User Reviews

I watched both the first and second pilots on youtube (go to youtube.com and type in Red Dwarf pilot). The first one was utter garbage, the only saving graces were the captain, Tau (played by a woman, she was very good). And, of course Holly. The actors playing Lister and Rimmer looked like they were choking on lines wrapped in painful barbed wire. The actor playing the Cat was utterly, unbelievably bad. And, poor Kryten (the original British actor), though good, looked bored with the whole affair. The sets looked OK, but the special effects were stock British Dwarf. Now on the other hand, the second pilot looked much better. My favorite there was Terry Farrel (later to play Dax on Star Trek Deep Space Nine) playing the Cat. She was fantastic. The actor playing Lister was pretty good in this one, guess he did a bit of practicing between pilots. But, the actor playing Rimmer was stumbling dreadfully on the character. Holly was very good in this one as well. American television has been guilty of stealing British sitcoms for decades. Three's Company, All in the Family, even Sanford and Son started out as British comedies, though translated well for American audiences. But, Red Dwarf is one of those shows that lose's everything it is in translation. This project was doomed from the start. It might have been promising if it was not translated, just imported. I give the first pilot a 1 out of 10. But,the second pilot I'll be nice and give a 4, if not just for Holly and The Cat.

"Red Dwarf" is a 25-minute television short film from almost 25 years ago that was intended to launch the American take on the famous British comedy series with the same name. Science Fiction meets Comedy is something that is not really common. The lead actor here is Craig Bierko who I know from "Boston Legal". Obviously, he was still a lot younger here when "Red Dwarf" was made. The director is "Night Court" and "Malcolm in the Middle" maker Jeff Melman and this one here was probably among his least successful career works. All in all, this is a fairly forgettable watch. I am not familiar with the British series, but I am sure that this one isn't that great either. It's not that amateurs made this one here really and Bierko is a talented actor. I probably would not have kept watching though if this series had continued, so my final verdict is thumbs down.

I've finally been able to see what Satin City/Universal Studios did to Red Dwarf in 1992 for the US. There were actually two pilots, which makes things a bit confusing for everyone. I was able to only see Pilot #1 but I researched Pilot #2 to give some background about it as well. I will try to lay everything down in small bits.

Pilot #1 had a male Cat, a clean shaven Lister and Kryten. Of course, taking the plot from the UK pilot, entitled "The End". I did get a few chuckles out of this pilot but I shook my head in sorrow the rest of the time.

Pilot #2 had some recasting as well as a different general plot altogether. This time the writers took ideas from the UK episodes of `Backwards' `Terrorform' and `Parallel Universe' and used them in a style ala `Tikki to Ride' recapped `Out of Time'. This premise would've been a better start. I never saw it, but I read some scripts and saw some pictures from it. It was sounding better, but not by much.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

My thoughts about Pilot #1 are as follows. The UK music would've been just fine for the beginning theme of the US version; Todd Rundgren's version was more like elevator music. The adaptation of Kryten was just to give the show flavour and nothing much more. Recapping the premise at the end of the episode makes people feel stupid, especially throwing in bogus footage from the UK series. The part of Lister was out of place; Lister is smeggy and always should be - where's the cigarette smoking, curry eater we love? The set was way too functional and futuristic for the 22nd century, especially for an old mining ship. They should've casted Mac MacDonald as the Captain, at least for the pilot. You can clearly see Craig Charles' face in the mask while painting the F in Red Dwarf in the beginning. The opening minutes, the overview should've been done with a bit more charm; having a guy talk about his sex life isn't a good start on a premise, especially in a command room setting. I didn't like the Battlestar Galactica feel to it. The graphics were actually worse, though it sounds impossible, than the UK version; this does include the credits. Finally the corny jokes, the general atmosphere and the canned laughter were the biggest issues of mine.

My thoughts about Pilot #2 are as follows. They should've kept their first choice as Rimmer instead of using Anthony Fuscle, who looks way too muscular and not weasely enough. This pilot version also gives life to a female cat who is not at all like the UK version; instead, Terry Farrell, was casted as courageous and sharp-witted - obviously casted as a sex object. Kryten is in this version as well; I can't say anything bad about Robert. They used a lot of clips from Pilot #1 and the BBC version, which in my mind was not a good idea; starting fresh would've given them a better chance at selling the idea.

The scripts for this premise were rewrites of the originals from the BBC with all the best parts taken to make a full episode. They would've had a lot less material overall and only could've done about 2-3 seasons rather than eight series, like the BBC version.

In my opinion, instead of trying to mesh something like this for American audiences, they should sell the original Red Dwarf - Season by Season - to Sci-Fi or Comedy Central in the US. This would give true fans of comedy, or Sci-Fi, a great piece of work that entertains millions of people overseas, including Prof. Stephen Hawking and Patrick Stewart. I believe in 1992 there was no Comedy Central or Sci-Fi - but there was a USA Network; that would've had a great spot to run these on a nightly schedule around 11pm, right between two episodes of Wings.

As for this version, I will give it an overall rating of 2/10, mainly for the idea. However there was no originality. A rule of thumb is that the concept should never change, even if the idea is ported overseas.

No... Seriously... Just NOOOO! this should never have been made. i was lucky enough to have spoken to Rob Grant one of the creators of the original red dwarf whilst he was doing a book release and heres a little story he told me.

"the producers approached me and Doug (Naylor) and said he had a few questions before the go ahead, the first was that he didn't feel the American audiences would be able to associate with a hologram, so was there any way we could not kill Rimmer. second, He also felt that American audiences wouldn't feel comfortable with a creature evolved from cats so was there a way to write the Cats part as human, and lastly, Does it HAVE to be set in space?" now as to the truth behind this story i don't know but i assume due to the dire quality of the USA Pilot that it may hold some basis in truth, maybe with a typical Rob Grant humorous twist, either way it sums the show up perfectly, it was set for disaster from the off, recreating red dwarf is like trying to re-make Only Fools and Horses.

its not just the perfect scripting, awe inspiringly bad scenery, and excellent production work that made Red Dwarf what it was, it was Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John Jules and Norman Lovett. they ARE Red Dwarf and always will be. as proved by the temporary replacement of Norman Lovett by Hatie Hayridge in the original Brit series, the program slumped, and was much worse, her performance was excellent but she isn't Holly.

i am interested to find out where the second version of the Cat played by Terry Farrell (A Woman??? Why???) comes into it as only the pilot was ever made....