This month, after a 13 year absence, Red Dwarf returned to
our TV screens. And to the surprise of many, myself included, it wasn't awful.
In fact, with its focus on irrelevant conversations between characters and
little action, it felt like an attempt to return to the inconsequential
style of the first couple of series, with the writing put to the forefront.
After the decline since series VII in 1997, it seemed
unlikely that it would return to its peak. That is probably still the case, but
the not unsuccessful return has made me think about my relation to the
programme and a possible theory I came up with some time ago; in retrospect was
Red Dwarf a better Sci-Fi show than it was a comedy?
Red Dwarf holds a special place in my heart but I’m not
really a hardcore fan. My first memories are of watching it in my bedroom,
probably when I was around ten. A 9pm bedtime was never argued when Red Dwarf
was on; I would go to my room and put the TV on at the end of my bed, on the
lowest possible volume. The opening bars of music would stir and Holly's face
would flash across the screen: “This is an SOS distress call from mining ship
Red Dwarf. The crew are dead, killed my a radiation leak…" But I had to
keep the volume down, because sometimes they said “smeg” which sounded like it was
surely a very naughty word. I kept half an eye on the frame of my door,
watching for the landing light flickering on, so I could turn it off and feign
sleep if my parents came upstairs.
A friend at junior school - fat nicky - was a compulsive
liar and once claimed that, as he was known as being the naughtiest boy in
England, the producers of the show had approached him in need of a 'brand new
swear word'. After some thought, he had supplied them with aforementioned 'smeg'.
He also claimed his Dad could do non-handed wheelies round corners.
But there was an anarchic quality to this gang of space bums
eating curry, dressing messily and somehow scraping through that stood in
contrast to the shiny worlds of Star Wars,
and especially Star Trek. In a
similar way to Bottom, it felt
rebellious to be watching it even though I'm pretty sure most of the time I
can't have had much idea what was happening.
Periodic viewing continued, but it was only when I went to
University and received series 1-7 on VHS to keep me occupied that I approached
it all with fresh eyes.
The early series are incredibly character based, with even
the most outlandish scenarios being used to reflect the needs and neuroses of
the characters. It's a pleasure to discover details of their lives; reveals
about the Cat race, Dave being God, Rimmer's general madness. I felt this style
reached a peak with the episode Marooned
(Series III) which was for the most part a two hander between Lister and
Rimmer. It was great, detailed writing and revelled in its own creativity.
Later series developed into a more trad-sci-fi 'monster of
the week' format, which felt like the writing team stretching their fan-boy
muscles. It was around this time the comedy developed into a more catchphrase
based manner or was bypassed (intentionally) for action. Repeated gags (especially
in Series VI) and self referencing became more apparent, as well as the simile
based gags the show became mired in, i.e. "He's got more hair than... That
thing's uglier than..." The kind of thing Blackadder did really well, but
was more hit and miss here.
Upon reassessing these aging VHS, the humour did feel less
dynamic and anarchic than I remembered – especially in the earlier series still
finding their feet, but the Sci-Fi remained tight, and not simply the homage /
pastiche it had seemed like to my younger eyes.
The universe of Red Dwarf plays by some interesting rules.
The basic conceit; that Lister is the last human alive is fascinating in itself
and earlier episodes deal with his loneliness and the pointlessness of his
existence. The concept of Holly bringing back Rimmer in hologramatic form,
in order to keep Lister sane is a fantastic sitcom premise. The sense of
isolation is immense; there are no aliens in the Red Dwarf universe; just human
created entities, usually genetic abnormalities or cyborg based lifeforms. As
Lister has been in suspended animation for millions of years, all they ever
come across are the derelicts of human civilisation which seem futuristic to
us, but are centuries old in the Red Dwarf universe, adding a strange pathos to
the series.
For me, this universe was severely altered from Series VII
onwards. Up until then, a distinct journey from clueless bums to almost heroes,
especially in Series VI closer Out Of
Time gave the whole thing a lovely sense of dramatic progression rare
in sitcoms keen to hit the reset button after every 27 minute episode. Each of
the characters had flaws carefully defined over the series and they grew to
some extent (Kryten learns to lie and be more human, Cat becomes Starbug’s
pilot with a keen nose and even Rimmer saves the day in Out Of Time).
It’s not that the gags weren't sharp, but it was the depth
of this universe and the relationships on this 'gang' that was often
overlooked. Rimmer, so proud and self important on the outside, secretly blames
himself for the deaths of the Red Dwarf crew (Justice). But then also causes a Genocide (Meltdown) and tries to kill a better
version of himself (Dimension Jump,
all Series IV). The various xenomorphs and parallel Red Dwarfs, as well as
the augmented reality games show different sides of all the characters,
albeit in humorous caricature. It's nothing groundbreaking, but was inventive
use of the Science Fiction within the Sitcom template. The Inquisitor (Series V) was one of the purest Sci-Fi / Action Red
Dwarf episodes and that kind of plotting, ambition and mythologising are what
makes any Sitcom stand out. Just churning out the ‘gags’ leaves you with Series
23 of My Family and the like.
The stylistic changes for series VII and VIII were not the
real issue for me. The former was an attempt at a more cinematic approach,
which given my previous comments wasn't a bad idea, though with funding for an
actual feature film later falling through it was the closest they would come.
Series VIII was a confusing mix of early series character work (Lister and
Rimmer in their cell) and Monster of The Week Sci-Fi (The Canaries Missions)
but ultimately suffered from poor writing.
The reason it fell flat emotionally was its abandonment of
the universe it had created. The joke at the end of series VI was that they had
a time machine but were still millions of years from Earth. So it was useless.
By the Series VII they were happily returning back to earth to
collect poppadoms (Tikka To Ride) or
leave a baby Lister in a cardboard box (Ouroboros).
Though the vision of them future-selves presumably halts them from messing with
time too much are we to believe they instead happily stay on Starbug, living
out their miserable lives in deepspace? And talking of Starbug, what was once a
good narrative move - move from the maddeningly endless space of Red Dwarf to
the tight, paranoic and feeble restriction of Starbug was turned on its head
when we find out it has 'miles of airducts'. What?
If the concept of returning to Earth was demolished in Series
VII, the other key idea: Lister being the last human was pissed all over for
Series VIII. In a twist that made NO SENSE, the entire Red Dwarf crew was resurrected
by nanobots (what from?) and the whole point of the show was removed. As I
recall, no attempt was made to explain the crew's reaction to being dead, then
alive, and it being three million years later. And Rimmer was alive again. What
memories did he have? Surely he had no memory of being a hologram?
One of the most depressing televisual moments of my life was
watching Red Dwarf. I was on holiday with my parents in Wales and I'd
been allowed to take three friends. We had our own little cottage, with kitchen
and lounge etc. One night I was playing giant chess with my friend and we
wrapped it up extra quick to make sure we caught the Red Dwarf episode (yes, I
was even cooler back then). We all sat in silence for the whole thing (It was
Series VIII, Pete Part 2 I think). It
was the end for me.
It wasn't the CGI dinosaur, it was the terrible, lazy,
unfocussed writing. Yes, I am one of those terrible people who look for the
logic in everything (i.e. a nerd) and the changes sucked the heart out of the
programme. I'm not mental; I didn't tune in each week to see if 'the guys made
it home'. But the care and creativity of the writing is what made Red Dwarf
unique. Messing with the formula spoilt it for me. The experimentation of
Series VII was passable but Series VIII was, frankly, unforgivable and a
terrible miss-step.
Back To Earth, funnily enough, was largely absent on laughs
but was a full on Sci-Fi homage to Doug Naylor's favourite genre staples. The
depth and passion of the writers and performers had long since departed the
only saving grace being another attempt to at least try something different,
even if it failed.
The classic run of Series I - VI perfectly balanced
Sitcom and Sci-Fi, and it is telling (and impressive) it took place over a
very short and sharp 5 years. The laughs don't always hit in the same way but
the layers of care put into the setting and characters means it stands the test
of time. That those elements have been since absent is down to many factors;
Rob Grant leaving the writing team, actor commitments, experimentation with
form, an increasing preference for CGI (urgh) over content. But mainly I now
feel it was an overwhelming need to take the series somewhere new. That unresolved
desire for a feature film damaged the series for nigh on two decades.
That dream now seems to have been thankfully left behind. With
Series X, one thing does at least seem to be clear. Both writer and performers
are having fun again. I hear the closing episode does return to cover some
earlier ground and help tie the news series to the older ones. But for
once, a long absence has helped; the thought that these guys have
been surviving on Red Dwarf all these years offers up potential for fresh
storylines. They might not be the anarchic bunch I recall from my youth, nor
the adventuring chancers of their mid '90s fame; in fact judging by Rimmer’s
receder and Kryton's enhanced frame, their days of wildness may be over (the
new episodes seem to involve a lot of sitting down). But that doesn't mean it's
over. I'm not overly bothered and am content for it to be steady. But there is
a niggle at the back of my mind, thinking this could be the start of a serious
second wind. I hope so, but if not, I am just glad it finally came home.
Dean Freeman
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