Dark Ages on DVD

[thomasaevans]

Im I correct in saying ‘Dark Ages’ was available on DVD here in the UK many years ago? Coz I cant find a single trace of It.

Topic

[Seb Patrick]

No idea. But I hope not. Because the idea of that atrocity being out on DVD, but The 10%ers and The Strangerers not, would make me too angry to bear.

(not that The Strangerers is amazing, or anything, but I do have a well-publicised affection for it, to some extent)

[Andrew]

VHS certainly. Never heard about a DVD…

[thomasaevans]

Seriously? Im sure It was. It’s out in the USA by the looks of it.

For some strange reason, I wanna see It. And can you believe I’ve NEVER seen ‘The Strangerers’? Bloody Sky!

[Danny Stephenson]

I’ve never seen it either. Please don’t hit me.

[Seb Patrick]

The Strangerers isn’t that widely seen (I was lucky to find a torrent of it a while back). And it’s totally understandable why it was a flop – it shouldn’t have been a nine-part series. It should have been six at most – or better still, a feature-length one-off. The longer first episode is great, and there are some good bits littered throughout the series, but it just can’t sustain itself over that length.

Still, though. Sarah Alexander.

Anyway, all that’s for my soon (and by “soon”, I mean “probably never”)-to-be-done G&T article on the whole thing… ;-)

[thomasaevans]

I have a friend who is VERY good friends with her. I must get in contact don’t you think?

[Turk Thrust]

I think you’re right about the Dark Ages DVD only being released in America. It pops up on ebay from time to time.

I agree that The Strangerers didn’t really work as a nine part series but I don’t think just shortening it would have solved many problems. They should have made Sarah Alexander’s and Mark Heap’s characters much more prominent I think to give the show some reality. To have constant strangeness was never going to be sustainable.

[Phil]

If I hadn’t seen it myself I wouldn’t believe it. But Thomas is right:
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Ages-Collection-Phill-Jupitus/dp/B00004W1T7/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1199922495&sr=1-2

Well, he’s part right. It WAS out in America at some point, but seems to be out of print and only available used. Unless there was a later edition that supplanted this one…that seems extremely doubtful, but maybe Thomas has seen it somewhere?

Pretty interesting if it was released on DVD in America (where I’d bet about a thousand dollars it never even aired) and not in the UK.

[Tarka Dal]

If you had ever seen it you would understand.

[Phil]

My amazement is more that it’d be released in the US, though! I mean, I could almost understand it if it came out in the UK and someone figured, “Well, let’s release it region one and see if they like it.” But to produce and release it especially for region one? I’m baffled. Seems kind of a waste, financially. Especially when there are so many other great British programs that haven’t had a region one release. (ie: Spaced, Peep Show, DARKPLACE, etc.)

[John Hoare]

I suppose it’s possible that a UK release was planned then cancelled at some point, but it still made it to Region 1…

[thomasaevans]

Im not convinced. Im SURE I saw in on DVD in Region 2…

[Dave]

Show of hands: who’d buy it?

[Seb Patrick]

I’d buy it for completeness’ sake, and so that I could write an article on it – but I wouldn’t spend more than a fiver on it.

[Dave]

I’m sure I would, and Strangerers too. With Dark Ages I remember not liking it, but I’m not certain if that was because of the scripts, or Jupitus?

[Danny Stephenson]

or MacGowan.

[thomasaevans]

Im sure I taped the first episodes. I always remember the adverts with the voice-over:

“FROM THE CO-CREATOR OF RED DWARF”

[ChrisM]

I wasn’t over keen on Dark Ages either, although I liked the set-up, A-S England.

There was one gag that made me chuckle though. The Tardis appearing then dissapearing in the background.

[thomasaevans]

Did It? Ha. Madness.

[Andrew]

> There was one gag that made me chuckle though. The Tardis appearing then dissapearing in the background.

In Dark Ages?!?!?!

[ChrisM]

In Dark Ages?!?!?!

Ok, I just double checked it was the series I was thinking of, 999AD, turn of the previous millenium, and yes that one.

It’s not surprising you missed that scene though. It’s way in the background in a country scene. I think the main characters are talking in the foreground, and you see a police box appear behind them. Then it fades away, and I seem to remember the classic Whap! Whap! sounds too. Nobody in the scene notices of course, and it has no relevance whatsoever to the story. Just a little in-joke type of thing. The fact that it just comes and goes makes it all the more funny somehow…

I didn’t watch all the series (didn’t really take to it) so I’m pretty sure this happens quite early on, possibly even the first episode.

[Ben Paddon]

Seb wrote a song, and it goes a little something like this…
I?d buy it for completeness? sake, and so that I could write an article on it – but I wouldn?t spend more than a fiver on it.

I’m feeling generous this morning. Drop me an email.

[Dave]

>There was one gag that made me chuckle though. The Tardis appearing then dissapearing in the background.

I don’t remember that, but it would easily be the funniest gag in the show

[Andrew]

I’m 99% certain it ain’t episode one. But then, I only rewatched the series six months ago and don’t recall this AT ALL. I must have seen the bloody shows a half-dozen times and somehow I never picked it up?!

[Danny Stephenson]

There’s still bits of Red Dwarf that I watch and realise years later, it’s not uncommon.

[Pete Part Three]

Wait a minute…has it always been set on a space-ship?!

[Dave]

No. Every alternate season seems to be set in either a leisure centre, on a pirate ship, Sherwood forest or in a house full of opinionated puppets.

As sitcoms go, its quite dada

[Seb Patrick]

And that episode where Kryten took off his mask and said he felt like a piece of shit… man, that was strange. Who’d have thought Dwarf would ever do a one-hander episode?

[Ben Paddon]

Is that the same episode where he had a wooden leg?

[Dave]

Found it:

[Danny Stephenson]

So it’s not “Dark Ages” then?

[ChrisM]

Ah. My mistake.

I even looked up Dark Ages on wikipedia and the episodes seemed familiar (although for some reason I was sure there was a number in the title ;))

Never mind.

[Andrew]

> Ah. My mistake.

You know we have an entire thread dedicated to the Mc of ‘McNuggets’ that’s MADE for people like you…

[ChrisM]

To be fair there aren’t that many period sitcoms. Not in recent years anyway.

Actually that’s probably exascerbating my case but never mind.

[Dave]

I’d never even heard of Chelmsford 123 before.

[John Hoare]

I saw the first episode on 4 On Demand a few months ago. Nicely produced, but it wasn’t nearly funny enough, so I didn’t persevere with the rest.

Stupid really, as you can’t judge from one episode. KYTV is FAR funnier in the second series than in the pilot and the first.

[Phil]

>Stupid really, as you can?t judge from one episode.

I’ve sometimes wondered if I’d have persevered with Dwarf if The End was the first episode I saw.

It’s not nearly one of my favorites, but I still think the answer is yes…if only because the story really promises to go off into interesting places later (following it with the near-perfect Future Echoes would seal the deal, I’m sure).

[Ben Paddon]

You not going to take up my Fabulous Offer of Generosity then, Seb? Or does someone else want a copy instead?

[Pete Part Three]

>Stupid really, as you can?t judge from one episode.

May have to revise my opinion on Hyperdrive, then. And pretty much every BBC1 sitcom of the last 10 years.

You don’t expect shows to hit the ground running, but you should at least be able to see glimmers of potential. I think most of the shows I love I watched from an early episode (either at the original airing or aftewards) and saw something that suggested greatness.

[Seb Patrick]

Sorry, Ben, I missed that earlier as I hadn’t been in the thread for a while? ;-)

What were you offering, exactly…?

[Phil]

>You don?t expect shows to hit the ground running,

Agreed.

>but you should at least be able to see glimmers of potential.

And even moreso.

You know, I’m not sure that I’ve *ever* disagreed with Pete. This is unhealthy.

[Pete Part Three]

Dangerously unhealthy. When I look back over my post from the last few years, I don’t agree with most of it…

[John Hoare]

Hmmm. I could definitely see potential in the format and characters of Chelmsford… but it didn’t make me laugh.

It may well have got better – the talent involved suggests it must have done. Or maybe the first episode was great, and it’d just take a bit of time to click with me. But the problem is, when stuff like George and Mildred makes me laugh from the very first episode, and there’s shitloads of episodes of that to go through, then it’s difficult sometimes to summon up the enthusiasm to give things more of a chance.

[Ben Paddon]

The Seb, he say…
Sorry, Ben, I missed that earlier as I hadn?t been in the thread for a while? ;-)

What were you offering, exactly??

The Region 1 Dark Ages set. To be reviewed on G&T in the name of SCIENCE.

[ChrisM]

I?ve sometimes wondered if I?d have persevered with Dwarf if The End was the first episode I saw.

Interesting you should say that. The End was the first episode I saw, when it was first broadcast in fact. (Shows I’m getting on a bit, but for what it’s worth I was still at school at teh time.) And it actually did put me off of Red Dwarf.

I think part of the problem was, as a kid I was hoping to see whooshy space ships etc, (forgive me, I was young) and the first episode really wasn’t like that. That and I thought it was way cheesy at the time and the Cat stuff bugged me for some reason.(I think I did find Holly’s Kochanski ash gag funny though even then. And let me say my opinions have since changed towards the Cat.) I just thought it was just too silly.

I didn’t watch it any more until I happened to be flicking through channels and Marooned was on. Ironically it’s another episode decidedly lacking the ‘whooshy spaceships’, but I started watching it during the sequence when starbug crashed on the ice moon and I thought, “Hmmmm….”

True, it was another Rimmer and Lister intensive show set primarily in one room, but had me cracking up. It was so funny. I don’t think I watched it religiously at that point but that was when my interest was sparked and I was curious about the new guy with the funny shaped head.

I think it was series 6 where I got really into it. Then I went back and watched repeats of other shows when it was on including series 1. Series 1 still is low in favor compared to other series but it was still ok, great in places. It wasn’t until I got the DVDs (which I purchased from the beginning) that I saw every episode to date. (Minus the new one narrated by Chris Barrie on Bodysnatcher as I’ve yet to get that DVD set, but I will.) Ironically if I’d given Dwarf a chance in the first place and continued, I would have seen Future Echoes which is probably one of my favourite episodes in Dwarf. Not THE best but way up there.

[John Hoare]

That’s genuinely fascinating. I love hearing about people’s first reactions to Dwarf – especially reactions to the original broadcast of that first episode.

I first watched The End in the repeat season of ’94 – the first episode of Dwarf that I ever saw – and it got me hooked; I was watching each episode multiple times during the week until the next one was on. I can’t remember much of my specific reactions (I was 13), but to put the thing into perspective: Dwarf is one of the only things I ever recorded every single episode of off-air. (The only other thing that springs to mind is Fawlty Towers – and I can recite that in my sleep too.)

It’s certainly not the strongest episode of Dwarf ever made – although I do love it – but it was more than enough to hook me in.

[ChrisM]

The curious thing is, when I watched episode 1 again I quite liked it. As you say, not the best (I still find the scene at the start between Rimmer and Lister a bit painful for some reason, although the ‘pokey thingy’ gag is good) but not bad at all.

[Pete Part Three]

John, you’ve been watching Dwarf for seven days longer than me.

[Mr Flibble]

The only other thing that springs to mind is Fawlty Towers – and I can recite that in my sleep too.

I got into some convoluted joke the other day about the “Sorry, a lot of the British cars have steering wheels” line.

First ep: Blue, the day after it was shown the first time.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

My first Dwarf: “Better Than Life”, I think, during a PBS pledge drive. I watched only a few moments of the scene in the Observation Dome and thought to myself “Why does that man in the loud suit have fangs? And why does the other man have a letter on his head? Clearly this is too weird for me.” Shame on me. Not long afterward, of course, I had Red Dwarf recommended me by a friend of our family and, not long after that, started taping it. (Now, if only I knew where that VHS tape went–it went missing after my mother and I moved. It must’ve had a couple of series’ worth of episodes on it…)

[Author]

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