[brian s]

A new series of six episodes has been ordered by the channel Dave following the "success" of Back To Earth. They are to be recorded before a studio audience.

[Badger0-0]

Success?

I actually thought the last series was dire, even though I'm a massive fan.

It should be allowed to die gracefully imo

[Razor]

Great news. I love Red Dwarf and hope the new series is better than their Back To Earth special.

[pmc]

Originally Posted by Razor

Great news. I love Red Dwarf and hope the new series is better than their Back To Earth special.

Good luck with that

[brian s]

Originally Posted by Razor

Great news. I love Red Dwarf and hope the new series is better than their Back To Earth special.

I think the lack of an audience was a real problem for the last one. Lets hope the audience on this one will be a huge help.

All the best
Bri

[Razor]

Originally Posted by pmc

Good luck with that

You have lost me mate?

Originally Posted by brian s

I think the lack of an audience was a real problem for the last one. Lets hope the audience on this one will be a huge help.

All the best
Bri

I just thought the Back to Earth wasn't that funny. The first part was ok but the next 2 parts were weak. Overall I was disappointed.

[pmc]

Originally Posted by Razor

You have lost me mate?

I think the chances of this being any good are about as remote as Lister developing a sudden interest in crochet.

[Jacko Jab]

Originally Posted by brian s

I think the lack of an audience was a real problem for the last one. Lets hope the audience on this one will be a huge help.

+1

[ants97]

Originally Posted by brian s

I think the lack of an audience was a real problem for the last one. Lets hope the audience on this one will be a huge help.

All the best
Bri

I think the lack of any funny material was a real problem for the last one, having a load of drunk sci fi geeks laughing their head of at nothing but a guy at the side of the stage with "laughter" cue cards won't help it one bit.

should be left to die while it still has a fair degree of respect.

[Indiana Jones]

Not according to Dave...

The latest rumblings about Red Dwarf.

Dear fellow Dwarf fans! You like us, may have been delighted by the slew of stories over the weekend suggesting that Dave has indeed commissioned a brand new series of Red Dwarf.

Well, I am afraid that at the moment this is pure, although delightful, speculation. But, rest assured, if there is any news, any news at all!! You will hear about it on joindave.co.uk first!

[SyStemDeMoN]

Lets hope they can recapture what they have lost.

I'm all for a good series.

But lets face it, even if this next series is a stroke of pure genius, there will be people that hate it.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by pmc

I think the chances of this being any good are about as remote as Lister developing a sudden interest in crochet.

Oh I see what you mean.

[brian s]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Not according to Dave...

I just found this on Robert Llewellyn' twitter.


"Want to re-state that UKTV, aka Dave have commissioned Doug Naylor to write scripts, still a long way to go before it's all official."


It would seem the intention is there.

Bri

[Rambo John J]

the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

If they make it I'll give it a go. If it's as dire as Back To Earth I won't be watching for long

[JohnG]

I'm praying that they do a good job but not holding my breath. The Back To Earth special was very poor imo, so disappointing.

[jreed110]

Originally Posted by ants97

I think the lack of any funny material was a real problem for the last one, having a load of drunk sci fi geeks laughing their head of at nothing but a guy at the side of the stage with "laughter" cue cards won't help it one bit.

should be left to die while it still has a fair degree of respect.

Completely agree with this, Red Dwarf first started to go downhill when they brought out the canned laughter from an audience, it just sounded fake. None of the early series' had an audience and they were the best ones.

[krish]

Originally Posted by jreed110

None of the early series' had an audience and they were the best ones.

I'm pretty sure every series had a live audience + laughter apart from Red Dwarf VII which was "filmised" and dropped the audience, which didn't go down too well so the next and final series VIII restored the live audience and normal shooting style

[neroon]

God I hope it does return. Back to Earth was better than most UK comedies so yes I'd love to see RD return. I'm sure now everyone involved is back they'll soon find their groove.

[Knyght_byte]

Back to Earth was better for me than series 7 or 8. Mainly because to begin with they had a more Series 1/2 feel in respect to more talking going on at first. I found RD so much fun because of the well scripted routines and the simple use of sets. Once Series 3 began, it started to become a little too fantastical. I did love Series 3, but by 4 I was beginning to find episodes I didnt enjoy as much, 5 carried the same theme, 6 more so, 7 abysmal and 8 atrocious. I love the dwarf, but I started with 1 and 2 and also read the books. Once they swapped clever chatter for sets and planets it lost its original charm and wasnt replaced with anything special.

I'd like to see a comeback but only if they stick with the chatter.

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Knyght_byte

Back to Earth was better for me than series 7 or 8.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that I still enjoy watching Series 8 over and over and I've not once had the urge to try and watch any of the back to earth again. The 2nd episode of back to earth wasn't too bad, but I thought the other 2 were just plain awful.

[Toasty]

I agree, I've watched season 8 recently and really enjoyed it. However, I've not watched season 7 since it first aired, which I recall not liking much. But I might give it a go out of curiosity.

A new series will be welcome if it follows season 8 and is set in space. Back to Earth had some good ideas and was good to see the cast still on form, which is why I think a proper series could work. But the Coronation street, Blade runner and Dave channel references made it look not much more than a red nose special.

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Toasty

But the Coronation street, Blade runner and Dave channel references made it look not much more than a red nose special.

Yes that's what I thought. I also thought that it didn't work so well being back on Earth in familiar surroundings, it was just to real for me. I'd prefer it to be back out in space with no reference to current affairs.

[neroon]

Originally Posted by Toasty

A new series will be welcome if it follows season 8 and is set in space.

I agree it must be set in space in the most part.

[Heckler]

Originally Posted by brian s

A new series of six episodes has been ordered by the channel Dave following the "success" of Back To Earth. They are to be recorded before a studio audience.

Success... BTE was a total, a total... a word has yet to be invented to describe what it was, but it was that... a total one.

As a huge Red Dwarf fan from the very start in 88, as a member of the alt.tv.reddwarf newsgroup in the 90's... I loved the show up until Rob Grant and Doug Naylor split... From that moment on I knew that the show was doomed. Grant Naylor always described themselves as a gestalt entity... the whole was far greater than the sum of it's parts (nicely summed up in Legion). Never was a description so accurate. I've read their books written solo, both for RD and other projects. I've watched TV shows they've made... new RD, The Strangerers and some millennium show in 99 that I can't remember the name of.

All of them were dire, bilge, utter crap.

BTE was about as low as you can go... it's only success was to convince me that the show is dead and should be left to rot after killing the memories and enjoyment of those that grew up and laughed so hard at the good shows.

I bought all the DVD's... yes even S7-8 but I will not touch BTE if my life depended on it, nor will I ever suffer through another attempt to revive this dead horse.

I hope that some of the cast will at least have the common sense to get out before it kills their careers of for good.

As for Doug Naylor... You should be ashamed of yourself for allowing this twoddle to pollute the airwaves.

[Badger0-0]

I take it you're not keen then, Heckler?

Fwiw, I totally agree.

[JohnG]

Agree Heckler. I've Read all the books, bought all the DVDs (series 1-8) but would not touch the Back To Earth DVD. I was also fortunate enough to stumble upon Red Dwarf for the first episode when it was originally aired and have stuck with it ever since, but that Dave Christmas special was the only one where I've actually not cared about how it ended.

[brian s]

Heckler

Don't hold back there. Say what you mean. The word success was Dave's description of BTE based on the rating which I understand were the channel's best ever. I agree with much of what you've said. When they started remastering the old episodes in a misguided attempt to make them look like the new ones my reaction was I'd rather they remaster the new ones to make them as funny as the originals.

All the best
Bri

[Heckler]

I suspect that like me, many Red Dwarf fans tuned in for an event they'd been waiting for for 11yrs... Some new episodes of Red Dwarf.

But just because they tuned in, doesn't mean they enjoyed it and doesn't mean they'll be back for more. You can't measure success by one weekends ratings of a show that had been off the air for 11yrs... Everyone who liked Red Dwarf would want to see it... and I've yet to meet anyone who grew up with it from the start (or some one who has been introduced to it from the start) who had anything good to say about it.

If they want a more accurate idea of how the show was received wait for the DVD sales figures... I'm betting they're not gonna be very good.

I was hoarding the original VHS tapes of series 1-3 after they tried to remaster them.. I wrote and complained to the BBC that I would never buy the DVD's if they contained the remastered editions.

Luckily the sales of the remastered series 1-3 were very poor and doing series 3-6 was shelved... and the originals were released on DVD much to my delight.

I still have those VHS tapes, and as the originals were deleted when they remastered them... one day I hope they're gonna be worth a few quid.

As for BTE.. I thought S7 had hit a new low when I laughed at about 3 jokes in the entire series the Rimmer/Lister snog and the Rimmer song being two of them... and the third escapes me now.

I actually went through and watched my DVDs of series 1-6 a couple of weeks ago, over 2 weeks I watched them all and laughed my arse off again... I haven't been able to stomach putting 7-8 on yet... Series 8 would be better if you condensed the entire series into about 3 episodes and got rid of the fluff... there's a few good jokes in there and some reasonable plots... but the padding smothers the good stuff.

I know for a fact that the only reason series 7-8 were made and had more episodes than previous ones.. was to reach the magic number of 52 episodes... Which puts the show in syndication territory for the US markets... this would mean more money coming in and the Red Dwarf movie would get made.

It never happened and never will... Rob Grant and Doug Naylor should get back together and write one final script... a Red Dwarf movie based on the original book. Take it back to the beginning make one movie with both of them writing it and then bury it once and for all.

Rob Grant has said that one of the reasons he left was because he didn't want Red Dwarf on his headstone and nothing else... Doug Naylors will simply say 'Here lies the **** who ruined Red Dwarf'

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by Heckler

I suspect that like me, many Red Dwarf fans tuned in for an event they'd been waiting for for 11yrs... Some new episodes of Red Dwarf.

But just because they tuned in, doesn't mean they enjoyed it and doesn't mean they'll be back for more. You can't measure success by one weekends ratings of a show that had been off the air for 11yrs... Everyone who liked Red Dwarf would want to see it... and I've yet to meet anyone who grew up with it from the start (or some one who has been introduced to it from the start) who had anything good to say about it.

Yes, that sums it up for me as well. Everyone I know who I've spoken to says the same, that it was such a disappointment. I imagine that the best ever viewing figures for Dave before this wasn't much anyway looking at the repeats they spew out over and over again.

[Toasty]

Its hard to argue with your excellent posts Heckler, but I also know Red Dwarf fans, that witnessed the original series turning into cult TV, myself included, who do want to see a decent new series made. Wishful thinking I know..