Review: Red Dwarf: Back To Earth (Revisited)

Coronation Street does not, in fact, play part in my
metaphysical theory. It does help it, though.

See here for my previous look at this story.

Red Dwarf - Series Nine - Back To Earth
Written 29/9/12

Metaphysics, eh? I spoke about this in a really boring way a month or so ago, but re-watching Back To Earth in preparation for Red Dwarf X has allowed me to realise that for once, Doug Naylor has written something that is both incredibly clever and incredibly frightening in a million different ways. At a glance, the scenario created by Back To Earth is just played for laughs, and ends up being a throw-back to universally loved episode Back To Reality from back in Series V. But at its heart, what Naylor has created is something rather profound and, within the confines of the story itself, astonishing in its scale.
     So the Dwarfers believe, due to a run in with a female Despair Squid (who thus uses hallucinogenic happiness ink because girls are soft and such and suchlike yawn yawn), that they have entered our reality, in which they are fictional characters in a Red Dwarf TV Show. Their "real" world is of course subtley different to ours in a number of telling ways; London appears as it does in Blade Runner, the Creator is played by Richard O'Callaghan instead of the erstwhile Doug Naylor, and for some reason both Kochanski and Chloe Arnett exist at the same time. The end of the episode sees them kill their Creator, and find out that this was something that he had scripted; the typewriter of their Creator can be used to control the world, but ultimately there is another typewriter somewhere else controlling that. Here lies the key to their brilliance.
    We may say that the Dwarfers don't exist, and so there's no point in arguing about metaphysics. But with the Quantum Multiverse, they do exist, somewhere, and it's a world that does have a Creator. Essentially, we live in a Godless Universe in which our imaginations allow us to inadvertantly control the paths of other, similar universes. In other words, anyone who has ever written fiction, or imagined a hypothetical scenario, is a deity to another Universe. The Dwarfers weren't being controlled by "The Creator," but they are, ironically, controlled by another creator, Doug Naylor, who has set this whole thing up.

It's almost as confusing as that poster...

     This explains so much, and it seems obvious when you think about it. Back To Earth pushes against both the Fourth Wall and against the differences between the Watsonian (the in-story) and the Doylian (the out-of-story). Those subtle differences between our reality and their "reality" reveal not the shoddyness of the script but instead the fact that Naylor is specifying that while this resembles our reality, it is in fact yet another layer of metaphysical existence. The back of the DVD cover being similar but not the same, the existence of Series IX and X in 2009, the head of the Red Dwarf fan club being called Redge Wharf - these aren't just jokes, my friend, they're genius. When the despair squid arrives, it makes Rimmer fear for his life - which is obviously an indication that the squid focused their shared hallucination on Lister, which begs the question, why? Well, we now know the answer. Because Lister is the Main Character.
     Or at least that's how I rationalised it. Metaphysical buggery aside, Back To Earth does feel like a poor imitation of all those things that came before, but I admire it for trying to do something incredibly interesting and for, in the end, inspiring Dave to commission a brand new series of Dwarf which, at the time of publishing, is due to start tomorrow. My best hopes for Red Dwarf X and my thanks to Red Dwarf, Back To Earth.

Thanks.

<< Model Dependant Realism and You ----------Metaphysics---------- Metaphysics and Gene Hunt >>

Highlight: Red Dwarf VIII

Cassandra. Predestination fun amidst horrific caricatures.

I... I don't like Series VIII. It disagrees with me in so many variously horrible ways that it's often hard for me to contemplate without collapsing into floods of metaphorical tears. Notably, the 1999 series took a series that I loved and destroyed it before my eyes. Albeit I was watching the series for the first time in 2009, but it still felt so heart-breaking when instead of great comedy, Series VIII just both literally and metaphorically took a shit on Red Dwarf's memory. I've watched some bad things in my time - seen some awful movies, managed to enjoy some of the worst Doctor Who and found joy in such blind banality as Survivors and Outcasts. Nothing comes close to the pain I felt when I reviewed Pete, all those years ago. Unfortunately we have to keep this positive, and so I will make a nod towards Cassandra, and episode that manages to be funnier than both the Naylor series combined. A stark combination of Future Echoes' predestination and Legion's sense of entrapment, Cassandra is great fun and is the only redeeming thing about this whole damn excercise.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

NEXT TIME: Business as usual. Oh, and Red Dwarf X starts on Thursday, Just mentioning.

Highlight: Red Dwarf VII

Ouroboros had some fun ideas. Shame about the rest.

Some people find Series VIII funny. For these, rare and incredibly strange people, Series VII is the one to avoid, for the simple reason that this 1997 reboot tried to go down the dramedy route and failed at the -edy bit quite considerably. The series became more character driven, but those characterisations were inconsistant and irritating, and potentially good ideas were thrown out in favour of stupid drama moments. Also, whiney Kryten, NO. Despite this, I do have a highlight for Series VII, and that's the complex Ouroboros whose attempts to make up for Rimmer's departure are, while considerably lacking, a decent piece of Sci-Fi in their own right. Series VII? There's an obscene phone call, and I believe it's for you.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf VI

Psirens. Not you, Pete Tranter's sister!

Series VI is my favourite series of Red Dwarf, because it hit upon a winning sitcom formula and kept up a major story arc. This is the series where our characters were honed to perfection, and while there are a few misses you can't help but love the madness of Out of Time's cliffhanger or the sheer gold that composes award-favourite Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Simple enough, then. My highlight from Series VI is Psirens, the episode that ushered our characters back into development and managed to be the most successful reboot that the show has managed so far (of the three or four.) Also - chameleonic space weevils? Cheeky references to the failed Red Dwarf USA? Count me in.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf V

Holoship. Smaller portions, but so many courses.

And the so-called Golden Age ends with a bang, on an entire series focussing almost exclusively on Rimmer, with a few nods to other characters here or there. Lister takes the spotlight again in the ambitious The Inquisitor, while the crew meet their potential evil sides in Demons and Angels. And while everyone in the fandom would expect me to say Back to Reality (if they actually read this blog), my highlight from Season V is the much more interesting Holoship, which takes Rimmer and puts him into a tragic tale of love and loss. The simple fact is that you can see the character development up close; it doesn't seem strange that the uptight and insecure Rimmer from all those series ago can stand here now and sacrifice his dreams for the woman he loves. It's bloody beautiful.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf IV

Dimension Jump. Ace Rimmer... What a Guy.

Series IV is about Rimmer and Kryten, at that time the series' most interesting characters. While I like Camille's whole-plot reference to Casablanca, I can only really enjoy Kryten when he's being Mr. Exposition - the character becomes exceedingly irritating the very moment that they stray beyond that, as Seasons VII and VIII would later show. Season IV brought us a whole plethora of fun stuff, from GELFs to Curry Monsters, from Simulants to White Holes. But my highlight must be the unbelievable epicness that is Dimension Jump, introducing us to the remarkable Ace Rimmer. Every second of this piece works both as an extravagent parody of action heroes as well as a clever character study for Rimmer. What a guy.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf III

Marooned. Lister and Rimmer chat around the fire as they
await rescue.

So; two years have passed and the RD team have had an entire year to get the new series ready. With Robert Llwellyn on as Kryten, the series is given a fresh lick of paint and the Golden Age begins. Out of these six absolute crackers, which would I pick as a highlight? Well, that's incredibly difficult. The classical Bodyswap? Timey wimey Timeslides? Shameless Alien parody Polymorph? Well, it's none of them. My highlight is most definitely Marooned, a quiet character piece between the two leads that provides some of the best character work and comedy in the series. Who can forget Lister eating from the tin of dog food, or pretedning to burn Lister's guitar? And where would we be without Rimmer's revelation of his Eunuch past?

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf II

Thanks for the Memory. Rimmer tries a
Triple Fried Egg Chili Chutney Sandwich.

So I may have left Rimmer's episode out of my Highlight from Series I. No matter. Series II is a bit different; while still stuck with the first series' aesthetic, the second 1988 series tries to be bigger and better than its predecessor, introducing Blue Midget to get about and actually meeting other people and things. Unfortunately this leads to a lot of great ideas that are never well-delivered upon, the most notable examples definitely being Better Than Life and the troublesome Parallel Universe. My highlight is of course Thanks For The Memory, the best episode of the series on account of Chris Barrie's astounding performance and the way that timey-wimey is used to deliver genuinely touching character development. Goes down well every time, and yet is frighteningly underappreciated by some of the fandom.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12

Highlight: Red Dwarf I

Future Echoes. Lister prepares to die.

After three years of development hell and an electrician's strike that nearly killed the series before it had began, the first series of Red Dwarf began broadcasting in February 1988. The first series was the one that stayed most true to the series' brief, as well as being the one in which the relationships between both characters and actors were most raw. My highlight from the first season isn't a tricky decision. Sure, The End is a great pilot, and Me^2 is a great character piece, but when I look at the first series, the episode I remember the most fondly is Future Echoes. Blending a high-concept sci-fi idea surrounding predestinative time-travel with great character moments, Future Echoes blatantly defies the contraints of Red Dwarf's brief and, despite the way that it breaks up the narrative of the series, it still acts as one of the best second episodes of anything, ever.

Thanks.
Written 9/6/12