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Red Dwarf: Timewave (2017)
Utter, turgid, offensive dross
(Very light spoilers in the second paragraph)
This really was poor. An episode about criticism being outlawed, and constructive criticism being a necessary and good thing - two potentially interesting themes - ends up being the worst episode of Red Dwarf by a long shot, and the one most worthy of criticism. Ironic, huh?
Everything is fine until Ziggy, the camp captain turns up. We've had some recycled series VI gags and some tired characterisation, and plenty of exposition. Nothing special, but nothing offensively bad. Then as soon as they board the ship-of-the-week, it's as if everything that was badly done about Series VIII is thrown into a blender with a big heaping pile of smeg and poured directly into the audience's mouth. The resolution of the plot is just "oh, maybe we're wrong, okay we will change our entire civilisation on a whim... oh wait never mind you didn't like my drawing so I won't!" Awful.
There are some terrific lines in this episode, however - captain asshole, the line about titties, and anything that came out of Johnny Vegas' mouth had me in hysterics. But everything else just drags it down, down, down, to the worst episode, certainly of the Dave era, and possibly ever.
Which is a shame, because the previous episode (Siliconia) and the following one (Mechocracy) were both fantastic, ambitious, and hilarious - real shining examples that Red Dwarf is still worth making in the 21st Century, and can hit the heights it managed to in the 90s, if not as consistently as before.
Come on Doug, you can do better than this.
(Incidentally, some people are saying this episode is deliberately bad, in a sort of meta/ironic way, given the concept of the episode. If this is true, then it's a 10/10 work of genius postmodern art, but still a terrible episode of Red Dwarf.)
Back (2017)
Predictable and boring, but has potential
Predictable jokes, a boring plot and some dull side characters, the first episode of this Channel 4 sitcom was a turgid disappointment. There were some laughs, however, and Mitchell and Webb play their roles quite well, so there is room for improvement, and hopefully we're just off to a shaky start, and will kick into a higher gear as the show progresses.
Two brilliant lines about vinyl and cancer, but some dodgy stuff with dogs and aeroplanes. Mitchell is the best thing about this show, and Webb plays a snarky, hate-able git extremely well. For whatever reason.
One joke was ripped from David Mitchell's Soapbox, the YouTube series, and it was done much better on there.
Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: Part Four (1989)
Dreadful ending to a fantastic story
This serial was terrific. Strong characters, an interesting mystery, just the right level of creepiness, stunning scenery, a wonderful humorous tone with great jokes, and that line about anybody remotely interesting being mad. I loved every minute of it.
That is, for the first three episodes. The final episode is dreadful. I haven't felt this let down by a strong beginning's weak ending since Frontios.
Anything to do with Sylvester McCoy gurning or acting like a clown immediately makes me roll my eyes and pray for it to end - and we're treated to an -entire- episode of it. The Doctor defeats the monster(s) of the week by doing a stupid magic act. Give me a break. It took me a few serials to warm to McCoy - I think he's vastly overrated - but just I was starting to finally 'get' what is so great about him and think I was wrong, we're given this tripe. Almost anything involving gods/the supernatural in Doctor Who also makes me tune out, with exception to Pyramids of Mars.
The Gods of Ragnarok are (ironically?) incredibly boring villains, and there was no need for the episode to suddenly nosedive into this territory out of nowhere, other than Andrew Cartmel's perverse desire to turn the Doctor into God (which was handled much better in Silver Nemesis.) It could have just been some poor brainwashed aliens who sold their souls/were driven mad by the eye thing. It was a feeble attempt at making the story epic like that time the ship exploding in Terminus would also make the Entire UNIVERSE EXPLODE!!!!! for no reason other than melodrama and a cheap cliffhanger.
Everything in episode four just sort of happens, as characters die because they've outlived their purpose and you can physically feel the wheels of plot turning and the audience collectively checking how much more of this gash they have to sit through.
As an aside - I like Cartmel but believe had he been allowed to continue past Season 26 he could have taken his somewhat interesting masterplan too far into the realms of unbelievable darkness which don't quite sit comfortably with the rest of the show. As it stands he injected the show with a good amount of mystery and intrigue and made us question who the Doctor was, but all the stuff I hear about Time's Champion etc makes me glad they never went that far in the show. Having The Doctor be some grand chessmaster rather than just an intrepid wanderer sucks some fun out of the show and raises some weird moral issues. Yes, it might stretch credibility that all his adventures happens by happenstance, but that never bothered me. This is Doctor Who for goodness sake.
So, starting out as an 8/10 episode and a potential highlight of the series, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy quickly turns into The Worst Show Since Time and the Rani. A sore disappointment.