Red Dwarf X: Dear Dave

Dear Dave,

Thanks!

Best wishes, Tim.


Hooray! At last we have an episode of Red Dwarf X that's consistently funny and well-crafted throughout, with some classic stand-alone moments. Excellent stuff, easily the best of the series so far.

My recent concerns over the programme ignoring or strategically forgetting  that Dave Lister is the last human being alive were answered, and similarly the positive strengths of the previous week's episode continued here, with all the crew doing their own thing and only coming together when necessary.

Admittedly we've had the mail pod before and again we're back in Series I & II territory with Lister feeling sorry for himself but personally I'm happy with that slant. It makes the team (and the show) less smug (more smeg?!) which tended to afflict the later series of the original run. Some aspects of the drudgery of day-to-day life are worth revisiting and the mail pod is one of these.

Key classic moments for me were the note to Rimmer asking him to stop writing his own letters of commendation, Lister 'hitting on' the French vending machine and the Cat's charades message. The final punchline of the episode, whilst in spirit largely predictable, was delivered so perfectly by Craig Charles that it has to stand as another classic moment.

I love the occasional tell-tale signs that sitcoms like this are still recorded in front of a live audience - there's an occasional buzz, a feeling that it may not be perfect, but it's got a special little sparkle. There was one in Lemons earlier in the series where Craig Charles was clearly chuckling away as Lister and Rimmer pointed out smeg to a panicking Kryten in the drive room. This week Chris Barrie was clearly having difficulty not creasing up at the end of the charades sequence. These moments are very charming, and betray the live theatre roots of television that it's all too easy to forget these days - particularly since we've become obsessed with outtakes programmes. It's great to see a director willing to keep these moments in, but also an actor who's going to soldier through and not take the easy option of corpsing safe in the knowledge that it'll be fine because it'll go on a DVD 'Smeg Ups' section and possibly on a TV outtakes programme. Personally I hope that BBC3 have finally killed that genre through it's endless runs of 'hilarious' outtakes from Little Britain and Two Pints of Lager where lines or cues are fudged at every opportunity and greeted with a cast expletive and a roar of audience approval. How easily pleased can we possibly be?

I have a personal 'grudge' with Dear Dave in that I have a radio sci-fi comedy series called Turbo Tina shortly going into production with Sunderland REP for SparkFM (details here:  http://sunderlandrep.wordpress.com/productions/current-projects/radio-comedy-drama/)
which involves a character possibly becoming enamoured with a food dispensing machine and now Red Dwarf have pipped me to the post! But it would be churlish of me to take umbrage with this episode over that, I guess. It's clear to all that Lister's not going to re-erect the vending machine while he's lying on top of it, but do we mind? I doubt it!

There is a little niggle though, that's been with me throughout the series so far, regarding the drive room. It's a very small drive room for such a large vessel - in fact at first I assumed it was the Starbug cockpit. But also why have the crew been given such tiny keyboards to type away at while they're sitting there, and what actually are they doing? Craig Charles in particular looks really awkward and uncomfortable and just appears to be typing away because he thinks that's what you're supposed to do there, occasionally looking at the small screen nearby. Is he setting co-ordinates? Writing a novel? Playing speed solitaire? In the grand scheme of things it's not massively important, but the more time Lister and Rimmer spend in there the more I wonder what they're doing and if they've just been directed to look busy...

There's not a great deal more I can say really. That's the trouble with an episode you really enjoy from start to finish! It was very funny, well-paced, well-constructed. The crew all had plenty to do that was individual to themselves and there were some killer gags along the way.

Shame the series ends next week now things have picked up.