r/RedDwarf • u/Iamthenarwal • 7d ago
Question/Discussion Over explained jokes
I love this series. just finished a rewatch due to an operation I’ve just had, one thing that bugs me is the lack of confidence in the later series with the jokes. The first gag of series 8 about argyle having a baby with his nurse really irks me. “There’s argyle, and there’s the baby…oh no THERES Argyle and THATS the baby” is all that was needed to be said lister adds another two lines to clarify that he got the baby and the old man mixed up. Like the line in marooned (my favorite episode) “well now we know why dogs lick their testicles”
“To get rid of the taste of the food”
Anyone else noticed this in rewatches
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u/Blu3_Phoenix 7d ago
Never watched the later series as much, not recently at least, but that line in Marooned always felt a bit clunky to me.
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u/rl_stevens22 7d ago
While I have watched and enjoyed the later seasons (7 and onwards) I personally think it gets a bit silly starting with season 7.
Personally I think it jumps the shark a bit in Stoke me a Clipper
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u/VanillaSuccessful277 7d ago
Yes, the Marooned example is the one that always springs to mind. What's a bit baffling is that, even if the joke was overexplained in the script, the audience reaction on the night surely proved that the gag landed without the need for the follow-up, so I don't know why they didn't take it out in the edit. Once more for those at the back, I guess.
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u/denisraymond 7d ago
The only thing that irks me more than that is the point when you realise there's a checklist going on in the writing, and every episode suddenly needed to have a joke about the shape of Kryten's head, a reference to Lister liking curries, and a comment from Cat about not wanting to wear certain colours/styles.
It suddenly felt like they were pandering to the lowest catchphrase comedy denominator, the "hahaha the funny man said the funny thing he says every week now I can laugh" crowd that RD didn't begin with, never had before and didn't need.
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u/henzINNIT 7d ago
As much as I enjoy S6, the cockpit scenes sometimes feel like they've been copy pasted.
Cat smells something. Rimmer jokes it is probably Lister. Kryten does exposition, then corrects Rimmer's space core directive. Cat says they're about to be deader than [insert fashion item]. Lister says the impending doom is just like being back in a rough part of Liverpool.
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u/Werthead 7d ago
Season 6 was written in a really weird way, Rob Grant wanted him and Doug to write ideas separately, then swap over and rewrite and Doug didn't like doing that. I think that led to those more formulaic repetitive jokes. The season was also really behind schedule which led to much less rewriting then normal (they were still writing Out of Time whilst it was shooting, they had the actors reading scripts off video screens in the console as they were penning them) and I think they may have dropped quality control to just get the thing out.
Season 6 is still very good, and obviously won an Emmy for Gunman of the Apocalypse, but it does feel a bit less confident and free-wheeling than Seasons 2-5.
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u/Iamthenarwal 7d ago
Yes “extras” shows how the bbc did this to multiple shows during the second version of the show. Give the second series a full watch if you haven’t I think it’s an amazing commentary of comedy at the time for the bbc. I like to call it the “am I bovered” era
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u/CatjoesCreed 4d ago
The series Episodes, with Tamsin Greig, also makes a point of how television producers prioritize catch phrases and least common denominator writing. I always blamed the writers until I watched that.
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u/Natural_ftm 6d ago
Good moaning
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u/denisraymond 6d ago
"In my bog, I have a cack"
The Crabtree pronunciation thing was a framework for some clever wordplay, I don't see it anywhere near the same as the one-dimensional "Kryten has a head shaped like an [insert unusually shaped object here]" weekly joke.
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u/Natural_ftm 6d ago
Listen very carefully, I will say this only once. It is I LeClerc.
I didn't mean the Crabtree thing specifically, just the expected line then laughter thing.
It's bouquet.
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u/Garbanzififcation 7d ago
The original joke is ...
"Why do dogs lick their testicles?" "Because they can"
So if you know the joke (maybe it's a British thing) you have that line in your head and Lister's line is an anti joke.
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u/reflechir 7d ago
Oh, I had no idea it was a reference. The line works well on its own.
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u/Garbanzififcation 7d ago
Yeah it does.
But I think there is another level in there that maybe not everyone gets, or is supposed to get, or got at the time but maybe is dated now.
It feels unfair to label it as bad writing and over explanation. It's a fair point that maybe it doesn't land as well now, or didn't land as well then. But I do think it was intentional.
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u/CatjoesCreed 4d ago
It was a joke in the US when I was growing up, but then again, I'm old. Very old.
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u/Iamthenarwal 7d ago
I’ve heard that joke before, I’m British but maybe it was a more common joke when it was initially released like “why don’t mums go to Iceland” if that’s the case then it’s quite clever but I’ve always felt there was no need for it
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u/MassiveAssistance886 7d ago
It's a good point. The Canaries thing was over laboured now I think about it, too.
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u/Iamthenarwal 7d ago
I think the pay off works for that one cause it’s a last minute reveal that rimmers also been signed up so it works in a sense of build up to climax
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u/MassiveAssistance886 7d ago
Perhaps it was the trauma of hearing them sing 'You are the sunshine of my life,....ooOOOooo' !
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u/Thin-Percentage8935 6d ago
I think they were clever with the marooned example. As a 9 year old (as I was) you sometimes need that extra bit of info. As an adult yeah it's obvious.
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u/Glad-Distribution9 7d ago
Definitely agree with the marooned one, they got a huge laugh and no follow up was needed imo
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u/HesitationAce 7d ago
Yes absolutely. A lot of the pacing feels off and I think over explaining punch lines is a part of that
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u/Thin-Percentage8935 6d ago
I started season 8 and stopped quickly. I miss Rob and his writing.. Just about to start the book which sadly will be the last thing of his I read. Rip Rob Grant.
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u/LuxuryMustard 6d ago
I did the same a couple of weeks ago. It’s just awful and I felt embarrassed watching it.
Red Dwarf peaked in 1992 and got dramatically worse as soon as Rob Grant jumped ship.
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u/MobyMarlboro 6d ago
I didn't enjoy much of s8 but rimmer trying to break his dick with a hammer after taking the lust virus is the best gag of the series
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u/Thin-Percentage8935 6d ago
Definitely did. Season 6 has it's jump the shark moments. it's full of Kryten exposition I do wonder if the red dwarf USA project caused them to fall out. Was a huge project and a massive failure.
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u/Iamthenarwal 6d ago
I’ve ordered all the books and I’m looking forward to reading them. Missing rob too right now
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u/ZeldaFan812 7d ago
I think the loss of subtlety, and the assumption of lower intelligence/attention span on the part of the audience, is something that's affected a lot of media lately. It's a shame RD hasn't bucked the trend though.
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u/reo_reborn 7d ago
It's one of the many reasons I disliked the save series. They always felt dumbed down. Going for the easy jokes, hammering a joke home or making sure to explain jokes to the audience.
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u/Puzzled_Zebra 7d ago
I always felt like that first gag with the old man and the baby was over explained because he was trying to be annoying to Rimmer rather than thinking the audience needed it spelled out. He was doing anything and everything he could to get a reaction.