RED DWARF XII
Boldly going where 11 series have gone before
This show is 30 years old in January! But is it showing its age?
UK Broadcast Dave, finished US Broadcast N/A Episodes Reviewed 12.01-12.06
Never before has Red Dwarf wallowed in nostalgia so much. At times, series XII feels like a parting gift for loyal fans, even though there are already rumours that series XIII will get a green light (hardly surprising when it’s getting twice as many viewers as Dave’s next biggest show). The fan-pleasing continuity references start subtly, with mentions of “The Om Song” and Yvonne McGruder. Then we get the return of Talkie Toaster. Then the season ends with a mirror-universe recreation of the very first episode.
It’s all very indulgent. It’s also still very funny. If there is a problem with series XII it’s not fan-pleasing fare like this; it’s a downturn in the quality of the storytelling. While the previous two Dave series have seen some fiendishly clever plotting, series XII often feels like a lot of great ideas looking for a home.
“Cured”, for example, opens the season with some hilarious sequences – including Hitler and Lister jamming, and Kryten getting the Ned Stark treatment on a mop handle – but the gags are hung from a Red-Dwarf-bynumbers mad scientist plot. “Siliconia” is fuelled by the brilliant conceit of an allmechanoid episode, but then can’t quite create a story out of its MILF (“Mechanoid Intergalactic Liberation Front”) gag. The fact that it ends with a quite literal “deus ex machina” (silicon heaven appears from nowhere!) is either the show’s lamest or most subtle joke ever. Similarly, “Skipper”, though blessed with a brilliant and head-spinning half-episode of reality-hopping (and a gangsta giant rat), doesn’t actually have a story to speak of. Or an ending.
“Mechocracy” is the exception, an episode that not only has some great set-pieces (Rimmer’s love of Yellow Alert; Rimmer promoting and demoting Lister) but feels like a satisfying piece of storytelling, with a bonkers election to give it some much-needed structure.
Red Dwarf XII is a little creaky in places, then (and no, we don’t just mean the cast) and the sets are looking threadbare, but it still delivers some top sci-fi comedy moments… and it smegs all over The Orville. Dave Golder