Fathers and Suns Review

Hhhhhhmmmm that was an strange episode of Red Dwarf, brilliant in parts and cringe worthy in others. The Pree storyline was great and generated some good gags and the Lister/Dad stuff was absolutely classic Dwarf, but there were a few negatives…

• The Medi-bot/Denti-bot … urgh … I really didn't like the wackiness of these characters, it was like the Data Doctor from Series VIII. That said I can put up with them because the scenes are fairly short.
• The Chinese whispers plot was weak and the pay off was weak, yes the final whisper reminded Lister on how to defeat Pree, but he could have just worked it out.
• Taiwan Tony, really?? I didn't find it offensive (but I can see why some people would) and I can see we were meant to be laughing at them being ignorant, but it was just wasn't very funny and it seemed to come across too much of a let’s laugh a comedy Asian accent feel. Red Dwarf has never looked at the issue of race before and I just felt it was it very jarring to bring it into the Red Dwarf universe at such a late stage in such a clumsy fashion. South Park does this sort of thing far better.
• ‘Taiwan's a bit Chinesey’ I really didn't like the fact that Lister said this line, it feels like it should be a Rimmer line. Lister, to me, has always been the moral heart of Red Dwarf, yes he is flawed, but this is a man that wouldn't shoot an unarmed simulant that wanted to kill him. Lister is open to other cultures, he is interested in the history of the Cat people, whereas Rimmer dismisses it. This line sits about as well as the ‘Bent Bob’ one in ‘Duct Soup’.

But that is it for negatives, there are so many stronger points.

• Craig Charles.
• Craig Charles.
• Craig Charles.
• Craig Charles.
• Craig Charles.
• Ok, so Craig Charles was fantastic in this episode. The two double Lister scenes gave a him a real opportunity to show both his comedic and dramatic acting chops. It had some great character moments, showing what Lister really thinks of himself and that he could have made more of himself if he really tried.
• Rimmer and Kryten booting up Pree was great (including a great little mention of Holly), finishing off with a great little gag about Kryten being excited about the frame size and Rimmer looking miffed, because it was too small to see her large boobs!

Bad frame sizing...

• In fact every scene with Pree was great, Rebecca Blackstone put in the best guest performance of this series so far. It is going to be tough for someone to beat it.
• There was a couple great visual gags, Lister’s message being on VHS and my favourite Cat reading ‘Morris Dancer Monthly’ in the Dent-i-bot waiting room, with the magazine matching his outfit. Brilliant.
• Rimmer had some amazing lines, such as 'Never mind us, what about me!', 'You're saying because I would have cocked all this up, you've already cocked it all up up for me.' and 'You mad goth bastard!’ 
• The scene after Lister gets ejected is brilliant.
  Cat - 'What the hell is that? An airlock's opened and the ships just ejected something.Kryten - 'Ooh, it's looks like a little man in a spacesuit.'Rimmer - 'That's not a man, that's Lister.'Fantastic.
• The cardboard guitar joke is absolutely brilliant, probably my favourite joke of the series.
• ...I really could go on.

This episode could have been a classic, it is just a shame that the Taiwan Tony parts really pulls me out of the episode. It really didn't need three plots going on. Stick to the main two and have a few minutes extra with the Rimmer/Pree dynamic or Lister dealing with this father issues. It is still a strong episode and the series has had some very good moments so far.

7.5/10