Please Help Me I Want to Die News Posted by John Hoare on 6th August 2007, 01:45 Following our previous report, I am “pleased” to confirm that a boxset of Series 1 and 2 of Hyperdrive is coming out on next Monday 13th August. Despite what looks like excellent extras, I have no hesitation in advising you to steer well clear of it, as the show is utterly diabolical. But hey, if you desperately feel like owning the last episode on DVD three days before it’s actually broadcast, then be my guest. Actually, can anyone else think of any other DVD or VHS which has been released before the broadcast of the series has been completed? Incidentally, this month’s SFX has a review of all six Hyperdrive eps in their Spoiler Zone. (Unfortunately, two of the star ratings are different on the cover of the section than on the episode capsules themselves, leaving you wondering which to believe. This isn’t the first time this has happened with the Spoiler Zone either, and it’s extremely irritating.) The most interesting review is the following: 2.05 Dreamgate (3.5 stars) WRITERS Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley DIRECTOR John Henderson THE ONE WHERE York confiscates an illegal alien device, then uses it to enter the dreams of his colleagues. VERDICT The show’s most Red Dwarf episode yet, and possibly its best. Lots of opportunities for the characters to play alternate versions of themselves are milked to great effect, while the various dreamscapes are more imaginative than you’d expect from a series that opts for obvious gags (love the Harryhausen moment in York’s dream). There’s even a B-plot that’s worth it for the moment when Teal locks some alien kids in a cupboard. All of which – presuming SFX are correct on this one, which is always a dangerous move – makes anyone involved with the show’s protestations that it’s nothing like Red Dwarf sound rather weak. Still, it’s the episode that’s on this Thursday, and it certainly seems a more promising concept than most Hyperdrive eps. So, I went to have a look at the programme listing: “On a routine searching of a stray Lallakkiss ship, the crew discover one of the most dangerous and illegal electronic devices in the Universe – the Dreamgate. It gives its owner the power to infiltrate other people’s dreams without their knowledge. Henderson orders York to destroy it but is persuaded to join York on a Dream adventure. They wander into Vine’s dream of a pub in the mid 1990s – his pubconscious, but when Vine wakes up they are trapped inside his head and become part of the dream. It’s up to Teal and the rest of the crew to bring Henderson and York back from 1995.” “Pubconscious”? Oh, Jesus. Clue: a synopsis is supposed to make you want to watch the series. Not stifle any vague flicker of interest you might have left.
They should have put the pilot on the DVD. Although even then I wouldn’t consider buying it. Someone should be an evil bastard and upload the pilot to youtube. Even if it’s crap it’d still be worth a look.
Didn’t Life on Mars S2 sneak out on DVD early? (because the series had been put back a week due to some ball-kicking, the release date was before the last ep aired. While they hastily put the street date back at the last minute, not everywhere got the memo).
