Phracture No wonder this never got past the pilot! The characters (with the exception of Kryten) are generic looking, acting, and speaking with none of the wackiness of the UK version; UTTERLY uninteresting.The jokes fall flatter than an amoeba in a centrifuge. Even the jokes ripped straight from the UK version are delivered so badly they don't even elicit a smile.No understanding whatsoever of UK RD's "trench humor". The music adds nothing.The whole mess is just... PUTRID BEYOND WORDS!Ho1ywood* just cannot seem to make any kind of comedy except banal machine-gun-rapid "spray stupid sex jokes and hope a few work", sort. Compared to this the minute long "Pigs in Space" segments of the Muppet Show were absolute masterpieces!* misspelling intentional

ian1000 Red Dwarf, like any established sci-fi show carries a baggage of nerds with it - they attend filmings, conventions and book signings. They don't realise that they make up a tiny proportion of any show's audience.Given that, it's no surprise that the RD nerd crew did not like the US pilot. The main reason seems to be the recasting of Lister, who was in fact played by a fine actor who fitted into the role well. I understand that Chris Barrie was asked to do the US pilot but declined, while Cat was always going to be a US actor, another factor to upset the nerds.The things that spoil the pilot are:-Dreadful music. Poor editing, especially the inclusion of the UK scenes at the end.Overall, I laughed out loud several times, yet when watching The End I only managed a chuckle at one line.

taz121_ Its interesting to read the American quotes comments above as they seem to enjoy it more than the rest of the world, perhaps they were not entirely wrong about the way the depicted it. IMO however, from a 'British' perspective this is complete drivel. The acting is sooooooooo bad its beyond belief. Its bad one-liners, what the yanks are so good at, and the audience laughter at every little thing is just annoying! OK so the original lacked effects and was made 16 years ago but to this day its a classic. You cant throw in poor jokes poorer actors and fancy sets and effects and expect it to workOn the flip side of the coin, 'The End' screened in 1988 in the UK did not have many viewers either, it went from strength to strength from the off-set.

edamb I saw a pretty poor copy of this but the bottom line is that it lacks the punch, clarity and humor of the original series.The characters are thin, unbelievable, two dimensional copies of the flawed but warm and likeable characters in the original series. The only actor who came from the original series is Robert Llewellyn who tries hard but is let down by the rest of the cast and the direction.There's something seriously wrong with the timing of the humor. It's set up as if it was a sitcom not a comedy. The timing should be quite different however the canned laughter track is timed for a sitcom not for a comedy show and thus makes all of the comedy fall totally flat. If you like Red Dwarf, give this a miss. If you haven't seen the original Red Dwarf then beg, borrow, steal or buy the original (or look for re-runs on PBS) but give this remake a wide, wide berth.