Should I have continued watching Red Dwarf with my partner after VII?

[Ben Paddon]

My partner and I are watching Red Dwarf together – they’d not seen it until I showed it to them, and so far they’ve loved basically all of it. We’re up to the end of VII, they’re convinced Rimmer is gone and never coming back (which, in fairness, is something I cultivated – I even pulled Barrie’s “wild horses” quote). I was excited thinking about how she’d react seeing Rimmer walk into the old bunkroom in “Back in the Red”, forgetting entirely that the first part opens with an extended prison bunkroom scene. Also there’s the opening titles. Fuck. Oh well.

Oddly, though, it’s the Dave stuff that worries me the most. I still love BTE, despite its flaws, but I’m worried about X and XI which even though I enjoy bits of don’t really hold together as strongly for me. X in particular feels much more “broad sitcom” to me, even moreso than VIII, and I think that’s in part down to the way it was shot. It’ll be interesting how they’ll react to BTE-XII considering they aren’t experiencing it with any gaps, or as part of distinct “eras”.

I’ve greatly enjoyed watching 1-VII with them, though. Seeing their reaction to some of my favorite episodes, or jokes, or moments, has made me very happy indeed, especially as previous attempts to get partners on-side with Red Dwarf weren’t particularly successful. They’ve even sent me texts saying “I wish we could be curled up in bed watching Red Dwarf,” which just made me swoon. It’s been 14 years, but I’ve finally found someone who likes watching Red Dwarf with me.

Topic

[cwickham]

Another woman badly served by Doug Naylor’s writing.

[Stephen Abootman]

So a resounding ‘no’ would be the answer to the question posed by this thread then.

[JamesTC]

WE’RE FINISHED

[Toxteth O-Grady]

The joke’s on her. Now she’ll have to buy the Series VIII DVD to find out what happens in Pete: part 2.

[International Debris]

Everyone’s say ‘she’, but Ben has been saying ‘they’ throughout. Just something to consider.

[Dave]

Yes, I assumed that the word “they” was deliberately and carefully chosen to not indicate either way, in which case maybe it’s something that would be polite not to discuss at length.

[pi r squared]

Although she is (they are) a “she” in the very first paragraph…

[Toxteth O-Grady]

I deliberately checked that they’d been referred to as a “she” before I made my post.

Ctrl+F is quite a handy trick in these situations. Just something to consider.

[Phil]

I nominate the second half of this thread for Hall of Fame status.

[MANI506]

I always remember that ‘follow the Rimmer shaped blur’ was quoted by an actress on my college course who had shown no previous interest in Red Dwarf just after it was broadcast and then ten years later a good guitarist friend said that Pete the dinosaur was the best episode. I’m happy my wife laughed at Back To Reality and I think I’ll leave it there.

[MANI506]

I remember Cappsy saying that he gave up on VIII half way through and Only The Good… is the only episode since V that I didn’t watch on day of broadcast.

[Ben Paddon]

I sat down to try and watch “Pete Part II” myself, but I couldn’t do it. I made it as far as “…now we… rebuild the time wand.”

[bloodteller]

personally, i can only ever make it as far as “…why don’t we get Pete to eat some roughage!” before my brain just shuts down

[Bexley Heath]

I deliberately checked that they’d been referred to as a “she” before I made my post.

Or you could have referred to them as “they” and it would have made no difference at all to your post.

Ben’s phrasing throughout made it clear that “they” was by far and away the preferred term of reference. Seems like it would have been easier just to use that than to spend time Ctrl+F-ing.

[Dave]

Exactly.

[Ben Paddon]

I don’t want the pronoun conversation to dominate this thread, because it’s mostly about watching Red Dwarf VIII with someone who, it turns out, won’t be finishing it owing to the fact that we’re no longer together, but their preferred pronouns are they/them, but they also didn’t have any objections to she/her or he/him.

Anyway, dinosaurs! Discuss.

[cwickham]

Why did Doug decide Pete was the story which needed to become a two-parter when there isn’t enough material there for one episode to begin with?

[JamesTC]

I do find it strange that they decided to pad two stories rather than doing a bottle episode just in the prison cells set along with one padded story. It just makes the series so misshapen.

Perhaps they felt Duct Soup wasn’t recieved well in similar circumstances the previous series so felt they wanted to just expand a bigger episode. Or maybe there wasn’t time to write an entirely new half hour.

[Lily]

Why did Doug … could be applied to pretty much every part of VIII

It’s been a long time since i watched the series or the documentary. Were there script issues on this one?

[cwickham]

Ah, just checked some old G&T articles: Pete had to become a two-parter to offset the cost of the dinosaur special effects.

We know the original version of VIII would have looked something like this:
Back in the Red (hour-long special)
Cassandra
Krytie TV
Captain’s Office
Earth

So there must be multiple ideas that Doug had that were dropped before even making script stage. I wonder if some of those have shown up in the Dave era, unbeknownst to us…

[Ben Saunders]

>Why did Doug decide Pete was the story which needed to become a two-parter
They spent a lot of money on that fucking dinosaur and wanted/needed to make the most of it

>Were there script issues on this one?
Big time. Not the biggest of times, if I remember correctly, but quite a few brown trousers moments. Specifically needing to stretch out Pete and BitR, and ditching Earth.

I’m kind of glad they never went through with Earth – the crash probably would have been done with terrible CGI and it would have ended the show for good. No Dave era. I think the idea was that Doug was going to end the series then and there and do a sort of reboot for the ill-fated movie.

I THINK.

[Moonlight]

I watched Krytie TV again recently, for the first time in a while. It was…bad.

[Moonlight]

Namely the shower stuff actually made me uncomfortable, which had never happened when I was younger.

[International Debris]

Tedious as the structure of Pete Part 1 is, at least Captain’s Office as a standalone would have worked a bit better as the plot could literally have been ‘Rimmer and Lister get in increasingly more trouble’. Instead, trying to tie in the actual Pete plot with it, then extending it over two episodes, just made it seem like a series of sketches in dire need of some direction.

I’m not sure there’s an ideal version of VIII to be made, because even with a lot of editing, I still don’t think there are enough genuinely good gags and plots to make a three hour series. An hour-long BitR (or even a three parter), followed by them escaping and finding the ship with Cassandra on, then a couple more episodes where they’re struggling to survive on Blue Midget, maybe an episode where they’re on the run from some of the resurrected crew flying a Starbug. Then an Only the Good… style closer where they get caught, taken back to the ship to face sentencing, only to discover the microbe and end up saving the ship, with Hollister exonerating them from their (frankly minor) crimes as a reward.

The ideal VII, on the other, is easier:
Tikka
Stoke
Ouroboros
Blue
Epideme
Nanarchy

With all the good jokes from Duct Soup and Beyond a Joke, as well as the time and effort put into writing and making those, channeled into improving those six episodes. You’d have an almost good series then.

[Hamish]

I still don’t get all of the hate for Beyond a Joke. By VII standards, it’s fine.

[Ben Saunders]

I liked it. But I like a lot of things.

[Moonlight]

I watched Pete Part 1 again. It was boring as fuck and not funny. Nothing interesting happened, and the structure was clumsy and padded out beyond belief. I have little interest in viewing Part 2, but I probably will.

[International Debris]

Yeah but when Pete dies, Rimmer thinks that Birdman’s use of ‘stiff’ is a reference to the viagra they put in the guards’ halftime drinks without them being seen during the typical prison punishment of playing a basketball game, something that happened some time before, in a different part of the ship! How could you not love it??

I have little interest in viewing Part 2, but I probably will.

Seeya in ten minutes?

[Author]

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