, ‘Enter 77’, ‘One Of Us’ all great. The Charlie episode ‘Greatest Hits’ mentioned Clitheroe, which is where I live. They’re going to do a gig, Charlie says ‘Headlining? We’re playing Clitheroe, the arse-end of nowhere!’ No doubt Dominic Monaghan came up with that because he used to stay around here when he was filming Hetty Wainthrop Investigates. By the way, did anyone catch the pilot episode of The X-Files last night? It dawned on me that it must be at least 10 years since I’ve seen it.
> Oi, you, did you ever get past 3.6? I?d be interested to hear what you think of season 3 as a whole. No access, sadly. My enabler was no longer able to get the channel, so after 50 episodes I was (with great relief) able to go cold turkey. My feelings about the show remain rather complicated. Can’t say I’m not interested – my role as Lost ‘hater’ has been slightly exaggerated, as I seem mostly to respond to people who think the show is the second coming, but I retain some interest in ‘the mystery’. Sadly, I’m not sure I can stomach surrendering the hours to get there. Hey – could someone edit me a ‘rest of series 3’ highlights package? Ideally this would cut out 89% of the flashback scenes, a simple caption whenever another uninteresting character learns something, feels bad or ‘shockingly’ dies, and just leave in those interesting bits fans will be screen-grabbing and blogging about for weeks? Ta. :-) > Also, the first 6 episodes are entirely validated by the shot of the plane crashing in epsiode 1 and Eko being mauled by the smoke monster in episode 5. Or, y’know, not. :-p
> and so belongs on a list if enough people enjoy it. Which they do. Damn fools. Apparently The Marsters is going to play a ‘villain with attitude’. So hugely original casting by the Torchwood team.
Yeah, but any excuse to see him playing a Spike-alike is surely a good thing? Plus, Jim Robinson is going to be in it! Fresh from his daughter-in-law being in the Who Christmas Special.
> Yeah, but any excuse to see him playing a Spike-alike is surely a good thing? Plus, Jim Robinson is going to be in it! All the new cast stuff for Torchwood gives me a lot of hope. Which is fucking stupid, obviously – but I still desperately want the show to work. Still, if they couldn’t get the first bunch of characters to be anything other than incompetent twats, can more characters be the answer?
My hope with Torchwood is that they jettison half the cast and make massive improvements. That said that was my hope for Hyperdrive. And Ian, yes of course it’s a great thing! Just a shame it’s a one-off and not as a recurring villain.
Going back to Keeping Up Appearances for a minute – on an episode on at the moment, Onslow and Daisy are sitting in bed together… and Onslow is reading Principles of Condensed Matter Physics. Brilliant. Reminds me of the Fawlty Towers episode with Basil reading Jaws…
Completely agree with the article. Not that I particularly love Doctor Who. Watched a few “classic” stories on UKDrama recently and was bored senseless. Appreciate RTD slightly more now… [Runs and hides]
What bothers me about this kind of article is that it’s based on the writers own opinions which is fair enough, but doeasn’t show the whole picture and ignores certain points… It ignores the fact that this was a poll on Sci-Fi and ‘Fantasy’, this is seldom mentioned in anything I’ve read, hence the debates on whether Red Dwarf and Lost for instance are actually Sci-Fi!. The words non-reality and fantasy are clearly used in the RT therefore the question doesn’t matter, all the shows fit the poll. The point is also raised re Blakes 7 Vs Lost, the implication being that Lost was voted for because it’s new and isn’t Blakes7!, no shit Sherlock. I would say personally that the first 3 series of Lost have given me far more pleasure than Blakes7 ever did, it’s perfectly feasible that people in the Poll feel the same way, live with it Mr Writer. Comments re Coronation Street and Eastenders being left out of the ratings are ludicrous as well. Ratings are one thing, this is bums on seats whereas a Poll is about peoples personal preference, a mile of difference. Maybe they were wrong to leave Dr Who out, but I can fully understand them doing so. The Radio Times has strong BBC connections and is strongly supportive of Dr Who, anyone who reads it will know just how much page space is dedicated to the programme. Given that Dr Who formed a huge part of why the poll was done, I think it’s fair to say, most that were attracted to the original article/poll were there as Dr Who fans…Including Dr Who would be similar to asking people on the Red Dwarf webboard what their favourite comedy was! a rather pointless exersise… Perhaps it would have been interesting to see people choosing their top 10 of all time.
Yeah, when I say I “completely agree” with that article, I mean the Doctor Who comment. As for his suggestions for the top ten, I can’t really comment; never seen Blakes 7 and Battlestar Galatica looks kinda awful. So, um, apart from that I *completely* agree with the article. There’s no point doing a poll if you’re going to automatically remove a popular choice. It completely invalidates the point of asking for someone’s opinion as you’re assuming stuff about the participants before you begin. Re; EastEnders and Coronation Street. I see where he’s coming from, but the ratings thing is a bit daft. A better analogy would be if you were to remove those shows from a similar poll about soaps. What’s your favourite colour? Ps. You’re not allowed red or blue. Btw, did anyone actually vote?
> Battlestar Galatica looks kinda awful *spits out coffee, takes another gulp and spits that out too*
