DwarfCast 26 – Back to Earth Director’s Cut Commentary DwarfCasts Posted by Jonathan Capps on 12th March 2011, 18:51 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes Another Back to Earth DwarfCast, anyone? It may only seem like five minutes since our Back to Earth instant reaction DwarfCasts (it wasn’t. It was two years ago. Didn’t you even know that? I did) but here we are again with more discussion on Dwarf‘s most recent addition to the family. This time Ian Symes, Seb Patrick, Jonathan Capps and the Fan Club’s Jo Sharples (singingpotato1979) commentate on the Director’s Cut and reassess the ups and downs of the special. DwarfCast 26 – Back to Earth Director’s Cut Commentary (87.9MB) if you’re ‘lucky’ you should be seeing a few more ‘Casts over the coming weeks, months, or at the very most, decades.
I’m going to listen to this right now! And by “right now” I mean “as soon as I find my DVD remote.” Where is the bugger?
Well that was an interesting listen, although I think you could have done better with the mic positioning. Some people were exceptionally quiet while others were eardrum-meltingly loud.
If anyone wants to hear the alternative version of the CarBug travelling sequence mentioned within the ‘Cast, here’s th’link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmIefYSybcY
Enjoyed that. I agree with everything said, it sums up a lot of my feelings towards Back to Earth 2 years on. I hadnt considered the idea though that the crew think their show is a drama or sci fi show etc, so that was an interesting point about the sitcom line. The free giveaway usb preview was the as broadcast version of the scene where the dripping cat and lister enter the bunk room to tell rimmer, through to the diving bell scene up to the point of “bigger than god” line, ended with a title card and music sting.
Long time lurker here. Really enjoyed this and it’s nice to hear people’s thoughts nearly two years on. I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Back to Earth though I do feel that for a more casual viewer there wasn’t a great amount on offer, specifically at the beginning as it was rather light on “woofers”, despite a couple of great moments. What I loved about the first part though was the general vibe. The characters felt far better defined than they ever had in series VIII (maybe even VII) and that feeling of isolation was back. You really felt like they were once again on a ship that was 3 million years from earth. The second and third parts got a lot of laughs out me and the reveal of Chloe and the scene that followed was brilliant, especially since I was never much of a Kochanski fan. I had tried to keep my expectations realistic and as a result was pleasantly surprised. I got a good amount of laughs and surprisingly, I even found myself moved by several scenes which I didn’t expect. It was, for me, a great celebration of Red Dwarf and an episode that was really made for the fans which offered some great new things whilst celebrating the past. I mean, they even managed to make the Coronation Street bit good (IMO) when it so easily could have been fucking disastrous. Sorry for going on a bit but I could discuss the pros and cons of Back To Earth for a long, long time. Two years later, as someone who came to it knowing the series very well, I’d give it an 8/10. Personally, as you said, given the circumstances I think it’s quite an achievement.
Erm. This. One other thing I noticed, Seb mentioned that there may have been more nods to Back To Reality than we had first realised. Would anyone else agree that Lister killing the creator is a similar situation to the Voter Colonel in BTR? Doing something that was not completely in their nature to do. Could be talking out my arse and seeing butterflies were you shoudl see bombs, but there you go.
I guess I should probably get it on BD and DVD as I haven’t seen it in about 18 months. I wiped it off my Sky box with the intention of buying it, but can’t say I’ve had much inclination to watch it more than the 3 or 4 times I’ve done so already. For me, the first part is hugely mediocre, the second is interesting and engaging and the third is just a mess. It probably works slightly better all edited together but I can’t see it changing my opinion of it. The Blade Runner stuff still grates with me. I just don’t understand how it fits into the story. Yes, Blade Runner is – broadly- about creating artificial life, but it’s not about creating metaphysical existence. I can’t really remember that godawful scene with the rakes that well, but the puzzling thing is where the creator starts talking about Blade Runner…which would appear to be a film within the BTE reality, but also seems to HIS reality. Scenes such as Craig meeting Lister are similarly a bit of a muddle as they’re so underwritten. I think it would have worked a bit better if, rather than trespassing on reality, the boys had simply woken up as Chris, Craig, Danny and Robert. But, I guess that would be rather too similar to waking up as Billy, Sebastian, Duane and Jake. Which brings me to my biggest complaint. BTE isn’t as offensively awful as VIII, but it’s not as good as VII for the simple reason that that series at least had some original ideas. A true celebration would have been giving us something on a par with Back to Reality, not simply rehashing it.
For me, the first part is hugely mediocre Personally, I thought the first part was a good indication of what post-Who Dwarf would look like if it returned for a series. Then it was hinted that the studio audience may be brought back so it’ll probably look more like VIII. Still, I’m cautiously optimistic.
Yes, Blade Runner is – broadly- about creating artificial life, but it’s not about creating metaphysical existence Memory implants are kinda in the same ball-park though. And in the original novel they took it a whole step further with this really weird religious VR stuff involving people fusing with an old bloke walking up a hill getting stoned… (Yeah. It’s that weird.) But yeah, the main link between BtE and Bladerunner isn’t really that. It’s the idea of creations requesting more life from their creators. (Bearing in mind, the dwarfers are unaware that they’re in a VR type scenario up until that point.) I wasn’t over sure of the Bladerunner stuff myself either. While part of me got a kick out of getting the various scenes it just felt too much. I did like BtE though. I think most of the Lister stuff elevated the rest. Apart from the sneezing bit at the start.
> Our finest hour: http://www.ganymede.tv/poll/are-you-pleased-that-ellard-s-fucked-off Yep. Closely followed by… http://www.ganymede.tv/poll/is-robert-llewellyn-a-piece-of-shit No, wait, G&T’s finest hour will, unfortunately, always be Cuntgate. Btw was it ever known for sure that it was really Rob’s daughter that posted? I remember her calling John a ‘whore’, oh the humour…:P
No, wait, G&T’s finest hour will, unfortunately, always be Cuntgate. Btw was it ever known for sure that it was really Rob’s daughter that posted? I remember her calling John a ‘whore’, oh the humour…:P I don’t know but I think she’s got a brother called Shane.
> Yep. Closely followed by… http://www.ganymede.tv/poll/is-robert-llewellyn-a-piece-of-shit I’ve now completely forgotten what this was all about…
I’ve now completely forgotten what this was all about… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEn8MVk6P8 No, wait, G&T’s finest hour will, unfortunately, always be Cuntgate. Btw was it ever known for sure that it was really Rob’s daughter that posted? I remember her calling John a ‘whore’, oh the humour…:P That happened? I know it was in Mr. Lee’s repertoire.
