Anyone excited about the prospect of new Red Dwarf at all? Or is it just me?

[judgeblake]

So, I've grown up with Red Dwarf, I've always been a fan of it, and except for (arguably) one very dodgy series red dwarf has been a great british sci fi comedy drama thingy for years. My dad loved red dwarf and he sadly died of cancer last year, but on his death bed we watched Red Dwarf together.
So I was glad, after the Back to Earth mini series special DAVE thingy that they have bothered to make another series!

Anyone have any opinions on this?
From what I've heard it's supposed to be Doug Naylor's 'return to form' whereas he achieved his aesthetic and conceptual return to form in Back to Earth, he didn't chalk up the laughs...the new series (X) promises laughs - so say a studio audience who were invited to attend the shooting.

[Roger Godpleton]

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[Mardroid]

It's not just you judgeblake. I've been looking forward to this for a while. I enjoyed BtE (mostly) but it could have been better and I'm glad to read such positive responses from those who were in the audience for the screenings. (Okay, they were mostly fans, but I know for a fact many of them disliked series 7 and 8 so they weren't the type to just like it because it's more Dwarf.) A very 4-6 vibe apparently.

According to one of Doug Naylor's latest tweets there's a good chance we'll see the trailer on Friday.

[judgefloyd]

I loved RD back in the day and had fun watching the lot again with my son recently.  I wasn't thrilled by the last series or the DAVE comeback one-off, so, while I'll be checking out the new series, I'm not holding my breath.  Still, might as well be optimistic

cheers

Floyd

[James Stacey]

It was my favourite show for years. I didn't particularly like Back to Earth, I felt it was too meta and pretty much broke the 4th wall. I'm quietly optimistic about the new series. Series 8 wasn't bad and Doug Naylor always seems happy to stir things up to prevent it getting stale which is nice. If it's crap, we'll always have Series 2 (and parrots)

[IndigoPrime]

From the series and books, I always felt Naylor spun a good yarn, but more of the laughs came from Grant. I'm hoping the new series will bring back the funny, but Back to Earth was pretty poor on that scale.

[James Stacey]

Yep that was a lot more evident in the books as the both wrote separately. Rob Grant was the funny man, Doug Naylor was the sci fi concept guy.

[a chosen rider]

Excited but trepidatious.  I'm not anticipating a return to the form of the middle years, but if it manages to reach the standards of the better bits of series 7 and 8 I'll be pleased enough.  (I know s7 is generally regarded as a real low point and rightly so, but it still had its moments; the opening sequence of Stoke Me a Clipper is glorious.)  Considering everything past the series 6 finale has been so up and down I've got no objection to them coming back and giving it another punt; it's not like the show bowed out on a high note it'd be a shame to ruin.  Hopefully Back to Earth helped everybody get back in the groove a bit ready for this series.

[hoops]

Yep, really looking forward to it too, and glad it's back

[Minkyboy]

"If you like Rasta Billy..."

[JamesC]

Looking forward to it but I just hope that it isn't too self referencing. The first few series were a proper sitcom that anyone could watch - the later series were all in jokes about Dwayne bloody Dibbly and stuff. Even 'Back to Earth' had a major plot point that assumed familiarity of the despair squid.

[Roger Godpleton]

FUCK RED DWARF

[Richmond Clements]

FUCK RED DWARF

^^^this

[Adrian Bamforth]

It must be a lot harder for them to write the show now on account of everything they have gone through -originally it was basically the classic class-based British sitcom formula (one happy slob and one who wishes to rise above their station, constantly failing), that just happened to be set in space. Now they are pretty much on the same side so all the content really has to come from the sci-fi twists. Also, as with some other shows, the better the production values become, the colder it gets in space - it was really designed as a bit of knockabout sketch comedy. Back to Earth seemed to work a lot better than the later BBC shows though, and I was impressed how Craig Charles seem to ratchet up his acting, though it's a pretty different kind of show now.

[James Stacey]

If you watch the first season his acting really is appalling. But then none of them were actors. There was a poet, an impressionist, a dancer and a stand up comedian. I was very impressed by how far he has come with Back to Earth. A huge difference even from series 8