Quote: Renegade Carpark @ October 4 2012, 9:51 PM BST

Not as godawful as I expected and the 'helping the underpriviledged' line actually made me chuckle. Yep, elderly holograms and fat robots don't make a lot of sense, but you can get past that if you try.

The laugh track / studio audience got right on my tits, the character development had actually gone backwards and unlike the early series, there was a massive lack of pathos. Rimmer's childhood was always evenly tempered with tragedy and comedy, which made it a bit more real.

I will keep watching to see if it improves.

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Spot on about the lack of pathos. The old Red Dwarf wasn't just an odd sci-fi situation used to create a load of comedy set pieces, it was a show about the characters; Rimmer being the most interesting and complex one. Now he seems to function solely as a laughing stock and that was never the case in the old series in my opinion.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ October 4 2012, 9:53 PM BST

Can't say I really noticed; there's always people laughing on my telly when I watch Red Dwarf.

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Watch it again - someone walking normally into a room is not a cue for hilarious laughter unless it's from Red Dwarf sychophants. Even the weakest jokes were met with raucous adultation. In fact, the audience's Pavlovian responses were so bizarre, they were tied in to almost every edit, soon as the camera showed anything new, they laughed. It was weird and got right on my tits.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ October 4 2012, 10:03 PM BST

Watch it again - someone walking normally into a room is not a cue for hilarious laughter unless it's from Red Dwarf sychophants. .

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Depends; when Cat walks in during the Moose bit, you know the character and laugh because you know what's coming. They've earned the laugh over twenty years.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ October 4 2012, 10:06 PM BST

They've earned the laugh over twenty years.

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Obviously, you're not a Red Dwarf sychophant.

EDIT: It was when Kryten first walked into the room that people started laughing for no reason. Now if you've never seen the show ever and a fat bloke in crap robot suit gets a giggle, then I can understand the mirth. Otherwise, it was just idiots laughing at everything.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ October 4 2012, 10:07 PM BST

Obviously, you're not a Red Dwarf sychophant.

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If you read what I put before that, you'll see why that bit you quoted makes sense. The knowlege of the character IS the joke.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ October 4 2012, 10:07 PM BST

Otherwise, it was just idiots laughing at everything.

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No, it's fans of the show enjoying seeing a character they love again. Yes, it's an unearned laugh, but it's not 'idiots laughing at everything'.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ October 4 2012, 10:08 PM BST

If you read what I put before that, you'll see why that bit you quoted makes sense. The knowlege of the character IS the joke.

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And if you went back and re-watched it and made a note of when people started laughing for no reason, then maybe you'd understand where I'm coming from. Churning out the same joke ad infinitum - especially after Red Dwarf: Back To Earth - is not 'earning it'.

Susan Earl in uniform!

Quote: William Purry @ October 4 2012, 10:11 PM BST

Susan Earl in uniform!

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Just typed her name into Google and the first images that came up show her in a uniform. What am I missing?

Ok then. Susan Earl in a sexy uniform.

Quote: William Purry @ October 4 2012, 10:21 PM BST

Ok then. Susan Earl in a sexy uniform.

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What ever floats your boat matey. I don't see it myself, but horses for courses, etc.

Quote: TBone @ October 4 2012, 9:37 PM BST

Just been reading the reactions on this thread and wow! It seems like I'm the only one who thinks it's utter dogshit. Predictable jokes and a completely rushed and contrived plot. The bit at the end with the simulants' hidden agenda was from the f**king moon! The set up for that plot 'twist' was only a minute before when Howard described how Crawford was the only remaining crew member apart from him. This is a long way from the brilliantly well written highs of series 1-6, piss poor!

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+1

What the hells happened to Rimmers hair?

More to the point, what the SMEG has happened to Krytens face???!

Anyway, I bloody loved it

And I wasn't expecting too

Some of the humour was lame - but I lolled several times

I think the lack of a Holly is a negative

But on the whole - cracking first ep

Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 4 2012, 9:08 PM BST

This is brill!

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This.

I enjoyed it
It was a good attempt at recreating some of the things that the made the show great seasons 1-5
And they remembered the Golden rule of Dwarf:
Make it about Rimmer & it'll be funnier.

On the positive side, it was nice to see the radiator I had when I was a student appearing so promimently in this episode as a prop.

I wish they told the guy from Coronation Street that he wasn't just 'The Guy From Coronation Street' in a leather hat with fake dreadlocks hanging out the back and was actually an important character from the show's history, but I'm just being picky I suppose. Hopefully Craig Charles will remember how to act in character in later episodes.

Perhaps Red Dwarf gets the audience it deserves. Easy gags with the laughter track turned up to 11 reflects where we are now, which is a very different world to the early episodes.