DwarfCast 118 - Give & Take Commentary featured image
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Are you ready for some hot G&T on G&T action? Well, ready or not Ian Symes, Danny Stephenson and Jonathan Capps are here to perform life altering surgery on your astonished ears and find out whether Give & Take really is the best episode of the series. As if that isn’t enough, be sure to stick around after the main feature to be treated to another edition of Waffle Men, especially if you’re a fan of unnecessarily long chats about food.

DwarfCast 118 – Give & Take Commentary (80MB)

Our bumper family bag of waffles is starting to get a bit light so please do throw any questions you have for us in the comments here so we can replenish our supplies. Other than that, we’ll see you in a couple of weeks for the Book Club so if you’re wanting to read along then this is the place for you to go to discuss your thoughts, and be sure to get your comments on Better Than Life Part 1 to us before this weekend.

Show notes

26 comments on “DwarfCast 118 – Give & Take Commentary

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  • I think that XI is, by and large, the best series of the Dave era, and ‘Give & Take’ is the best episode of XI. ‘Samsara’ isn’t great but it isn’t bad either, and only ‘Can of Worms’ really lets the side down.

    But neither of them are ‘Timewave,’ so we should be grateful for that.

  • What the *fuck* is the Ronald Littlewood thing about? It’s obviously turned out to be nothing, but there’s just something very deliberate about the way it’s delivered, almost like it’s being signposted. The fact it comes to nothing just seems a bit odd to me.

  • What the *fuck* is the Ronald Littlewood thing about? It’s obviously turned out to be nothing, but there’s just something very deliberate about the way it’s delivered, almost like it’s being signposted. The fact it comes to nothing just seems a bit odd to me.

    I’m sure this was addressed somewhere previously – the story was originally going to come back to this misunderstanding of “served” but ultimately it wasn’t necessary to explain further and was cut.

  • I still think the final lift scene would have been better replaced with a Lister / Kryten bit where Lister realises that he stole his own kidneys and gets mad at Kryten and chases him out of the room or something.

  • Red Dwarf did have abrupt endings in the past. Stasis leak didn’t really have a pay off ending for example. i think the ending to Give and Take is fine personally.

  • Twentica is probably my favourite episode of XI but this is a close second.

    Not sure about the comments on the ending being abrupt, this feels pretty standard for a Red Dwarf ep, everything is resolved, Lister gets his kidney back, then a gag to end on that calls back to the opening.

    I really like the fact that this episode has been consider and executed well in a circular way. The opening being the ending and so forth. That’s a level of quality Red Dwarf can do but rarely does these days.

    Despite it being my second fav of the series, I really don’t like the two very opposing styles used in the two half of the episode. The first half opening with really well made dark, moody, exciting, dangerous scenes aboard the space station, with excellent lighting, editing, pace and all round top quality effects and locations and everything. To then after the break back to a brightly lit multi-cam audience sitcom set up with Lister lying on a bed for most of it just this standard sitcom situation playing out. It’s very jarring, and considering they have done this sort of thing in the past without complaint (especially in IV – VI) there’s something about the way it’s done here that feels very off. Like it is two different things jammed together rather than one glorious whole.

  • I think the abruptness of this ending isn’t so much on the story side (like Officer Rimmer) but specially isolated to how that scene plays out.

  • Yeah, my comments were just about the actual transition from the last shot of the episode to the credits, nothing else.

  • Need more Waffles? How about a discussion of the Children in Need special? Particularly how it fits in the timeline, since it seems to be post-series 8 but with hologram Rimmer? Also, is it funny?

    If you’re still starved for sweet toasted treats, you could expand it to a discussion of other charity specials, like that time Craig pulled Kryten’s nose off before they had to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. Are there any others?

  • How about a discussion of the Children in Need special? Particularly how it fits in the timeline, since it seems to be post-series 8 but with hologram Rimmer?

    How about discussing whether Can’t Smeg is in cannon and have BT on to defend her position on it.

  • Oh damn, I missed my chance to get a waffle question in. Oh well, I look forward to hearing the next one!

    I share Quinn’s opinion (if Quinn will let me). First half of Give & Take is a lot better than the second half, but I don’t find the second half particularly bad, I just kind of lose interest. I do love Snacky though. I’m unsure why.
    Was the bit about Cat being a Dracula a reference to Blade II, by the way?

  • I think they’re on about something Danny says on one of the DVD documentaries, about being recognised from “that show where you play a Dracula” because of Cat’s teeth.

  • Honestly for me it is just the whole “getting Cat to give up his kidney” bit that drags. If for no other reason than it forces us to spend too much time focusing on Danny’s wig.

  • Oh damn, I missed my chance to get a waffle question in.

    We’ve got a couple of weeks before the next Waffle Men, they’re only on every other ‘cast. Also, we stockpile our waffles, so feel free to post them at any time.

  • feeling entitled to a 3 part tv movie special going into the whole ronald littlewood back story, and all the aspects and angles and things about the whole ronald littlewood deal. also possible spin off.

  • Honestly for me it is just the whole “getting Cat to give up his kidney” bit that drags. If for no other reason than it forces us to spend too much time focusing on Danny’s wig.

    I do find it difficult to shift my attention from The Cat’s hair in this episode. It’s just so…unusual..?

    Waffle Men: which is the best and worst of all the various Red Dwarf logos?

    On a similar note to Dave’s comment above, can I ask the Wafflers about favourite or unusual pieces of official merch (not books or t-shirts)? You’ve probably answered this somewhere back in the mists of time that I’ve completely forgotten about, but there were a few things about in the mid-nineties – early-noughties that popped up to coax money from our (or, depending on how disgustingly young you are, our parents’) bank accounts. Personally, I was always fond of my Red Dwarf VIII watch, which was actually quite classy, and came in a lovely metal case, with spare straps. I only stopped wearing it when the sweat generated from the velcro strap (which, as I recall, had ‘smeg’ or something embossed on the plastic) got too much for my delicate, silky soft skin.

  • Waffle Men: I’ve just been reminded of the existence of Mirrorball, the sitcom pilot from 2000 written by Jennifer Saunders with the same main cast as Absolutely Fabulous. There was never any more after the pilot and they ended up doing more Ab Fab instead but let’s say Red Dwarf was finished because Doug’s run out of ideas or Robert won’t wear the mask any more or whatever. Would you like to see a new Doug-penned sitcom with a completely different scenario and characters starring Craig, Chris, Danny and Robert? Could it be any good? Isn’t that pretty much what Series VIII is anyway? Etc.

  • I have a question for Waffle Men. A serious, important question. A sensible question.

    Given that God is infinite, and that the universe is also infinite, what is your favourite episode idea in the idea for an episode thread?

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