I managed to obtain a copy of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, the first original Red Dwarf series (albeit mini-series) in nine years, and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed.

As I mentioned before, it was nice to see the crew back and their usual callow banter. The episode, however, seemed more of an attempt at a relaunch of the franchise than a conclusion to the series. Nothing seems to actually get resolved.

Spoilers follow...

The following promotional video contains a few scene snippets of the upcoming Red Dwarf special/conclusion (called Back to Earth) and is mostly interviews, but simply seeing the conversation between Kryten and Rimmer sets my heart all pitter-pattery.

I wasn't a big fan of Season 8 of Red Dwarf (or the previous few seasons before that, but mostly Season 8) which changed the whole premise and I'm hoping this television special will wrap up the series in a way that is more personally satisfying.

There are spoilers and video after the jump, so if you're not interested in either I recommend to stop reading now.

TV Squad readers tend to know a lot about the inner workings of the television industry, so it's not a surprise to many of you that some shows we grew up with were actually retoolings of British sitcoms. Three's Company, Sanford and Son, and All in the Family are all based on shows that first aired across the pond. Sometimes, however, networks will try to turn a popular British series into a popular American series and fail miserably, and such was the case with Red Dwarf. I was a pretty big fan of the original Red Dwarf, and I would hear occasional rumblings that an American version was being planned. It turns out a pilot was actually shot with American actors, as well as Robert Llewellyn reprising his role as the android Kryten. NBC passed on the pilot but still wanted to try to turn it into a series. In the end, though, an Americanized Red Dwarf never came to fruition. Television Obscurities has a wonderful history of this failed attempt, complete with video clips of the unaired pilot.