Red Dwarf - Back to Earth

Well I've seen them all and a rather mixed back they were. The first episode was clearly the best being a throwback to the earliest days of the show. The second was pants, the third was a reasonable recovery from the whole that the second episode had dug. It does have to be said that the writer has clearly run out of ideas as the show has become totally dependent on the "alternate reality" storyline and since series 6 the show has also been busily recycling its own continuity on an endless basis in place of coming up with anything new. It was however cool that they kept the return of Chloe Annette out of the publicity and I kinda wish they had ended the show altogether with Lister choosing to stay in his fantasy world with Kochanski. Aside from this my other concern is the same one as applied to seasons 7 and 8, the show just isn't funny enough anymore. I'm kinda reminded of the latter era Carry On films where you have to watch them in the right frame of mind to enjoy them. Its been the same with Red Dwarf since season 7, you have to meet the jokes halfway to enjoy the show. The ten year (or so) gap since the last series makes it easier to do this because there is the goodwill of nostalgia and the free pass of seeing the cast together again (and really Chris Barrie being a comedy god), but I think it might be time for one final show to get the crew back to Earth, Lister with Kochanski and Rimmer in charge of something trivial!