red dwarf x

[Who's Wee Dug]

Just in time for Red Dwarf X1.

[Quatermass]

Rockershovel might be right. As good as some of this past series was, it might be time to let the series go. It's more the story quality than anything else. The ideas are good, but the gags are a little hit and miss.

If they do go onto Red Dwarf XI, then Doug Naylor should spend a little more time on the scripts. I heard that some were only being written as the first ones were being recorded. And while haste can produce some excellent results, it doesn't always happen.

[Sister Jennifer]

One of my favourite bits from the first episode, Trojan. Not just the gag of 'a moose!', but also Rimmer having a resentment crash at the end.

I love Rimmer. Gotta be one of my all-time favourite fictional book/telly characters.

What I've seen of series X has been pretty good.

[Quatermass]

The last episode, The Beginning, is on tonight. Watch it, Sister Jennifer. It's the best of the lot. In what other series can you combine school embarassments, seppuku, and some of the strangest pep-talks in the galaxy in one episode?

[Sister Jennifer]

Oh no! Gotta work. Will watch on iview. Thanks for the heads up.

[Jack Remillard]

Rockershovel might be right. As good as some of this past series was, it might be time to let the series go. It's more the story quality than anything else. The ideas are good, but the gags are a little hit and miss.

If they do go onto Red Dwarf XI, then Doug Naylor should spend a little more time on the scripts. I heard that some were only being written as the first ones were being recorded. And while haste can produce some excellent results, it doesn't always happen.

It sounds like the whole production was really quite troubled. So many things went wrong! If I remember correctly, the reason for the rush was that they were given a really short amount of time between getting the final go ahead and the start of filming. I think I read that Doug Naylor has already started on the scripts even though it hasn't yet been re-commissioned to avoid a repeat of that.

There's a 'making of' documentary on the DVD which is supposed to be really good in a kind of 'warts and all' way. I've bought the DVD for my brother for Christmas, which I'll be borrowing as soon as possible.

[Tonyblack]

I recently watched the special features of 'Back to Earth' and was delighted to see Terry Pratchett attending the premier of the mini series. He was interviewed and said he was a big fan of the show and thought the science was better than on Doctor Who.

I'd never seen Back to Earth before and hadn't heard great things about it - but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jack Remillard]

I recently watched the special features of 'Back to Earth' and was delighted to see Terry Pratchett attending the premier of the mini series. He was interviewed and said he was a big fan of the show and thought the science was better than on Doctor Who.

Well, that's kind of hard to deny. I really love Doctor Who, but real world scientific accuracy is an extremely low priority for the show. All that business about how impossible it is to orbit a black hole in The Impossible Planet comes to mind.

But I don't watch it for the scientific accuracy.

[Quatermass]

I recently watched the special features of 'Back to Earth' and was delighted to see Terry Pratchett attending the premier of the mini series. He was interviewed and said he was a big fan of the show and thought the science was better than on Doctor Who.

Well, that's kind of hard to deny. I really love Doctor Who, but real world scientific accuracy is an extremely low priority for the show. All that business about how impossible it is to orbit a black hole in The Impossible Planet comes to mind.

But I don't watch it for the scientific accuracy.

Actually, it would be if the black hole was increasing in mass all the time. Which, it is all but stated, it was (they mentioned star systems falling into it), so keeping a stable orbit around an increasingly massive black hole would be impossible, normally. Not to mention that, when black holes are created, it's usually in the aftermath of a supernova, an explosion so massive, I doubt that any planets in the solar system around the original star would survive.

But yes, the science in Doctor Who is pretty soft. But then again, calling the science of Red Dwarf much harder is a load of BS. As with Doctor Who, the story (and comedy, in the case of Red Dwarf) comes first. At least Doctor Who can fall back on Clarke's Law as an excuse. But Red Dwarf, with no actual aliens, can't fall back on it.

[Jack Remillard]

I recently watched the special features of 'Back to Earth' and was delighted to see Terry Pratchett attending the premier of the mini series. He was interviewed and said he was a big fan of the show and thought the science was better than on Doctor Who.

Well, that's kind of hard to deny. I really love Doctor Who, but real world scientific accuracy is an extremely low priority for the show. All that business about how impossible it is to orbit a black hole in The Impossible Planet comes to mind.

But I don't watch it for the scientific accuracy.

Actually, it would be if the black hole was increasing in mass all the time. Which, it is all but stated, it was (they mentioned star systems falling into it), so keeping a stable orbit around an increasingly massive black hole would be impossible, normally. Not to mention that, when black holes are created, it's usually in the aftermath of a supernova, an explosion so massive, I doubt that any planets in the solar system around the original star would survive.

Well, yes, but they seemed to be taking about orbiting around black holes in general. Unless I got the wrong end of the stick about what they were saying, which seems perfectly possible at this point.

[Quatermass]

I think the dialogue wasn't specific, and probably for the reason that the writer didn't bother with the actual science.

But as for Red Dwarf, you have, as elements of soft science...

*Going faster than light

*A mutated form of pneumonia creating solid hallucinations

*A man falling pregnant...to his own female counterpart from a parallel universe

And that's only the first two series.

Red Dwarf and Doctor Who run on science that does as the story demands. Red Dwarf does it for the sake of comedy, and Doctor Who can, for the most part, use Clarke's Third Law as an excuse.

Of course, overanalysing the story [EFF!]s up the entertainment value. So the MST3K Mantra is in play at all times.