Villordsutch reviews Red Dwarf XII – Timewave…
Red Dwarf XII episode 3 can proudly boast another special guest star this week as Johnny Vegas makes an appearance in the long running sci-fi comedy. Vegas himself is a big fan of science fiction, recently appearing as a Judge in 2000 AD and now he’s here, adding his name to the Red Dwarf credits. It’s such a shame he’s landed on what will possibly be remembered as one of the worst episodes ever and I’m even taking into consideration Back in the Red (all three parts).
With Rimmer staking claim of a Helium-7 rich moon, now given the title of ‘Rimmer’ along with the surrounding spacial bodies, the honorary celebrations are cut short due to an incoming timewave. This strange phenomenon brings into the Dwarf’ers lives the S.S.Encomium – from the 24th Century – and places it on a collision course with the newly named moon.
The Boys from the Dwarf board the vessel to alert them of the rapidly approaching disaster, however they soon discover that aboard this ship it’s illegal to criticise and due to this chaos reigns; as everyone now has carte blanche to do whatever they desire. Unfortunately this also means the engineers don’t have to listen to Ziggy, the apparent Captain of the Encomium.
As the chaps later dare to make a comment on a meal served, they soon find themselves on the wrong end of the somewhat bizarre law.
I know it’s been said earlier, but this really isn’t Red Dwarf at its finest. If I was taking a long guess at where this story came from I would go for a last attempts and leftovers effort, due to the amount of clashing stories we find. These include: The Rimmer Moon covered in priceless Helium-7, Timewaves, the Blofeld-like Rimmer, Doug Naylor highlighting the extreme side of Political Correctness, and the S.S.Encomium crew – the latter seeming to be little more than bizarre pantomime of Golgafrincham Ark Fleet Ship B from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
The odd thing is, without the S.S.Encomium, I think Doug Naylor may have had a good story to tell here. Though my mind wanders back to Timeslides from series, it still could have seen this been completely different and much better. Yet instead we’ve got a somewhat embarrassing episode in which our main cast wander through trying their hardest to hold this episode together, as the guest cast overact around them.
Timewave is the first true stinker of Red Dwarf XII and here’s hoping that it’ll be the last.
Red Dwarf XII “Timewave” is available to watch now on UKTV Play.
Rating: 4/10
