Red Dwarf X Trailer: Six Episode Final Series Arriving September

Back To Earth, the three-part Red Dwarf series that appeared back in 2011 was, well, a bit rubbish. I’m not sure what series co-creator Doug Naylor was trying to accomplish with the official bookend to the venerable sci-fi comedy, but whatever it was, it didn’t work. Last month, it was announced that UK channel Dave had commissioned another six episodes, set to debut sometime next month. I was scared initially, but this trailer has bolstered my hopes.

Every moment of 58-second clip looks and sounds streets ahead of what we got in Back To Earth. Sure, the actors are looking paunchier and older (except maybe Danny John-Jules, who doesn’t seem to have aged a day), but it feels like it’s gone back to the vibe of the earlier series, rather than the more serious, audience-less revamp of the newer ones. It’s a sentiment echoed by Craig Charles, who plays the character of Dave Lister. From Bleeding Cool:

We’ve stopped being an action adventure series and gone back to being more of a sitcom. Back To Earth looked fantastic and was very clever but it wasn’t as funny as it could have been, choosing to be more of an emotional journey. We’re now back to being four clowns in a room, each trying to be funnier than the next man. We’re still 3 million years into deep space, looking for a way home and really hot curry. But now it’s a bit more like Grumpy Old Men.

While the series was announced back in July, it’s only recently the cast and crew have started talking about the direction the new series will take.

[YouTube, via Bleeding Cool]