Red Dwarf XII: Cured
That has got to be the funniest version of Hitler I’ve ever seen.
What’s really impressed me about these last two seasons (11 & 12) is that they clearly know the strength of the show now. They know that often the best bits are just the characters interacting with each other, so even though they still have the over-the-top science fiction premises for each episode, they actually take the time for the characters to actually just sit and talk to each other about their situation in each episode. It’s really well done.
I looked up Series 13, and it sounds like they’re filming it this year, and it should be out by the end of the year, fingers crossed.
After two years, we’ve finally started rewatching all of Red Dwarf!
It’s fun to watch everything back to back and see how much the characters really changed over the course of the series. I know some people think the show peaked at Series 2, when Lister was completely disgusting, Rimmer was annoying, and the Cat was still an idiot, but as my son pointed out, the characters are just funny in different ways now. As much as I loved the Cat being completely oblivious to everything (“YEEAAAHHH! I’m looking good!”), that character might wear thin after six seasons.
So here’s a quick summary of each series so far:
Series 1: This season is mostly Rimmer trying to assert his authority and Lister resisting. It’s a good dynamic for a short time, but I’m glad they moved past stories that are basically two characters pushing against each other.
Favorite Episodes: Future Echoes (the crew see images from the future that they have to avoid); Me^2 (Rimmer creates an identical copy of himself)
Series 2: They actually start to have adventures that happen off the ship, including virtual reality and time travel. The Cat starts to become an actual member of the crew. We still get jokes about people walking through Rimmer since he’s a hologram, but those pretty much go away after this season. Oh, and there are multiple episodes that abruptly end at the funniest part of the story.
Favorite Episodes: Better Than Life (the crew play an AR game where their deepest desires become reality, but things go bad because Rimmer secretly hates himself); Stasis Leak (Lister goes back in time to find out when and how he married Kochanski)
Series 3: The show takes on a new look with this series, with a new opening that better matches the style of the show. Kryten is added as a new character, and Holly goes from male to female. Having Kryten as a new crewmember changes the dynamic, so the conversations are no longer just two people. The best episodes this season continue to explore the dynamic between Rimmer and Lister.
Favorite Episodes: Polymorph (a shape-changing creature feeds on emotions from the crew); Bodyswap (Rimmer suggests swapping bodies with Lister to help get him into shape)
I think it was amazing all the way up to series 6, but started to fall apart for me after that.
It really suffered when Grant Naylor split after series 6, leaving just Naylor. The humour got more tired and the cool sci-fi concepts and twists got less interesting.
Of course I still watched and enjoyed it all, but those early years were incredible!
There was a feature-length in April last year called The Promised Land that was made instead of a series 13. It wasn’t very good.
That’s what we’re building up to. I haven’t see Series 11, 12, or the movie. My son doesn’t even know the later two series exist. But I think that Series X is as good as anything else that aired previously, so I’m hopeful.
I still like first season best, but I can recognize that’s mostly nostalgia talking. Being in college, getting back from some party or bar and flopping down to see what’s on, those old episodes were on late Saturday/early Sunday and were about the most hilarious thing I had ever seen. It is hard to beat Kryten, though.
Now that I think about it, I don’t believe I’ve seen past season 8 or so. And while I liked them, 7 and 8 definitely seemed like a step down so I think I decided not to risk going further. Maybe time I reconsidered.
edit: it amuses me to see that I’ve gone to bat for ‘Queeg’ like three different times over the past ten years. And it’s still my single favorite episode, dammit!
I agree, I really enjoyed Series X. Returning to Earth, and watching their own series was just so meta and done so well. And finally not having a laugh track. I loved it.
I really enjoyed Series 11 and 12 too.
I remember back when we used to watch these on PBS marathons where they would ask for money. They would hit that best punchline for the episode, and immediately go to credits, and then someone on PBS saying how funny that was, and wouldn’t we want to donate money to our favorite station?
I think that’s series 9, the ‘Returning to Earth’ three part mini series. And also many of the series didn’t use a laugh track, they were filmed in front of a live audience! :)
That was Series 9/IX, also known as Back to Earth. And I hated not having a laugh track. The timing of the jokes was completely off, because you could tell everything was written with built-in pauses waiting for audience laughter that never came. I’m really glad they went back to the laugh track/studio audience for Series X.
Yeah me too!
We recently finished the final season and overall really enjoyed the later seasons. Some episodes were laboured and felt similar conceptually to stuff that had come long before. Samsara was one of my favourites just because it indulged in what I liked most about the earlier show: the dialogue between the characters. I laughed so hard during that.
Some plotlines were good but there were times when the sci-fi overshadowed the characters. I can’t recall the episode but there’s a scene where Rimmer and Lister are searching a great big pile of mail and the chatter between them is brilliant. I could watch whole episodes of that, like Bottom or The Royle Family, but instead something happens and they’re off doing familiar sci-fi stuff.
A great show though and it’s clear they have a lot of fun doing it all.
And here’s Series 4 through 6, while they’re still fresh in my memory:
Series 4: I feel like they really hit their stride this season, although “DNA” is one of my least favorite, because Kryten turns human and becomes a jerk. But the character interactions keep improving, and there are a lot of really creative stories. And Rimmer continues to be an absolutely horrible person.
Favorite Episodes: White Hole (Holly gets an IQ of 12,368); Dimension Jump (the crew are visited by “Ace” Rimmer, one of the best characters in the series)
Series 5: This may be my favorite season overall, possibly because I missed it when I originally taped the episodes during PBS telethons. But this one manages to have some of the best high-concept sci-fi storylines, while also setting up hilarious situations. At least three of the episodes this season would make my Top Ten list of best episodes of all time. Oh, and Rimmer gets to have sex.
Favorite Episodes: Holoship (Rimmer joins a ship manned entirely by hyperintelligent holograms); The Inquisitor (an android travels through time to erase worthless life-forms from existence. Really fantastic ending.); Quarantine (the non-Rimmer members of the crew are put into quarantine for three months, while Rimmer goes insane); Back to Reality (when Starbug crashes, the crew wake up and discover that they’ve been playing an artificial reality game called “Red Dwarf” for the past four years)
Series 6: There are some drastic changes this season: Red Dwarf (the ship) is missing, and so everything takes place on Starbug. I think this was done to shake up the status quo, but it was also done to get rid of Holly, who became less and less useful as Kryten started taking over exposition. Here’s the good and bad of season 6:
The Good: The writers are getting more creative, and they really know the characters inside and out at this point. They are good enough to set up interesting situations that play on the various strengths and neuroses of the characters.
The Bad: The jokes are starting to follow a familiar pattern, with only slight variations each time. I’ve categorized these as follows, with examples:
A) Space Core Directive: Rimmer mentions a Space Core Directive number, and Kryten quotes a funny directive that matches it.
Rimmer: “Space Core Directive 59825 clearly states we can’t board that derelict vessel!”
Kryten: “Space Core Directive 59825? ‘No crew member shall attempt oral sex during zero-G’? I’m sorry, sir, but I fail to see how that applies here!”
B) We’re Deader Than: When the crew is in trouble, the Cat states some fashion trend that they are “deader than.”
Cat: “Our shields are down?? Oh that’s it! We’re deader than sideways-flares with pockets in the knees!”
C) The Comedy Rule of Three: Someone asks a question, and the answer is “normal, normal, joke”.
Rimmer: “Damage report?”
Cat: “The navicom is down, the steering veers to the right, and the co-pilot’s radio is stuck on Gospel FM!”
D) Metaphors Are Funny: A humorous comparison is made. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll know it when you hear it.
Lister: “We’re bouncing around like a bead of sweat in an aerobics teacher’s buttock cleavage!”
Lister: “Rimmer, you’re less appealing than a nostril hair in a Spanish omelette!”
Lister: “The ship is coming apart! We’re vibrating faster than an opera singer’s bosom when she hits the high note!”
(Really, there are a lot of these.)
That said, this season still has a bunch of great episodes; they’re just not quite as good as season 5.
Favorite Episodes: Psirens (the crew are tempted by creatures who want to suck out their brains); Emohawk: Polymorph II (another polymorph attacks the crew, causing the return of Dwayne Dibley and “Ace” Rimmer); Out of Time (the only episode that actually follows from the previous episode’s events, and finishes with a season-ending cliffhanger)
And now we’re on to Series 7, with the departure of one of the writers, a missing character for half the season, and a new character coming in! I’ll report back once we’ve finished.
I don’t know, I can never find a Space Corp Directive joke not funny. :D
Series five is my favourite as well, and four runner up. Co-incidentally they were the first ones I saw many moons ago, that prompted me to hurry back and watch the previous ones.
Yeah, it’s hard to remember the episodes now but my gut says 4 and 5 are my favourite seasons too.
Yeah, this was definitely a thing for British comedies of that era, and it can be pretty cringey to watch now. Blackadder was even worse about it.
I thought some of these were really imaginative and funny.
These, I was never a fan of. I’m not sure why.
These, on the other hand, can usually get a laugh out of me. I never thought about it before, theoretically, they should be like the metaphors, but maybe it’s the pairing with the normal, normal that suddenly makes them funny.
Yeah, it’s a comedy rule for a reason! I think it’s used in a lot of things, since the beginning of time. And to be fair, I’ve laughed at a lot of these jokes as well, even the ones I’m complaining about.
I was always a fan of Kryten’s recurring “…with two minor drawbacks” jokes.
Hey! I got it! We laser our way through!
Ah, an excellent plan, sir, with only two minor drawbacks. One, we don’t have a power source for the lasers; and two, we don’t have any lasers.
OK, I say let’s get into the jet-powered rocket pants and junior birdman the hell outta here!
An excellent and inventive suggestion, Sir, with just two minor drawbacks: A) We don’t have any jet-powered rocket pants and B) there’s no such thing as jet-powered rocket pants outside the fictional serial “Robbie Rocketpants”.
Well that’s put a crimp on an otherwise damn fine plan.
Why don’t we drop the defensive shields?
A superlative suggestion, sir. With just two minor flaws. One, we don’t have any defensive shields. And two, we don’t have any defensive shields. Now I realise that technically speaking that’s only one flaw but I thought that it was such a big one that it was worth mentioning twice.
Brilliant.
It’s the variations on the “two minor drawbacks” joke that really make it. That last one with “technically speaking that’s only one flaw” is just genius!