Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 11

Back in the Red (Xtended) 7/10 - All three parts edited together with some extra unseen bits to make it even better and it needs it, the tissue thin plot needs all the characterisation it can get, because unlike VII which sometimes focused on plot at the expense of the jokes (which I liked) VIII focuses on the jokes at the expense of the plot. The plot here is the crew are arrested, put on trial and found innocent of that crime but guilty of another, it could all be done in just one episode! However it would lose a lot of the cool jokes in the process, like Cat and Blue Midget dancing, the Duane Dibley gag, the claymation bit and the multiple escape attempts could have been cobbled together into just one. It gets high marks for the gags, not the rest.

Cassandra 6/10 - It tries hard to be a cool story ala Aliens but it fails badly as it quickly returns to Red Dwarf on autopilot. Kochanski being seduced by pre-determinism theory is the only real highlight as the rest of the story is hardly new. Cassandra herself comes across as a mix between Queeg and Dr. Landstrom and not in a good way.

Krytie TV 5/10 - Now they're not even bothering as we get a weird mix of reality TV show and prank show ala Jeremy Beadle. The appeal over guitar strings is the only half way interesting idea and is the cause of all the good jokes in the story, and there's nowhere near enough of them.