Red Dwarf - US Pilot - Part 1

A pilot episode for an American version (known as Red Dwarf USA) was produced through Universal Studios with the intention of broadcasting on NBC in 1992.The show essentially followed the same story as first episode of the original series, using American actors for most of the main roles: Craig Bierko as Lister, Chris Eigeman as Rimmer, and Hinton Battle as Cat. Exceptions to this were Llewellyn, who reprised his role as Kryten, and the British actress Jane Leeves who played Holly. It was written by Linwood Boomer and directed by Jeffrey Melman with Grant and Naylor onboard as creators and executive producers.

During filming of the pilot the audience reaction was good and it was felt that the story had been well received.

The studio executives were not entirely happy with the pilot, especially the casting, but decided to give the project another chance with Grant and Naylor in charge. The intention was to shoot a 'promo video' for the show in a small studio described by the writers as 'a garage'.New cast members were hired for the roles of Cat (re-named Woo-fen) and Rimmer; Terry Farrell and Anthony Fuscle respectively. With a small budget and deadline, new scenes were quickly shot and mixed in with existing footage of the pilot and UK series V episodes. Despite the re-shoots and re-casting, the option on the pilot was not picked up. (Farrell was cast almost immediately afterwards for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.)

As a result, the US pilot exists and has been heavily bootlegged but it has never been broadcast on TV in any country.

• Category

  Comedy

[Ziplock9000]

My god this is terrible.

[Jade Davies]

... This video was so retarded it gave me cancer

[8BallChik]

Not as entertaining as the original. I probably wouldn't have watched this version.

[Ali Long]

Based on the comment I was expecting this to be worse than it is. The first five minutes are very bad, but the rest of it is actually watchable. Rimmer and the Cat are bad casting, but I've always heard the most bad about Lister. Though his character is different, if you're going to remake a show, there ought to be differences. I don't think Lister's American version is awful. Just inadequate. This is probably in the top quarter of unaried pilots I've watched.

[3LiTEPixelDust]

Why did they have to do this to British comedy.

[elfodd35]

If NBC had it's way all the actors would have been buff, tanned models. All the sets would have been super expensive, clean and crisp. That is how Americans ruin British comedies they import.

[elfodd35]

The american versions rimmer is terrible.

[elfodd35]

They always screw shit up when they try to make an american version, however it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but still just wrong.

[wackylaZboy]

smeg

[william hurst]

This is fucking horrible

[MrFluxbass]

what sort of comment is that? You dirt bag.

[Bob Knight]

...Why'd you block me?