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.

The Green Mile

I've been reading this book on and off for the last few days (in the little mini book form) It's certainly a very powerful book with lots of rich characterisation and deep attention to detail. There's a sense of resigned finality about the guards as they process their prisoners. The rituals of their duties comes across as interesting and it all leads up to the finale when they both break their little ways and stick to them as tightly as possible at the same time. The prisoners are all shown realistically, both have their good sides as well as their bad sides, except William Wharton (aka Billy the Kid) who either has no redeeming features or he goes out of his way to not let it show through. The Pres and The Chief are minor characters just there to show life before John Coffey arrived on the Green Mile. The three main prisoners are Delacroix, Coffey and Wharton and their lives and deaths feature the most heavily in the events of the books. There's a few minor sub plots that seem there just for added depth of character but slowly they become part of the main plot which is just genius writing. The story is one of sadness, despair, lonliness and isolation which suits a death row facility perfectly, and yet there's an innocence about the characters too because none of them are quite prepared for the whirlwind of destruction that is Billy the Kid even the seasoned guards are taken back by him a couple of times. It's one helluva book go and read it for yourselves...

Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 10

Epideme 9/10 - A very interesting concept about a super-mutated artificial virus, especially with the current row over GM foods being forced on the public before any safety trials having been done. Dave should have argued for a symbiotic relationship with the virus as it would have bought him more time to find a cure. Although the Kochanski/Kryten 2 part cure does lead into a good cliffhanger ending and for once its not at the end of the season...

Nanarchy 10/10 - Following on from last week Kryten tries to give Lister an artificial arm with hilarious consequences and their eventual means of finding a cure leads them back to...Red Dwarf! But it's in the form of a small planetoid! Seeing Holly's face again is a great moment (although I wonder/worry if they're going to have any Holly at all in the forthcoming Back to Earth special) The story ends with the return of Red Dwarf for real although there maybe a little problem, or rather make that a big one...

the day the earth nearly stood still

An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday. 2009 DD45, estimated to be between 21 and 47 meters (68 and 152 feet) across, raced by at 1344 GMT on Monday, the Planetary Society and astronomers' blogs reported. The gap was just 72,000 kilometers (44,750 miles), or a fifth of the distance between Earth and the Moon and only twice the height of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, the website space.com said. The estimated size is similar to that of an asteroid or comet that exploded above Tunguska, Siberia, on June 30 1908, flattening 80 million trees in a swathe of more than 2,000 square kilometres (800 square miles).


Lembit Öpik has been calling for a space watch programme for years now, this is the sort of thing it would have found and been able to deal with had it been on a terminal impact course, lucky for us it wasn't becuase we cou;dn't have stopped it...

Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 9

Duct Soup 10/10 - Wonderful, wonderful episode, it really goes into characterisation mode and not a spare second of script is wasted. We find out more about some of the characters in this episode than we did in the last 6 seasons! Kochanski's childhood, the rusty gate, Lister's claustrophobia, squeeky Gibson, Kryten's jealousy and even Cat's mild sociopathy! Plus Kryten's star wars joke about Kochanski's attire is funny but not as funny as Kochanski's complaints about men (because they're good observations) and them watching her knickers spin dry!

Blue 9/10 - The remember that Rimmer guy episode, but it's much more memorable for two things: that kiss and that song. The comet scene at the start is ok because it leads to Cat's preening gag and has the potato salad line too. The Rimmer Experience is just wet you knickers hilarious and the song is just outstandingly brilliant. The show only loses a point because of the medibay scene that somehow just seems to exist to perpetuate kryten's jealousy of Kochanski.

Beyond A Joke 8/10 - The big Kryten episode, yet there's far too much focus on the Gelfs and simulants that pull focus from Kryten and his green brother Abel. The T72 tank joke is brilliant and Jane Austin World is a great idea although Lister dressed as a priest is just bizarre! Despite its flaws and occasionally corny line the story is enjoyable and fun. Scuttling thing ala monkey wrench should be on every menu too.