Dax101

[Dax101]

Maybe they felt he was too deadpan and subtle. Gotta get more energy in there.

[Dax101]

Never understood the logic of needing to explain what happened to the polymorph. The original ending is far more fun.

[Dax101]

There are aspects of the remastered that i hate to admit is a little superior. Like Rimmer transforming into the polymorph looks cleaner and there are just a few better edits overall.

BUT the remaster liked to fix certain things while at the same time creating really odd changes that don’t really work. I mean in Queeg why place the static effect and sound effect over chris’s lines? its very irritating to watch.

[Dax101]

The 2 factors that seem to be affecting the bringing back of once-popular shows these days are Money and the desperate need for a younger generation to want to watch them, because, I guess, time has declined the previous.

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I have always found the BTE Bunkroom a little dull and flat-looking. I think i prefer the red bunkroom from X onwards

[Dax101]

It must be incredibly confusing for people to watch the first 7 series with the original model design which then switches to the extended series 8 CGI ship, to then go back to a more similar to the original design for BTE onwards. While in other countries they only have the first 3 remastered series with the extended CGI ship, which then shrinks to the original model for Series 4-5, extended CGI model for 8 and then back to similar original design.

[Dax101]

Doug’s is just a little more focused on social commentary.

Probably an age thing.

[Dax101]

I mean its a joke you would get on futurama. It’s a silly retro exaggeration of future technology. 

[Dax101]

Its a futurama style joke. Which the Dave era does a fair amount of. The floppy disc joke isn’t one i could imagine in the first 7 series. Maybe not even 8.

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I can’t imagine, from a technical behind-the-scenes standpoint, if that would be possible to do consistently.

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No one has time for effort.

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I feel like if they were going to release the comic strips from the Smegazine into a book it would have been in the late 90s. Since it never happened id say the chances of anything official is probably extremely unlikely

[Dax101]

I imagine in the Dave era the idea of Meltdown would indeed be “the characters visit a theme park”. They get teleported there with the Matterpaddle, and it’s an actual theme park with rides and food stands that are all still running as normal. So we can get some jokes about how expensive theme park food is and how long the lines take for Rides even when its just the 4 of them. With Kryten explaining it’s all part of the immersio till they just give up an walk away. And then the mascots start to get politically charged with each other, and the last 10 minutes Rimmer encourages a war so he can lead it. And Lister, Cat and Kryten just trying to stop the war by interacting with the other side.

That seems fairly Dave-era average plot.

In terms of the Meltdown we got, its not really tropey

[Dax101]

Looking at the motivations. Rimmer wants to become machine president to make Lister’s life hell. Traditional Rimmer/Lister feud, I suppose. Kryten has a backbone for this episode and goes against Rimmer instead of usually doing whatever Rimmer wants. Lister is helping Kryten because he doesn’t want to lose his TV privileges, and Cat is helping Rimmer because he doesn’t want Rimmer to tell Kryten and Lister he needs glasses.

And then you get a lot of tropey Election stuff… but in space.

Its not as cringe as Timewave, but i don’t feel it’s all that much miles ahead in quality.

[Dax101]

Mechocracy isn’t a good episode of Red Dwarf. It doesn’t feel like an episode of Red Dwarf. It feels more like something you would get in an American sitcom. That kinda pointless petty conflict that they are doing to themselves that really doesn’t matter. Is it fun? Personally, I don’t think so. Its got that Doug Naylor logic that bothers me a lot where characters will do stuff that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t fit their character just in order to make the plot work. 

[Dax101]

I guess we can’t have nice things.

[Dax101]

Like at one point Lee says “You kill me!” and he responds with “You… want me to kill you?” as if he’s a robot who has never encountered a metaphor before. It’s cool if he wants to ham it up for fun or because his current situation has made him emotionally volatile, but he should at least retain his general intelligence and experience.

I think they were looking at it like the Master was well-spoken, and he had even corrected Grace on her grammar earlier, so modern wording would go over his head.

Although modern Who has such Zany Masters that they make Roberts look fairly tame. He got the full load of hate in 1996 for being different, but man, I can’t imagine what it would have been like with Simms version.

[Dax101]

I actually think Chris has always been a good actor. Atlhough i get the feeling he has stayed away from non-comedic roles because he doesn’t believe he is that good of an actor. But I’m gonna say he played Rimmer a little more subtly in the first 7 series than he did in Series 8 onwards. When he needed to be funny, he was funny, and when he needed to play it straight, he played it straight. While with Series 8 he feels like he is mugging for the camera at times. its kinda a more exaggerated version of Series 1 Rimmer. 

I remember reading Chris Auditioned for Hollyoaks and left the audition feeling it really wasn’t for him.

[Dax101]

He is still playing series 8 Holister, so that’s about accurate.

The rules for the Skipper device seem also a little different because Rimmer seems to be becoming his alternative selves when he skips. presumbaly because its never suggested there is an alternative Rimmer around.

[Dax101]

It’s weird because when i first watched the episode as a kid, it did not seem at all strange to me that Ace was this space hero. But when I got older and really thought about it, that’s just not who Ace Rimmer was in series 4. It’s almost a caricature of all the things he was based on to think he is now this guy who’s travelling universes and saving people. Kinda strange.

I’m not a huge fan of stoke me a clipper. It dissects the character abit to much.

[Dax101]

For me, the bleakness of the first series is part of why it ranks slightly lower for me. I know a lot of people love that, and I do get it, but the antagonism between Lister and Rimmer, and Cat barely even being part of the plot, it’s so fucking cold that it just lies slightly outside what I love Red Dwarf for. I find the characters of Confidence and Paranoia give that episode a weirdly queasy feeling that makes it my least favourite of the first series, even if it’s definitely very creative with a lot of great gags.

Well in their mind at the time this was Steptoe and Son in space. Rimmer and Lister were Steptoe and son. The whole idea was likely that Rimmer and Lister would carry this sitcom, with the Cat and Holly appearing here and there. 

[Dax101]

Series 1 has some growing pains. Which is fair as they were still figuring out the show.

[Dax101]

I think for Holly, you need to make room for him/her to get the best out of the character. White Hole gives Holly a purpose. The Promise Land gives Holly a purpose. But it also involves the character going away for a portion of the episode, leaving the 4 guys dealing with what’s going on.

So the best you can do with Holly is to always have something like that. Because if you don’t, he/she just pops up to say something and then goes away. Which is maybe 3 times an episode

With Series 2, Holly felt a little more a character that was part of the conversations. But as time went on that become less and less. 

[Dax101]

Probably White Hole.

[Dax101]

I get the feeling they tried to do that with the legs in the early days but for whatever reason they didn’t put it on screen. 

Personally i think it loses a lot of personallity with the legs going back. its obviously trying to look like a fly but still.

[Dax101]

I suppose you would have to look at Series 3 and 4 and figure out where would Norman appear in that series. Because chances are those stories were not written just because Norman wasn’t there. They were written because they were the stories they wanted to tell. Once Kryten joined, he got focused on quite quickly with The Last Day, Camille and DNA. And he wasn’t an original cast member.
You would sorta have to assume there would be major changes to how Rob and Doug told these stories if Norman was still there. But would there be?

[Dax101]

The knight escaping VR felt like an assumption that VR was basically like the Holodeck from Star Trek

[Dax101]

 I think Norman would probably have fought harder for material and Rob and Doug would probably have found a little more for him to do because they found it easier to write for his version of the character. 

Considering how he was written for Series 8, i ain’t sure about that. In the end its going to come down to their ambition to write bold episodes like say Back to Reality vs what material they can give Norman in episodes like that. Which would still be an issue.

The way he was written in Series 8 felt like the way you would expect the writers to desperately be looking for material for him. For example how much did Norman appear in Cassandra?

[Dax101]

I don’t like to compete them personally. I like Norman, and while Hattie got a little less to do overall, I think she still added something to the show that i appreciate.

Its an interesting thought to wonder what the show would have been like had Norman not left, because Rob and Doug clearly wanted to turn the show into something more adventurous and just because it was Norman, probably wouldn’t have changed much in regards to telling stories that struggled to really have a purpose for Holly. Does make you wonder if Norman would have ended up leaving anyway, out of pure spite for the lack of material.

[Dax101]

I honestly believe Rob and Doug (and maybe even the others) regret hiring her, they are just too polite to ever say it.

Thats probably not true. After all the only reason they hired Hattie is because Norman practically got himself fired. So it was either no Holly for Series 3 onwards or a recast, and they chose a recast. Which does make sense, really. Holly was part of the show, and so the thought of not having the character probably felt strange. So there is nothing to regret really. It’s just unfortunate that as time went on they were moving too far away from what Holly could have a part in. And you can even still see it with Norman in Series 8 and TPL. You really have to make time for Holly because the character is easily forgotten about otherwise.

In terms of which Holly that Doug prefers, yeah i think he prefers Norman. I think instead of bringing back Hattie, he left the role open as a sign of good faith for Norman, as Norman got annoyed that he wasn’t in Back to Earth. Which seems to suggest Doug didn’t know where Holly fit into that story, which is why he wasn’t in Back to Earth. Which again goes back to the issue with Holly in general.

[Dax101]

I don’t think Doug is finished with Red Dwarf yet. It’s going to come down to who’s willing to put the money in, though. Novels are just quicker and easier to produce. 

People tend to underestimate how much Doug wants to keep making Red Dwarf content. To the point he has come up with some weird ideas. Like he mentioned having an idea for a meta conspiracy story he was putting together with the Red Dwarf cast playing themselves, and i assume thats not happening either now. But you never really know what’s boiling over.

[Dax101]

Well he was appointed head of comedy in 2021 and its now 2026. So if there was any pitching going on it would have been done by now

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I wouldn’t be surprised if the reception to Back to Earth made him a little more avoidant of using old ideas, as in the BTE commentary, he sounded a little bothered that people were saying he ran out of ideas because he used the suicide squid idea again. Aka the joy squid.

[Dax101]

Considering how Doug writes guest stars now. It might be best not to get a sequel to Holoship as they were not written particularly comedic. We would be more likely to get an idea that felt very similar to Holoship.

The premise is Rimmer gets stuck on planet populated entirely by himself, but we don’t actually get to see that really. The first half is him getting stranded, the second half is the crew netting some Rimmer clones, getting thrown in jail and then teleporting. 

When you think its a planet of basically clones of one man who basically evolve as a society in the same way as human history has. There is something really unique and cool about that. If they had told that story in the novels it would have been very interesting. But at the same time, to me it might be the first time i felt Rob and Doug got a bit too ambitious and slightly overstepped the mark. They don’t go overboard in the same way i feel Doug has done with the Dave Era, as they still used their time wisely in Rimmerworld. Which is better than trying to do too much and ending up with a mess.

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While i think Series 6 got a bit formulaic in areas, i don’t really see it as running out of steam as much as Rob and Doug leaning heavily into a particular direction they felt was the strongest. Which ended up becoming formulaic.

But then, when that series also won and Emmy and comedy award, its hard to say there was any loss of steam. 

Based on recent information and knowing certain episodes like Out of Time were still being written while shooting, it does seem like after the US Pilot they were slightly held back by something. Maybe their own success that they didnt know what to do with or where to go with it. And so the writing was a little more rushed for Series 6. And Doug said in that interview recently that they were being sued by penguin for not writing the 3rd book in the time they were meant too.

[Dax101]

Peter: Part 2
Dear David
Kryten TV 

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 I think it’s more of a problem when Doug is borrowing from himself. For example, in ‘Dear Dave’ where the punchline is “You’ve not listened to a word I’ve said,” which is almost identical to a line in ‘Nanarchy’. When the show is borrowing from Series VII, you know it must be in trouble. :)

Its like Hollister standing behind Rimmer while he rambles about him in Peter: Part 2, which Doug did again in Back to Earth: Part One with Katerina. Not a great joke worth repeating IMO.

[Dax101]

Personally, i struggle to see how its bubble worthy. The Cat, again, is really dumb and also has shades of that whininess he had in Can of Worms and Give and Take. And the villain’s plan makes no sense. He creates a scheme to steal Starbug but can’t because of a secret boot-up sequence he doesn’t know. So either to cover his ass or kill the crew… its its a little up in the air, he put them in life-threatening situations in which they probably shouldn’t survive, but just in case, he attempts to frame Hitler and Co for it. As well as faking his own death before ruining it by showing up to reveal he is alive… When you realise the character didn’t need to do any of this to achieve his goal, it makes an episode of Scooby Doo look super clever.

I also think Hitler might be a little to camp for my taste. I have no issue with Camp but it starts to feel played up. Now i like the payoff joke about why he is acting that way at the end: “Did you wonder why he seemed nothing like hitler?” i like that payoff, but I’m not sure the amount of camp was worth getting to that point.

So all that stuff put together. I don’t feel like these elements fit the bubble at all.

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I dont feel XI and XII are that different to X. They look better and Doug injected more energy into them. Like he was worried people would get bored if things were not moving, shifting and joking. But outside of that, they are pretty similar.

[Dax101]

I like Krysis up untill they meet universe. Which they then do a Morgan Freeman impression because they are winking to him having played god previously, while also trying to avoid suggesting the universe is infact god. Its a big concept that i imagine was the reason why Doug did it. Big concept = cool!. But i can feel the weight of Don’t think about it too hard otherwise, there will be a lot of questions.

As for Chris Barries acting… it depends, when Chris pulls back on his performance, he does a pretty good job, but when he gets a scene thats focused on him playing up to the audience, he gets a little exaggerated. Same with Danny tbh

[Dax101]

I think Lemons is the better episode of Series 10 and that’s because it doesn’t have too much going on so the story and jokes feels like it’s playing out more organically.

With Cured. Outside of the villains plan making no sense and seeming ultimately pointless. The Cat and his kiddy jumping back and forth because from either helping the villain or the dwarfers because they have a surprise for him bugged the hell out of me.

[Dax101]

The Dave era feels familiar because it goes back to structure of the earlier series when it was the 4 guys on red dwarf, along with the studio audience and some feel good nostalgic beats here and there. So I do tend to wonder how much of the back to form and how much of that is an nostalgic illusion from going back to what was loved?

Im not saying the 2nd was is the case, but i do tend to wonder sometimes.

For me Series 10 is jammed full of plot ideas and sometimes logic thats just too silly or convoluted. And the comedy ranges from to annoyingly predictable or to silly. For me that takes away any return to form and im often surprised when people think its a return to form. But i guess everyone looks at things differently.

[Dax101]

Or just remove Timewave and just call it Spit on Her Wrist.

[Dax101]

Well they didn’t need to find Red Dwarf, they could just have found Holly. He has no memory of what happened to red dwarf until the last episode.

[Dax101]

 He could have had more to do in VIII if it wasn’t for the fact there were about 16 other characters all fighting for screen time. But he is reduced unfortunately to just being a gag machine once an episode.

I don’t know if the amount of characters is a good excuse for it really. The setting with holly worked best when he could appear on a monitor. But when they kept using the Holly watch i think it reduced the amount of times he could appear as you had to keep cutting away to the watch. But at the same time, maybe he could have been mixed into the bunkroom scenes with Lister and Rimmer like he would in the early days? Rather than just appear for a sketch about turning into a dog and then being turned off. So I’d say it had more to do with how he was used rather than not having the time

That cheeky smirk is pure 1988 Holly. 

He did that in Series 8 also. But then i think Norman appears more smirky than deadpan in series 8. 

[Dax101]

So Grant Naylor Productions is a sole Naylor family production now. 

[Dax101]

Oddly i think Norman is more Holly after they reboot him up to default settings, then when they restore his memories and whatever later on. And i think that’s because Series 1 and 2 Holly, even though senile, also felt more grounded and had more personality rather than just quirks. He felt like a character who had opinions and would ask questions. But the moment they restore his memories in TPM, he sorta falls back into that series 8 clueless-about-everything character. Now that might be because he didn’t get a lot to do after that. But it still felt that way to me. 

Same with his scene in Skipper actually, when he is playing pre-radiation leak Holly. He seems to have been written better that time also

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I suspect the issue is that they often forgot Holly existed. If they needed something explained then Kryten could do that. Hollys role at least for Hattie was about ship related stuff but how often was that a thing going forward?

Doug said Norman hated doing the explaining stuff and just wanted to do jokes. Which really we got that in Series 8. 

I imagine Holly often ended up written in later rather than naturally.

[Dax101]

Zuzp

[Dax101]

Ah probably Timewave.

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