Thursday, January 29, 2009

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth

20 years ago, my good buddy Doug Kastle handed me a videotape with the words "Red Dwarf" on it. He had been blathering on about it for what seemed like an eternity; so it was either continue to listen to him and not know what he was on about or watch the bloody thing and get some frame of reference. To be honest I hadn't really heard a word he had said about it because up to the point where I ran the tape - I was still expecting to see a gnome-sized dwarf wearing some gaudy shade of crimson.

How glad I was that it was instead a Sci-Fi / comedy show and was bloody hilarious. Running for eight series on BBC between '88 and '99; it is heralded as one of the UK's most beloved comedies of all time even garnering a Bafta and an International Emmy.

Set 3,000,000 years into the future, we follow the exploits of Dave Craig Charles Lister, a slovenly crew member of the mining ship Red Dwarf and the last man in the universe. He was joined by a cast of oddballs including hologram Arnold Chris Barrie Rimmer, mechanoid servant Kryten (Robert Llewelen) and Cat (Danny John Jules) - a preening half-man, half cat. At its peak, Red Dwarf pulled in around eight million viewers, was broadcast in more than 25 countries and has since sold more than seven million DVDs and videos, 8 of which are on my shelf with a Starbug 1 model.

Now in 2009, Red Dwarf will return for a special for the first time in a decade.

It's resurrection will be for a special two-part Easter weekend special on the digital channel Dave. Written and directed by Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor, the new two-part series Red Dwarf: Back to Earth reunites the cast where we will watch our intrepid space heroes finally reach Earth. It will be followed by a "no holds barred" episode without sets, special effects or autocue. The weekend will climax with Red Dwarf: the Making of Back to Earth, a behind-the-scenes special from the new episodes.

See more stuff at reddwarf.co.uk


Source: BBC News, Dave

*** UPDATED***
The Red Dwarf: Unplugged episode mentioned above as the episode without sets will now not be made and Red Dwarf: Back To Earth is now to be a 3-parter.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What the smeg????? Back in the Red??

I wonder how I could get a copy of that....

Bruce Russell said...

No autocue? Such a thing has never been done!

Anonymous said...

Will Ace Rimmer be making an appearance?, I keep waiting for Ace Creedon to make an appearance but all I get is the Col

Douglas Kastle said...

He had been blathering on about it for what seemed like an eternity

Why do you always make me sound like an idiot when I introduced you to something you loved. No respect!

Anonymous said...

Dougie, The Fmr.Lt.Col did the same to me when I got him hooked on Spaced

Anonymous said...

What makes me laugh is imagining a covert exchange of video tapes between two teen boys... and the tapes are episodes of Red Dwarf.

I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying.