The worst episode you like

[Moonlight]

No more shame! What’s the one or several episodes you think are objectively bad but enjoy anyway?

Mine is Can of Worms. It’s a fucking mess but it has some good ideas and it decently entertains me for 28 minutes. I can’t really defend it.

Topic

[Rushy]

I don’t really believe in objective badness. If I like something, that means it’s done something right in my eyes

That being said, the messiest episode I can still find some entertainment value in is Only the Good. It’s basically just a sketch show, but the gags are mostly decent. 

[Moonlight]

If you prefer, think of the metric as “I would NEVER show this to someone if I was trying to convince them to watch the show.”

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Marooned is a great episode with some excellent revelation about Lister and Rimmer.

But it is also a bit of nothing that I wouldn’t use as an introduction to the show. It’s not indicative of the show and lacks a lot of the what makes the show great.  Even the slower s01 and s02 episodes have something else going on that a little more on the adventure side.

But I offer that in answer to the qualifying comment, I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the question.

I quite like Samsara despite its perceived faults.  I take no objection to the Lister/Cat scene and in many ways wish we’d had an episode closer to them trapped in a lift for the majority.

I also really like Emohawk. The ending doesn’t bother me. It’s definitely weaker than the first 20mins, but it’s a fun ending even if it is a bit nonsense.

Is Tikka considered bad? Because I love it.

[Moonlight]

Samsara is another one I like a lot but I kinda forgot it was controversial. I’m a huge XI apologist in general. It’s my favorite post-VI series.

[clem]

Tough question. “Like” is such a strong word but maybe Siliconia. It’s got just enough going for it that I can’t help but enjoy it on the whole, even though it’s very frustrating and feels like it could have been a really good one if it’d had a slightly different focus. Can of Worms is similar in that regard. It’s a fine line. Possibly the clincher is that I give Siliconia a bit of kudos for its ambition.

[Warbodog]

It probably is Can of Worms, just on the edge of being okay above others I mainly dislike.

[Moonlight]

But I offer that in answer to the qualifying comment, I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the question

The spirit of my qualifying comment was also more “I would be embarrassed if this was the first impression someone I know got of Red Dwarf.”

[Podey]

I’ve always loved the drama of Epideme.

[Rushy]

My parents absolutely despised Red Dwarf (to the point of mockery), so that’s sort of tainted my enthusiasm for ever introducing it to someone. 

[tombow]

I quite liked Beyond a Joke last time I saw it, but that was about six years ago, and I think it was only the second time I saw it since broadcast, and I don’t really remember it much now.

I don’t mind some of the silly parts of Back in the Red, like the dancing ships and the clay-mation part, to me they just feel like a sense of silly celebration that the show is back and big budget. I actually think BITR is mostly ok when I’ve rewatched it, compared to the rest of the series (other than Cassandra being good obv.)

[RunawayTrain]

Samsara is the only one I can think of right now.  It’s odd in that the two sets of characters never meet yet their stories are intertwined – which is actually quite an interesting device, it just feels weird because it’s not usual for Red Dwarf.  I always laugh at the Lister/Cat scene, probably more so since I know what’s coming and start enjoying it in advance.

I don’t know if The Beginning counts; I’m aware some others don’t enjoy it as much as I do and it’s not one you’d use to introduce someone, but I really like it.  A lot.

[Renegade Rob]

I second a lot of the talk I’m seeing here about Samsara. It’s far from perfect but I respect what it’s doing (or trying to do even if it doesn’t always succeed). So actual worst episode I like… These eps are too close for me to really figure out which is the “worst” but I’ve never really minded Duct Soup, as I appreciate the mixing of bottle episode premise with the new cast member rite of passage episode. I actively think Nanarchy is a pretty decent mythology episode, as it gets a few laughs out of me while decently tying together series V, VI, VII, and VIII and of course Holly is quite good in the episode as well. That said, I’d probably go with Dear Dave. I don’t love the episode but I like it in the sense of it being the closest we get to a Series I hangout episode with no pressing plot since the actual Series I. A great episode? Of course not. But the “moves move” conversation elicits a few laughs and it made me feel like I was watching a Series I episode again, which isn’t nothing. 

[Unrumble]

[Jimboid]

Another vote for Dear Dave here. 

It feels liberating to say it out loud.

[Rushy]

I’m changing my vote from Only the Good to Dear Dave, because I adore that episode and it deserves all the support

[International Debris]

Beyond a Joke, probably. I understand the criticisms but when rewatching for the Coral Canvas I just found it very funny and enjoyable. I’d also add in Epideme. I think it’s a shame we didn’t get more of that crew just going on some basic Red Dwarf adventures. 

[Nick R]

I don’t dislike any episode in series VII, BTE, X, or XI. All the episodes I acknowledge as heavily flawed (e.g. Duct Soup, Beyond a Joke, Entangled, Dear Dave, Can of Worms) have enough stuff I like that I can say I like them overall. Even though BTE isn’t very funny, all three parts have things I love. Episodes like Entangled, Dear Dave and Can of Worms have good stuff near the start, and only later go off the rails.

Over 25 years later, I still have some fondness for Back in the Red Part 1 because of the memory of how exciting it was to see it on first broadcast. Even the knowledge of what happens afterwards in series VIII hasn’t completely destroyed that.

[Dax101]

Duct Soup is usually quite low of peoples favourite lists and i do get why, it’s an episode that feels like it really wants to be marooned, but the jokes ain’t as strong. But I kinda just like the idea of an episode with the crew stuck in the air ducts. Very claustrophobic and different.

[Technopeasant]

I quite like both Epideme and Beyond a Joke, and prefer Back in the Red in totality better than Cassandra (just so I am not just aping International Debris’ post I hadn’t read yet). Oh wait, tombow said BITR as well…

I do not dislike most of Duct Soup, but I can’t defend it too much as the worst offender for whiny Kryten and Starbug being ridiculously huge. Dear Dave and Samsara are fine. Can of Worms is tolerable if you get over the bait and switch.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Duct Soup is usually quite low of peoples favourite lists and i do get why, it’s an episode that feels like it really wants to be marooned, but the jokes ain’t as strong. But I kinda just like the idea of an episode with the crew stuck in the air ducts. Very claustrophobic and different.

Yeah I’ll second this.  It’s one of the better episodes of VII imo. It’s a bit of a character study, is an opportunity to introduce Kochanski as part of the core crew sans Rimmer, and how she interacts with them. Lister’s conversations with Kochanski and Cat (separately) tell us a lot about the three of them. The reason behind it all is dumb as shit but overall it’s not a bad episode. 

[Warbodog]

Epideme’s being mentioned a lot, but even as an old-school VII despiser, I don’t think it’s got much bad in it. It’s got Jealous Kryten, but at least that’s setting up the gag rather than being the gag.

[Moonlight]

I thought Epideme was too solid to even bring up as an example. It’s the one episode in VII that I think really works on its own terms and it’s even got some of that Series V horror energy going for it. This is the shit I wish VIII had expanded upon.

[Rushy]

Epideme and Nanarchy should be one episode.

All the fun stuff – Martin’s performance, the slight horror vibes – are in Epideme, but there’s no meat to it really. 

The substantial character stuff (seeing how everyone reacts to Lister’s disablement. and how he himself copes with it) is in Nanarchy, which is otherwise a damp squid. 

[Nick R]

[Technopeasant]

Squids should be damp really.

[Moonlight]

[Nick R]

[Technopeasant]

[FutureEchoes]

As soon as I saw this thread go up I was ready to jump into Epideme’s defense after seeing it bashed quite a bit in older discussions. Looks like I’m late to the party at this point, but I’m glad to see it get some more appreciation

When I rewatched it in preparation for the Coral Canvas, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It’s not the best of Dwarf or anything, but certainly some of the most fun I get out of Series VII. Cat and even Kryten have some funny moments, Kochanski feels more in place with the others, the stakes are genuinely compelling, and I can’t hate on Gary Martin’s performance. His glitchy game show host voice is really entertaining to me.

My benchmark became “the best episode since Epideme”. I don’t really buy into the Cassandra hype. It’s certainly the highlight of Series VIII, but a polished turd is still a turd.

[Ridley]

Contents 2

[Moonlight]

I think we’re all on board with this take but Meltdown is a really good episode and the geriatric fans who hated on it are hopefully all dead of old age by now.

[Rushy]

I think we’re all on board with this take but Meltdown is a really good episode and the geriatric fans who hated on it are hopefully all dead of old age by now.

It was my favourite for a while, I think it has a lot to offer. Rimmer’s military inspection is one of the show’s great bits. Winnie the Pooh is another. 

I also think the anti-war message is timeless and not overdone at all. Rimmer is humiliated by Lister for enjoying war, and that’s a very good way to get that message across while still remaining in character. 

[Author]

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