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Red Dwarf : Back to Earth Special

Posted on April 12, 2009April 12, 2009 by Andi Hamilton

Red Dwarf Back to Earth Logo

After a long wait with several rumours of a return in the form of a movie, ten years on and we – the Red Dwarf fans – finally have our comeback special. Yay!

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is set nine years after the events at the end of Series VIII, with a surprisingly intact ship and Rimmer still wearing that shiny JMC uniform with pride.

After watching all three episodes of Back to Earth I must say that on a whole the special was fantastic, I loved the storyline… but only after it had all been pieced together. I had my doubts about the entire thing after the second episode, and I even started to worry for the future of Red Dwarf. Yet I, along with so many other fans, stuck with it and watched the final episode. I for one am glad I did. At times it felt so much like classic Red Dwarf and I am looking forward to what the team have in store for us in the future.

One thing I would like to point out that disappointed me with the show was the choice to air it in three different episodes. It was off-putting, especially after my thoughts on the second episode and I believe that the special would have recieved a greater reaction had it all been shown as one episode. You really do have to wait till the story line is all pieced together before you realise that Red Dwarf is, in fact, back.

I would love to hear your views on the special:

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

23 thoughts on “Red Dwarf : Back to Earth Special”

  1. Jim says:
    April 12, 2009 at 11:45 pm

    Retrospectively, I was very happy on the whole. I do agree – the three parts were a bad, bad idea – just didn’t work with this storyline and it just made the whole thing a pretty uncomfortable watch (given the nature of destroying the fictional reality of RD). I’m torn between watching it tomorrow as a whole episode or buying the DVD and seeing what they insert.

    As one long episode you could forgive the sometimes spartan areas of jokes in favour of homage, but in episodic form it becomes irritating and confusing why a comedy show is wasting time sending up rather than firing gags.

    I think some of the gags were also a little recycled. The typewriter gag had been done by Futurama – and a little more deftly. That said, the photo analysis in episode two and the final ending were a reminder of what Red Dwarf was all about!

    Reply
  2. AnDi86 says:
    April 12, 2009 at 11:52 pm

    Hey Jim, thanks for your views it looks like it would have paid of if they kept it a long special episode

    “The first episode achieved overnight ratings of 2.06 million viewers, however this fell to 937,000 for the second episode”

    That’s disappointing

    Reply
  3. Dave says:
    April 13, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Hi, I must first of all agree with three episode format as a distraction to the continuity and could go some way to explain the halving in rating between part 1 and part 2.

    In reflection to what was a nice twist of the story in part 3 I have only 3 items missing which detracted a little.

    1. The lack of any explanation from series 8 to their current status, which normally happens between series. I was only after viewing a clip on youtube of an alternative ending to series VIII able to appreciate.

    2. There is no audience background laughter etc. Sounds like a weird thing to want to include but I think it added to the gags as they played out.

    I know I said 2 but I must also say I missed Holly.

    Anyway fingers crossed the actors are all scared by the financial crises forcing them to make a new series to top up the bank accounts.

    Reply
  4. Dave says:
    April 13, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    Well as a lover & writer of sci I LOVED THE FIRST EPISODE. The lack of laughter track was weird at first, however, they still hadn’t lost it. The new character just shined & it was good to see the skutter telling Rimmer where to go. I can’t wait to see the other episodes. I hope they keep doing these specials or something like them. (I haven’t seen the third or second episode yet but I will give them a chance THE FIRST ONE WAS SMEGGING AWESOME).

    Reply
  5. Blazing Minds says:
    April 13, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    I was really looking forward to the three episodes, but I don’t think that the show was up to scratch of it’s glory days, I know I’m stepping on some toes here when I say that it just seemed that the story was just lacking something that the original shows had.

    Reply
  6. JSUK says:
    April 13, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    I thought it was atrocious. Only one joke actually made me laugh – the idea that we go from using DVDs back to videos as we keep losing them. The constant meta-references to old episodes were overdone and rarely funny. Coupled with the references to Coronation Street and the fanbase, it felt like one giant ego trip. There was lots of ‘telling us who the characters are’, but not enough ‘telling us how they got here from the end of series 8’. It was too long and ultimately made little sense. No wonder they didn’t even offer it to the BBC – they wouldn’t touch it.

    Reply
  7. AnDi86 says:
    April 13, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    Wow, atrocious is a very strong word to describe it! It has changed from classic Red Dwarf i’ll give you that, though I still enjoyed it as a special! Yes I also wondered how they survived and yes I certainly missed Holly!

    Was it not said in episode 2 that these events happened after series 10? Giving us hope that there will indeed be a couple of series to fill in the gaps between series 8 and back to earth? I guess that we will just have to wait and see what the future holds for Red Dwarf…

    Reply
  8. JSUK says:
    April 13, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    Yea, I noticed the reference to two further seasons, but I don’t know if the continuity will be followed through. For it to flow naturally from ‘series ten’, both Holly and Kochanski would have to be in both those seasons.

    Reply
  9. me says:
    April 13, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    IT WAS THE WORST THING IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. I LOVE RED DWARF NOW I HATE IT BECAUSE OF GREEEEEEEEEDDDDDDYY PEOPLE WHO WANT STYLE OVER CONTENT. ANY ONE WHO LIKES THIS SEASON IS NOT A RED DWAF FAN BUT A sycophant. Its crap crap crap crap.

    Reply
  10. me says:
    April 13, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    The reason for high key letters is because im so mad and dissapointed at how bad this season is. F**K em.

    Reply
  11. MrFlibble says:
    April 13, 2009 at 10:45 pm

    Just watched all three and it was a terrible disappointment (other than seeing ‘Big Suze’ in a mini dress!)

    To be honest I wasn’t expecting much and thought that it died during the last two original episodes.

    Reply
  12. HarthleyHare says:
    April 13, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    Crikey. I quite enjoyed it. Was away at the weekend and recorded the 3 parts and watched them back to back. I watched the original series’ firstly) as a student and have enjoyed since the repeats from time to time. Negative comments are no surprise (lack of laughs, slow pace). But there was a gravity/depth to the new trilogy. Its not perfect but they’ve not been working on this for two decades – its a new project that was worth trying. Rather they had done it than not – and would watch more.

    Reply
  13. Jim says:
    April 13, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    I don’t think they’ll go back two seasons. I think that was meant as a minor clue to suggest that a) this wasn’t “our” universe and b) there had been events or “adventures” we had not seen up to this point.

    I actually commend the fact they didn’t go explaining away the tie between this and the last series and just moved on. As has been said, I think if they had used the alt ending to season 8 there would be less need for questions (and a better ending for that season in my opinion).

    I think it’s a shame that so much really didn’t hit the mark. I didn’t really get the gag about treating the car like a ship. I thought the characters were just goofing around, not that they literally saw the car as a ship. Some jokes just didn’t work, but I still would very much have them try another special and see what they learn from this experience.

    Reply
  14. me says:
    April 14, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    I was horribly disappointed by this; it was flat, self-serving and a very thinly veiled plea for another series or film which is frankly a pathetic way to go about it.

    The storyline was terrible, an awful idea. I liked the of the squid (I hope that won’t give away anything) but the story it presented was terrible – it came across as their way of saying “look how much people used to love us, they still could if they had the chance”. The scripts seemed to have been red penned for any wit or speed, and (and this isn’t his fault, but is sad nonetheless) the character of The Cat just doesn’t work when played by a man in his 40s – he’s supposed to be young (in evolutionary terms as well as age), naive, and sprightly; Danny John-Jules isn’t and – while doing a good job considering how inappropriate he was and the scripts he was working with – doesn’t look or sound like he is either. It would have been more true to the character and the story if they’d replaced him with “the Cat’s son” and given him a half-arsed back story about settling down on a planet with an alien or something.

    The one thing I will say is that perhaps they were focussing too much on trying to create a big ‘showcase’ idea for it & special effects etc – the best bits were the little asides etc, for example the way of explaining why they used videos & not DVD in the earlier series of Red Dwarf considering they’re supposed to be from the future. These were always the things that the show was good for, and perhaps should be what they concentrate on.

    All in all I won’t say I wish I’d not watched it, but I do wish I could get those 2 hours of my life back.

    Reply
  15. David Greenfields says:
    April 14, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    It was so-so and I am glad that i watched it a s i Am a great fan
    It should have been made before an audience so that the feedback was spontaneous

    awaiting more !!!!!

    Reply
  16. Red says:
    April 14, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    It was just ok. I’m a massive red dwarf fan with each series on DVD but these episodes seemed a bit lacking. However I defiantly would like to see them make some more with a few improvements.

    The storyline was poor, the only thing that slightly saved it was the female squid at the end but it still seemed a bit peculiar. It did not fit with the theme of classic red dwarf. And that holo women appearing from nowhere was very lame. It reminded me of the bad episodes in series 7 without Rimmer and having Kochanski instead. The fact they drove up coronation street and interacted with some coronation street actors especially annoyed me as I can’t stand that soap.

    It all seemed too futuristic and high-tech. I would of proffered if they stuck with the original low budget set and did away with the cgi effects. Walking up and down massive corridors and parts of the ship wasn’t very red dwarf like. The ship isn’t supposed to be vast and good, its supposed to be a JMC low budget operation with many cut backs.

    There defiantly were not enough Rimmer jokes in there. It was as if Rimmer was liked by the rest of the crew because no insults were thrown at him. This may be because the introduction of a new holo women took some attention away from him, which was lame. It did keep to Rimmers character well though in some ways, like when he pushed the holo women infront of a car and how he took a back seat operation while the rest of the crew risked there lives with the squid but it seemed a little half hearted or lacking something.

    The fact they all look alot older didn’t help but the actors did the best they could given what they had, I give a plus for that. I especially liked Kryten in these episodes it seemed like he hadn’t changed from the old series.

    In short it did not seem like classic red dwarf but a spin off made for comic relief or something, if that’s what they were hoping for then good job. But as a massive red dwarf fan it left my a little disappointed.

    Reply
  17. Daniel says:
    April 18, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    AHHHHH!!!!! I am in the states and cannot watch it!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  18. arren says:
    April 22, 2009 at 1:54 am

    why was holly not in it (norman lovett or hattie hayridge) i mean chloe annet was in for like a minute but wats happened to them also y did the hollys get switched around without an explanation male holly seasons 1 an 2 female holly seasons 3 4 an 5 then male holly reappears in season 8 love this show got them all but thats damn confusin can any1 spread any light on it 4 me

    Reply
  19. Red says:
    April 30, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    (to above)

    if you read the text on the first episode of series 3 it explains how holy was experimenting and switched sexes or something like that its a bit random. and then on series 8 the old holy gets reserected by the nano bots when they recreate red dwarf.

    Reply
  20. Jo says:
    May 2, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    Utter rubbish. Poorly written, self-indulgent, unfunny claptrap. Even series 7 and 8 which are the weakest series, are better than this. The Blade Runner references were hugely irritating – I hate Blade Runner and found the constant references to things I didn’t understand self-indulgent. The story was poor, the acting actually felt wooden in ep 1, (especially from Chris Barrie who is normally very good) It had about two laughs and that was it.

    Reply
  21. Johnc says:
    May 4, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    **SPOILERS**
    Painful to watch. I was expecting a return to form and found myself subjected to something worse than the weakest episodes.
    I almost gave up after episode 2. The only reason I’m glad I didn’t was to find out that the whole waste of time was nothing but a dream sequence. Phew!
    Red Dwarf doesn’t need big sets or fancy special effects it needs witty banter. That’s why we love the show. Why can’t the shows producers understand that?

    Reply
  22. Mohamad says:
    August 1, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    you must read the book apparently thats what it says on yahoo answers

    there are allot of gaps in the story but i guess they are all filled in the books

    the biggest gap in my oppinion is between seasons 8 and BTE
    here are some very creative ideas as to what happened (http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/forum/messages.cfm?threadid=A6024A53-0046-6608-BEC28EDE8B1557F5)
    but i guess the answers are in the books

    Reply
  23. Andrew says:
    August 8, 2012 at 7:24 am

    To be fair, the show hasn’t been on top form since series VI. BTE did work much better as the Directors Cut DVD/Blu-Ray release rather than as a three part series, mainly due to the much slower pacing.

    Apparently, the final episode of RDX will explain what happened after series VIII’s cliffhanger. Hope it isn’t all just swept under the carpet like they did with the series VI cliffhanger at the start of series VII.

    Reply

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