Back to Earth
Joe Siegler
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Back To Earth
This Story: Season 9, Episodes 1-3
Overall: Story 49 Episode 53-55
Airdate: 10 – 12 Apr 2009
Written by Doug Naylor
Directed by Doug Naylor
Notes
- This is the first episode(s) of Red Dwarf produced in both high definition and in 16×9 widescreen. All episodes prior to this were 4×3 SD.
- Was nearly 10 years to the day since the last episode before this (Series 8’s “Only The Good…”)
- In universe, this takes place 9 years after the events of Series 8. The original hologram Rimmer (who left to be Ace Rimmer) returns. Kochanski is presumed to be dead, and Holly is out of commission.
- Officially, this is not listed as “Series 9”, it’s just listed as “Back to Earth”. However, given the series before this was branded as “8” and the one after this was “Red Dwarf X” (or 10), then this generally gets considered “Series 9”, even if it’s not officially labeled that way.
- This is the second (and final to date) three part episode of Red Dwarf, the other being Series 8’s “Back in the Red“.
- The original extra long tweets for Episode 1 are here and here – On BlueSky, I needed more parts due to length of posts there.
Links
[ Wikipedia | Tongue Tied Wiki | Amazon US Blu-Ray | Amazon UK Blu-Ray ]Episode 1:
I wrote a bit more about Episode 1 than I can fit in standard Twitter text length – here’s the full text of Episode 1..
10 years & 5 days later, we get a new ep of #RedDwarf. This is Part 1 of the 3 part “Back to Earth”, which I have issues with. The first episode reminds me of Dwarf a lot, but the other two do not. I’m going to type a bit more here as I won’t fit it in to just two tweets.
There’s a *LOT* of changes over where we were at the end of Series 8. First off, the show is now made in 16×9 HD, prior to this it was all 4×3 SD. The show is no longer on BBC, it’s on “Dave”. Norman Lovett & Chloe Annett are gone from the series. The cast has reset itself back to an earlier combo (although Annett has a brief cameo in pt 3 despite having said to be dead). Series 8 Rimmer was living, but he’s back to being a hologram (without Holly?) – this is the original hologram Rimmer that left to become Ace in Series 7, now he’s stopped doing that and has come back to Red Dwarf. It does look better, as money has been spent, and just general production values have increased since it was off the air for a decade. There’s also no audience laughter here, which is a really odd feel. In Series 7, there was no live audience but it was dubbed later. No audience has a way different feel than the usual episode.
This first part introduces a previously unknown character Katerina Bartikovsky. It’s the best part of Back to Earth, IMO. She’s not exactly evil, just gruff, and I rather liked the character. The main plot involves a sea monster that has gotten into the water supply and is stopping all the water flow in the ship – they’re trying to figure out how to get rid of it to save the water. Of the three parts of this, the first one here feels most like the Red Dwarf we know, albeit without a laugh track. Once Bartikovsky shows up, she relieves Rimmer as the highest ranking officer and actively plots to get Lister back to Earth right away.
#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 1/8 10 years & 5 days later, we get a new ep of #RedDwarf. This is Part 1 of the 3 part "Back to Earth", which I have issues with. The first episode reminds me of Dwarf a lot, but the other two do not. There's a *LOT* of changes
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 2/8 over where we were at the end of Series 8. First off, the show is now made in 16x9 HD, prior to this it was all 4x3 SD. The show is no longer on BBC, it's on "Dave". Norman Lovett & Chloe Annett are gone from the series.
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
[image or embed]
#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 3/8 The cast has reset itself back to an earlier combo (although Annett has a brief cameo in pt 3 despite having said to be dead). Series 8 Rimmer was living, but he's back to being a hologram (w/o Holly?) - this is the original
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
[image or embed]
#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 4/8 hologram Rimmer that left to become Ace in Series 7, now he's stopped doing that and has come back to Red Dwarf. It does look better, as money has been spent, and just general production values have increased since it was off
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 5/8 the air for a decade. There's also no audience laughter here, which is a really odd feel. In Series 7, there was no live audience but it was dubbed later. No audience has a way different feel than the usual episode. This
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
[image or embed]
#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 6/8 first part introduces a previously unknown character Katerina Bartikovsky. It's the best part of Back to Earth, IMO. She's not exactly evil, just gruff, and I rather liked the character. The main plot involves a sea monster
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
[image or embed]
#RedDwarfMarathon Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 7/8 that has gotten into the water supply and is stopping all the water flow in the ship - they're trying to figure out how to get rid of it to save the water. Of the three parts of this, the first one here feels most like the #RedDwarf
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
[image or embed]
#RedDwarfMarathon Ep 53 - Back to Earth Pt 1 - 10 Apr 2009 8/8 we know, albeit without a laugh track. Once Bartikovsky shows up, she relieves Rimmer as the highest ranking officer and actively plots to get Lister back to Earth right away. Wish the three parts all held up like this first part did.
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 54 - Back to Earth Pt 2 - 11 Apr 2009 1/2 OK, the crew gets to Earth, but in this reality they're not real people, they've landed in "our" Earth where Red Dwarf was a TV show and they're fictional characters. Most of this ep is them running around trying to come to
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:38 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon Ep 54 - Back to Earth Pt 2 - 11 Apr 2009 2/2 grips with that. This is quite weird, and just doesn't go anywhere. Usually I like a bit of meta in my sci-fi, but this is just way over the top and isn't funny at all, IMO. The Starbug car is fun. Bartokovski has a cameo & then killed.
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:38 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 55 - Back to Earth Pt 3 - 12 Apr 2009 1/2 Let's get this out of the way - probably my least fav individual ep of Red Dwarf ever. The best thing about BTE is gone (the Russian science officer), and this was spent with the "characters" finding their creator to beg for
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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#RedDwarfMarathon #RedDwarf Ep 55 - Back to Earth Pt 3 - 12 Apr 2009 2/2 more life. Gets super meta when we meet real Craig Charles here on Coronation Street. Resolution is meh - we're using the despair squid concept again? Goes very Blade Runner. Kochanski cameo & final ep for Chloe Annett.
— Joe Siegler (@joesiegler.blog) January 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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