Red Dwarf X: Episode 1, Trojan Review

Sometimes it’s better to leave things dead. Sometimes it better to forget that they died at all. Sometimes shows should be sent to Sweden and driven into a moose. Luckily Red Dwarf X, or at least the first episode, falls into the second category.

Red Dwarf is not a show of my generation. The last season ended in 1999 when I was six years old. I only started watching it, with my family, when the DVDs were released. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with it. The show was funny, different, and blended all the things I loved; space, sitcoms, alien-type things, and Craig Charles. (Robot Wars anyone?)

It’s just a shame it had finished. Or…most of its fans thought it had.

After thirteen years and one god-awful special the show returned, in style, to Dave with its tenth season. Trojan felt like a perfect balance between old and new. Sure, some of the jokes seemed to hang about a little too long but they were funny. It was all very funny.

This episode focused on Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie, as he tried to pass his Astro-Navigation exams and become an officer. He had to do this so he could impress his brother before having to rescue his ship from crashing into an asteroid field. Barrie excelled, as did the rest of the cast, hitting the punch lines perfectly and acting the best he had done in a very long time.

Watching the cast reunite was a treat and a vast improvement over the awkwardness of Back to Earth. They bounced off each other, which the live audience probably helped with, and worked together to deliver joke after joke.

Shows that have returned from the grave usually never hit the heights of earlier seasons but Trojan proved that this show can still impress, still be funny and still be smegging fantastic. Hopefully it will only get better.

John Morris