Red Dwarf: Back to Earth The Cult Comedy Returns After a 10 Year Hiatus.

Posted by ScuzzBuster

April 15, 2009

backtoearth The legendary science fiction program Red Dwarf has now officially put three new episodes on the books after a ten year lay off since the cliff hanger ending of series 8. In traditional Red Dwarf fashion, show co-creator Doug Naylor completely ignores the cliffhanger and picks the story up 9 years later with no legit explanations of anything. For the vast majority of shows, this may seem like a cop out, but I prefer to look at it as completely inconsequential to the fact that we had another opportunity to revisit some of the most deliciously pathetic fictional characters ever created for television. Did the return do the show justice?

Anyone born at the time the first episode of Red Dwarf aired is now officially a month or so past the first time they are legally able to purchase and drink alcohol in the United States. The cult phenomenon that produced 8 brief series over a period of 10 years has gained a legendary status in the annals of British Science Fiction and a cult status in the United States as a fantastic mix of outrageously fringe plots and crude insult humor.

Since the show aired it’s final episode in 1998, co-creator of the series Doug Naylor has desperately been trying to bring the show back in one form or another, mainly shopping a feature film that had multiple false starts and financing issues over the years. Easter weekend finally brought the quest to an end with UK’s DAVE network airing the three part follow up to the original series entitled Back to Earth.

Initially, the ease in which the original cast slipped back into the flow was rather astounding. For those none the wiser, you could easily never tell that ten years had passed since the last installment. The look, feel, and rhythm of the original show was immediately apparent.

If you’re not familiar with the original series, I would consider it a must watch. You can catch it occasionally on PBS stations in the US. Netflix has the original series available in it’s entirety both through the mail service and streaming to your PC or Netflix Compatible Box. It’s a high concept piece of sci-fi accented by low-brow humor. While the original 8 series of the show had some ups and downs as well as some dramatic shifts in tone and direction I believe the series as a whole still holds up today.

The magic of the show was always in the grungy and manic chemistry between the leads, specifically Chris Barrie and Craig Charles as Arnold Rimmer and Dave Lister. Part of the fun year after year was seeing just how low the characters could sink and how much humiliation could be endured.

bte2 My initial reaction to Part One of Back to Earth was rather indifferent. While the look and feel of the original series was definitely there, it just wasn’t entirely all that funny. Minor spoilers ahead for anyone that cares.
Picking up nine years after the end of series 8, we’ve rejoined the crew minus Chloe Annett’s Kristine Kochanski and Norman Lovett’s portrayal of Holly the ship’s computer, both explained away by unfortunate accidents. The Red Dwarf’s water supply seems to be running low when it’s discovered that there is some sort of giant sea creature sleazing around in the tanks.

By the end of the first installment we’ve had a set up that was fair, but relatively uneventful and bland. Without going into much detail, the situation with the creature in the tank (apparently being some sort of trans-dimensional thing) gives the show a hole to which the cast can return to Earth.
Part Two picks up the pace considerably. It’s a little more loose, a little more consistent with the comedy, and ultimately falls back into the more familiar rhythm of the original show’s humor. Unfortunately, the plot itself at this point is not entirely original and ends up being almost a remake or “sequel” to the series 5 classic Back to Reality where the crew ends up waking up to the realization that the entire series had been a long term virtual reality game.

This time we take the our characters back across dimensions to present day Earth, they find themselves on the ugly end of being in an alternate reality where Red Dwarf is a popular British television series and the lives they have been living for the past 20 years in their reality was all just a fictional television comedy program that they’ve been playing out.

Parts 2 and 3 bounce us through this alternate reality where they are concerned with the fact that they appear to be heading towards a pre-determined ending where series creator Doug Naylor has intended for them all to die, a fate which they would prefer to avoid. Their quest takes them through several paces turning to kids, comic book shop owners, “fans” of the show Red Dwarf, and even the actors that play them in the alternate reality version where their lives are simply fictional accounts.

reddwarfship I have to admit that I was genuinely concerned after viewing part 1. However, there was some redemption in remaining two episodes. Overall though, the entire return was a rather lukewarm rehash of the original series. While not as utterly outrageous and hysterical as much of the original run, it was basically an acceptable reunion with our characters, on par with at least with some of the more average episodes of the original run, but far from the weakest. What I did find myself feeling uncomfortable about was the final resolution to the special, which I won’t spoil, but came across uncharacteristically melancholy and almost too thought provoking and uncomfortable for my tastes.

The most apparent upside to this entire reunion was that it honestly did wet my appetite for more. Despite the inconsistent quality of these three episodes, it was painfully obvious that everything was all there to be able to produce more quality Red Dwarf if they are so inclined. The cast was in fine form top to bottom. Other than a pound or two and an extra wrinkle it was indistinguishable in tone from the original. All the pieces were there, but the three episode arc suffered from an overly long exposition and concept that actually felt more like a rehash of a previous episode rather than a follow up or sequel to the episode it was referencing.

From my perspective, Red Dwarf really works best as a 30-minute comedy, and I’m actually quite relieved that it came back as such rather than a high budget feature film or some horrendous “re-imagining” of the original series.

For a program that has such a staunch cult following there certainly is a lot of dissenting viewpoints amongst the fan base. It bounced around quite a bit over its 10 year original run. After the first couple of series, it was a program that never feared to pop outside it’s own box and try something entirely different for a while. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but every series had its moments. I certainly would defend to the end the program’s right to stand among the some of the greats of niche genre of sci-fi comedy, and Back to Earth, while not the best 90 minutes of Red Dwarf ever produced, it certainly was a credible and solid epilogue to the saga if not actually a bridge to another 6 or 8 episode series,

Back to Earth Teaser: