Robert Hampton

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4th March 2004

Maybe next year I’ll pretend to be gay
Posted by at 6.58pm | 1 response | Uncategorised

What did the postman bring today? That’ll be a parcel from amazon.co.uk then. Anyway, I’ve decided I really like Jamie Cullum. I’m not sure why: I never analyse my musical purchases too heavily before buying them (which is why I have a copy of Pokémon 2 B A Master lying around somewhere). My Mum and my sister like him too, which is kind of scary, but still…

Also picked up Red Dwarf series 4 (or Red Dwarf IV if you’re sad) on DVD, as part of my ongoing project to analyse exactly when it was that Red Dwarf went crap. My current theory is that the descent into crapness began with series 5 (or V), with full-on crapocity achieved by the time series 7 (or VII) came along. My problem is I’m obsessed with completeness, so will probably buy the DVDs of these lesser series even though I know I’ll be disappointed, just so it doesn’t look weird on the shelf.

Also got the new book What’s My Motivation? It describes the trials and tribulations of Michael Simkins, an actor who never quite made the big time and has to content himself with appearing in adverts dressed as a chicken. It was serialised in the Daily Mail last week, but I’ve decided to forgive them for that, as it looks like fun stuff, if the extracts are anything to go by.

I can’t think of a witty comment to sign off with (no change there then), so I’ll just stop.

One Response
  1. Comment by Seb
    8th March 2004 at 3:26 pm

    I dunno, there’s still some pretty good stuff going on in VI (“Out Of Time”, which really should have been the last episode ever, is superb, really dark). V has a couple of stormers (“Holoship”, for one, and of course “Back To Reality”), but also has “Demons and Angels”, which isn’t much cop.

    Really, though, it was the gap of a few years that killed Red Dwarf. The first six series, while they do lessen from the sheer brilliance of Series II, still hold up really well together. But VII, while it has its moments, is poor, and the less said about VIII the better.

    (to be really sad and geeky, I’d rank the series II, I, IV, III, VI, V, VII, VIII)

    Like you, though, I’ll still have to buy the last two DVDs – for the sake of completeness, but also to see how much – if at all – the cast and crew justify/defend those two series in the commentaries and interviews…