Review – “I bid greetings”

So, “nine years later”, eh…

Red Dwarf is back, after quite an absence – film deals falling through and the BBC completely abandoning the series made it feel like we’d seen the last of The Boys from the Dwarf. But now, on what is, quite frankly, a fairly minor channel (for which this is one of their first original commissions), we have a trilogy of episodes airing over this Easter weekend. And part one just finished.

It’s hard to judge the thing based solely on this first episode – as the first part in a trilogy, it’s largely a lot of plot setup. It’s not bad – although it felt rather too short, and the jumps to/from commercial break and the “To Be Continued” were rather abrupt. There were some humourous moments, some good bits of character interaction, and some intriguing plot developments. The use of special effects is good, and rarely intrudes into the reality of the situation.

It’s clear that the sitcom aspect has pretty much been jettisoned for this trilogy, and the setting is far more of a comedy-drama. This is fine, as it feels like a natural evolution for the series (which was already underway in series VI and VII [the slide back in VIII is best left forgotten – and the complete ignoring of the “cliffhanger” we had at the end of that series is very welcome]), and the cast don’t seem to be troubled by the shift in tone. It’s almost like they’ve never been away, as each has settled straight back into their character.

Part two tomorrow, along with new Doctor Who!