The Neverwas: RED DWARF's American remake

The Neverwas is an occasional feature where we look at interesting creative projects (movies, TV, books, games, etc.) that came close to happening, only to eventually fall apart for various reasons.

Back in the early '90s, a couple of attempts were made to remake the UK sci-fi comedy hit Red Dwarf as an American series. Most American remakes of British TV shows ditch everything that made the original special and just steal the basic premise, but in this case it seems like they were really making an effort to capture the essence of the original Red Dwarf. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, the creators of the UK series, were brought aboard to supervise. A talented cast was hired, including Frasier's Jane Leeves as Holly the ship's computer, Robert Llewellyn reprising the role of Kryten the android from the original series, and Broadway vet Hinton Battle as the Cat. (Buffy fanatics will remember him as Sweet the demon, from the musical episode Once More, with Feeling.)

They filmed a pilot episode, and you can see a grainy version of it below. At the end of the clip, click for the next part.



The pilot had some charm, but it just didn't click. (The American Rimmer was a particular weak point, lacking the unique, anxious bravado of Chris Barrie's original.) So they tried again, this time with Terry Ferrell (later to go on to play Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as the Cat. That version didn't really work either. As Grant would later point out, casting a beautiful woman as the Cat ruined the comedy of the character. The original Cat was a vain dandy, constantly preening and boasting about how sexy he was... But where are the laughs in that, if the Cat is a girl who really does look good?



After two failed attempts, the American Red Dwarf series was sensibly abandoned. Grant and Naylor returned to England, where the original Red Dwarf went on to become a wildly uneven but well-loved comedy institution.

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Technocrati tags: [Red Dwarf]