DwarfCast 13 – Balance of Power Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 23rd March 2008, 17:41 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Cappsy and Seb talk over the episode that is better than YOU think it is. Balance of Power may be ranked a relatively low 28 in our absolutely definitive and unarguable rankings and it may also be one of the series 1 whippings boys, but it is still a mighty fine episode. To prove it myself and Seb spent a lovely evening in appreciating the subtle yet pleasing flavours of this fine episode and then spitting the remnants into the spittoon that is the re-mastered version. You know the drill by now, just start the episode playing after the extended beep and you’re away! DwarfCast 13 – Balance of Power Commentary (7.00MB) The offer is still open for anyone who fancies recording their thoughts on any Dwarf related topic they like and then sending it in (just drop either me or the admin account a line and we’ll organise whatever transfer needs to be done.) It’ll be almost guaranteed to be used in a ‘cast in the near future so you wont be wasting your time. Unless you’re shit, that is.
I always thought the haggis number thing was deliberate. It’d be easy to retake, and to notice, and it’s spot-on for the kind of character stuff they were trying in Series I.
> I don?t think it?s very like Rimmer to not notice Lister?s mistake and correct him, though. This incarnation of Rimmer – before the guys went through the style adjustment – I think it’s fair enough. The pre-Me2 scripts had a far more naturalistic quality, fewer lines came from the character’s key attributes, were played a little more Steptoe-natural. The rushes of the scene do include some retakes, I recall. I wish I’d taken note of any alternate version of that line – but the fact that I didn’t suggests either that he wasn’t asked to re-do it, or that a second time through saw it done the same way.
Aah, I must say a fine choice of icon. The “You never learn do you” line always cracks me up, with Craig’s excellent delivery and facial expression. The episode probably best sums up my general feeling for series 1 – not to many laugh out loud moments but the quality of the writing keeps you coming back.
Having just munched my way through the Bodysnatcher collection, they completely removed that part of the scene didn’t they? (Also the card stuff culminating in the Lister ‘cream H’ gag.) I’ve found I don’t dislike the remastered series like many do (actually I think it’s got a lot going for it) but that was a bad bad move.
I remember when my dad has bought the box set of videos for ?25, (not bad considering I didn’t know they even existed until then) I started watching them avidly, being the only copies of Series 1, 2 and 3 that I owned at the time as well, and since Red Dwarf wasn’t being repeated either, it was my only viewing of the early serieseseses (serii?). And then I got all my lovely VHSseses (VHSii?) from eBay and realised that a bugger-load had been cut from the originals, so from that point I stopped watching the Remastered episodes until the Bodysnatcher came out. Grrr. But I will say that Bodysnatcher has some of the most amazing DVD extras of ANY of the Dwarf DVD’s and well worth having!
The Mancs only managed to resist the cheeky Scouse thief stereotype for Lister until Stasis Leak’s “pretty straight and honest geezer” dialogue.
Another great commentary, very well done. Am I right in thinking you haven’t done a series III one yet? I’d suggest Timeslides, I think that’s quite an interesting one.
We’ve got The Last Day in the can, but it is… questionable. I’m going to go over the two we have left to see if we can release one later on tonight.
I once posted some thanks on here about how previous articles on G&T had influenced some of things I did with my own internet articles on the unrelated topic of the band Madness. I’d like to say a 2nd big thanks for the podcasts, apart from enjoying the ones I had listend to on here for what they are in themselves, fun for fans. It opened up the idea and format of what a fan podcast is to me for the 1st time. And as a result much later, we recently ended up doing a fans podcast from a big new album try out gig and lots of fans really enjoyed the mixture of fan comment and sillyness we brought to the project. I also managed to interview the band members I had met previously and meet Suggs for the first time, and write magazine articles of the back of it. So a huge thanks for being the seed on that idea, which led to a lot of fun. Thanks for your ideas of what fandom is.
We’d love to do some more – it’s a case of getting everyone together and doing it. And, because we’re so hard and cool, we just tend to drink a lot instead when we get together, and then forget. But glad you like them! I’m sure we’ll do some at some point.
As it happens, I’ve salvaged two more casts (the previously mentioned Last Day commentary and a chunk cut out of the Tikka commentary), the first of which will be released tonight or tomorrow, I should imagine!
What? Why would that be difficult?! Oh, if only you knew what we had to cut out of the one going up tomorrow…
Just finished listening to the dwarfcast, I thought it was really good, more informative than the actual cast with this episode. Talked more about what I wanted to hear, like your respected views on the remastered omissions etc. Balance of Power, I agree is a fantastic episode, series 1 builder. Great work.
given how long the Tikka commentary was, it will be great to hear the missing chunk, that one seemed to cover every angle on the great VII/VIII debate.
