What if Red Dwarf started at series X?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

So imagine everything prior to series X didn’t happen, except maybe The End to introduce the concept. Would you still watch and enjoy the show?

Basically, taking the Dave era on its own, what would you think of it?

So much of the new episodes are compared to “classic” Dwarf. But what if this WAS Red Dwarf.

[cwickham]

I’d be quite surprised that the BBC made a one-off sitcom pilot in 1988 and nothing else happened with it until Dave decided to make a full series twenty-four years later.

[Manbird]

Now that’s a bloody good question.

I reckon it would’ve ended up either like Hyperdrive (a minor cult show with no longevity) or The Mighty Boosh (a popular but short-lived success with an on-going following).

That’s not a reflection on the quality of the show by the way, just that nowadays the television landscape doesn’t allow for programmes to grow in the way they did back in ’87/88 – and even then the BBC was changing to reflect a more commercial model.

[Pete Part Three]

Erm…maybe. It’s a bit of a difficult question. I started watching in the 90s. I was hooked after the first episode I saw (Future Echoes), so I reckon The End would have also grabbed me if that’s allowed in.

Trojan would have maintained my interest….and then, I don’t think I’d be hugely eager for much else, as with the exception of The Beginning (which I have a list of issues with), there’s nothing much there that’s the equal of Series 1.

Series XI and Series XII are also far more inconsistent than Series 2 and 3. I think I’d still watch it as there’s occasional moments of brilliance but there’s a lot of stuff that would be stop me from being a ‘fan’ of it.

[Ben Saunders]

That’s interesting. Honestly, for this i have to look at the quality of the first two episodes, because if I’m not enjoying something after two episodes I’m likely to drop it (see: Back on Channel 4).

Trojan was pretty good, I think we can (almost) all agree, but it opens with that DIRE pig racing shite, and has the awkward and not-particularly-funny phone-line stuff. But then it does have MOOSE!

Fathers & Suns… was good, but as Trojan sort of relies on you knowing about Rimmer’s relationship with his brother(s), Fathers relies on your knowledge of what happened in Ouroboros. Or does it, really?

Lemons probably would have made me drop the show because it was shite, but Entangled and Dear Dave were decent, and the Beginning was good.

So I think I definitely would have kept watching and enjoying the show, but would it be the classic I consider it now? It’s very hard to say.

[Manbird]

>”Trojan sort of relies on you knowing about Rimmer’s relationship with his brother(s), Fathers relies on your knowledge of what happened in Ouroboros. Or does it, really?”<

I think Trojan would work as an introduction to Rimmer’s familial relationships: starting with sibling rivalry would – hypothetically – allow you to expand to generational conflict.

Lister being his own father (which, incidentally, I’ve never liked and overlook in my own head-canon) would be too gimmicky a concept to introduce in the early stages of a series where your central protagonist is meant to be the last human. It invalidates any sense of getting to find out who he is or what he wants when he just *is*. You can bring that revelation into the seventh or tenth series once you’ve established the character’s world and personality, but any earlier than that leaves you with nowhere to go.

[Taiwan Tony]

Great question!

Probably not. I have a loyalty to the show that goes so far beyond ‘enjoying’ it.
And I started watching it at an impressionable age. I don’t cultivate the same affection for TV shows as easily as I used to be able to. In the last ten years only Deadwood and the West Wing have come close. Probably only Deadwood.

Also, the show itself hasn’t been half as good, has it. And there’s loads of good telly I haven’t watched yet. The Wire, The Sopranos, Arrested Development, GOT, Flight of the Conchords season 2 etc.

I need a minute. Sob.

[Ben Saunders]

Shows I’ve come to love almost as much as Red Dwarf in recent years include Chuck and Peep Show, but I did start watching Chuck when I was like 15 and Peep Show when I was like 17 so I was still at a young and impressionable age. I can’t really think of a show I’ve latched onto in quite the same way that has happened in the past five years. I’ve started to appreciate Classic Doctor Who a whole lot more, and have more discerning opinions on NuWho other than “I enjoy it”, but I watched both from a young age as well.

[Ben Saunders]

Also, get Flight of the Conchords season two down your gob RIGHT NOW. The songs were better in S1 but the actual show is better in S2, imo.

[Taiwan Tony]

It’s on my shelf. Staring at me.

[Author]

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