What makes it so disappointing...

Is that the cast is quite exceptional. Nick Frost, Miranda Hart, Kevin Eldon, and the super-sexy guy with all the hair who plays Jeffers... all comedy gold.

Too bad the writing is so lame that there are times high comedy (without the laugh track) plays out more like pathos and then it gets downright weird...

I am a huge fan of Red Dwarf, and I think I've watched the entire series about 8 times, including twice with the commentary on. Then, being such a rabid fan, I decided that I should read the books.

Big mistake. Beside the fact that the writer(s) (I'm never sure exactly which book was written by Naylor alone or Grant and Naylor) have re-written many major plots, they have re-written the characters of our Dwarfers into being some truly horrible creatures. They're creepy and repulsive (Rimmer goes to prostitutes to get laid, Cat tortures dogs because he doesn't like them, Kryten has barely a presence at all, etc.) I finished the first book to see if there was anything redeeming about them (and Lister being friendly to the worms was sorta sweet but there was a huge degree of "do it or die" to it).

I would never have believed that actors are responsible for so much of the characterization, but if those books represent the characters of the Dwarfers as they were envisioned by Grant and Naylor, the actors did an even more spectacular job than I thought of turning them into better individuals (until Series VIII when all characters, including Kryten, were pretty repulsive. Kryten, the heart, sensitivity, and soul of the Dwarfers would never have stooped to putting spycams in the women's shower, and he would have lectured Lister sorely for even bringing it up.)

So yeah... the writers weren't up to the task of working with such a great cast. The chemistry just didn't come together as hoped. You can only capture lightening in a bottle so many times, I guess.

Samantha
"We're here. We're dead. Get used to it."