My God…

[si]

It’s ten years ago today since the last episode of Series VIII premiered (in the UK – damned American cable stations!).

I remember I was filming a movie with Stephen Fry (okay, I was an extra), and was running late, and hadn’t set the video – I had to run to a phone box (remember those?) and try to explain to mum what I nedded – medically *needed* – her to do with the VCR remote (Oh, behave!).

And now, here we are, ten years later. Who’da thunk?

Topic

[hummingbird]

I was just thinking myself how incredible it is to have new Dwarf – I mean, **NEW DWARF** – after all these years. Let’s be honest, most of us never thought it would happen.
Words fail.

[JamesTC]

It has been ten years since I was sat infront of the TV thinking the cliff hanger will be resolved in a year. I wasn’t far off.

[Ben Paddon]

I was thinking the other day how it’d be nice if the Series VIII cliffhanger were resolved in webcomic form. Something like “Prelude To Nanarchy” except it’s more of an… an epilude.

[Jonathan Capps]

I was thinking the other day how it’d be nice for the series VIII cliffhanger to be thrown in a big burning bin.

[si]

Only The Good… is the worst episode of Red Dwarf ever. As I may have mentioned before.

EDIT: The first 18 minutes aren’t that bad. But the ending is shite.

[pfm]

> Only The Good? is the worst episode of Red Dwarf ever

Nanarchy.

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

At least Nanarchy had an ending of sorts that followed on from what happened in the episode.

[JamesTC]

I liked ‘Only the Good…’, I also liked ‘Nanarchy’. Over all not one episode of Dwarf is really bad, I enjoy them all in some way, ‘Pete’ part 2 is the worst.

[Carlito]

> I liked ?Only the Good??, I also liked ?Nanarchy?.

But which is better? There’s only one way to find out….

[Ian Symes]

SHOOT THEM BOTH IN THE HEAD!

[hummingbird]

Pfft. Only the Good has nothing on BITR 3.

[pfm]

Individual BITR and Pete parts don’t count because, aside from suffering from excessive motherfuckerage, they’re not complete episodes so you can’t judge oh bladdy blah they started badly they got worse oh your programmes…your programmes…

Sorry, even I got bored with what I was saying then. Technically Nanarchy is a 2nd part as well. I’ll concede that Epideme/Nanarchy is much better than Only The Good…

[JamesTC]

What about Only the Good/Earth?

[NitroChrisUK]

god i hope bte dont end on a cliffhanger

[Danny Stephenson]

Why did you have to say that?

[Richey]

I’ve got my fingers crossed that on Wednesday the Dave update will be a video giving us a brief update on the events that have taken place between ‘Only The Good…’ and ‘Back To Earth’. A bit like the scrolling text at the beginning of ‘Backwards’, but with images and a voiceover instead of scrolling text.

*keeps hoping*

[ChrisM]

I have an image of a guy bouncing up and down on one leg with a tray of soup now….

(No, I know it’s not misspelt, just my silly imagination.)

[Somebody]

> Only The Good? is the worst episode of Red Dwarf ever

Oroborous beats all comers to date in that department.

[hummingbird]

> a video giving us a brief update on the events that have taken place between ?Only The Good?? and ?Back To Earth?

You know, I really don’t care.

[locusceruleus]

>?Pete? part 2 is the worst.

How anyone can not see that the Red Dwarf crew being chased by an unrealistic CGI dinosaur and making it a cow vindaloo while Kryten’s cock runs amok = worst RD episode ever is absolutely beyond me. Sure there’s other episodes that are bad, but that one’s a fucking travesty.

>Individual BITR and Pete parts don?t count because, aside from suffering from excessive motherfuckerage, they?re not complete episodes

It aired as an episode, it’s on the DVD as an episode, it is an episode. Just because it continues a story-arc from a previous episode doesn’t change that. So there.

[John Hoare]

How anyone can not see that the Red Dwarf crew being chased by an unrealistic CGI dinosaur and making it a cow vindaloo while Kryten?s cock runs amok = worst RD episode ever is absolutely beyond me. Sure there?s other episodes that are bad, but that one?s a fucking travesty.

From a story point of view, perhaps. But I still get more funny lines and atmosphere out of that episode than the majority of VII.

Which admittedly is not exactly singing the praises of the episode. I think it’s terrible, and I can’t defend it on its own merits. But it’s not the most boring 30 minutes I’ve had in the company of Red Dwarf.

[ChrisM]

As for the CGI dinosaur, I didn’t think it was bad for the time period since it was essentially created by a guy on a pc in his room*. The animation of it stalking into the cargo bay actually looked pretty good. (When I say ‘good’ I don’t mean realistic when compared to the background. Even Primeval and Doctor Who haven’t quite gotten that right yet, and thats with full studio effects. You can easily tell it’s a CGI image that’s been added. I’m referring more to the motion, etc.)

The dodgy bits tended to be the close ups, the head banging against the door etc… which was likely to be a puppet head, not CGI. Oh and the famous eye popping when it had the eye vindaloo. That didn’t bother me too much though, being a comedy and all.

The main problem for me about Pete was the repetitive nature of a lot of the gags. It worked to start with, but hearing Hollister repeat those lines, over and over again dragged somewhat. I liked the idea of the time-wand though.

Last time I saw it, it didn’t seem so bad though. At the moment I think I still prefer it to BitR part 3 although that might change in future viewings. (Yes I know that is strictly parts of an episode, but I actually thought BitR part 1 was pretty good.)

*In case this is an exaggeration,I gleaned that piece of knowledge from an article in a magazine (I forget which) I read around the time. The affects guy responsible was interviewed. The impression he gave was literally that he knocked it up in his bedroom. It could have been exaggerated though.

[JamesTC]

By the way I do actually like ‘Pete’ part 2, it is just the worst episode if you ask me.

[ChrisM]

>Oh and the famous eye popping when it had the eye vindaloo.

Eye vindaloo, dear me. Well I suppose the cow had eyes…

[locusceruleus]

I’m not that bothered that the CGI was poor – that’s just the diarrhea icing on the 3-tier shitcake. It’s the godawful, ridiculous Jetsons/Flintstones crossover plot that really makes me shake my head in disbelief.

[Phil]

>I liked the idea of the time-wand though.

Right. And this might be the most frustrating thing of all! The “time wand” is, in itself, no more ridiculous than the matter paddle or DNA suite or anything like that; it’s a functional invention that should open the door to a unique story.

Imagine that the time wand was found by the crew during series IV. What kind of story do you think would have grown out of that? If anyone thinks it would have been a story about dino poop and escaped penises, they’re dead wrong.

It SHOULD have been a great story. Why invent the fucking time wand if it’s NOT going to lead to a great story? How on Earth do you give the crew some fantastic piece of equipment like that, but not use it for anything more creative than funny costume changes and a living chicken dinner?

It’s not that Pete is devoid of humor…but why did the time wand lead us onto THAT kind of humor? A few changes in setting and we could rebrand it as a new Revenge of the Nerds movie.

[Author]

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