News Roundup: Twentica reviews, shop launch, BAFTA audio, SFX special & more!

September 17, 2016 Alex News, Series XI News 0

It’s been a very busy week in terms of news, the biggest of all of course being the launch of Series XI on UKTV Play just after 9am on Thursday morning. There’s a lot to cover, from reviews to tiny tidbits, but let’s start with the biggie…

Watch Twentica online

If somehow you’ve been intending to watch the episode via this method but have missed it until now, there are several options available to you:

  • The UKTV app

IOS users can download the app from app store, and it’s also available to Android users via the Google Play store. Once the app is downloaded, you’ll need to register an account free of charge before you can watch the episode.

  • The UKTV Play website

The website allows you to watch the episode directly from your internet browser here. As with the app, you’ll need to sign up free of charge to watch via this method.

  • Sky+

Sky+ customers can also download on-demand via your Sky box or the Sky Go app. For anyone with a Sky + HD subscription, you’ll also have the option to download in HD instead of SD.

If you don’t have access to any of these, or indeed you are just waiting for the TV broadcast, the episode airs next Thursday on Dave at 9PM on September 22nd.

Please note that all of these methods only apply to UK residents.

For anyone outside of the UK, a means of seeing the episodes before the region  DVD has yet to be confirmed. You might be able to take some heart in this tweet from Richard Naylor though:

Twentica: our coverage

If you’ve now watched the episode, our written review is available to read here. As with the rest of Series XI, our written reviews will follow each episode’s online debut. Shortly after the episode has aired on Dave, we’ll be releasing a brand new Garbage Podcast. It’ll contain our full in depth discussion of the episode with the benefit of several days to consider everything we’ve seen and some of the reactions.

We’ll also be continuing to bring you articles like this one for anything that may arise. With with a new title sequence itching to be broken down and added to our recent ‘all the guitar opening sequences‘ video among other things, we may well have more to keep you keep you going between the episodes.

Twentica: the reviews are in

And it has to be said they are very positive indeed! Below we’ve tried to round up some of the reviews popping up online, though obviously more will be appearing as the episode actually airs properly on TV on September 22nd.

You’ll find a notable quote from each review and a link in the name of the source it’s from to read it in full:

Radio Times:

Routinely ignored by the BBC in favour of recycled puns about Mrs Slocombe’s pussy, Red Dwarf is once again revived by Dave with an inventive series 11 opener that doesn’t stint on the laughs.

Den of Geek:

Twentica is more than just a series opener; it’s a statement of intent. It’s Grant Naylor and Baby Cow telling us that this run of Red Dwarf is going to be bigger, bolder and smeggier than the last… the series opener leaves a real sense that Red Dwarf XI (and Red Dwarf XII next year) could go anywhere and do anything. And that’s a very exciting prospect indeed.

Digital Spy:

While it was always going to be tricky to match up with previous classic series, what is on offer so far feels the closest we’ve come to “proper” Dwarf since series 6. ….Series X was a highly promising return to form, but judging from this episode (and the next, trust us), this is an exciting time for Dwarf fans.

Chortle:

As always with Dwarf, the jokes are a mix of the smart and the dumb, with quips about quantum mechanics tempered with daft jokes about Kryten’s nipple attachments of banter aimed at the uptight Rimmer. Odds are, you already know if you like the Dwarf brand of humour or not, and this is unlikely to change minds either way, but the pace of the narrative keeps things interested.

Yahoo:

It’s the best ‘Red Dwarf’ we’ve seen in a very long time, and it’s great to see the boys back together again. Let’s hope the rest of Series XI keeps it up.

Beyond The Joke:

There are lots of things to enjoy here… the script is peppered with some delicious lines mixing the scientific with the everyday.

The Inquirer:

It’s great to see Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and Cat given a bit more to do physically on top of the established antagonistic banter that series X showed us is still alive and kicking. We’ll be pretty excited if the rest of Red Dwarf XI pans out with the high-quality poise of this debut.

And The Guardian have also published an article by Luke Holland talking about his history as a fan of the show, and what happened when he visited the set.

BAFTA? I hardly knew her

So with that out of the way, let’s go back to the start of the week, with Monday’s screening of Twentica at BAFTA in London. This was then followed by a Q&A with Doug, Craig, Chris, Danny and Robert, but not before the audience were also treated to a surprise screening of the second episode of Series XI as well, Samsara.

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A jovial Q&A presented various interesting tidbits including the revelation that Samsara was originally to be a budget set in two elivators entitled Lift Off, Doug’s original intention to put Samsara out as the first episode of Series XI and his reluctance to ever write a final episode of the show.

The audio of the Q&A has now been released on BAFTA’s soundcloud account, and is available to stream or download from the player below:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/282867921″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Well listen, if you make it through maybe you’d like to have sex some time next week? I’m free Wednesday morning

As announced last week, the new issue of SFX Magazine went on sale this Wednesday, and features Red Dwarf XI as it’s cover story. Subscribers received a special cover as mentioned in our last news roundup, but for everyone else, there is the choice of four covers:

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While we don’t want to detail the content of the magazine, it’s Red Dwarf feature does contain some new unseen photos from XI and behind the scenes. The piece also has some details on what it took to get the show into production, explaining Craig’s push to get two series filmed back to back.

Also included with the magazine is a rather nice 36 page supplement magazine. This  contains a history of the show, an A-Z guide and a quiz among other short features.

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It’s well worth picking up a copy, and is presently on sale for £4.99.

What about ‘Sounds of the Supermarket: 20 Shopping Greats’?

Also announced last week was the brand new Red Dwarf shop, and just prior to Twentica being released on UKTV Play, the shop opened for business on Thursday morning at shop.reddwarf.co.uk.

Previously, The Official Site had given us a glimpse of some of the stock that would be available. This proved to only be a tiny part of the ever expanding list of items listed for purchase, with even more t-shirts, polo shirts, mugs, keyrings, postcards, bags, posters and more.

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It seems that after each episode is made available, some new items will be added to the store, with two Twentica specific t-shirts currently available. Due to the amount of items in the store and indeed some like these t-shirts showing elements from these shows, we won’t go into further detail about the stock here for the moment. Suffice to say that the range of items seems rather good, and it’s hugely pleasing to have what appears to be some quality merchandise available again.

Price wise, it’s generally in the generally reasonable region of £20 per t-shirt, though smaller items like a set of six postcards come with a price tag of at least £5. It’ll be difficult for us to comment on the value for money of these until we have the products in hand to review. Shipping of orders won’t being until sometime in October, be we’ll be sure to have plenty to talk about when it does.

Additional: 001

While these made up the big events of the week, there have also been a couple of smaller things that popped up on Twitter that you might have missed.

First up, Televisual featured an interview with DoP Ed Moore on his work on Series XI, and it’s certainly well worth a read. In the interview, Ed explains how he approached the series, what his reference points were, and how he wanted to make the show look like Aliens with jokes.

Ed also tweeted the page of the magazine that the article appears on, which unlike the version on the website, contains new Series XI photos:

Stepping back a series, script editor Andrew Ellard meanwhile had the following tidbits on the production of The Beginning in Series X:

Going from looking back to looking at something upcoming, Dan Kay tweeted the below picture, showing Kerry Waddell in the edit for the Series XI DVD extras.

For those wondering, there is still no word on a release for the DVD beyond a listing for the US edition on Amazon. However, we’d be surprised if it wasn’t released as soon as possible after the series has finished going out to capitalise on interest and indeed to grab the Christmas market.

And finally, this week saw Danny John Jules birthday. Danny choose to celebrate it with this terrifying video promoting his upcoming Unlikely Bikers series, that has now left an image that my mind cannot shift. Still, if you wanted to see a visual representation of something only referenced in the show, or indeed see the fringe of Danny’s pubic hair, then this is the video for you.

And that’s everything for now! Be sure to keep checking back on our site for more Red Dwarf XI updates and don’t forget to download The Garbage Podcast on Thursday for our in depth discussion of Twentica.

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