Season 10 - Episode 5

Myrddin

Four down, two to go. This one doesn't sound as strong as the other descriptions, though that means nothing judging by the way opinions have been split lately on each episode.

Episode 5:

Lister has women trouble when he gets himself in a love triangle with Snack Dispensers 23 and 34, then to make matter worse gets a letter from an old girlfriend telling him she's pregnant and it might be his.

Lister and Rimmer hunt through the mountain of letters from the mail pod to discover if Lister is finally a dad.

Hopefully it will be a dark horse & be more comedic than its description would suggest!

_Kaiser_

7

Thought it was very good tonight myself.. some genuine laugh out loud moments

Mickeroo

6

There were some funny bits but overall i thought it was a step down from the last couple of episodes though. I enjoyed the

vending machine

stuff most of all I think, the main plotline didn't really grab me.

G.K.

5

Alright. Not the best this series has had to offer but not the worst RD ever.

johnny_ultimate

2

Worst episode of the series easy. Overcooked, obvious jokes and a very weak storyline. Even the 'canned/live' laughter was muted and half-assed. On the plus side: probably the most range Craig Charles has ever displayed on the show during the first ten minutes :pac:

It might just be the poor quality of the website stream, but were the special effects / greenscreen backgrounds distractingly obvious this week?

Jimoslimos

2

Agreed, was very poor and my least favourite of the series to date. Especially compared to last week which I found entertaining, if not quite hitting the high notes of I-VI.

Myrddin

1

Fairly dreadful episode I thought. The 'plot' was among the weakest of any Red Dwarf episode ever, very little actually happened

The effects were the same as always JU, must have been the stream quality, but agreed overall, terrible terrible episode. Hard to believe this made it to full production out of all other drafts that were undoubtedly available.

2/10

johnny_ultimate

2

EnterNow wrote: »

The effects were the same as always JU, must have been the stream quality, but agreed overall, terrible terrible episode. Hard to believe this made it to full production out of all other drafts that were undoubtedly available.

2/10

Aye, it was only during the close-up shots (of which there were more than usual) that I noticed any discrepancy in effects, as if the characters were on a different plain. Probably was just the stream quality though, which is very low.

Glad I'm not alone in my dislike of this one though. There are times this season when I think I've just become a cynical git :pac: But the poor quality of this episode was really unforgivable. All the other episodes this week have at least tried something new plot wise, with arguable levels of success. From the very concept this episode was a flop.

Mickeroo

6

I think it was a filler episode more than anything, probably wanted to save the budget for the last one.

Myrddin

1

Mickeroo wrote: »

I think it was a filler episode more than anything, probably wanted to save the budget for the last one.

Yeah probably, but when you look at previous filler episodes like 'Marooned' & 'Quarantine', where the show is predominantly based in one room/set...it can be done an awfully lot better than last nights fairing

briany

6

Were we all watching the same episode? I was thinking that the ep was the best of the series so far. It was probably the closest that the series has come to the true spirit of RD which is, in my opinion, 4 characters trying to kill time while stuck in deep space.

Myrddin

1

briany wrote: »

Were we all watching the same episode? I was thinking that the ep was the best of the series so far. It was probably the closest that the series has come to the true spirit of RD which is, in my opinion, 4 characters trying to kill time while stuck in deep space.

I thought it a very, very under average offering...& as I pointed out, there's far better examples of episodes where nothing much happens. The plot of this episode was virtually non existent, & tbh, I'm hard pressed to believe there wern't better ideas or drafts to take the place of this one

briany

6

EnterNow wrote: »

I thought it a very, very under average offering...& as I pointed out, there's far better examples of episodes where nothing much happens. The plot of this episode was virtually non existent, & tbh, I'm hard pressed to believe there wern't better ideas or drafts to take the place of this one

Yes, there's far better episodes where nothing much happens from earlier series but then there's far better episodes from earlier series where stuff does happen as well. RDX is never going to top any of the classic episodes of years past and it's never going to reinvent the wheel as far as the kind of stories they tell but for what that episode did, it did well. A pointless day in the life of TBFTD and I enjoyed it.

Myrddin

1

briany wrote: »

but for what that episode did, it did well

I'd have to disagree, in all seriousness, my nine year old son could have wrote a better idea for a story than what we got last night. And bare in mind, I've a massive RD fan & tend to judge these new shows very leniently. But cmon, we're only getting six episodes & you feel last nights one wasn't a wasted opportunity? I feel the episode slot could have been filled far better with better writing.

CastorTroy

Did have to laugh at the finger wetter comments, knew they were coming but still found them funny.

Anyone else notice that stray individual laugh at the end of a group laugh during the whole comparing the human species to a girlfriend scene.

I did enjoy this episode. I wouldn't say it was the best Dwarf has to offer but I still found it funny.

And when Kryten was saying about getting over the human species and moving on, I was expecting "Human human human species...."

pixelburp

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

It might just be the poor quality of the website stream, but were the special effects / greenscreen backgrounds distractingly obvious this week?

No I noticed it as-well; some scenes appeared to have been shot infront of green-screen, and it was pretty obvious too. Seems there are even fewer actual sets than I originally thought!

I figured the episode was ok, seems I'm in the minority; the scene at the end with the vending machine was dumb, but I laughed at most of Listers' lamenting, and the script seemed snappier

That said - Subbuteo jokes? This series really is trying hard to act like it's from the early 90s, isn'ti t? Ha!

briany

6

EnterNow wrote: »

But cmon, we're only getting six episodes & you feel last nights one wasn't a wasted opportunity? I feel the episode slot could have been filled far better with better writing.

Well, all I can really say at the end of the day is that I enjoyed the episode more than Irony, Lemons and Fathers & Suns and was pretty surprised when I came on here to see the negative opinion towards it. To each their own and all that.

Myrddin

1

pixelburp wrote: »

the scene at the end with the vending machine was dumb

Yeah, kinda like a feeble attempt to recreate the Kryten/Lister 'bonk' scene from Polymorph

pixelburp

I fired up Netflix this evening & watched a few random episodes across seasons 1 through 6, just to see how the show holds up. I've changed my mind: this episode - and the series in general - is kinda rubbish when put directly against the past seasons. It's all too weak and lacking any kind of spark in the writing or setups; almost like a cover-band of the original Red Dwarf really.

cherryghost

1

Gave it a 2. Thought it was absolutely terrible.

jaykhunter

Anyone else think it's cheating a bit that Lister's pining for more human contact but RD have 'added' new ~sentient dispensing machines capable of many emotions (jealousy, insecurity etc)?

Myrddin

1

jaykhunter wrote: »

Anyone else think it's cheating a bit that Lister's pining for more human contact but RD have 'added' new ~sentient dispensing machines capable of many emotions (jealousy, insecurity etc)?

Those vending machines are rubbish I think, they don't seem to 'fit' the series at all. I know the show always had talking vending machines, but there was an 'innocence' to the older type ones that seems lost now

downwithpeace

3

Don't think I could go higher then a 4 on this one, sadly there was a good idea for a story line but not enough to fill the episode so it came off as overly stretched with lots of filler.