Rather Exciting Tweet

[Smeg4Brains]

Last night someone asked Rob this:

@bobbyllew not sure if your allowed to answer this but is there any more news on a red dwarf future?

…to which he replied…

@Tomp1000 nothing deffo yet but I will know more in the next couple of weeks.

Topic

[Seb Patrick]

INTERESTING.

[Baz]

Dave would have to be at least considering the option, can you imagine what the advertising space in between new Red Dwarf episodes could sell for, given the viewing figures of BtE? Just hope the cast are up for it. I imagine we’d need a Holly back if there was another special or series, can’t see it being Norm though.

[pfm]

Holly doesn’t need to be back. Though obviously it would be Hattie if a return was on the cards. Along with a FUCKING CUNTING studio audience.

[Ben Paddon]

I still don’t get why people get so blustered over the studio audience or lack thereof.

[NoFro]

I read it as performingmonkey referencing John Hoare’s Downfall(?)

[Pete Part Three]

>I still don?t get why people get so blustered over the studio audience or lack thereof.

Yes, the jokes and the lack thereof is a far more pressing concern.

[SkyAndSun]

A few days ago I asked a similar question and he said he had no idea but might know more if Doug agrees to be interviewed for Carpool.

[Squeaky Gibson]

That is interesting after this hint in the ‘Vote for Dwarf’ new item on TOS.
“Back to Earth surprised a lot of people, and brought record audiences to Dave. The question is: where do we go from here…?” I wonder if dvd sales will be the final clincher in getting new episodes and of course a space in craig’s schedule!

[hummingbird]

Given the ratings, they’d have to be mad not to make more, wouldn’t they?

Wouldn’t they ….?

[ChrisM]

It’s not quite as simple as that. They have to all be able to set aside the time. An obvious statement, I know. I’m thinking mainly of Craig. That being said I think it’s well doable what with RD series being only 6-8 episodes.

Then of course there is Doug Naylor’s reaction to the negative reviews. Will he go with them or look purely at the ratings? I suspect the latter but you never can tell.

If they do decide to continue, I doubt we’ll have to wait as long as we did between 8 and BtE though. I reckon they’ll call it a day or it will be fairly soon. Fairly being the next couple of years or so. I’m actually rather hopeful.

If they don’t continue, I don’t think BtE left it in a bad place though. In some ways I hope everything isn’t resolved in the final ever episode.

[JamesTC]

Why not just do the odd 1 hour special (40 minutes with adverts) every few months, it would be easier for Craig to get time off and it would be more event TV so probably get better ratings over all. Plus that would mean each special would get a DVD release which means we can get more wonderful releases.
Judging by the ‘Back to Earth’ I doubt Doug cares too much about criticts, he seems to care more about the fans.
I don’t think they will make a decision until the DVD has been out for a few months though, you know to see how well it does.

[Ben Paddon]

In some ways I hope everything isn?t resolved in the final ever episode.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt watching shows like Futurama, Spaced, and Angel, it’s that a show shouldn’t have a conclusive ending. Real life doesn’t tie up all the loose ends. I prefer it when a show leaves its finale open-ended because it’s nice to think that the characters aren’t “finished” just because the show is over.

[JamesTC]

I think some shows when they don’t end with a “finish” leave a bitter taste, like Quantum Leap, I mean just a caption saying he never got home was just awful, after all the good he done he should have made it home.
Then again you have shows like TNG which just had a great story to end it but didn’t tie up any loose ends which didn’t leave a bitter taste because it was just a fnatastic story.
Though you do have shows which end but it all seems rushed and, well, shit. Yes I am thinking of Voyagers ‘End Game’, oh look the Borg have a portal, lets use it and destroy it, yay we are home and then it didn’t even show them in the fucking alpha quadrant, just end with the ship surrounded by others (I always thought the best end for the show would be Voyager crashing on earth).

Then again I loved the last episode of Seinfeld.

[peas_and_corn]

I think I am the only person on the planet who likes the finale of Sliders.

[Ben Paddon]

I think you’re the only person on the planet who likes anything beyond Sliders’ third season.

[Seb Patrick]

If there?s one thing I?ve learnt watching shows like Futurama, Spaced, and Angel, it?s that a show shouldn?t have a conclusive ending. Real life doesn?t tie up all the loose ends. I prefer it when a show leaves its finale open-ended because it?s nice to think that the characters aren?t ?finished? just because the show is over.

I think it’s very dependent on the show. You’re right in those instances, but in other cases, a TV show is telling a specific story. And a satisfying story has an ending. Certainly there are plenty of shows that reached the end of what they were telling, and it was only natural to cap it off rather than leave things vaguely open-ended.

[Pete Part Three]

>I think some shows when they don?t end with a ?finish? leave a bitter taste, like Quantum Leap, I mean just a caption saying he never got home was just awful, after all the good he done he should have made it home.

The last episode of Quantum Leap was awesome. Sam had already made it home, so it would have been repeating themselves to do it again. Instead, he’s still out there, leaping about.

>I think I am the only person on the planet who likes the finale of Sliders.

I think you’re the only person on the planet who likes Sliders.

[J_Spaced]

I think you?re the only person on the planet who likes Sliders.

There are others. They also like big wooden building blocks, slip-on shoes and their white jackets with sleeves that tie up round the back.

[Pete Part Three]

>I mean just a caption saying he never got home was just awful, after all the good he done he should have made it home.

Addendum: Sam can go home as soon as he wants. But he knows people will always need his help, so he keeps leaping. Isn’t that actually a happy ending? Or, at the very least, bittersweet?

[Dave]

>The last episode of Quantum Leap was awesome.

Agreed.

Last episodes are tough to get right, the finales of TNG, DS9, Buffy, Angel, Life On Mars, The Sopranos are all fantastic and all very different. Some final, some not. I won’t go into more detail because this is spoiler territory.

Survival Part Three left the show with a very open feel, which looking back it would have been unfair to do anything else.

Voyager’s Endgame was a combination of its own far superior Timeless and TNG’s All Good Things. While Enterprise ended with a love letter to a completely different show, bizarrely revisiting a fairly forgettable episode. Both are much less than the sum of their parts.

[Scott M]

the battlestar finale was the best example of a series finale that i can think of; it was epic as fuck.

if RD were to have a defined 100% final last ever episode, what would you have happen? i’d have it end on an almost-happy note, like the end of the better than life novel. I dont know if Dwarf can explicitly do “final” things, though.

[Danny Stephenson]

Just Starbug riding off into space would work. Red Dwarf doesn’t need to end, but NOT end on a cliffhanger.

[ChrisM]

As I said above, I think BtE would work as a final episode. I’m not saying I want it to be the last one though. I think there are plenty of stories and ideas that should be covered. I.e.

-Catch up with the remaing Cat race.

-Find the Earth of that time period. Have the roaches taken over? Or will it incorporate stuff from the film script?

And of course fill in some gaps between 8 and BtE. I’m not sure they should fit an entire series in that period though due to the actors’ ages etc, but some tie in would be nice.

I’d also like to see what modern effects could do with gelfs too. Due to (likely) being on Dave, there’d still be some major limitations there, but I’d love to see something a bit more expansive. Like what was described in the scripted Cat episode of series 7 (was it Identity Within?) or the stuff in Last Human.

Then there’s Kochanski. I’m not sure if she should be left to the last episode or kept as an open end (ooer) though.

[JamesTC]

I never said the finale to Quantum Leap was bad, I just thought Sam should have got home and it left a bad taste after the 5 years of him wanting to get home, it was a good episode and includes my favourite moment in the history of the show, were he looks in the mirror and he has leapt into himself, oh boy!

[Pete Part Three]

You said the caption was awful and left a bitter taste, whereas I think this is part of what makes the episode great.

The caption speaks for itself as earlier in the episode we find out why he keeps on leaping. Sam’s need to help people is stronger than his desire to return home. Ultimately, he gets his bigger dream.

[JamesTC]

Eh, I do understand it was a rushed ending. It was meant to end with Al leaping into a prostitute in the far future to kick of Season 6 with Al and Sam leaping together.

[Pete Part Three]

And? Terminator 2 was going to end with Sarah Connor in a park watching John playing with his kid. Doesn’t stop the chosen ending being great.

And the prospect of Sam and Al leaping together would be too cheesy.

[JamesTC]

The ending used for Terminator 2 was the better one. It would still be the best film ever if they used the other ending though.

[Danny Stephenson]

Would T3 have even been made if the alternate ending was eventually used. it would have concluded the story, and really didn’t need continuing…

[Pete Part Three]

I was surprised when they didn’t used Cameron’s fail-safe for T3; the crushed arm that the T-800 leaves behind which they forget to throw in the lava along with Arnie, the chip and the original arm. Unfortunately, for T3, they went down a “changing time-line” story which went against the logic of the first two movies.

The original T2 ending makes no sense, and was rightly cut. How was John Connor born if Judgment Day never happened?

[JamesTC]

I prefer not to think of T3, TSCC is so much better.

[Scott M]

i am so fucking disappointed at the fact TSCC got cancelled. for fucking Dollhouse.

Joss Whedon is a cunt. Alien Resurrection, Firefly, AND Buffy were all wank.

[Pete Part Three]

Well, that’s just wrong. The bit about Buffy, anyway. Alien Resurrection is poo and I never liked Firefly.

Still undecided about Dollhouse. It seems like a vanity project for Eliza Dusku at the moment, but it’s watchable enough. I gave up on TSCC a few episodes into Season 2.

[Ben Paddon]

Alien Resurrection is a lovely screenplay that went on to become a horrible, horrible film.

[pfm]

I never thought I’d be saying right now that I preferred the future of T:SCC to Salvation’s! I never thought Salvation would be worse than T3, but oh cripes is it. Granted, a lot of people will think it isn’t, but at least T3 felt like a Terminator film for the most part.

Just because Salvation has Terminators and HKs in it, not to mention the characters of John Connor and Kyle Reese, doesn’t make it a real Terminator movie. McG pretty much admits now (yes, now, after all the months of trying to convince the fans otherwise) that he made T4 as a mindless explosions film. All the action was shot 2nd unit anyway, so McG himself is only responsible for the shit dialogue scenes (Helena Bonham Carter, why why why did you agree to be in this mess??) and little else. Though is he responsibe for Sam Worthington’s dire acting?

Some of the action IS great, the only saving grace, especially in the first half, with the T-600(?) hanging upside down firing the minigun at Marcus and Reese – though this is spoiled soon after by them trying to sell to us the fact that the teenage Reese and the little dumb girl are surviving by themselves in a world overrun with Skynet killing machines. In Aliens you believe Newt has survived because the aliens can’t get to her. Terminators can smash through anything and hunt down any lifeform. The huge Terminator is pretty decent though. The Arnold scene…has to be seen to be believed (though his face is only onscreen for something like 10 seconds overall)

[JamesTC]

Firefly, Buffy and Angel were all fucking fantastic shows. Considering the new smaller budget for Dollhouse it was almost certainly not the new Dollhouse that got TSCC off air, infact it was probably the fact that it had bad ratings.
It is a shame TSCC was left on a cliffhanger and such a mind fucking one at that. Maybe another network will pick it up like is possibly happening with My Name is Earl.

[ChrisM]

>i am so fucking disappointed at the fact TSCC got cancelled. for fucking Dollhouse.

I’m dissapointed TSCC was canceleld too. But I wouldn’t say it was cancelled for Dollhouse. It’s not as if Fox don’t produce multiple shows. TSCC had two series. Dollhouse has had 1, and another on the way.. and it was touch and go it would get that. We don’t know if it will get a third after that.

Oh and Firefly was good. As was Buffy. Mostly.

I rather like Dollhouse so far too, although it’s early days yet. It seems to lack much of the humour of the other shows, but maybe that’s due to the subject matter of whored youngsters.

[JamesTC]

>Maybe another network will pick it up like is possibly happening with My Name is Earl.
Well I just found out that I am talking bolloks and talks have ended and MNIE is offcially ending. Fucking hell.

[Scott M]

i cant think of a single redeeming feature about alien resurrection, the story’s not so much a continuation of alien, as it is an excuse to squeeze the last acid-soaked penny out of story that was totally wrapped up with alien 3. the xenomorph effects are pretty good, but the story is just terrible, as is the acting. and the hybrid? oh dear lord, it makes the t-rex in Pete look semi bearable.

i liked salvation, could have cast john connor better though if i’m honest. it isn’t as hopelessly contrived as T3, which was essentially an excuse to make terminator 2 again with better cgi and a female terminator for a younger audience.

it’s great how TSSC pretty much just ignored terminator 3 altogether, heh.

[JamesTC]

Yes but TSCC still made the age mistake as T3. John was 10 in 1995 yet he was 20 odd in T3 which was set in 2003. They made the mistake again in TSCC. That pisses me off.

[Ben Paddon]

Fox stuck with Dollhouse because it’s a Fox production. Warner are responsible for TSCC and as Fox don’t own it they have little interest in keeping it alive.

[pfm]

> i cant think of a single redeeming feature about alien resurrection

When Ron Perlman says about Winona Ryder’s android character when they’ve all just found out what she is – ‘to think I was gonna fuck you’ (or something like that). It makes me laugh. Also when the scientist guy (this is why Cameron is good, you know the character names, Hicks, Vasquez, Frost, Apone etc.) is like ‘WHAT’S IN-FUCKING-SIDE ME?!?!??’ Ripley – ‘there’s a monster inside you…it’s going to burst out of your chest and you’re gonna die’ scientist – ‘who are you?’ Ripley – ‘I’m the monster’s mother.’

[Ben Kirkham]

Alien Resurrection is okay in a sort of ‘hack your own arm off with a meat cleaver whilst drooling at a vacuous TV screen’ sort of way, I suppose.

As for Red Dwarf, they HAVE to do another series after this. ‘Back To Earth’ opened the series up again for new possibilities, so it’d be interesting to see where it goes from here, once little logistical things like… ahem… Craig just happening to be in Coronation Street get sorted out.

[JamesTC]

I do think ‘Back to Earth’ opened the series up for more but it is more of a closure for the show than ‘Only the Good’, the gang happy on Dwarf is much better than Dwarf blowing up.

[Scott M]

i’m glad someone finds some good in resurrection, because i certainly don’t. and i even found alien 3 bearable (the directors cut, essentially, makes the story work a lot better). i still wish they’d done the original story, the one they talk about on the quadrilogy’s making of disc, it sounded like it could have been as good as Aliens.

Would be funny if they did a Battlestar Galactica parody for a final episode, and they find earth, only for it to be te garbage world from BTL, then find another one, only for it to be our past. Mankind evolves again from Dave Lister…?

….or not.

[Ben Paddon]

Why would Red Dwarf parody popular science fiction to that degree? That’s just foolishness!

[Scott M]

i suppose, because they’ve never done that before….*leaves origami squid sitting on chair*

[Ben Paddon]

Indeed. They’ve never done it before.

*runs from machine bent on his destruction*

[Scott M]

talking of alien, it seems that there’s a prequel in the works, and ridley/tony scott are going to produce it, and have some guy called carl rinsch direct. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/06/01/return-to-alien-becomes-a-reality-prequel-confirmed-by-tony-scott/ , and http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20283385,00.html

but the studio want ridley to direct it http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/06/10/problems-filling-the-directors-chair-puts-alien-prequel-in-doubt/

ellen ripley chronicles sounds like it could be a laugh though too http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/12/05/sigourney-weaver-and-ridley-scott-to-team-up-for-alien-less-alien-sequel/

[ChrisM]

There certainly is room for a prequel what with the Company’s apparent awareness of the Aliens’ existence. (Ok, that’s debatable. Maybe it’s just policy to redirect ships to any possible alien* first contact, but it’s a valid interpretation. Ridley Scott has stated he thinks the company was aware of them.)

I think I would prefer a sequel, but one that investigates te origins of the Aliens. A prequel could work well though.

*in the broad sense of the word, not the specific creature.

[Author]

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