Film Review - Red Dwarf: Back to Earth (2009)

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth is a special miniseries based from the hit UK sci-fi sitcom called Red Dwarf and the story here is that Dave Lister played by Craig Charles and the crew find themselves in another dimension where they discover they are only characters in a hit TV series due to be killed off, as a result they go finding their creator.

As some of you may be aware, I am a huge fan of Red Dwarf but after series 6, Rob Grant who co created the series with Doug Naylor left, as a result the show lost a lot of the humour and characterization that helped make the show a success, leaving only Sci-Fi heavy episodes that were thin on the characters and comedy.

But does that also extend to this new special you ask, well to answer you yes it does, there are very few genuine laughs in this special and the characters don't feel right, mainly because the actors playing them have aged big time and with the exception of Kryten played by Robert Llewelyn, it shows in several scenes.

But on top of those problems, the reference's to Ridley Scott's 1982 movie Blade Runner are very obvious to fans of that film like myself and the storyline here is very confusing, which is normally not the case with a Red Dwarf episode but this time around it left me going "what on earth" on a number of occasions plus the fact that it ties into arguably one of the top two episodes of the series again just doesn't feel right.

So in closing, if you are a newcomer to Red Dwarf, watch only the first 6 seasons as the final episode of season 6 is enough to be a fitting send off for a once brilliant and unique series, It saddens me to say this but the boys from the Dwarf have lost their lustre and the franchise needs to be retired as the actors aren't young enough anymore to get away with playing these characters and without Rob Grant who I mentioned before, a lot of what made the show a success is gone so a 0 out of 5 for this special.