Who is the best director for the show?

[Rushy]

Ed Bye (I-IV, VII-VIII), Paul Jackson (White Hole), Juliet May (V), Grant Naylor (V), Andy de Emmony (VI) or Doug Naylor (IX-XIII)? 

Topic

[Technopeasant]

Ed Bye, then Andy de Emmony.

[Dave]

then Andy de Emmony.

Thanks For De Emmony, there.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

Well, I would go with Ed Bye, but I’d be thinking of Andy De Emmony. 

[Technopeasant]

I’d say we could do this elimination style, but Doug would be cheating by entering himself twice.

[Jenuall]

Do we have much clarity over whether it really was “Grant Naylor” in the back half of V? I’ve always assumed it was more Doug than Rob who got hist hands dirty with some early directing efforts, whilst Rob stood there chain-smoking and thinking about more ways to abuse and/or mutilate his characters.

I don’t think there’s ever really been a truly bad period for Dwarf when it comes to directing. Even though they chose to move on from her early there’s some beautiful stuff shot by Juliet May. Doug’s early work is definitely a bit rough – but then we know that BtE wasn’t what he wanted to be making and had so many compromises that it’s hard to be too critical of it – same with X really, Doug having to deal with the shit show that was in the background can probably help forgive any occasions where the directing felt weaker!

Ed was obviously incredible with what he achieved in the early days, though I think it’s fair to say his later stuff doesn’t really stand out as much – but then when the material was getting as weak as Krytie TV it’s hard to think of how a director could save it!

Not much you can say about De Emmony other than that he came in and did great work on VI – a consistently great looking series that gets excellent performances out of everyone and has some impressive technical achievements behind it as well

[Dax101]

Id say the Dave Era has been the weakest when it comes to directing. 

Ed Bye should get a lot of credit because he carried a lot of the progression and ambition the writers wanted and did a really good job of it. He also did Series 8 which was very broad in performances but hey can’t get them all right.

Julia May sounded like she struggled a bit making the show. But considering what Rob and Doug wanted at the time…  I don’t blame her. Hey newbie, do Terminator on a sitcom budget! – But give her credit. Most people consider 5 to be their favourite. And Rob and Doug did a good job to in series 5. Gave us 2 of the best episodes of the shows run.

De Emmony also made a great impression on the show. Series 6 won a comedy award and Emmy so what more can you say?

[Technopeasant]

Honestly not sure VIII would benefit from being less broad, considering silly is all its got going for it. Unlike the Dave era.

[Rushy]

VIII just seems like Ed adapting to what Doug wanted at the time. Visually it looks beautiful. I like the saturated colours. The only thing dating the look of it is the CGI. 

[International Debris]

I always thought VIII was appallingly ugly. Garish colours, terrible font choices, awful costumes, horrible sets.

[Technopeasant]

[Unrumble]

De Emmony also made a great impression on the show. Series 6 won a comedy award and Emmy so what more can you say?

[Dave]

[Ben Saunders]

At first I didn’t believe that somebody wouldn’t know what “POV” meant, until the recent spat of “POV: you’re x” memes that also misunderstand what POV actually means

[sleepey]

I’m with Rushy on this one, VIII looks gr-VIII quite good most of the time. They managed to blend together the different aesthetics from the previous series really well, so you’ve got the brightly-lit officers’ areas from III-IV coexisting with the more spartan submariney bits from I-II, & then when they go on an away mission it’s all grimy like V-VII. All unified by splashes of orange & purple, be it from cartoonish coloured lighting (to suit the more broad tone when dealing with the crew) or from rust & prison jumpsuits. There’s maybe a bit of an intangible “BBC sitcom” vibe to it, but I think that’s fair given that it is one. The only real complaints that come to my mind would be the calculator font, & the bit where they try to show that Pete is asleep by just rotating him 180 degrees.

[Warbodog]

It’s the only time Red Dwarf literally had wobbly sets.

[Ben Saunders]

There is a dinosaur trying to break through that wall

[Warbodog]

“Wall.”

[Ben Saunders]

That stupid run Craig does annoys me more every time the gif loops. Kryten doing a funny run is one thing, but that’s just not how Lister would run away from a dinosaur

[Dave]

[Ben Saunders]

Now that’s a callback gag

[Technopeasant]

I mean, if you were trying to not let Cat on that there’s a dinosaur behind you then you might walk like that.

[Author]

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