Back to Earth (2009) Review

 

Back to Earth is pretty crap, but its heart is in the right place. It does its job to reboot the series.

PLOT

The crew find themselves on Earth and learn that they're fictional characters brought to life. With the series finale vast approaching, they seek out the creator in order to blackmail him for more episodes. 

ANALYSIS

The actual narrative is complete bollocks. There is absolutely no tangible reason for why the Joy Squid should make any of them hallucinate 21st century Earth, or the whole complicated setup of them not being real. Or that elaborate Blade Runner parody, which is like a remnant of the series 8 cartoon era. The comedy is very weak too, partially as a result of the audience not being there. Some of these issues are understandable, because the budget was non-existent and the idea of filming most of the story in front of a greenscreen is hardly appealing. So they needed an excuse to get out and about and film where they could. I get that. Although why Doug Naylor looked at the numbers and decided to write a metaphysical odyssey with fancy CG effects instead of a bottle episode where the money could be spent on set design, I will never know. 

But if you ignore the poor dialogue, the cobbled-together story, the greenscreen, the near-total lack of logic and laughs, then you're still left with... well, not a whole lot. In fact, Back to Earth is so tepid and silly that I'm almost irritated about the parts that do work, because they don't deserve to be in a story that's one step removed from a glorified Children in Need skit. 

So what works? Well, the cinematic look is very nice and ambitious. The ship looks beautiful in space (apparently some fan did the effects, kudos to him because they hold up very nicely), the new observation dome is glorious and the way the camera moves through the window to follow Lister along the corridor is perfect. This and the use of single-camera filming gives Back to Earth a sleek quality that stands out and makes it more appealing for rewatches.  

Doug's use of drama also makes a big return. The scenes between Lister and Kochanski at the end are the most overtly serious that Red Dwarf has ever been. And yet it totally works. In fact, I'd argue this might genuinely be Lister's best story from a character perspective. It's him rediscovering his entire identity (with an additional layer of the show returning to its roots), remembering that he likes himself and that he's still willing to go the distance for Kochanski. Knowing that she's never reappeared since this story makes that scene work even better for me. Maybe Kochanski was not meant to be found. Maybe the idea of her being out there is part of what gave Lister the drive he needed to keep going, and we've come full circle, with him trying to reach her again, but never being able to. 

It's a shame that none of this complexity is granted to Rimmer. I have a little theory that when it came to writing the crew, Rob was the Rimmer guy and Doug was the Lister guy. Mainly because none of the self-loathing and deprecation that Rimmer was infused with during the Grant Naylor seasons seems to have carried over into Doug's tenure, where Rimmer is always either on the verge of being redeemed or just a one-dimensional prat. The complicated web of delusions and spite that formed Rimmer's mind is just something that I don't think Doug has ever been able to fully grasp, at least not in his writing. Which is why it should come as no surprise that the resetting of his character is given nowhere near as much love as Lister's. He's just his holographic self again, with no explanation. 

Doug would later make a statement that it is intended to be the original Rimmer, who has somehow returned from his adventures as Ace. But none of that really matters. Rimmer isn't back because he failed as Ace. He's just back because of the sentimentality of having the 'main' Rimmer back, regardless of logic. And don't get me wrong, I would rather have him back too and I understand the need to keep him the same comedic foil he's always been.

But if Lister can have this big emotional arc building on the recent past with Kochanski, why do we have to just ignore everything that's happened to Rimmer? I don't think it would be too confusing for the audience to have Ace return. They don't have to go into the details. Just the idea of Ace and the second Rimmer being jealous of each other's roles in Lister's life and wanting to switch would be self-explanatory. The other Rimmer leaves, Ace takes over. That way, newer audiences would get their own version of Dimension Jump and the older audiences would get the original Rimmer back. 

CHARACTERS

Craig Charles really has come a long way, hasn't he? From the wooden newbie in series 1 who kept hamming it up in the background and mumbled other people's lines, to a heavyweight who can get you choked up. He might genuinely be the best performer they have now. What a guy. 

I adored Sophie Winkleman's guest role as Katerina Bartikovsky. Even though I ended up falling in love with Chloe Annett's contribution to the series, Winkleman seemed to fit in a lot more seamlessly and could have become a full-time member. She was such a savage towards Rimmer, I loved it. And the Russian accent was a cute affectation. 

I appreciate that Doug probably didn't want to exclude Rob, but not having the Creator be either him or some kind of specific Grant Naylor parody felt like a massive missed oppurtunity. In fact, before I knew much about the show, I genuinely thought the actor playing the Creator was Doug Naylor. 

The rest of the guest cast (specifically Jeremy Swift as the shopkeeper Noddy) are pretty woeful, although that might be because their material is shite. The strange Nose World guy, what was up with him? 

NOTES

• Why did they all have to go underwater in the bell jar? It's obvious Rimmer was going to screw something up. 
• Rimmer being too afraid to pull them up is one of his worst moments. It's so stupid. 
• I loved seeing Lister's Space Bike again (first time since Kryten?), especially when he used the rear-view mirror as a cup holder. 
• "Engage innocent whistle mode" lol. Kryten's modes are one of my favourite running gags. 
• The CSI science montage feels particularly 2000s, complete with copious amounts of lens flare. 
• The Cat landing on his feet in the other reality is a lovely touch. Having a bunkroom scene in the department store is another one. 
• I wonder if Durex gave their permission to be included in Red Dwarf. 
• The kid doing the Rimmer salute is adorable.
• Each member of the crew says "this is too weird for words!" except Kryten. I don't know the significance. 
• I could have watched a whole road trip movie of the crew driving around in Carbug and acting like it's a spaceship. 
• Chris Barrie's gay chav routine is hilarious, and I want to see more of it. 
• The bit where the crew peddle a Red Dwarf expanded universe has aged like fine wine. 
• Why is only Lister offered a better life inside the delusion?
• How did the Joy Squid survive all these years? I have to ask, because the crew went from the Esperanto straight to the Starbug years. So it had to be there all this time, as well as make it through the crash onto the reconstructed Red Dwarf. 
• What happened to the Squid anyway?

THANKS FOR THE MEMORY

• The story is set nine years after the events of Only the Good. Since then, the ship has been repaired and restocked with shuttles. The crew have returned from the mirror universe. Kochanski has left on a Blue Midget. Holly has been disabled with water. The other Holly on the watch has inexplicably disappeared. The nanobot Rimmer is gone. The original Rimmer has returned. 
• As the title implies, Back to Earth is a sequel to Back to Reality.
• Lister reads Jane Austen books to Kochanski's grave. We saw Kochanski's love for her works in Beyond a Joke.
• The science fiction shop has a photograph from Gunmen of the Apocalypse. The episode Polymorph is also playing on TV and the crew find a prop scale that Rimmer theorises comes from the polymorph's snake disguise. 
• The shopkeeper recommends various forms of transportation featured in previous episodes: the Holly Hop Drive (Parallel Universe), the matter paddle (Meltdown) and the time slides (Timeslides).
• The Cat calls Coronation Street worse than Rimmerworld.
• Rimmer tries to blackmail the Creator to give him a girlfriend, and not have it be revealed that she's his long-lost sister, which occurred in Only the Good.

FUNNIEST MOMENT

Rimmer casually murdering Katerina Bartikovsky immediately after the latter established that deleting holograms is ethical. 

SMEG OFF!

Joking about a critic having a small penis. Grow up, Doug... 

CONCLUSION

I'm glad it brought the show back, and some of the ambition is very admirable. Most of the creative decisions are pretty baffling, though, which is why it belongs with series 7 and 8 in the rocky period of the show.