We hope it’s clips, it’s clips News Posted by Ian Symes on 8th April 2009, 10:02 Thanks to top blues-funk-rock outfit VentureSouth, a selection of Back To Earth clips (as seen on BBC Breakfast this morning) are now on Youtube. In the intervening time, the entire interview has shown up on the BBC website. But dear God, don’t click these links, or read this article, or look at the comments, if you want to remain spoiler-free. There are three clips in total, as the Dave publicity machine creaks under the weight of the forthcoming clusterfuck. The first clip starts with Lister, Cat and Kryten in a diving bell, being lowered into a massive water tank. Rimmer is co-ordinating things from the surface, but is more interested in reading his magazine. The crew get attacked by the leviathan, but Rimmer is listening to music, blissfully unaware. This is funnier than it sounds written down, I assure you. Chris Barrie’s face is excellent as ever, and Kryten’s whispered line about “it might think we’re a rock” is most amusing. I just love the feel of this clip – mixing sci-fi action with silly yet in-character jokes, with a very Series V style vibe. I most strongly approve. Oh, and the leviathan looks lovely – snatched glimpses of great movement. Clip two. Kryten – covered in leviathan ink – states that “it’s gone, possibly to another dimension”. We’re assuming the “it” is the leviathan here, but we could be wrong. Then there’s an “incoming” something or other, and the crew move into a conveniently neat formation. Ah, it’s Katerina! I’m calling it now – Katerina isn’t Red Dwarf’s science officer, she’s a hallucination, or a shape-shifter, or figments of Mr Lister’s imagination made solid by some weird space ray. Something like that anyway. Final clip. Lister comes in with some sort of gadget for Katerina to use. She tells him to prepare to go home. He then plonks his beer down on his space bike with an amusingly ludicrous amount of gravitas, before Katerina informs Rimmer that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order before he is offlined and his data files erased. Oooh, what a bitch. From the tiny amount we’ve seen of Rimmer vs Katerina, the relationship is striking similar notes to Rimmer vs Kochanski in Last Human. This is a very good thing, particular as Chris’s performance matches the images in my head when I read that book exactly. And giving Rimmer a foe like this is a great move for character development purposes – his switching off seems vital to the mission, but obviously terrible for him, and that conflict of interests is a classic Rimmer situation. Seeing all the elements together like this is allaying a lot of my fears about this special. I’m still trying to remain cautiously apprehensive, but with two days, nine hours and thirty minutes to go, I’m not sure I could possibly be more excited… ADDITIONAL: OK, the full interview is online now. And fuck me, there’s news. Danny confirms that the crew have to seek out the writers and the actors, and that they find an actor called Craig Charles on Coronation Street. So all that speculation that Coronation Street is a real place in these specials is out the window, then. He also mentions that the purpose of tracking down those responsible for their creation is to “give us a favourable ending”. All this meta stuff is starting to take shape, and indeed starting to make more sense. In a way it’s a shame that this shape wasn’t allowed to play out to us over the weekend, but if we will go around chasing titbits of news for months on end, what do we expect? Robert makes an interesting trying-not-to-give-too-much-away revelation – that “there is an ending”, but that the door is clearly open for more stuff. This is excellent – the last thing we needed was another bastard cliffhanger. It seems that this is either going to be a satisfying end point for the Red Dwarf story, or the start of many beautiful things to come. I don’t know which, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun finding out…
Kryten’s ‘It might think we’re a rock’ is pretty funny :) And it gets bonus points for being quite subtle.
Right then – I can mention a spoiler or two here. Watched the interview this morning – not great, it has to be said, but a couple of interesting plot details revealed. I think the fact that both Dave Lister and Craig Charles appear is the main thing. And as for an ‘ending’ – this story has an ‘ending’ according to Bobby, but the impression that it may well continue was given. (btw, I set the recorder for 6-9.15am, and the first three hours was pointless…)
Christ that was a fucker to get up, sorry about the delay. Oh and excuse the advert for the band, have to try and get listeners any where and any way possible.
I see the whole interview is now on the Beeb website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7989385.stm
SPOILERS…. – – – – – Concerning Katarina’s arrival: “INCOMING!” Not what you’d expect from generating the hologram of a current crew-member is it? It could just be the way it’s cut, but it suggest to me she was transmitted from elsewhere, another dimension as well. This makes me wonder about the (possibly) transdimensional Earth stuff too, i.e is it a trap, and is she an agent or even architect? Overall I enjoyed that! Rimmer dancing about to dodgy music was rather hammy, yet not out of character. His not paying attention might have been a bit out of character though. He usually takes his duties seriously, even if he is a bit rubbish. That could be a new character trait that developed over the 9 years though, such as that bored “What?” reaction when Lister sent that transmission.
I think you’ve identified what’s made me a little cautious about Rimmer’s dancing. It’s (possibly) not in character. But – yes, I enjoyed the clips a lot too. Immediately more watchable than much of the past two series.
>”I think the fact that both Dave Lister and Craig Charles appear is the main thing.” We’ve known that since the beginning, though. Charles said months back that he’ll be playing a number of ‘characters he’s played on TV before’; I’ve always taken that as meaning that he’s in it as himself. Notice the BBC website piece says that the squid is ‘dimension-hopping’: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7962093.stm
I think he usually wants to be *seen* to be taking them seriously (or be thought of as the kind of person who always does his duty and is officer material), but is also not averse to not doing his duties or following the regs in any way at all if it impinges upon him in any way. I’m put in mind of Queeg and his “little understandings” with Holly over what regulations he should and shouldn’t be following.
Have to say I loved it. Made me laugh which is a plus. Really, Rimmer should’ve been listening to some Hammond Organ, though…
>I think he usually wants to be *seen* to be taking them seriously (or be thought of as the kind of person who always does his duty and is officer material), but is also not averse to not doing his duties or following the regs in any way at all if it impinges upon him in any way. It’s a tight line to walk, certainly…but I think Rimmer’s usually pretty attentive to what happens to the crew when he’s left behind, until something specifically pisses him off. (As in Quarantine.) It’s out of context, yeah, so I’m eager to be proven wrong, but this seemed a little less like the Rimmer I remember than a vaguely-Rimmer-like-way-to-behave, sort-of-maybe. Honestly, dancing while the crew is being attacked on monitors behind him is much more a Bender thing to do…
>Arse. Well that was a waste of time then. That interview is pretty awful though. Definitely not; I wouldn’t have bothered if I had to keep skipping around the full interview. I’m sure many of us appreciate the quick-access link. So thanks!
> “Honestly, dancing while the crew is being attacked on monitors behind him is much more a Bender thing to do?” I dunno- think of Bodyswap; Rimmer piloting Starbug whilst ‘conducting’ some military music with his pistol and failing to notice that he’s about to crash…
Rimmer piloting Starbug whilst ?conducting? some military music with his pistol and failing to notice that he?s about to crash? Well, no, he’s doing that until Lister catches him, and it’s only when Rimmer gets too confident about ‘winning’ the chase does he turn round and flick the Vs at the Blue Midget behind him, where he doesn’t see the pillar looming towards Starbug…
>I dunno- think of Bodyswap Fair enough, except that he was already pretty fucking far along into the throes of madness by that point… …which is why I make the specific point that it’s out of context. There could be justification for his behavior; I just haven’t seen it. Bodyswap, Quarantine, Meltdown…those are all great episodes for pushing him slightly beyond his “normal” behavior, but it works because the context makes it feel natural. Here’s hoping we get something like that here, and it’s not just, “What should Rimmer do here?” “I don’t know. A silly dance to bad music?” “Bingo!”
> Honestly, dancing while the crew is being attacked on monitors behind him is much more a Bender thing to do? If this is the resurrected new/early Rimmer (Series VIII), I actually think it is within the realms of the character. Bear in mind, this is closer to the version who did “sloppy work” on the Drive Plate than say, watch over Lister and Co. in Back To Reality. If he can be negligent enough to (albeit accidentally) kill the entire crew, he can be more interested in a car mag than a dimension-hopping space-squid attacking his beloved crewmates.
>Bear in mind, this is closer to the version who did ?sloppy work? on the Drive Plate I seem to recall the ?early Rimmer? being much more interested in potential encounters with extra-terrestrial life than he was in reading magazines that have been laying all over the ship for millennia, but hey, what do I know. Also, I?d be pretty disappointed in a flashback that established that the ?sloppy work on the drive plate? was really just him doing a funny jig with a screwdriver in his hand.
How about waiting until we’ve seen the clip in context first before we overanalyze it? Personally, Rimmer’s disregard for what was going on with the rest of the crew reminded me instantly of the early scene in Quarantine – i.e. ignoring them out of spite. Remember, the crew discover the leviathan after ‘Lister’s busy day of annoying Rimmer’…
From your last post: “How about waiting until we?ve seen the clip in context first before we overanalyze it?” From my first: “It?s out of context, yeah, so I?m eager to be proven wrong.”
> I seem to recall the ?early Rimmer? being much more interested in potential encounters with extra-terrestrial life than he was in reading magazines that have been laying all over the ship for millennia, but hey, what do I know But this would be early Rimmer 9 years on having had different experiences with the crew. The fact that Rimmer and Lister haven’t had the bonding experiences they went through when they were without Red Dwarf could massively change the relationship they now have. Personally I liked it, I think people are picking fault where there isn’t really any. But that’s just my opinion. This clip has just made me wish it was Friday already!!
When, exactly, did this stop being a “clip-show with a difference”, or do you reckon this comes into it on some meta level?
Hey, I’d very much like to have three more episodes (or even ONE more episode) of Red Dwarf that I can add to the list of “things I love.” Forgive me if Chris’s muzak bop-along doesn’t have me clearing off shelf space just yet… I haven’t seen a clip that’s truly made me fall in love with this project, but of course I want it to be good.
The clips are fucking brilliant. Who needs a movie when we’ve got this level of awesomeness onscreen? The diving bell stuff is immediately better than anything in VII and VIII. They’re all just TOO GOOD as the characters. It IS funny that Rimmer doesn’t even realise they’re being attacked. His reaction to Katerina is also great. One thing…you know that thing about not judging things just from clips, sorta thing? Please heed this before you start overanalysing each nanosecond of footage.
>Please heed this before you start overanalysing each nanosecond of footage. >The diving bell stuff is immediately better than anything in VII and VIII.
Katerina`s accent…maybe it will grow on me. Other than that, impossible to judge the quality of the show based on a few clips obviously.
If anything, the dancing rimmer reminds me of when he’s trying to seduce Kochanski (via Pre-Determinism Theory) in Cassandra. Although it’s VIII, it’s the best show in VIII for me, and therefore doesn’t seem out of character.
Ooh i’ve noticed the first production mistake on those Youtube clips. You know when they’re being attacked, and Rimmer is oblivious to what’s happening, look at the second monitor in the background. They’re doing the jumping around, but then the clip suddenly starts rewinding. Probably deliberate to pad out time, but still it was quite noticeable :) Ooh yup I bet Doug hates us already :)
Anyone notice Kryten’s accent is a bit funny? When he says “If we’re really quiet, it might think we’re a rock” he’s barely doing an accent at all, and when he says “Probably” in the second clip he slips up. Hopefully it won’t be as noticable as in Series 3 “Enjoying yer bmeayuhl, sir?”
I prefer that to “THUR BLOOUE MIJJIT IZ LOAHDID”. Although to be fair that is Robert’s first ever recorded line in Dwarf.
Lest we not forget the scene that features in the Bodysnatcher boxset with Kryten and his lighter finger, cringe worthy. By the start of Series IV Rob had it right on the mark though, just a few teething problems in Series III plus he did have the mask on and an uncomfortable suit so that wouldn’t help his performance.
A couple of comments so as to not repeat what everyone else has said. I do agree that the scene with Rimmer dancing was OOC. Reserving judgement until I see it in context though. Bobby’s comment about the ending – I assumed this referred to the Bladerunner sequence, and that they’re obviously all going to be shot. Then they’ll either a) leave it as a cliff-hanger, or b) reveal that they’re not actually dead, but are in fact *insert ingenious sci-fi explanation here*. The quality is outstanding – watched the clips from the BBC interview on a big telly and it looks absolutely wonderful!
I hope it is an ending like ‘Backwards’ the book had, Lister realising his home was not earth but it was that ugly red block.
I think the only way Rimmers “dancing” could be considered “in character” is if he had already shown a previous disinterest in the tanks/diving bell. Also love the TOS Star Trek style falling about whilst being buffeted! But maybe I shouldn’t! They’ve been inked!! It’s got to be a false return via a new form of despair squid. Hasn’t it?
> is if he had already shown a previous disinterest in the tanks/diving bell. I think this is it and can in fact be Classic Rimmer. What better way to remind us all what a git he is by having him (I assume) not belive the cat’s story accompanied by liberal insults, then make himself expendible by screwing around while everyone is in peril. Bonus classic points if Lister’s and likely Cat’s early harassment (as hinted in the synopsis) is a contributing factor. What I don’t see though, is why *exactly*, given that they have been attacked by killer indian food twice, a trandsimensional squid could seem unlikely.
I would imagine that the Dwarfers no longer have access to smaller vehicles like Starbugs and Blue Midgets as they were all taken by the deserting crew, therefore have been very insular and contained for the last decade… hence the despondant attitudes displayed by Lister (OK, I know he’s in mourning… well, I THINK I know he’s in mourning) and Rimmer in the preview clip.
