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tomcat_alley
Reviews
Red Dwarf (1992)
A Little Anecdote From Creator Rob Grant
No... Seriously... Just NOOOO! this should never have been made. i was lucky enough to have spoken to Rob Grant one of the creators of the original red dwarf whilst he was doing a book release and heres a little story he told me.
"the producers approached me and Doug (Naylor) and said he had a few questions before the go ahead, the first was that he didn't feel the American audiences would be able to associate with a hologram, so was there any way we could not kill Rimmer. second, He also felt that American audiences wouldn't feel comfortable with a creature evolved from cats so was there a way to write the Cats part as human, and lastly, Does it HAVE to be set in space?" now as to the truth behind this story i don't know but i assume due to the dire quality of the USA Pilot that it may hold some basis in truth, maybe with a typical Rob Grant humorous twist, either way it sums the show up perfectly, it was set for disaster from the off, recreating red dwarf is like trying to re-make Only Fools and Horses.
its not just the perfect scripting, awe inspiringly bad scenery, and excellent production work that made Red Dwarf what it was, it was Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John Jules and Norman Lovett. they ARE Red Dwarf and always will be. as proved by the temporary replacement of Norman Lovett by Hatie Hayridge in the original Brit series, the program slumped, and was much worse, her performance was excellent but she isn't Holly.
i am interested to find out where the second version of the Cat played by Terry Farrell (A Woman??? Why???) comes into it as only the pilot was ever made....
A Minute with Stan Hooper (2003)
most of the time i was sat waiting for norm to be... well, norm. it never happened
this was not what i was expecting, i (and many like me) was hoping for more wise cracking, revenge plotting, evil scheming, nuisance making shenanigans. i was waiting for norm to be... well, norm. it never happened.
for those of you not familiar with "the norm show" i can see this having some appealing quality's, the quaint little family comedy almost, though maybe don't watch it with your 8 yr old.
but for those of us who have known and loved him at his best it simply seems too flat. Too many morals and too many "good" things, make this the opposite of what has made norm a living legend
The Norm Show (1999)
Norm Rocks
i first became aware of the norm show a few years ago when it was being shown on channel 4 on Friday nights at 3am, i only bothered to watch it as it was scheduled after drew Carey and Meego, and I'm a big fan of both. however it ended up with me staying up all night to watch norm every week with the others being more of a warm up.
because of this show I'm now a huge norm MacDonald fan and I've collected all his films including the doctor Doolittle movies which i think are rubbish but i had to have just for Lucky's witty normistic attitude.
for those of you new to "norm" look out for the scene of norm giving Mr Denby a lift on his bike....
my favourite quotes...
1. Norm - "I Didn't say Mr Daddy, i Said Mr Daddy" 2. Norm - "I Knew if i did something selfless I'D get something out of it" 3. Shelly - "If You Painted This By yourself Then do Another one!"
Norm - "Okay, I Think This One Should Be A Nude, Strip!"