||SPOILERS|| Okay, that was poor. I could forgive part 1 for many things, but part 2 was unforgivably laughter-free and meandering. You're playing a dangerous game when you attempt meta-comedy and, while this actually did a decent job for the first ten minutes or so, it was too dull for words.Picking up where we left off, the Red Dwarf crew are pulled through Katerina's wormhole (there's a joke there not above Doug Naylor, I'm sure) and find themselves in "our world", where they're just fictional characters from a television sitcom. Yes, Doug Naylor saw The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, and this was about as successful as that misfiring movie. The idea might have been made a funny half-hour about 20 years ago, but Back To Earth is committed to reinventing itself as a "comedy drama" these days – and, as we know, comedy drama's are so-called because they're not particularly funny, or very dramatic.
So, what did we get? Well, there was some cute, amusing ideas in the early moments -- like the crew arriving in an electrical store where clips of Red Dwarf: Back To Earth was playing on all the TV screens, before they headed off to find the DVD of their latest adventure, then decided they should follow its plot synopsis on the cover and "find their creators" to beg for more life. I have to admit, the conceit behind this was quite fun –- although I can't see them meeting estranged co-creator Rob Grant, can you? Although it would be ballsy if they did. I bet he's very, very angry.
The gang stopped off at a sci-fi merchandise store full of Red Dwarf paraphernali (playing clips from the classic series on a TV), and were directed to a very unfunny Chinese props master ("irrogical") who might have their creator's address, before he gave them a "Carbug" (a Starbug-styled car, obviously) and they inexplicably drove to Coronation Street, before we unceremoniously got the "to be continued..." legend. Leave 'em with a laugh, eh? Er, no.
All in all, I laughed only once (at Rimmer's extremely unlikely means to zoom-in on a photo and get an address by magnifying raindrop reflections, etc), and a few moments of meta-comedy worked quite nicely -- grieving Lister pondering the fact Kochanski's still alive in this universe (well, actress Chloe Annett is), two kids on a bus referencing Red Dwarf's repeats on Dave, the sci-fi shop nerd claiming Series VIII was the best (okay, this can't be OUR universe), and the throwaway line that Back To Earth takes place after Series IX. So, are we to assume that if Back To Earth is a success and inspires another series, it will technically be a prequel to this three-part special, featuring the return of Kochanski and the resolution of loose ends from Series VIII?
Do we still care?
Part 2 had a neat idea it began to squander the moment the gang left that shopping centre, and it was unforgivably unfunny throughout. This fact is compounded by Dave's decision to fill its evenings with old episodes of Red Dwarf, and I laughed more at a repeat of "Quarantine" than I have during two installments of this Easter special. I don't hold out much hope for part 3 tomorrow night (unless Rob Grant makes some kind of astonishing appearance in the climax and, via the medium of this special, decides to return to Red Dwarf and make it funny again.) Or will Doug Naylor rewrite the facts and cast himself as the sole creator?
What does everyone else think, so far?
11 April 2009
Dave, 9pm
Writer & Director: Doug Naylor
Cast: Craig Charles (Lister), Chris Barrie (Rimmer), Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), Danny John-Jules (Cat) & Sophie Winkleman (Katerina)
