For All the Haters...
I'm a big fan of Red Dwarf, and I was warned in advance that this was not the same kind of comedy. Actually, I was warned that it "sucked", and to not even give it a chance.
So, naturally, I watched it.
Honestly, it's not that bad at all. The effects are brilliant, the music well done, but the writing isn't quite as glossy as its futuristic trappings. The first season has its quirks and false starts, but I actually hope that the BBC gives this series a third run. Recall that Red Dwarf didn't hit its stride until the third season, and that Hyperdrive is getting better as it goes along. The problem right now is that the writers of this particular situation comedy are more into the situation than the comedy. Red Dwarf's strength was in its three main characters and their archetypal personalities - Rimmer the uptight jerk, Lister the slobby common man, and Kryten the logical expositionizer. Holly had his/her moments as well, but mostly it was about three guys in a boat and their weird adventures. Hyperdrive needs to boil down its crew. The series seems to owe more to Star Trek and the seminal American sci-fi comedy movie "Dark Star" than to the boys from the Dwarf. Taken on its own merits, Hyperdrive has potential, but they need to eliminate some of the cast.
Sadly, though he is one of my favorite actors, Nick Frost as Commander Michael "Mike/Hendo/Lucky Jack" Henderson simply isn't captainy enough. He'd be a great first officer on the ship, or security chief, or engineering guy...but he's just not commanderful. I really, really hate to say that, too, because he was the best part of both "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." Don't even get me started on his Mike Watt character from Spaced...pure genius.
But here, as the lead character who is supposed to be charismatic and leader-y, he just doesn't project the needed strength. Maybe he needs to lose the beard, which gives him the opposite energy of Jonathan Frakes' William Riker...the beard softens him, when he needs to project strength. I was taken by how much better he looked in one of his publicity photos shown in a behind-the-scenes bit on the DVD where he was clean-shaven. Maybe that's all he needs, because he's brilliant with the subtle dialogue and broader comedy.
Alas, Chloe...while I admire her character, I think she's really a One-Note Wanda, a character who loses strength as she is taken away from a central figure or concept. In this case, she becomes much less interesting when she isn't interacting with Frost's Henderson. Also, for one of only two main female characters, she exudes no real charisma or chemistry or sex appeal. I realize that's the point of her character, so I don't fault the actress (who is fine in the role) but the character needs more meat on her (metaphorically speaking), and either needs to be padded (on the page) or subtracted.
York - the most interesting character here is also the one with the most flaws. It's as if the writers didn't know what to do with him beyond being the resident rabid smooth-foreheaded Klingon. (In fact, in one scene, he even packs a faux Klingon knife of the type sold at sci-fi conventions...I should know, I have the exact same knife). They tried making him a sometime inventor, which works fine, but is very underplayed. York is a good character but not well balanced. He shows promise, but needs work.
Jeffers and Vine need to be better developed, but so long as they are mostly kept in the background, they're fine.
Sandstrom needs more screen time to flesh out her character. So far, she's the only one with any real sex appeal (and two separate characters are in love with her, which says less about her than it does about Chloe). That's something this show is sadly lacking in...sex appeal. Add a hottie to the cast, male or female, somebody to bring in the testosterone/estrogen brigades. Maybe they need to bring in a brigade of robot supersoldiers to fight the Shiny Red Robots of Vortis, but the crew of the Camden Lock come up short and are armed with a squad of surplus sex robots with laser rifles. There's a story in there somewhere, maybe I should move to England...I could save this show yet.
- T
:)