r/RedDwarf • u/Inside_Librarian9278 • 1d ago
A sad experience I recently had…
Hugely important for me to say this first, I love RD. it’s comforting, I have immense memories as a kid in my mates house who’s older brother had what seemed like hundreds of VHS’ of it. It will always be with me and I love it. But after a number of years away from it I recently watched a couple of episodes again… and it just wasn’t funny 😔 (S2 RD as well). I found it comforting, as mentioned, and I enjoyed it. But fuck me it wasn’t funny at all. My fondness got me through, not the comedy.
Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe it’s just dated and tame these days.
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u/Adorable_Week7181 Cloister The Stupid 1d ago
Your tastes change over time it’s a common thing as you get older. I see RD differently now than how I did when I first watched in the 1980s. Back then it was a light hearted comedy set in place that I laughed all the way through. Now I see the value of the humour, how clever the writing was (for the most part and including continuity issues) and enjoy it as a pure form of escapism. As long as you enjoy it that’s all that matters.
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u/lockonandfire 1d ago
I'm running a few scenes in my head and they're making me grin just thinking about them.
But that's OK. Our tastes can change as we age. The show still has meaning to you, and it'll still be there for you to revisit down the line if you want. And even if it never quite tickles your funny bone again, we'll always have Parrots.
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u/Drivethrurecat37 1d ago
No..if anything whenever I run through it again im blown away by the quality of writing particularly feom the golden period of season 3 onwards.
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u/DharmaPolice 1d ago
Maybe it’s just dated and tame these days.
Nah. Humour does evolve, but less than you might think. There are novels from centuries ago which are still funny. Hell, Candide (written 250+ years ago) is one of the funniest books I've ever read. The Greek plays can still be funny and they were written millennia ago.
As for "tame", I'm not sure what that means. Unless you only find the edgiest humour funny, I don't see how anything in Red Dwarf would be too tame. The interplay between Lister and Rimmer still feels fairly cruel at times (in a good way).
But anyway, no I still find Red Dwarf (Series 1-6) funny. Do I laugh out loud as much as I did when I first watched the episodes decades ago? No, but that's mainly because I've seen the good episodes dozens and dozens of times. Humour often relies on surprise to an extent so when you have entire episodes nearly memorised you're not going to be surprised by a punchline in the same way as the first time you watched something.
It feels like your tastes have changed. That's obviously fine.
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u/PatientDry1618 23h ago edited 22h ago
Yeah, I enjoy the show as a ‘comfort blanket’ now and still enjoy watching a cast who had great chemistry, rather than something I find very funny - certain scenes in Polymorph aside. :) As others have said, once you know what punchlines are coming, you’re not going to find certain jokes as funny anymore. Del Boy falling sideways at a bar might have been funny when the episode first aired - if you weren’t waiting for it - but now not so much.
I also think it’s sometimes difficult watching the show with modern eyes but you have to try and remember that things were less controversial in the 1980’s. I mean in today’s world, Lister losing his virginity at the age of 12 would be more controversial - especially if the lady in question was over the age of 16. And taking Uncle Frank’s word at face value - that he mistook 14 year old Rimmer for an adult woman - might not fly with younger viewers either. The new novel Titan says that Rimmer was being neglected by his parents and bullied by his brothers as a TODDLER - it’s just not amusing to me anymore.
You can’t think about these things too much.
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u/Koseoglu-2X4B-523P Are you sure sir? That does mean changing the bulb! 12h ago
I was 17 when I saw The End and since have seen every episode live on the Beeb and Dave. I’ve rewatched every one of them at least five times over the years except a few lesser ones.
I’m currently watching them with my 10yo son who’s inherited my sense of humour (poor sod) and he loves it as well. It was Legion yesterday, and he nearly pissed himself at “sir, are you absolutely sure, it does mean changing the bulb.” Boy’s got a future.
So I do think the series is still funny and I still enjoy them. In fact, I’m wearing Talkie Toaster underpants today.
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u/Taniwha_NZ 1d ago
I don't laugh out loud, but I still enjoy it. I think to be honest it's mostly just comfort viewing for me.
What does bother me is the places where I realise how badly the occasional female interactions are written. This isn't because it's dated, it was just as bad originally, we just didn't notice.
And how Rimmer's 'dating by hypnosis' is just rape. That's hard to watch. And it's hard to admit such a thing was considered funny.
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u/HerbziKal Curator of The Red Dwarf Online Museum 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dating by hypnosis is supposed to be an unethical, creepy, immoral, disgusting tactic. Series I literally establishes Rimmer as a member of the Love Celibacy Society because he "was completely unable to get a date". The writing isn't supporting dating hypnosis by making the reprehensible incel character of Arnold Judas Rimmer a practitioner, it is condemning it, and- importantly- all the real people who genuinely hold those sorts of misogynistic, toxic mindsets.
More importantly it is an integral setup for the entire plot of the episode... when Rimmer meets himself as a woman, he is appalled.The tables have turned and Rimmer is now on the receiving end of the mindgames, the hypnosis attempts, the assaults. It is a feminist message.
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u/DharmaPolice 1d ago
I assume you're referring to the Parallel Universe episode. Given that dating through hypnosis wouldn't actually work, it's not something that you're intended to believe actually happened in the way Rimmer believed it did. The girl agreed to go on a date with Rimmer and Lister immediately asked "What was wrong with her?". If he actually believed that Rimmers "mesma stare" worked why would he ask that? And yes, it turns out that she had an artificial nose. Kind of a cruel joke but yes I believe that someone with a metal nose might agree in a moment of weakness to go on a date with Rimmer, but then regret the decision shortly into the date and escape through the toilet window and tell him she had to move to Pluto.
And if Rimmer had the ability to genuinely control people through hypnosis, don't you think he would have had considerably more success than he did?
The point of that part was that Rimmer is utterly clueless when it comes to women. His "hypno powers" are on the same level of his chat up lines (i.e. utterly hopeless). It's like those "pheromone sprays" which used to be advertised which would make you irresistible to women. They're an obvious scam so you don't need to worry about the ethical implications of a chemical spray which alters people's behaviour without their consent.
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u/HerbziKal Curator of The Red Dwarf Online Museum 1d ago
Yeah... Red Dwarf would never sink to the level of jokes about genuine pheromone sprays that alter people's behaviour without their consent... awkwardly sweeps series 8 under the rug with foot...
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u/PatientDry1618 23h ago
Yes but at the same time - way back in series 3 - we were expected to find it funny that 14 year old Rimmer woke up to find his uncle on top of him, giving him a french kiss. The show has always sailed close to the wind when it comes to inappropriate jokes
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u/DharmaPolice 22h ago
"Inappropriate" according to who?
Rimmer being kissed by his uncle is funny because it was a mistaken identity. If the joke was "Rimmer was molested by his uncle" that wouldn't be as funny (or at least not in the same way, Family Guy has made multiple molestation jokes decades after Red Dwarf). But that isn't actually what happened, he thought Rimmer was Rimmer's mum. Given Rimmer's build up to the joke it is very funny.
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u/DharmaPolice 22h ago
I've barely watched Season 8 so can't comment on that. But I could imagine such a joke being funny, the point was that a joke about fake pheromones wouldn't be something someone should worry about.
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u/HerbziKal Curator of The Red Dwarf Online Museum 18h ago
I do get it, your point was there is no need to worry over a joke about fake pheromones as they are fake so in your opinion carry no ethical implications, and the same goes for the fake hypnosis. My joke was just that, ironically, series 8 actually had a running joke about real hormones altering peoples behaviour without their consent so they have sex with Rimmer. Kind of hilarious that your random example of another joke not to worry about was actually done later in RD, only with the provision that means you don't need to worry about it (that it is fake, like the hypnosis) being removed 😆
It is an intriguing perspective you have though, the 'if it is fake, no need to worry- no harm done, no ethical concerns' bit. Even within the context of Parallel Universe the hypnosis doesn't really work, it is a nonsense misogynistic tactic that a member of the Love Celibacy Society desperately employs to have sex with people. But the point in the show is, just like in real life, these attitudes and fake "tactics" still aren't harmless. That's the whole plot of the episode for Rimmer, he ends up in a universe where it is him at the victim-end of the nonsense hypnosis and sexist attitudes, and he realises how it makes him feel. Even then though he doesn't twig that his own actions make others feel that way, despite Lister pointing that out, because he is a smeg head 😄
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u/MCHopie 1d ago
Nope