Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión
Red Dwarf: “Tikka to Ride”
Given much of the hypocritical rhetoric that has surrounded John F. Kennedy in recent years -- what with conservatives who would have hated his guts crying crocodile tears over his death and liberals who would have denounced many of JFK's policies pretending that he was a kindred spirit -- it would be nice to think that this one episode -- one of the few episodes in any science-fiction show, British or otherwise, to reference the JFK assassination -- was a refreshing piece of satire. But it is not.
Instead, it seems like one long and unfunny exercise in bad taste. Granted, the show Red Dwarf was not above employing a lot of dark humor prior to this episode. Nor did I ever object to such humor in the past. Morever, I hardly expect British writers to show the same reverence for the Kennedy Administration that most Americans of my generation do. Then again I hardly expected the show's writers to come up with a plot as awful as this episode's either.
Anyway, this episode involves protagonist Dave Lister going back in time to 1963 Dallas in order to get supplies for a good curry, only to find him and his companions inadvertently preventing the Kennedy assassination by accidentally killing would-be JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. When they return to the future, they discover that the world has been conquered by the Soviet Union as a result of Kennedy's having survived his infamous trip to Dallas. In order to change things back to the way they were originally, Lister and his pals track down the real John F. Kennedy and convince him to assassinate himself in 1963 Dallas. Along the way, Kennedy asks Lister if he will be remembered as a good man and Lister assures him that he will. Unfortunately, all that would have been a bit more convincing if Lister had not just convinced said good man to martyr himself in order to correct Lister's mistake.
I normally like Red Dwarf and this episode marked the first time that I really found myself hating the series. Not because I hate dark humor or because I consider JFK to be some sacred cow who can't be approached in a less than serious fashion but because the show's writing just did not seem to up to par and the writers' attempt to have things both ways -- playing the JFK assassination for laughes while at the same time pandering to Kennedy worshippers on both sides of the Atlantic -- really did not work. Perhaps if the writers had taken a cue from Terry Gilliam's Brazil and used this episode as a way to satirize human foibles in general, it might have worked. Then again, since the writers never quite made a convincing case that Kennedy's surviving Dallas would have been a disaster, maybe it would not.
All I know is that this episode did not work for me. And not just because my parents voted for Kennedy.
Red Dwarf: “Tikka to Ride”
Given much of the hypocritical rhetoric that has surrounded John F. Kennedy in recent years -- what with conservatives who would have hated his guts crying crocodile tears over his death and liberals who would have denounced many of JFK's policies pretending that he was a kindred spirit -- it would be nice to think that this one episode -- one of the few episodes in any science-fiction show, British or otherwise, to reference the JFK assassination -- was a refreshing piece of satire. But it is not.
Instead, it seems like one long and unfunny exercise in bad taste. Granted, the show Red Dwarf was not above employing a lot of dark humor prior to this episode. Nor did I ever object to such humor in the past. Morever, I hardly expect British writers to show the same reverence for the Kennedy Administration that most Americans of my generation do. Then again I hardly expected the show's writers to come up with a plot as awful as this episode's either.
Anyway, this episode involves protagonist Dave Lister going back in time to 1963 Dallas in order to get supplies for a good curry, only to find him and his companions inadvertently preventing the Kennedy assassination by accidentally killing would-be JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. When they return to the future, they discover that the world has been conquered by the Soviet Union as a result of Kennedy's having survived his infamous trip to Dallas. In order to change things back to the way they were originally, Lister and his pals track down the real John F. Kennedy and convince him to assassinate himself in 1963 Dallas. Along the way, Kennedy asks Lister if he will be remembered as a good man and Lister assures him that he will. Unfortunately, all that would have been a bit more convincing if Lister had not just convinced said good man to martyr himself in order to correct Lister's mistake.
I normally like Red Dwarf and this episode marked the first time that I really found myself hating the series. Not because I hate dark humor or because I consider JFK to be some sacred cow who can't be approached in a less than serious fashion but because the show's writing just did not seem to up to par and the writers' attempt to have things both ways -- playing the JFK assassination for laughes while at the same time pandering to Kennedy worshippers on both sides of the Atlantic -- really did not work. Perhaps if the writers had taken a cue from Terry Gilliam's Brazil and used this episode as a way to satirize human foibles in general, it might have worked. Then again, since the writers never quite made a convincing case that Kennedy's surviving Dallas would have been a disaster, maybe it would not.
All I know is that this episode did not work for me. And not just because my parents voted for Kennedy.
Labels: Dallas, Enano Rojo, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión IX
posted by Tonio Kruger at 2:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home