Guest blogger Joe Bongiorno recently re-watched the first ten seasons of Red Dwarf and offered his perspective on each season as a whole, as well as each episode in particular. His insights are fascinating, and you may be surprised by some of his observations. Take it away, smeghead...
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By Joseph Bongiorno
After getting a copy of Paul Giachetti's two
phenomenal Red Dwarf Encyclopedias,
published by Hasslein Books, and being blown away by the quality, writing and
level of detail he incorporates into these books, I was motivated to watch a
show that I'd adored, but hadn't seen in years. In fact, I was first introduced
to the show by writer/publisher Rich Handley and Paul, so I was in the company
of experts even back then. For this round, I would be watching it with a good
friend who'd never seen the show before, and that was a bonus! I had seen
Series (which in the U.S. would be called "seasons," but we'll go
with the proper British designation) 1-8 and Back to Earth, but forgot most of the latter two. Series 10 would
be the first time I'd be seeing it and I was looking forward to that.
I had had major issues with the first episode when I
saw it the first few times. I find it overly long and a little dull, with too many
punchlines that ended with references to British pop-culture that had no
meaning to me—a self-professed anglophile) here in the U.S. I also found the
washed out grey on grey color palette is conducive to the general feeling of
boredom that the episode gives me. Now, I owned but never saw the remastered
versions, and had been duly warned about them, but I wanted to see if they
could improve things.
In my opinion, they did.
Unlike many fans for whom the CGI effects in the
remastered versions were anathema, the replacement of bad practical effects
with bad CGI didn't bother me; in fact, it barely registered at all. The
effects have never interested me, and I find that part of the humor comes from
how silly things sometimes look. At the same time, I understand creator Doug
Naylor's frustration with the effects and his desire to make the show look a
bit more believable. One of the things that's brilliant about Red Dwarf is the fact that, despite
being a comedy, the writing and production were things the creators really
cared about. And it shows in the development of the characters and storylines,
as well as the increasing attempts to improve the look of the show. This is
what made Red Dwarf so much better
than other sitcoms of its time that didn't have that kind of passion and drive
behind it. Red Dwarf wasn't empty or
formulaic.
The biggest improvement for the first episode was
the editing; getting rid of long speeches that were unfunny and went nowhere;
removing some of the "British jokes for British people," and just a
general tightening of the story suddenly gave it a life and vigor and urgency
that it never had in its broadcast version. This was my fourth viewing of this
episode, two prior times were attempts to get others to watch this show (which
ended in failure due to their impression of the first episode), but the first
time I actually liked it! Bravo remastered version!
Read more »Labels: Joseph Bongiorno, Red Dwarf, reviews