Red Dwarf

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!

I saw a pretty poor copy of this but the bottom line is that it lacks the punch, clarity and humor of the original series.

The characters are thin, unbelievable, two dimensional copies of the flawed but warm and likeable characters in the original series. The only actor who came from the original series is Robert Llewellyn who tries hard but is let down by the rest of the cast and the direction.

There's something seriously wrong with the timing of the humor. It's set up as if it was a sitcom not a comedy. The timing should be quite different however the canned laughter track is timed for a sitcom not for a comedy show and thus makes all of the comedy fall totally flat.

If you like Red Dwarf, give this a miss. If you haven't seen the original Red Dwarf then beg, borrow, steal or buy the original (or look for re-runs on PBS) but give this remake a wide, wide berth.

*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)

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!

You're joking right? This is an attempt at sarcasm right? Judging by the other comments and the UK's own reddwarf fan site not even acknowledging it, and possibly even Doug Naylor would say 'No Comment' if he was asked about it. The US version didn't work. Or was it really a conspiracy by the BBC to get the US to buy the original and excellent series on BBC DVD? Complete sets of the DVD's are available from most popular media stores and auction websites. :) A question though: I've not actually seen the US Pilot or Promo, and I'm intrigued and inspired to have it just so I can show it at local conventions. How do I get a copy and who produced/owns it?