Red Dwarf

Just watched a very poor quality copy. In fact I'm quite glad it was a poor quality copy because if it was good quality I would probably have been even more aware of how rubbish this was. (Kryten being the only exception).

Lister was too "Wholesome American", his character needs to be more scummy. Rimmer wasn't arsy enough. Cat looked to be reasonably well cast but there really wasn't enough of his character in the pilot to draw any real conclusion. Holly was also okay except perhaps a little too chirpy. Kryten, well Kryten was played by Robert Llewellyn so you can't really go wrong there.

If the Americans want to watch Red Dwarf why don't they just buy the original episodes off the BBC instead of butchering an absolutely timeless cult classic. I actually feel dirty, I need to watch an original episode to cleanse that detritus from my mind!

I was surprised to see a US pilot for Red Dwarf, then shocked and saddened when I actually watched it. US Lister was so whitebread and unscuzzy. Rimmer snivels so little that I actually thought the actor would make a better Lister than the one I was watching. Cat no longer had his Little Richard-ish persona. It WAS nice to see the original Kryten (loved the eyeballs in the coffee gag) and Jane Leeves as Holly (*spark* ooh that one felt gooood) but they wouldn't have been able to save this US version from oblivion. As for pilot number two, which I've only seen a cast photo of, it was interesting to see Terry Farrell dressed up like a cat but it was far from being sound as a dollar-pound. Don't mess with perfection!

Having listened, read and watched Red Dwarf since its conception I cant believe that the American TV Producers had the gaul to bastardise such a wonderful series. Yes ok, lower the intelligence rating down to a level that the watching American public can understand, but since when did Kryten appear in the first series? Why did they have to use Kryten explain every little thing? Ah the term 'dumbing down' rears its ugly head once more. Since when was Lister so clean and Rimmer so nice? The time lines are so wrong, the characters so wrong its all wrong. The original BBC version of 'The End' is so superior so do your self a favour and buy it on DVD!

As a lifelong Red Dwarf fan I'd obviously heard of this and seen a few clips but never until today actually sat down and watched it.

What it is is a strange re-hash of the first episode from around the time of series 5 of the UK original. It's fascinating to see what choices have been made and, strangest of all, what works. Namely - Kryten and the slicker integration of Kochanski.

The central crux of the entire of Red Dwarf is the relationship between Lister and Rimmer, and they throw this down the river in favour of a strangely out-of-place but evergreen Robert Llewellyn spoon feeding the plot to the woefully miscast Craig Bierko. He's a Craig yes, but the similarities end there.

Thankfully - it all fell apart and it stands now as an odd and forgotten curio and a testament to how remarkably well constructed, well cast and well conceived the original version is.

*this is the REAL pilot not the 15 min promo with female cat*

After watching this pile of drivel I was one step from cracking the VCD in my hand so that i could symbolically kill at least one of the copies of it.

The acting is at best ... questionable. And at worse...? well there was more life in a "dawn of the dead" zombie.

The script is almost identical to "the end" with a few changes for the american market (baseball cards etc)... but somehow it dont seem ...right. the canned laughter as well makes it a chore to watch.

Still Robert Llewellyn is (and always will be) a gem to watch.....and Jane Leeves makes a fine holly (all be it her British accent sometimes...just sometimes comes through ..making u think u are back watching the UK series).

Havent seen the promo 15 mins that was made after this...but have seen pictures of Terri Farrell in a cat suit..so its not a complete loss I would think...

(acctually on reflection it would be bad....Red dwarf was mostly about a man..who has lost his only true love 3 million years ago and will never see female company again..so to have a female character would be pointless)