Episode 2 of the tenth Series of Red Dwarf his our screens earlier this week, and after the strong start of the first episodes, hope were certainly high.
A far more Lister centered episode, we explore a theme played with a few times throughout the life of Red Dwarf; the theme of OUROBOS – that Lister is indeed his own Father. This is used to comic effect in this episode when Lister get’s drunk and leaves a video tape from himself to watch the next day; drunk Lister being the Father figure and hungover Lister being the son. Quite a poignant moment here is the loss of Lister’s Gibson Les Paul guitar because as any Red Dwarf fan will attest, this has been one of Lister’s only real companions that he has really cared about throughout his lonesome existence. The daft humour of it is that both Listers (well, there’s only one) loose the guitar – talk about cutting off your nose to spite you face! I was really expecting for the guitar to be salvaged somehow but no. Try to watch ‘Marooned’ from Series 3 to get an understanding of how much Lister loves his Gibson.There was also a line which got absolutely no canned laughter but I thought it was gold. Upon the computer ejecting Lister and Kryten stating that it looks like a man in a spacesuit, Rimmer harks what I think could have been a tagline to the whole Series, ‘That’s not a man – that’s Lister!’No Laughs. Not even canned ones. Oh well, what do I know!
The ending of Fathers and Suns is a bit forced, and pretty poorly edited. I realise the 4th wall is never truly erected with a show like Red Dwarf but I certainly felt reminded that I was watching 4 blokes running about a set and not on the Mining Ship Red Dwarf.
So, this latest installment is a bit mixed. Certainly some enjoyable moments but also showing a few problems areas. Nonetheless, this remains the best Series in the franchise for quite some time and long may it continue.
Mark Brassington 