DwarfCast 21 – Back to Earth Part 3 Instant Reaction DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 12th April 2009, 23:34 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Welcome to the special 21st edition of DwarfCasts! In this episode… well, nothing much, really… It’s over. It’s fucking over. We now have 55 episodes of Red Dwarf and a hefty dose of WTF getting there. So, obviously, we had plenty to say in our Instant Reaction, so it’s a good job someone remembered to press ‘Record’. DwarfCast 21 – Back to Earth Part 3 Instant Reaction (69.3MB) Jo and Karl are back, enriching the Cast as they are wont to do, and Tom and Mark are there they seem to be rendered speechless by the high levels of dweeb in the room. So, that’s this particular series of casts over and done with, but obviously things are going to continue apace on G&T so you can look ‘forward’ to plenty analysis to come once we’ve managed to regroup and work out just what the hell has just happened to our quiet show and little website.
Sound is at a much better volume, with the previous two I had to turn it right up but this is the perfect volume.
There’s no way this was the least funny of the 3 shows. Part 1 was much less amusing. Rimmer’s gonad/table interface moment was the most hilarious thing in the entirety of BTE. Not even Sideshow Kryten and his rakes could spoil it!
> Part 1 was much less amusing. I don’t think so. I reckon they’re on a par, there abouts, but part 2 was the funniest.
I thought 3 was the funniset followed by 1. I still need to watch 2 again because i’ve spent the last 2 times watching it trying to fully understand the story.
I’m still ‘digesting’ Back to Earth in my head at the mo, so I’ll formulate an opinion later. But this weekend reminds me what happened with the Doctor Who TV Movie in 1996. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on that, it spun the show on its head and effectively rebooted it for the next nine years until the new series came along and did the same thing. Dwarf has needed something like this to happen to generate excitement for the show and to stimulate new discussion. As much as I’ve adored the DVD releases, Wilderness Years can only last so long before you start to lose a bit of hope. It needed something big and imaginative and to be in the public eye to make casual viewers want to watch. Doug’s imagination has clearly been given new life, and I’d be fascinated to know where we go from here. Also, on a purely fanboy level, I can now watch ‘Only the Good’ again without the irritation of the cliffhanger’s resolution at the end! Oh, it’s so good to be parked! I think things are going to be busier than usual on here from now on…
A shockingly tame Dwarfcast. I expected at least one person to be hit over the head with a chair. Oh well, maybe next time. (Great job on all three of these ‘casts by the way, guys/gals.)
>I expected at least one person to be hit over the head with a chair. Really. Catching up on the posts here, I’m genuinely a bit concerend about a couple of people. Is this the post-special dispair kicking in? I do hope not. Great commentaries, and provided amazingly fast. You’re like ninjas, but with podcasts.
Excellent listen. Not just a great podcast about part three, but also a podcast that really sums up the whole experience of watching this weekend and the period of excitement that built up to this through website coverage. A noticeably tired mood in the room heard here while you all still remained interested in the topic 100 percent. Thanks for turning 60ish minutes of new Red Dwarf TV into a much longer event, and fun shared experience. G&T has been the centre of a cluster headfuck this weekend. You should all be very proud. You are often disgusting, but instant reaction podcasting shows how you can all be ocassionally brave, and I think you are all really cool, because you dont take any smeg.
I totally get John’s issues with BtE. There ARE a few things in BtE that I know I’ve just accepted only because it’s Dwarf and if it was any other show I probably wouldn’t be watching it. And I have to admit I was initially a bit gutted when it was revealed that they would be going down the whole no audience/filmic route, but then once we got more details everything made up for that fact, to an extent. It’s simply a fact that this is NOT sitcom Dwarf. If anything BtE plays more like an episode of new Who (except thankfully it was better than shite like Planet of the Dead). Incidentally the ‘film effect’ has hardly been mentioned by anyone. That’s because it was a GREAT film effect courtesy of the Red One cameras. Presumably it was shot progressively in camera at 4K, as opposed to the film effect added in post. Going off the details on the Red camera site I don’t think you could shoot at 50Hz interlaced anyway, not at 4K resolution at least. Btw remember when someone said they shot MOST of it at 4K? That’s because the slowmo glass smashing scene probably had to be shot at 2K, or maybe even lower, due to the high framerate required…fuck me why do I care???
Yay, got a mention! Thoroughly enjoyed these podcasts, guys. 1/3 through the latest. Hopefully there’s more Dwarf to come… not least so this site can continue its excellent coverage of the show. Oh, and what was Andrew Ellard’s contribution to the show? Script Editor, you say?
I thought the special was brilliant. Having been glued to Red Dwarf when I was in Sixth Form (many many years ago….) and I will watch it whenever it is on the telly (although I have a distinct feeling I have missed a whole season from some of the people on this forum are a bit more hardcore than me). I recorded all of the specials as apparantly no one else in the house wanted to watch “that crap” (thank God for Sky+ – one of the best inventions after the microwave) and have now caught up on all of them. My first thought on episode 1 was where is the canned laughter. It really left holes in the dialogue and just didn’t feel right. Dave and Rimmer’s acting was brilliant (even though last I watched Rimmer in was Tomb Raider) … it was just weird seeing them all back together. The final episode (which I understand was filmed first!) was brilliant. The chemistry just seemed to work, and having some Corrie characters in it – I was pissing myself, and even my missus had to watch this :-) Also the tributes to Blade Runner, the creator all of that was brilliant – a masterpiece.
I may have written this elsewhere on G&T (I’ve written it somewhere – it might be Dave, or TORDFC for all I know), but I do kind of get where John’s coming from, I think. I have absolutely no problem with Dwarf as Comedy Drama. I would, however, prefer a few more laughs. There were overly long periods without laughter, which I could still enjoy, but it felt weird. Because you lot are clearly Media people, in the Production world and whatnot, you can pick it apart better than I ever could (three years studying Drama). Like I’ve said, I’ve never seen Blade Runner (two years – both failed – studying Science & Science Fiction, FFS – just sent my sister up to Blockbuster with a tenner…), which, judging from comments I’ve read – and things you’ve said there – may have affected my enjoyment of not just BtE part three (my least favourite episode), but of the whole thing. It’ll be interesting to see what I think of BtE when I rewatch it in a couple of days, having seen Blade Runner.
I guess the same could be said of something like Family Guy in that unless you had seen Star Wars a lot of Blue Harvest wouldn’t work. Now sure that was more a spoof and an excuse to make SW based gags that were in keeping with the Family Guy style, whereas BTE merely mirrors the Blade Runner Universe. However it’s RD doing something different and breaking it’s own rules, which for me makes it interesting. Ultimately I’m pleased by this weekend. I feel it ould have been a lot, lot worse. I’m not sure I want anymore new RD based on BTE, however I’d probably end up watching. Personally I’d much prefer a new RD novel.
I haven’t watched Blade Runner for ages and certainly don’t know the scenes well enough to pick up on much of the dialogue reproduction (though I recognised the origami’s significance). And I loved BTE.
Right. Our Grace has just walked in with a second hand copy of the Director’s Cut (I did ask them to look out for the Final cut, but…), so I’ll try and watch it this afternoon, and get back to you.
So, with the this Dwarfcast done it seems like thats it for a bit then. Oh well, I guess we can always kill the time by calling Norm a cunt…
The Director’s cut is decent Si. It’s not much different from the Final Cut really. The final cut is cleaned up somewhat and with some background effects added (to be honest a lot of it I didn’t even notice a lot of the changes until I saw the documentary) but the basic structure is essentially the same. (Mind you, I suppose that goes for all versions, but there is a particular key scene that is in the DC and the FC. )
Oh, the dreamlike end car scene homaged at the end of BtE isn’t in the Director’s or Final cut. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it on youtube though.
> Oh, the dreamlike end car scene homaged at the end of BtE isn?t in the Director?s or Final cut. I?m sure you?ll be able to find it on youtube though. http://www.ganymede.tv/forum/2009/04/youtube-clips-of-blade-runner-scenes-referenced-in-bte#comment-151111
Egad, can’t think why that was cut. Well, I’ve watched it now. And it certainly makes more sense of so much from last night’s episode, right down to Kochanski’s hair. However, I still don’t think Part 3 is a patch on Part 2. Part 2>Part 1>Part 3.
3 > 1 > 2 But then, ranking these episodes seems so wrong when they’re clearly part of one glorious whole.
Great listening again! re: Mike Seymour, he’s now working on the new Star Trek Movie. John I understand your concerns. UK television is sitcom based, we’ve all grown up with it, it’s hard to venture from comedy sitcom, to comedy drama. I think this has affected your overall view, nothing wrong in that! Superb Dwarfcasts. Thank you all for your time!
Tikka, Stoke Me A Clipper> BTE Pt2> The rest of series VII> BTE pt1> Cassandra> BTE pt3 > The rest of Series VIII
> Egad, can?t think why that was cut. Because film noir + happy ending = does not compute Plus the VO was all the way through the film, which basically ruined it.
Another excellent commentary from G&T. Thanks for your work over the weekend guys, it’s been a pleasure to hear you nattering away. I really, really, really, really hope that there will eventually be a DwarfCast for every single Red Dwarf episode, because they are a joy to listen to.
You have outdone yourselves with this poignant, epigrammatic DwarfCast full of acumen and miscellany. I agree with Richey that you should record more of these excellent DwarfCasts on every episode. Well done.
DwarfCast full of acumen That would be an acumenical matter. Thanks for your kind words, you’re all lovely people.
Ian – following on from what I said, ARE there plans to cover the whole Dwarf back catalogue eventually for DwarfCast?
That was the original plan for the episode commentaries. We’ve found since doing the Back To Earth ones, though, that it’s a lot more fun if you’re not confined to the commentary format, and we’ve got much much better feedback for the non-commentary ones too. So we’ll have to see – I’m sure by the time Back To Back To Earth turns up on Paramount Comedy 2 in 2019, we’ll have done all 55 episodes…
Cool. I guess post-commentary might be the way to go in the future then as it’s worked so well for BTE.
> Will you do a Blade Runner Cast commentary Seb? This made me do a LOL. Don’t encourage him. Unless he does it on a night I’m round of course ;-)
Maybe it would be better to do episode-by-episode DwarfCast reviews instead of commentary. Watch a particular episode then record the post-coital discussion.
> You don?t want to hear us watch series VII and VIII. Seriously. I actually found the commentary to Krytie TV interesting because there was really something to debate. The fact that many people didn`t like it and one or two disagreed worked for me.
On the ‘Krytie TV’ one they all took the piss out of some jokes, they then went onto another episode and John done exactly the same and everybody had a go at him.
My god, season 8 is tearing the fan community apart! Seriously, I am a bit amazed by how much conflict can be generated.
I could sort of hear a frantic thumping sound in the background in this one. Was one of you having a wank?
That was my fault. I need to remeber to bring shock mounts for the microphones. any noise near the table made the mics shake on the stands. hence the bumps.
I think I might make a cd of these dwarfcasts to go in my DVD when it comes in June as it was so much a part of the dwarf weekend. Along with the usb stick, I think I’ll keep that inside the dvd case too.
Salt and Vinager peanuts were the highlight of Back to Earth weekend for me. I can’t believe I never had them before.
> I think I might make a cd of these dwarfcasts to go in my DVD when it comes in June as it was so much a part of the dwarf weekend. Along with the usb stick, I think I?ll keep that inside the dvd case too. You’re a lovely, lovely man.
I love salt and vinegar flavoured food- at one point my store was selling salt and vinegar chicken at the deli. It was awesome.
I think I might make a cd of these dwarfcasts to go in my DVD when it comes in June as it was so much a part of the dwarf weekend. Along with the usb stick, I think I?ll keep that inside the dvd case too. Say, did you ever do this? ;-)
