Back to Earth: Episode Two

Again, a brilliant episode. Especially loved the nods to earlier series in the DVD shop: "Don't Shoot Mugs Murphy" and "Die Screaming With Sharp Things In Your Head".

New series please, Mr. Naylor. That is all.

Signaller Steve wrote:

Terrible lapse of rational thought. Just typed the wrong name.

Hey - longtime fan (from the US), never posted before. After the first episode, I was a "bit" worried about the future of the series. Episode 2 was outstanding. So many jokes for the fans, and an excellent plot to boot. So pleased that I have the finale to look forward to! Boys from the Dwarf!!!

Thaw wrote:

We can't know for sure until the third instalment, but I would tend to agree with you. This is a *special* so they are allowed to get away with a bit more. Still, even if it was part of a proper series, I wouldn't frown on it. It's very clever, and I don't think they've sold out or been overly "self-referential". It's complete and utter nonsense, and that is well within the domain of Red Dwarf, with it's made up vulgarities, fictional units of measurement, impossible technology and severely skewed concept of physics.

[quote
And why is it that when ever people join a forum they are suspected of being someone else or all the same person?
Surely it makes sense that given the "specials" being shown on tv that there will be a lot of people wanting to join the forums and talk about the program? And usually only when their opinions are contrary to others

[quote]

Thinks hes coming from the perspective that the only people that join, post 1 negative comment (the majourity of them anyway). Its actualy almost as if they are doing it to wind up the fans of the show. ergo being a small number of people creating loads of accounts to wind us all up.

i know. abit far fetched XD

Excellent! Still trying to get the image of Lister drying himself off out of my head!

Also very clever, you only have just over an hour to tell a story and you have a lot of un-resolved issues hanging over from the last series? Solution? Simple set it after 2 series that have not yet been shown then when they get commissioned (yes I am in a very optimistic mood!) then you can tie up all the loose ends!

Cannot wait to see how it all pans out tomorrow then I can watch it as 1 whole episode as it was obviously meant to be viewed!

OK, look, serious question for those who liked Part 2 (really, I want to understand how you all like something I consider such a horrible travesty).

Problems I have with it:

1 - they are running around in front of images of themselves and the show on big TVs
2 - they are holding Red Dwarf DVDs
3 - they are talking about the TV channel the program is shown on
4 - they're standing in a comic shop full of Red Dwarf merchandise

Pleeeeeeeeeease explain to me how it doesn't feel like you're just watching some massive merchandising exercise that makes you want to cringe, with some nice character moments thrown in on top? I'm honestly not being snarky, I'm just so baffled by all the positive comments. I don't get it :-\ Do these things really not bother you?

I think people are watching it, finding it more shocking than they expected (they prolly missed most of the buildup and weren't expecting it to be so....shocking?) and are now registering to vent their fustration rather than contribute to the community.

I'm not *too* surprised about the major plot hanging of it as we've known for some time, so I'm just basing it on comedy performence, emotional value and production quality rather than the plot which is yet to be revealed to me.

I am sure people feel better for venting here but may calm down and appreciate it better when the final episode airs. Also, as with VII and VIII, people will mellow to it in time and see its merits.

Shocks are shocking, this sort of reaction is natural.

I'm still wondering why they hacked BtE into three parts.

Hello!

Have been reading other members opinions on the boards and thought I'd sign up and join in on the debate.

I enjoyed this episode alot more than BTE Part 1. In my opinion it was alot funnier and felt a little less rushed. I don't really like the storyline that much, to me it feels like a FAN-FILM of Red Dwarf or someones FAN-FICTION thats been made into a 3-parter.

It will probably all come together in the end (again, without rushing it don't know how they're going to sum it up in 20 minutes) but I'll take the old seasons any day, There could of been alot more done with this and Im sure that they could of come up with a much better storyline then the one the are using.

Here's hoping for a great finale.

Wasn't there talk about a movie at some point? I have to say that the script for these 'specials' seems very much like how a movie would go. It seems to bear little relation to where the story left off at the end of the last series and the lack of a laughter track etc adds to that feeling.

On a totally unconnected point does anyone know why the timestamp on the posts on this board are 6 hours behind BST? Or is this some sort of inter-dimensional temporal transience in-joke?

Quiche wrote:

Haha, good point... who'd have thought that 3 new episodes after a 10 year break would make people want to congregate and discuss

stin wrote:

The girl said Kochanski took a Blue Midget, not said Blue Midget :p

I'm hoping you know what Blue Midget is!

frog_girl wrote:

I can honestly say that not once in this episode did the thought occur to me that they were trying to use it as a way to sell merch. And it still hasn't.

frog_girl wrote:

But Froggy, that's Red Dwarf. It is a mockery of itself by design
If it was all serious it wouldn't be the same. You have to understand the dynamics of the cheese.
The cheese is everywhere. In the beginning, there were three kinds of cheese: cheesy jokes, cheesy sets, cheesy plots.
From these three varieties of cheese, at the top of fondue mountain, Red Dwarf was forged.

Scumface wrote:

Hey, I have trouble remembering my own name.

After reading most of the qoutes (no not all) this is what I think.

I am slightly confused so far but I was trying to explain the bladerunner thing to the wife. The plot and characters are still great although i do miss the the audience participation from the earlier series. I do think as stated in an earlier post that seeing the Smart car in a trailer spoilt part of the show but you have to have something for a trailer. Still can't wait for part 3.

Thank you Dwarf Crew for this Easter special. Is it my favourite possibly not but is it well worth a watch? Hell yeah.

Mozo wrote:

Well, as they explained in this episode, the specials are set further ahead in time than we currently are, in that series 9 and 10 have already happened. Imagine watching series 6 end and then seeing an episode set in series 8... that's basically where we are. Considering the time and money restraints of the specials, I think it's a genius way of getting around revolving the series 8 cliffhanger!

And the movie never came to fruition due to funding issues. This isn't the script they were going to use... the movie story was about Simulants destroying the human race and tracking them down to the last human, Lister. Sounded like a damn fine movie idea, too.

frog_girl wrote:

What I don't get it how your finding these parts so horrible when u havn't given it a chance to explain itself.

Also i think alot of us expected alot of what u describe to be horrible. Granted I didn't expect them to have that much red dwarf items/merchandise in the show but I did expect for there to be some of it.

Plus this is an anniversary 3 part special. its not a series. its not a direct carry on. It is what it is. 3 episodes to celebrate the show itself.

My thoughts on Back to Earth haven’t changed much. While I thought the episode was an improvement slightly on the comedy level it’s still not groundbreaking and will be easily forgotten.

The plot is becoming a farce. I can’t believe what they were thinking bringing back Red Dwarf just to come up with this.

I don’t know what it is about Back To Earth but even the better gags just seem tired and I got the feeling I knew what they were going to be. I can only put it down to the absence of the laugh track. I think Red Dwarf needs it. If this had been something for Comic Relief I probably wouldn’t have cared as much as I do. And judging by the standard of Back To Earth and Comic Relief this year they would have been a perfect match.

Even the story isn’t exactly groundbreaking either – off the top of my head it was done in the League of Gentlemen movie (which in my opinion wasn’t as bad as what the critics said).

Anyway some of the scenes are just stupid I think – I mean Lister being told about what happens to Kochanski’s unseen survival by 2 children on a bus. How low can Back to Earth go? It’s not even interesting what happens to her – she’s not dead …so? We never saw her apparent death in the first place and she wasn’t a popular character either (albeit I never had any complaints with Annett’s Konchanksi unlike most other Dwarfers). The kids might well have been talking about Lister’s pet goldfish. It would have had the same minimal impact.

And the Carbug - it’s a nice design but after having seen it many times in the adverts what were they expecting us to do? Laugh at it for the several minutes it’s onscreen? Surely they could have come up with a gag with it at the end.

I’ll resist the urge to not watch part 3. At this stage I won’t be buying the DVD and I probably won’t bother to post my thoughts on the next episode if it carries on in this vain. It’s a sinking ship and I’ll be jumping soon.

Well if there is a series IX and X, I probably won’t get past the first episode if it’s anything like Back To Earth. I’m still looking on the positive side – Back To Earth takes place after these two series therefore if they’re any good they won’t ruin the continuity timeline and so I can forget Back To Earth ever happened

It’s a shame because in years to come I think Back To Earth will be remembered as the worst moment of Red Dwarf. It’s so sad to think we’ve been waiting 10 years to move forward and it feels we’ve gone a hundred paces backwards

frog_girl wrote:

Particularly point 3! That was really jarring. I mean the other self referential stuff was annoying but you could just about let it slide into suspended disbelief, but to then namecheck the station. That was the equivalent of Craig leaning out of the TV and tweaking your nose.

I dread to think what tomorrow will bring with all the Corrie stuff [shudder]