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Red Dwarf | Back to Earth: Part 1 | Series 9 | Gallifrey Pals Get Dwarfed

🕑 Added 2024-07-31 17:00:04 +0000 UTC

Comments

BazT47

According to the creators this Rimmer is the one who left to be Ace. Apparently he got bored and came back!

Katrine Myra

Imagine me if you will, Kat and Paula, as I eagerly watched along with you, enjoying the rewatch of one of my favorite series and sympathizing with your confusion - and then THAT ENDING. No, not your take on the episode; the literal end. It's been so long since I've watched BTE in episodic format that I'd forgotten how absolutely wild the editing choices are. Yes, Back to Earth was shot and intended to be watched in one, but there is absolutely no excuse for ending the episode like that. Had they chosen to cut just a few moments later, I feel like this would have gone a long way to help you see what the plot was trying to do. I literally had to take a bit of a break before coming back to comment. Your confusion and frustration is absolutely understandable. BTE does not at all work - in my opinion - in an episodic format. As you both noted, it is similar to a movie in a lot of ways, for better or worse, and this informs the editing and pacing. Taking that and trying to shoehorn it into a mini-series format is hard, and they did an absolutely terrible job of it, in my opinion. However, this is one of my favorite series of Red Dwarf. Here's why: I'll have to wait for the last episode to go into detail, but to me BTE is a love letter to Lister's character, and the show itself. I feel like the conversation it attempts to have with the viewer about identity, character, ethics and motivation is both important and long overdue. A common critique of Red Dwarf's earlier series is that Lister doesn't see Kochanski as a person, but more as emblematic of the idea of his eventual return to Earth; a symbol of hope, but not in a good way. And I feel like BTE digs into that in a great and satisfying way. I'm one of the few people who preferred the opening credits of series I and II, as well as the feel of the huge, vacant ship and sense of isolation, and I feel like BTE does an excellent job of showing that. I love the costumes - I know many will disagree, but this is my absolute favorite Rimmer uniform - and I saw you both admired Cat's absolutely iconic diving suit. The characters, on the whole, feel more like themselves than they did in series VIII - I understand and see your critique of the end result, but this is less about the performance than the essence of the characters, if that make sense? Possibly not, I'm VERY jetlagged. Finally - I see a lot of people commenting that none of your questions will be answered, and one or two saying everything will be answered, neither of which is the case. Post-BTE there is one huge question that remains unanswered, but we do eventually - albeit very late in the game - get something of a nod to that. Hang in there, pals! I'm so happy to re-watch this with y'all, and eager to hear your final thoughts after episode 3. :D