Trojan Review

Well it was odd to watch Red Dwarf back on the TV, in HD as well. I never thought I would see another see series of it, even after ‘Back To Earth’…

So here are a few points, bad first:

·         The opening credits, I didn’t like them. I don’t know why, maybe it was the names, but it isn’t the essential to the enjoyment of the program. I fucking hate the opening titles to Dexter and I love that show.

·         The first  couple of scenes were disappointing, but they were needed to set up the moose gag and just to reintroduce the characters.

·         I would have liked a little bit of set up on the current situation on board of Red Dwarf, that said next week’s episode looks to be entirely ship based and involves the installing of a new computer, so hopefully it can happen then.

·         A few of the jokes were a little long winded. The book gag was funny, but drawn out and the Astronavs moose gag was great, but didn’t need the anything more after Cat got the answer.

·         Kryten’s mask was weird, still not used to it and the shouting down the phone was too OTT, I would have preferred a more ‘stern teacher’ Kryten ala ‘White Hole’ with Talkie Toaster.

·         Red Dwarf seemed small and cramped (Was that the new drive room at the start?) and Trojan seemed quite a large expansive ship, despite being the a fraction of the size of Red Dwarf. Maybe this was partly due to Cat getting lost.

·         The phone gag went on for a bit and the payoff wasn’t worth it.

I will stop being negative and talk about a few of the positives.

·         Starting off with a gorgeous fly-by of Red Dwarf is a bloody good way to kick things off.

·         Some great one liners ‘But you’re a twat’, ‘Slower than the speed of dark’ and ‘We just hosed him down and put a hat on him’. We have not has a great one liner since ‘Tikka…’ – ‘One minute you’re down, the next you’re right back up again’.

·         The sets were absolutely fantastic, as were the costumes with the exception of Kryten (it wasn’t terrible) and did you see Lister’s jacket, lovely stuff.

·         The music was great and using a reprise of the Rimmer Munchkin song during Howards death was brilliant. Howard Goodall you are a genius.

This man is a fucking genius

·         Cat is back, after being underused and just mostly disappointing in VII, VIII and BTE. He was excellent, had some great and Danny has got his mojo back.

·         Some good visual gags, the turning to the right and the leaning was brilliant and Kryten losing his memory and seeming lost.

So, overall I enjoyed it, it was a good episode with some good moments, but not a classic. The pace was faster than series of old, but it looked great and had some great gags. An old episode of Red Dwarf to me are like a big duvet to me, you can just watch one if you are feeling shit and just feel better. I am not expecting that sort of feeling instantly from Red Dwarf X, hopefully it will be like that one day.

It was a positive start for the new series and I am looking forward to the other 5 episodes.

6.5/10