The US Remake of Red Dwarf Is Worse Than You Think…

[@deadmetalbr]

One of my favorite anecdotes from the Red Dwarf DVD special features was Patrick Stewart's story about how he went home to England between seasons of TNG, turned on the TV and was appalled by seeing his first few seconds of RD. He was close to calling his lawyer (thinking it was a shameless Star Trek ripoff) when one of the non-stop zingers got a chuckle out of him. He sat down and gave it a chance, and because Sir Pat has a healthy sense of humor, wound up loving it.

[@vinnycochrane5139]

It’s probably said too often, the distinction between British and US humour in sitcoms of the time. Broadly, things like RD, Bottom, Reeves and Mortimer, are marked by jovial pessimism which celebrates irony. US humour of the time was largely aspirational and sometimes mawkish. Hence stuff like Friends, where the audience whoop their heads off when a character walks on.

[@frankbrodie5168]

I still watch a good few US sitcoms and find them really funny. But Friends has aged so badly apart from the proper fantasticly funny moments like Janice popping up regularly. But everything you said I agree with. And actually the US sitcoms I love the most like The Office (US) and The Big Bang Theory, actually have quite British 'piss taking' aspects to them.

[@chrislyne377]

That doesn't actually happen on Friends though. The whooping is from the studio audience when a famous guest star like Robin Williams walks in. Which is understandable.

[@richiesnowden-leak8803]

Such a banger video -- loved taking part on this. I totally didn't lose a few brain cells! And you know my request for the pilot: got to be Peep Show 👀

[@AndrewChapman]

4:55 Guess they had the corridors crowded to better establish the ship being populated so everyone getting wiped out later would be more tragic. Though that being said, we never see Lister hanging out with anyone else in this version since he keeps hanging out with Kryten instead. In the first episode of the UK version, Lister's hanging out with his mates Petersen, Chen and Selby (8:29) before he gets put into stasis.

[@NohbodysBussiness]

At the 201 minute mark I'm saying hell no. I'm from America and I'm a very huge Red dwarf fan and this is insulting. I am so happy this did not make it into the airwaves. I literally cringed at that. Since I'm writing this while it is paused on the red dwarf pilot, I have not yet seen the rest of the show but respectively I am going to forward through this fast.

[@AndrewChapman]

The Dwarfing USA documentary on the Series 5 DVD was what led me to becoming hooked on Frasier. Can't imagine anyone else playing Daphne Moon than Jane Leeves.

[@13thcentury]

2 scousers rip apart the US version 😅😅😅 Brilliant

[@UKGareth316]

Oh dear red dwarf usa. There is an second "pilot" where the cat is an woman and played by terry farral aka dax from deep space nine.

[@kentonkruger8333]

I remember when they were trying to get this made and being so annoyed at one of the statements by the production company. Effectively they said that it won't really change, except they were going to make Lister more of a common every man, surrounded by all these other wacky characters, not getting that doing so would dramatically change the show. At the time though that formula of having a "relatable to everyone" lead surrounded by wacky/zany support was the standard pretty much across the board for US sitcoms.

[@KevPage-Witkicker]

Rory Cochrane, fresh from playing Slater in Dazed & Confused, could have made a good Lister.

[@wendyheatherwood]

Pilots for American remakes always seem to do this weird thing where they grab vits if pieces of different episodes or even seasons, mash them together and expect it to make a decent, coherent episode and it never does. I can understand wanting to get Kryten in there early, but putting him in the first episode is a guge mistake. Just move the episode where he was introduced to a couple of episodes into the first season and then have him stay at the end instead of leave.

[@VirtualKnight64]

The only thing Red Dwarf USA did better than RDUK was that joke about holograms not being able to touch anything but themselves. "So basically, his sex life is unchanged." The only bit that made me laugh.

[@stew8584]

At least they didn't try making "Ripping Yarns", Cheers.

[@Deevo037]

It would be safe to say Americans don't get British humour, too subtle for them. They need to be told when to laugh.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

To be fair, the original series had a shaky start with production troubles and and difficulty nailing down the desired tone and formula. The remake was trying to make the beginning more concise and introduce all of the characters right from the start. If it had been picked up it might have become its own thing like the American version of The Office. Unfortunately Lister was terribly miscast. Imagine someone like Chris Rock in the role!

[@imbetterthanyouis]

jeebus i can see why they didnt include this in full on the red dwarf special features disk

[@AndrewChapman]

Yep, just the Dwarfing USA documentary.

[@kentonkruger8333]

Yes this is terrible, but it never would have been an episode that would have aired on TV. This is a concept pilot to be shopped, so it's more about the ideas for the show. That's also why they just used the footage from the original for the opening, grabbed a couple jokes from random episodes, etc.

[@jackphoton]

That Grant Naylor wrote this and the 2nd pilot version and yet both versions were turned into this... trash... is most amazing. The ONE single funny line in the whole thing is Kryten saying fo rhe last 3 million years he's been reading the exit sign. Talk about bitter existential humor. Still this one joke does not make up for the rest of it. The other version of this pilot is supposed to be as bad.

[@Shaolin91z]

I'll never watch this. I'll watch the original on Tubi

[@TallSilentGuy]

Turn the playback speed up to 1.25 and his voice is a lot less irritating!