British Science Fiction in the 21st century…

>What would you Dwarfers say about people who compare Hyperdrive to Red Dwarf?

I have no issue with people comparing Red Dwarf to Hyperdrive. Just as long as they mention that Hyperdrive was a pile of shite.

>(keep it clean – I need to put this in a dissertation!!)

Oh. Replace “shite” with “poo poo”.

Productions cost info is rarely released. Though it’s worth noting that Series I’s budget was initially allocated for Paul Jackon’s ‘Happy Families’ series two. Which was shot on film, and shot on location, so had a reasonable budget.

Most of that money went of the costs of sci-fi – things like skutters, wholly from-scratch sets and, most expensively, the 35mm motion-controlled, matte-pass shots of the eight-foot Red Dwarf ship model.

As it began, the show was partly sold – certainly to those looking for studio tickets – on Rob and Doug’s history with Spitting Image.

The most famous early tabloid review was so passingly racist that I’m not going to retype it.

One of the key marketing aspects of Hyperdrive’s marketing was the number of times in interviews the makers utterly refuted a relationship to Red Dwarf. Apparently believing that their show was ‘about the characters’ while Dwarf wasn’t.

Mind you, i’ll bet there’s evidence somewhere of Rob and Doug pointing out that their show is nothing like Hitchhikers…

(As a dissertation, though, hearsay like this – even from me! – probably doesn’t count for much. Primary sources should be sought. The RD site’s Behind the Scenes and Interview sections are probably going to help.

> Fan reaction (what do you think about the two shows and their similarities and differences)

You should be able to find plenty of that on this site – note the handy search facility, top right.

British Science Fiction in the 21st century…

Red Dwarf Seasons 1 & 2.

… well. :\

Hyperdrive on paper should have worked. The concept was good, the casting of Nick Frost and Kevin Eldon were spot on because they are great comic actors. But it just didn’t work. There was no spark to it, it was just meh…

Anyways, i have no idea why people try and compare Hyperdrivel and Red Dwarf. The only possible link the two shows have is that they’re Sci-Fi comedies. They’re not even the same style of comedy. It makes just as much sense to compare Airplane 2 or Galaxy Quest to Red Dwarf, in other words none at all!

It’s possibly unwise to compare production/marketing of RD 1 & 2 and Hyperdrive, given the time difference between them. Comparing Hyperdrive & RD series 8 might make more sense.

Yes, I did like Hyperdrive, and no, it wasn’t a patch on Red Dwarf. I still think it was deserving of a fansite.

If you’re on Facebook, you could get in touch with Hyperdrive’s writers, Kevin Cecil (http://www.facebook.com/kevin.cecil?ref=ts) and Andy Riley (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=633331514).

And can I just ask why you’re writing this dissertation? Only I studied Science & Science Fiction at University (that’s ‘studied’ not ‘got a degree in’) and wondered if there was any relation.

> And, as has become legend, it was pitched as ?Steptoe in Space? instead.

I thought it was pitched as ‘Porridge in Space’?

Steptoe you hear all the time. The Odd Couple a few times. Porridge less often – since the two leading characters essentially get on, it’s less appropriate then the two ‘personality clash’ examples. But it was cited for the ‘creation of swearing’ notion a fair bit. Taxi also got a nod for the influence of Christopher Lloyd’s character.

It is funny how Red Dwarf has changed so much as a programme, not just in visual style but in the writing style and the focus of the show’s scripts. It constantly reinvented itself throughout it’s first 8 series. Even after a 10 year absence it decided to bravely come back in a format that was quite different to what we were used to.

I liked Jeffers, although his character was a tad inconsistent at times during the second series. I re-watched Hyperdrive with my Dad recently, and both of us reckon that Dan Antopolski would have made a good Llewellyn.

> Even after a 10 year absence it decided to bravely come back in a format that was quite different to what we were used to.

Yeah, it showed that Doug brought Dwarf back for all the right reasons rather than just a retread or a self-aware love-in. If it comes back for a series it should be different again, and I’m sure it will be. There’s absolutely no point in trying to recreate the days of V, VI, II, III, whichever is your favourite series. We’ve been there, done that, and if they tried to do it again it just couldn’t be as good. This doesn’t mean things can’t be taken down more of a sitcom-y road again, of course.

I have Miranda Hart’s phone number on my mobile. I’m not boasting.

but she was just awful, not to mention incredibly annoying, in the second series of Not Going Out (which was actually just bad in a general sort of sense, but I picked it up after I enjoyed the first series. Big bloody mistake).

“Sorreeee.”