The Gallifrey Gals’ own thread

[Flap Jack]

Epideme is brills but Nanarchy is not as good as Tikka to Ride. Let’s call it even.

[Jenuall]

Epideme is “brills”?!

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Epideme is brills, though.

I am truly baffled by this take. 

[Flap Jack]

OK, maybe “brills” is overdoing it. It is the best episode in Series VII, but that’s qualified praise.

[Dave]

OK, maybe “brills” is overdoing it. It is the best episode in Series VII, but that’s qualified praise.

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

Epideme feels like an interesting development into a different type of show, the rest of VII is just a bad and/or boring version of Red Dwarf.

[Ian Symes]

https://www.ganymede.tv/2016/09/lets-talk-about-give-and-take-on-uktv-play/#comment-84591

[Ian Symes]

That said, I’d like to chip in by pointing out that the respective positionings for Series VII episodes in the Coral Canvass are:

8. Beyond A Joke
7. Duct Soup
6. Nanarchy
5. Epideme
4. Ouroboros
3. Blue
2. Stoke Me A Clipper
1. Tikka To Ride

So with the consensus is very much that it doesn’t get stronger towards the end, it’s the exact opposite. I don’t think it’s a coincidence though that the top half are all the ones with Chris in.

[Flap Jack]

I contend that this is not an example of Symes’s Law, because the Gals are currently covering Series VII. Therefore discussion of the merits of Series VII in this thread is on topic.

[Dave]

That said, I’d like to chip in by pointing out that the respective positionings for Series VII episodes in the Coral Canvass are:

8. Beyond A Joke
7. Duct Soup
6. Nanarchy
5. Epideme
4. Ouroboros
3. Blue
2. Stoke Me A Clipper
1. Tikka To Ride

I think this would be exactly my ranking. 

[Warbodog]

I’d also say Epideme has the funniest moment of VII in Cat offering a handshake, and its most moving/emotional moment in Kryten hacking up Lister’s arm, which is unflinchingly WTF. Nice dark tone and a good sci-fi concept with the sentient virus too that’s cleverly resolved. Do people just hate the voice?

[Dave]

Do people just hate the voice?

[Hamish]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Hamish]

[Dave]

I think we should mount a fan redub of the episode with a more sedate voice actor, David Attenborough or something. 

[tombow]

I remember being excited by the final 2 episodes of S7 as a kid. I thought it was finally turning into the more sci-fi, big budget epic show I’d been waiting years for it to be.

[Moonlight]

I will defend Epideme for feeling the closest to a classic episode of its bunch. The rest of post-Stoke VII not as much.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

I think we should mount a fan redub of the episode with a more sedate voice actor, David Attenborough or something. 

Wasn’t the original plan to get Patrick Stewart but then just as they were about to ring his agent they saw something etc etc

[Warbodog]

They should have got Tony Hawks for old times’ sake, though that might have slightly undermined the threat.

Or the guy who voiced Rimmer’s Self-Loathing Beast, that was pretty scary. (Barry something?)

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

They should have got Tony Hawks for old times’ sake, though that might have slightly undermined the threat.
Or the guy who voiced Rimmer’s Self-Loathing Beast, that was pretty scary. (Barry something?)

Barry Allen?

[Dave]

Or the guy who voiced Rimmer’s Self-Loathing Beast, that was pretty scary. (Barry something?)

Cryer?

[Warbodog]

Or the guy who voiced Rimmer’s Self-Loathing Beast, that was pretty scary. (Barry something?)

[Flap Jack]

I guess I was just never that bothered by the Epideme voice? Like it is a bit annoying I guess, but not enough to put the episode as a whole in the bin. It’s a decently funny episode where the regulars are all in character, the story balance feels pretty much right (not too plot focused like Tikka, not too character focused like Blue, not all over the fucking place like Beyond a Joke), it finally feels like the modified crew are gelling as a group, and Kochanski gets her most major instance of doing something awesome. To me this was enough for it to earn its not-even-that-good Coral Canvass 6.

Refresh for the Memory definitely had its impact on my Series VII rankings. In my memory beforehand, Tikka and Blue were the standouts, but on a rewatch where I was minded to think about my minute to minute enjoyment and not just the most memorable parts, those 2 eps fell short while Duct Soup and Epideme were lifted up. (Stoke is a popular one for a lot of people, but I’m sure you all know by now that it gives me too many bones to grind and axes to pick.)

I’m excited to find out if the GGs will find Epideme’s voice as annoying as you folks do, or if they’ll be charmed by the authenticity of his accent and the joy he takes in his work.

[Flap Jack]

I guess I was just never that bothered by the Epideme voice? Like it is a bit annoying I guess, but

Can’t use this one against me if I use it against myself.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Can’t use this one against me if I use it against myself.

[GlenTokyo]

I like/ have no issue with Epideme’s voice. I think the fact its a bit unhinged makes sense considering it’s a nicotine patch that went wrong and started to kill people and then reanimate their corpses.

If you’d have gone for a cold, menacing, Alan Rickman esque thing I think it’d have been too much for an already quite dark plot, even though VII is dramedy not a pure sitcom.

[Warbodog]

The voice didn’t annoy me as much as I thought it would, especially considering the Fathers and Suns Medibot is one of my most hated things in Red Dwarf (tied with “Mex” in Pete). I remember the episode mainly being let down by Jealous Kryten tedium, former Red Dwarf crew unlikelihood, and a few too many simile wisecracks from Lister spoiling the mood. I rated it a high 5, a point above anything else from that series.

[Podey]

Epideme is brills, though. 

 I am truly baffled by this take. 

It’s a top 10 episode for me! Maybe even top 5 but that’d probably be my contrarian mode going into overdrive.

I get why people find the voice irritating though I never did, but around that you have some really good jokes, some genuine peril and consequence and everything doesn’t just reset at the end. Plus I thought there was some good character building stuff around Kochanski, the dynamic she has within the crew just works in this one. 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Last time I ranked the episodes, for the last poll before the way the poll was run was announced, I put it 68th

[Formica]

Let’s Talk About Give & Take (on UKTV Play)

Was maybe cheating to name two series.

[Formica]

what the fuck

[Warbodog]

[Podey]

[Moonlight]

Let’s Talk About Give & Take (on UKTV Play)

[Technopeasant]

So with the consensus is very much that it doesn’t get stronger towards the end, it’s the exact opposite. I don’t think it’s a coincidence though that the top half are all the ones with Chris in.

Stoke is the worst episode of VII, and Beyond a Joke is fine.

Rimmer isn’t written well enough for Chris’ presence to elevate it that much.

[Warbodog]

Stoke is the worst episode of VII, and Beyond a Joke is fine.
Rimmer isn’t written well enough for Chris’ presence to elevate it that much.

Some powerful truth bombs here! Rimmer might as well not even be in Tikka to Ride. Although I think “fine“ is still pushing it for Beyond a Joke, even if it turned out to be not as bad as I remembered / been conditioned to expect.

[srmcd1]

My big problem with Stoke is that it’s a very front-heavy episode. It takes almost ten minutes for the Boyz to meet up with Ace. Everything feels a tad rushed and poorly thought out. Rimmer’s exit feels a bit cobbled together.

On the whole, though, I do think VII is more successful at what it’s trying to be than VIII was. VII is largely pretty decent ideas that aren’t executed well, whereas VIII just really needed to be rethought from the ground up

[cwickham]

Always found it a little odd that Doug gave the episode that wrote Rimmer out to a guest writer, but maybe even at that point he thought it wouldn’t be permanent?

[Technopeasant]

Always found it a little odd that Doug gave the episode that wrote Rimmer out to a guest writer, but maybe even at that point he thought it wouldn’t be permanent?

Sure Chris, whatever you say Chris…

[Jenuall]

My big problem with Stoke was…

[Technopeasant]

I mean, sure, but this is VII we’re talking about…

[Podey]

[Podey]

I think they think it’s brills, too?

[Flap Jack]

Glad to see that they continue to dislike whiny jealous Kryten, and that they’re missing the running gags of Series VI.

[Podey]

Interesting to see how much they’ve taken to Kochanski. 

[Captain Bollocks]

Until this video, I’d genuinely never spotted Kochanski doing air quotes with her right hand then swiftly moving it to her left side before, and I now proclaim it to be my favourite joke of VII.

I’ve always liked her saying “Van Goch” and quickly moving on though. Same with the One-Armed Bandit gag, but neither of them seemed to laugh. Is that not a popular term in America, or has it just fallen out of general use? (In fairness, I don’t think I’ve heard it since, well, 1997). 

[Ben Saunders]

Same with the One-Armed Bandit… Is that not a popular term in America

I’m a 29-year-old Scotsman and I only know what a One-Armed Bandit is because of Samsara. Previously I just assumed it was a famous killer or pirate from the past that I hadn’t heard of before. But it’s some sort of gambling thing.

I also didn’t know who Carmen Miranda was, why the Glen Miller gag in DNA was supposed to be funny, that Tales of the Riverbank was a real show and not just made up for the gag, who James Last is, etc etc. I’m beginning to think childhood me just liked the flashing lights and spaceships.

[Ridley]

I’d be very surprised if VIII didn’t try the galz’ patience a lot. Especially if they’re watching the multi-parters as broadcast.

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