Red Dwarf Series X Confirmed

[Davies]

Originally Posted by Molokov

Duct Soup - the best episode of VII and severely underrated. The extended version on VHS/DVD adds some great dialogue to scenes that had to be cut/shortened.

Ohh, good call. I should have had that on my favourite episodes list. It really bugs me that Duct Soup is generally hated by the fans. When did character based comedy become so hated?!

Originally Posted by Molokov

I still have some Red Dwarf VHS tapes even though I did replace the main series with DVDs...

Long time Red Dwarf fans may recall that for a considerable number of years Red Dwarf was discontinued on VHS. I spent two years hunting down every series (two separate VHS releases per series), I would sometimes have to travel the country to find a needed volume.

Once I finally got the whole collection it was worth £200+ second hand... and then they released the DVDs and my tapes value fell to around £20. Very annoying but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed the hunt (it was the first and last time I've spent so long collecting something). Good times, good times...

By the way, what did people think of the remastered series I-III? I thought they were awful myself, some of those "new and improved" special effects were appalling and couldn't hold a candle to the original model shots. The very worst was also the very first addition to Series I, Episode I; two very badly superimposed Scutters cross the screen and look more like a channel ident then a part of the show.

One of them even stops and looks right at the camera and winks. Talk about breaking the fourth wall, I mean why would the Scutter even do this?! I suspect that Doug Naylor was suffering from GLS (George Lucas Syndrome). Also, the classic bulky design of the ship got changed to a long dong / pencil. Horrible.

[skeeter]

My fave eppie has to be Back to Reality - 'Are you seriously telling me you've been playing the prat version of Rimmer all this time?' Hehehe, and of course, Duanne Dibley!

Originally Posted by Davies

Long time Red Dwarf fans may recall that for a considerable number of years Red Dwarf was discontinued on VHS. I spent two years hunting down every series (two separate VHS releases per series), I would sometimes have to travel the country to find a needed volume.

Once I finally got the whole collection it was worth £200+ second hand... and then they released the DVDs and my tapes value fell to around £20. Very annoying but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed the hunt (it was the first and last time I've spent so long collecting something). Good times, good times...

Ahh, I had an almost completre set of videos. I was missing two. So mine are even more worthless than yours...

[Davies]

Originally Posted by skeeter

Ahh, I had an almost completre set of videos. I was missing two. So mine are even more worthless than yours...

I guess that makes me feel somewhat better Although, I also purchased the Smeg Up tapes and a VHS of the Cat's Tounge Tied song. It features an extended cut of the camp musical number from series II - episode 6, along with a making of with Danny John-Jules. Plus, it's still very rare (and hasn't been included on any of the DVD releases). I've seen it sell for as much as £20 on Ebay.

Here's what I'm talking about (although it doesn't seem to be selling for too much right now).

[JedExodus]

Originally Posted by Molokov

Second tier: far too many to count. Pretty much all of III, IV, V, and half of I & II. Duct Soup - the best episode of VII and severely underrated. The extended version on VHS/DVD adds some great dialogue to scenes that had to be cut/shortened.

Yes! Duct Soup was great! The whole 'squeaky Johnson' story in the extended version was classic. Def my favourite episode from VII

I like White Hole as well

[skeeter]

Originally Posted by Davies

I guess that makes me feel somewhat better Although, I also purchased the Smeg Up tapes and a VHS of the Cat's Tounge Tied song. It features an extended cut of the camp musical number from series II - episode 6, along with a making of with Danny John-Jules. Plus, it's still very rare (and hasn't been included on any of the DVD releases). I've seen it sell for as much as £20 on Ebay.

Here's what I'm talking about (although it doesn't seem to be selling for too much right now).

Ooh, I have Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs on video too. Come to think of it, my brother got me a set in a cardboard case with one ep from each of the 1st 6 seasons - came with a hologram and a keyring. However I have never seen that Tongue Tied video! Would it be bad to buy a tape when I don't even know where my video machine is? Heck, my DVD player isn't even plugged in...

[Darth Marsden]

If you have a PC, you have a DVD player.

I know there were a couple of DVDs beyond just the standard 8 series (the remastered series, for one, and I believe there was a quiz disc as well?), but if you're interested, they also released the Smeg-Ups on DVD. See?

[corruptbiggins]

I don't think I've seen all the re-mastered episodes, but I've got them on DVD as I've got the Bodysnatcher collection which includes them as well as some other interesting stuff. Also have the Just the Smegs DVD, though my brother still has the original Smeg Ups & Smeg Outs VHS tapes. I think I've got all the DVDs, other than the Just the Shows & Beat the Geek. Also got the series V gift set which had a cool Starbug 1 model.

[Davies]

Originally Posted by corruptbiggins

I don't think I've seen all the re-mastered episodes, but I've got them on DVD as I've got the Bodysnatcher collection which includes them as well as some other interesting stuff. Also have the Just the Smegs DVD, though my brother still has the original Smeg Ups & Smeg Outs VHS tapes. I think I've got all the DVDs, other than the Just the Shows & Beat the Geek. Also got the series V gift set which had a cool Starbug 1 model.

The Bodysnatcher Collection is fantastic. I may not like the remastered episodes themselves but it's still good to have them on DVD as a fan of the show. The extras are really cool too; a self proclaimed 'Most Embarrassing Interview Ever' with Alan Titchmarsh interviewing Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. There's also a retrospective on the Remastering that's not shy of talking about what went wrong in the process, plus loads more (including commentaries).

I missed out on the series V Starbug model but I do have the series VIII Scutter model that came with the limited boxed edition. It's probably the best thing to come out of series VIII for me.

Originally Posted by skeeter

I have never seen that Tongue Tied video! Would it be bad to buy a tape when I don't even know where my video machine is?

I doubt you would even need a video player because I really couldn't recommend watching it! It's pretty dire as a form of entertainment. It's value lies as a rare collectible and a curiosity.

[Sausy Gibbon]

Food for thought. Who thinks the Dave series should be the last? I'm not against the show but when Dave chooses to stop producing the franchise I think they should have a resoulution to the series not a cliffhanger but a deffinite end.

[Woodsyblue]

That's fair enough but they should probably test the waters to see if it would be worth producing multiple series. Or, if it does poorly, finish it off for good.

[Davies]

Originally Posted by Sausy Gibbon

Food for thought. Who thinks the Dave series should be the last? I'm not against the show but when Dave chooses to stop producing the franchise I think they should have a resoulution to the series not a cliffhanger but a deffinite end.

I'd rather they kept it going as long as there are interesting adventures left to be told, of a high enough quality. I'm not sure that I can think of a good way that Doug Naylor could purposefully put a cap on the series. Whilst the crew returning to Earth is the most obvious ending, it's also the one I'd hate to see most.

Naylor has revealed his original plans for the final ever episode (which was meant to be at the end of series VIII but was changed to 'Only The Good...' due to budget restraints, hence the continuation through to BtE and series X, as opposed to the proposed movie reboot). The show was to end with the crew returning to Earth as Red Dwarf skimmed through Paris, flying through the Arc de Triomphe and knocking over the Eiffel Tower before grinding to a halt and smashing into a car. Lister emerges from the ship, walks over to the car and swaps insurance details with the car's driver.

Seriously, this is how Doug Naylor planned/plans to end the TV show iteration. I can only imagine that the boys from the Dwarf traveled through time and space to achieve this, otherwise why is Paris there with people and cars 3 million years into the future?! If it was their goal to travel back to Earth via those methods then why not have used the time-drive, as opposed to sending Lister on a curry run in series VII?!

Ignoring the dubious logic of that ending, it stills blows harder than Mr. Leafblower putting out cake candles on his Birthday. If there must be some kind of proper end to the show then I'd settle for an Alien Resurrection (theatrical cut) type of ending, where we see the boys approaching Earth, maybe something funny and profound is said and then a fade out from a shot of Red Dwarf in orbit above Earth to the credits. For some reason, I don't want to see them land on Earth, see the environment and have them interact with a welcoming party. It's just too conventional for Red Dwarf.

I think the best solution is to treat the end of each new series as if it's the last ever episode; no cliffhangers, have an ending that leaves the show at a satisfying emotional conclusion but doesn't also negate the possibility of a continuation (the riding off into the sunset ending of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade is a perfect example of this).

In summary; it's all about the journey, not the destination.

P.S. I've had to type this sucker out three times now. Sometimes I despise using a PS3 to browse the Internet.

[JedExodus]

I like the idea of getting a movie out. And have it start with the boys getting back to Earth to find it's dead and empty. Maybe humans have started a new life in the colonies in the stars and they're on a hunt to find other humans, either way I agree with you that going back to Earth to live out the rest of their days would be too bland.

Also I want Hollister back, last time I saw him was in an ad for Big Al's burgers proclaiming "IS THIS A BURGER I SEE BEFORE ME!" and I would very much like to see Mac McDonald have something a bit better on his resume.

But yes, I really want the movie, the show'd adapt to the big screen very well if time and care was taken

[Sausy Gibbon]

That ending sounds horrible. I never felt like an ending where they returned to Earth would work. Lister has been changed so much by the journey he has been on it would be almost impossible for him to return to the way things were before. An ending I could see might involve them returning to a parrelel Earth, the crew dying, Lister getting back with Kochanski or the crew returning to Earth only to see it explode before their eyes, but I don't write for the show. I wonder if it was Rob and Grant's plan to have Lister stay on Red Dwarf for the remainder of his life, in Future Echoes the vision of the 70-80 year old Lister is still in his bunk. I never understood what Rimmer's motivations were for returning to Earth. What life would he have their?

[Davies]

Originally Posted by Sausy Gibbon

That ending sounds horrible. I never felt like an ending where they returned to Earth would work. Lister has been changed so much by the journey he has been on it would be almost impossible for him to return to the way things were before. An ending I could see might involve them returning to a parrelel Earth, the crew dying, Lister getting back with Kochanski or the crew returning to Earth only to see it explode before their eyes, but I don't right for the show. I wonder if it was Rob and Grant's plan to have Lister stay on Red Dwarf for the remainder of his life, in Future Echoes the vision of the 70-80 year old Lister is still in his bunk. I never understood what Rimmer's motivations were for returning to Earth. What life would he have their?

I like your way of thinking regarding the end of the show but I agree that it still wouldn't work. Also, it's interesting that you mentioned bottle-cap-opening-armed Lister from the episode Future Echoes because it would imply that he was destined to remain lost in space for the remainder of his days. In fact, wouldn't it be cool if the final episode flashed forwards to show the crew as being old and accepting of their fate, to have a scene where Lister is lying on his bed arguing with Rimmer in the bunk room, only to stop arguing and remember the past and start responding to past Rimmer about "you want to know what happens to you Rimmer...". Old Rimmer calls Lister a goit just as he did in Future Echoes.

I don't see why Rimmer wouldn't want to return to Earth, he has probably fooled himself into thinking that he could be happy back home. Of course Rimmer would be miserable even in Heaven but eveyone needs a dream in life, a goal to aspire to. It's what keeps us going.

[Sausy Gibbon]

I never felt his dream was to return to Earth, his dream was to meet the aliens he was looking for and they would give give him a body and make him their captain. With his family he never really had a home and I don't he could ever be happy on Earth.

[skeeter]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

If you have a PC, you have a DVD player.

This is why my DVD player ins't even plugged in. I watch everything on the computer or on media players...

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

I know there were a couple of DVDs beyond just the standard 8 series (the remastered series, for one, and I believe there was a quiz disc as well?), but if you're interested, they also released the Smeg-Ups on DVD. See?

Yup, got the DVDs. I do want bodysnatchers though... I couldn't afford it when it first came out, never got around to getting it.

Originally Posted by Davies

I missed out on the series V Starbug model but I do have the series VIII Scutter model that came with the limited boxed edition. It's probably the best thing to come out of series VIII for me.

Aww, I missed out on the Skutter model, and the Duanne Dibley bobble head that came with Beat The Geek! But I do have a mini Starbug, and some little model set with Rimmer and Lister.

Originally Posted by Davies

I doubt you would even need a video player because I really couldn't recommend watching it! It's pretty dire as a form of entertainment. It's value lies as a rare collectible and a curiosity.

I can't bring myself to get it, but it's a close one!

[corruptbiggins]

So I've just started watching the re-mastered series mainly out of curiosity (only watched The End so far) and I can't believe how bad it is in most places. Bad cuts, iffy CGI and the removal of some good lines. But some of the new Holly lines aren't bad, plus the 'What's Different' text track is a little informative and quite amusing which is good. A lot of poking fun at themselves, so you can tell that they realise that this wasn't the best idea and then it was poorly executed. So for the text track alone I will watch the remaining 17 re-mastered episodes.

[Davies]

Originally Posted by corruptbiggins

...the 'What's Different' text track is a little informative and quite amusing which is good. A lot of poking fun at themselves, so you can tell that they realise that this wasn't the best idea and then it was poorly executed. So for the text track alone I will watch the remaining 17 re-mastered episodes.

That text track sounds really cool. I've never watched it because the DVD doesn't let you enable it alongside the commentary but based on what you just said, I'll definitely will be watching it tonight. Cheers for the recommendation.

EDIT: I've watched the trivia track and can confirm that it is indeed very humouress.

[Sausy Gibbon]

I don't know if any of you are keeping up to date with the progress of the series, but I've been meaning to revive this thread for a while but couldn't find a piece of news to start with and this is about a good a time as ever. The news seeems good live audience shooting on series X episodes has finished they have brought back model shots instead of CGI read about it here. There hasn't been a set date for when it will starts airing. I feel both optimistic and pessimistic about it.

[St_Eddie]

Originally Posted by Sausy Gibbon

I feel both optimistic and pessimistic about it.

I know what you mean; I'm expecting the worst but hoping for the best.