This isn't unexpected given the ratings success of the "Back To Earth" atrocity last year, but Dave have apparently commissioned a tenth and eleventh series of Red Dwarf for transmission in 2011. And I can't get excited about this news. I dearly loved Red Dwarf (it was a notable show of my early-teens) but everything post-series 6 has been terrible. I hated last year's three-part "Back To Earth" special in particular, which had the gall to recycle an old idea very badly and forgot to include many jokes.
But, this is going ahead. So, if they have ANY sense, they'll at least film the series in front of a LIVE studio audience again, where there's nothing to distract from the jokes and plots. I truly believe that the fear of a live audience sitting in stony silence is part of the reason early scripts were so sharp, as was the fact they couldn't afford many special-effects so were denied that crutch. Co-creator Doug Naylor has a misguided ambition to turn Red Dwarf into an action-adventure comedy these days, but as the effects grow more sophisticated the laughs grow more isolated.
I doubt I'll get my wish for a return to form. It's far too late for that. The show's time has passed. I'm done trying to get excited about Red Dwarf now. "Back To Earth" got massive ratings because it was a novelty to see the characters back on our screens after so many years, and the show still has diehard fans and huge name-recognition in the UK... but the ratings for BTE slipped every night. I know a lot of people who didn't even watch past Part 1 because it was so dull, and some of those people used to wear Smeg Head baseball caps.
The best sitcoms know when to call it a day, but Red Dwarf is unfortunately Doug Naylor's sole hit and he seems hell-bent on milking it for as long as is humanly possible. Most of the actor's post-Dwarf careers haven't taken off as they'd hoped, either -- so it's an easy pay-day for them. I don't blame anyone getting involved for financial reasons (hey, I'd wear a rubber head if it fed my kids), but for fans it's a shame that Red Dwarf has become the real-life version of Galaxy Quest.
