Ben Saunders

[Ben Saunders]

It’s best if you don’t watch Dimension Jump, Emohawk, Stoke Me A Clipper or Me², in order to understand Skipper.

[Ben Saunders]

The version of the article I saw on Twitter used a publicity still from X.

I don’t really understand what this means – I thought the BBC owned Dave already. If it means more money for Dwarf, and I have no idea if it does or not, then yay.

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah Lily, seeing them all together like that, I-VIII definitely look like one cohesive unit, and adding to that would just make it look a bit awkward, with the Red Dwarf logo all off to one side. The spilt makes sense, honestly

[Ben Saunders]

Robert was a model so they shot him on 16mm in the model studio during the model shoot with all the other models

[Ben Saunders]

It was all four of the characters having a dream, to be fair

[Ben Saunders]

The most excited I ever got watching Dwarf on broadcast (bearing in mind I could only watch from BtE onwards) was Rimmer changing to softlight in Entangled, then suddenly realising midway though Officer Rimmer that I was watching a new episode of Dave Dwarf that was ACTUALLY good on its own terms and could stand up to the old stuff without any degree of fudging or saying “oh but we have to forgive it for [x].”

I got the same feeling during Krysis, Siliconia and Mechocracy – note I say “during”, no comment on whether or not I still thought that as the credits rolled ;)

[Ben Saunders]

My DVD shelf goes Just The Shows, BtE, X, XI :(

[Ben Saunders]

It’s seasons of Classic Who, but series of New Who, and of Red Dwarf. I’m not sure why old Who is in seasons, might have something to do with The Sixties, either way hearing “season” is just one of those things that really grates with me, like people calling films “movies”… which is another thing Red Dwarf does. It’s just so American

[Ben Saunders]

VI is just as good now as it was when I was a kid, but V is better.

[Ben Saunders]

Oh fucking hell, ignore my previous post, he does actually say “season nine” was the best season ever, hence the joke does work.

I’m putting it down to the Mandela Effect, because I definitely heard him say “ten” on the docco.

Also what kind of prick says “season” when referring to a British show and actually being British himself

[Ben Saunders]

To be fair he seemed to think it was all bollocks in The End, anyway

Still a bit like saying “nice job, Jesus” to someone as a put-down, though

[Ben Saunders]

I thought calling it Series X was a meta joke because I’m BtE Noddy calls Series IX the “best series ever”, and it would be funny if we never got to see it…

Except he actually calls Series Ten the best series ever, which is a complete and total utter fucking shambles and I don’t know what they were thinking

[Ben Saunders]

Will there be a Timewaveless version of the game? I want to pretend the episode doesn’t exist.

Real talk though I will check the XII game out, it is free after all (;

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah, it really baffles me that people refer to “episode two” of Back to Earth, which I’ve considered to be one episode ever since the DVD came out.

I remember that as a Dwarf fan who became one after VIII had ended, the feeling of there being new episodes was incredible, as was watching live with everybody during X. With Twitter and fansites, the sense of community around X was phenomenal. Perhaps the fragmented release of XI and XII has diluted this feeling, or maybe I’m just getting older.

[Ben Saunders]

>Why does Cat use “Frankenstein” as an insult in Quarantine?

…shit.

[Ben Saunders]

It’s like they tried really hard to make him look 40 again, which is an impossibility, so they just ended up with some monstrosity of makeup thicker than a ticket tour’s wad. I hope there are several minutes devoted to explaining it on the dvd.

Also, what a nice picture. I forgot this was happening.

[Ben Saunders]

Rimmer said he wanted a sitcom, is that the closest they got? Felt like a Brittas reference, that.

[Ben Saunders]

Surely – SURELY – they mentioned Red Dwarf was a sitcom at some point in BtE. They must have. Didn’t they?

[Ben Saunders]

Do you think they’ll ever do a Just The Shows II eventually, and will it contain BtE?

[Ben Saunders]

65 quid, fucking hell, hope you enjoy it mate

[Ben Saunders]

Hmmmmmmmmmm I’m not entirely convinced, but it’s probably just a case of different strokes for different folks. I just watched two VII Xtended episodes, and most of the jokes I did laugh at, despite the lack of audience. Some of the dead air after jokes I didn’t laugh at did feel awkward, though. But would I have laughed at this jokes if there was an audience laughing along with me? Would I laugh harder at the other jokes? I don’t know. Maybe.

The performances were good in BtE for the most part, and do get a bit pantomimey in XI and XII. It is interesting how with the non-extended episodes of VII, its really just like watching an episode that’s entirely pre-recorded, it’s not an entirely different experience that’s completely alien. BtE is alien for having no laughs at all.

[Ben Saunders]

Yes Hamish but it’s mostly Red Dwarf “fans” who appear to hate everything from VI onwards (;

Only a vaguely related point, but being more negative about things doesn’t mean you’re more discerning than somebody who is positive necessarily, and I think it’s toxic to think that way

[Ben Saunders]

Well Seb I think the idea is: One of the criticisms of Timewave is that it is potentially offensive to gay people because of the character of Ziggy, who can be perceived as a gay man, so having a gay man say “no it’s fine” can be interesting, while having anybody who isn’t a gay man say that is pretty irrelevant.

I don’t know if I really care, but I think that’s what Dave was getting at. Feel free to call me an arse if I’m wrong, Dave

[Ben Saunders]

Exactly what Dave said, essentially.

[Ben Saunders]

Sometimes it can, but I think the constraints placed on Red Dwarf since VII haven’t exactly “helped” much of anything

[Ben Saunders]

Will they combine two games into one?

[Ben Saunders]

I think that’s the same thought behind putting Timewave on the DVD

[Ben Saunders]

Great, now I’m googling whether or not you’re allowed to use Hitler’s likeness without paying his family/somebody

[Ben Saunders]

I’d be afraid some places (particularly specific countries in Europe) might refuse to stock it, if it had Hitler on the cover.

That said, I wonder how Cured went down in Germany? I know videogames such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom had difficulties over there due to Nazi imagery, but does camp Not Hitler count as Nazi imagery? Or have they gotten over it since the 90s? I’m sure the public were fine with it – there’s nothing objectionable in the show – but what did the censor people think?

Wolf 3D had them remove all the moustaches off of the Hitler paintings so they just looked like some vaguely Hitler-esque dude.

I don’t know how to phrase “went down in Germany” better, that’s not exactly what I mean, but it’s as close as I can get. Basically I’m asking if having Hitler in things is OK now.

[Ben Saunders]

Yeah, it’s a fantastic collection of things and I’m glad it exists, but I’ve seen them all before except Bodysnatcher itself (thanks, YouTube). Although interestingly I’ve only ever seen The Worst Interview In The Universe Ever with the commentary because that’s the only version that’s online, lol. That beach in paradise deleted scene really does look fucking freezing.

[Ben Saunders]

There are some good bits, yeah, but overall it’s rather dull, and I wouldn’t get rid of any of the Series I episodes they ended up making to make room for it.

[Ben Saunders]

“Homo Rimmer” was a slow burner that made me laugh progressively harder for about twenty whole seconds, because it sounds like “man who licks other men’s buttholes”, dunnit. Fnarr fnarr.

[Ben Saunders]

I just watched Bodysnatcher for the first time there, as if to celebrate (except I was going to watch it anyway.)

That was………………………… uh. Let’s just say I’m glad we got the Series I we got.

An interesting historical document.

[Ben Saunders]

As much as I make fun of the commentaries, I do rather enjoy them. Having Chris Barrie commentate on the whole of VII should be interesting.

[Ben Saunders]

Doesn’t it also have “Lister falls down a hole and the crew lock him in there”, which is pretty awful for the same reason people complain about the ending of Tikka etc?

The ending of Tikka was Craig Charles’ idea, by the way, because he thought it didn’t really have an ending. The idiot.

[Ben Saunders]

I watched the Tikka Xtended ending one morning at like 4am out of context and thought it was shite, then I saw it in the context of the episode and liked it a lot more. Sucking up curry sauce through a napkin is fucking disgusting, though.

[Ben Saunders]

Millennials Are Killing Doug Naylor

[Ben Saunders]

What problems do you think Quarantine has, exactly? Much of the gingham Rimmer stuff is incredibly stupid, but it’s incredibly funny, so it’s OK. The convenient and quick plot resolution is seeded into the story and makes logical sense in-universe. Quarantine didn’t stand out to me as having any issues when I rewatched it recently, heck The Inquisitor has more imo. In that it has one, iirc.

[Ben Saunders]

8 year old me loved the Blue Midget dance. 8 year old me has declined to comment on Timewave.

[Ben Saunders]

Would Trojan really benefit from a weak subplot about faking dyslexia? Would Marooned really benefit from that scene of them all playing poker in the beginning? Et cetera.

This is why I want to go with the “make the episodes as long as you need them to be” format, but I don’t think that’s a thing that has ever happened – has any ever show done that? Doctor Who has longer finales but all the midseries episodes are a consistent length.

Although I feel like the BBC can get away with nonstandard length shows, because they don’t need to slot in adverts every 15 minutes.

[Ben Saunders]

My last comment was supposed to have more of a relevant point to it, something like “I’ve heard that them not being allowed to do serious/adult stuff is one of the reasons it isn’t as good anymore”.

I listened to Psychodrome, which isn’t main range, but did feature Adric, and that was VERY good.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve only listened to a few classic Big Finishes and they were all amazing, but the reception for them I see from other Doctor Who fans is “holy shit they make so much of this stuff” and “it’s nowhere near the quality standard it used to be”.

I don’t even want to consider how much it would cost somebody to get every piece of Big Finish Doctor Who legally. An upsetting amount.

I’m glad it exists though because everybody seems to have such a lovely time making it from the behind the scenes stuff I’ve seen/heard and it just warms my heart.

A lot of Big Finish stuff is up for streaming on Spotify, by the way, if anyone’s interested. Recommend Spare Parts and Jubilee.

[Ben Saunders]

Oh yes, they spend around 40% of the runtime of the entire show calling things either ham or pony. There’s a VI commentary where Bobby watches a model shot, and says “ah yes, look at that lovely CGI – can’t do that with models!”

[Ben Saunders]

The Timewave commentary would be half Robert saying “now this is funny, oh look at that CGI”, and half Danny shouting “CLASSIC LINE! CLASSIC LINE!”, just like all the rest. With a light sprinkling of Chris saying “I don’t remember any of this”. Craig is off (being) sick.

[Ben Saunders]

Opinion: A lot of the deleted scenes from Red Dwarf are shite, and wouldn’t help the episode in any way if they were included due to a longer runtime. But a few of the deleted scenes are really, really good, and definitely would improve their episodes.

[Ben Saunders]

I wonder if it’s Doug thinking “this is long enough” in the edit, or Dave saying “this is too long, 27 minutes or bust”. Hmm.

[Ben Saunders]

Sometimes having somebody else laugh really does make you laugh harder at certain jokes. I don’t know why. It’s not like the jokes are any funnier, but it’s like it reminds you of how funny it is, and you laugh in sympathy. There was one Cat joke that got a smile from me in VI, then when I watched the commentary and heard the cast laughing along with me I just about pissed myself. Huh.

[Ben Saunders]

>and come in batches of six
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Red_Dwarf_episodes#Red_Dwarf_VII

[Ben Saunders]

I’m glad somebody else said “Jo Brand no thanks” so I didn’t have to. She does seem a bit “oooooooohhhhhhh [makes a face]”, doesn’t she? Bit too snarky for Holly. The Hollies we have do get a bit snarky, but for the most part they’re amiable with the crew and just in it for the banter

[Ben Saunders]

My favourite episode when I was young was whatever episode I happened to be watching at the time.

[Author]

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