History Recap / RedDwarfBackToEarth

* CanonDiscontinuity: The Cat bringing a [[spoiler: Despair Squid]] onto the Red Dwarf makes the ''[[http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/gallery/comic-viewer/index.cfm Prelude To Anarchy]]'' webcomic non-canon as it has Starbug going back into space after "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVBackToReality Back to Reality]]" and finding the Red Dwarf missing.

* PutOnABus: Everyone who was on the reconstituted Red Dwarf except the main foursome.

* RightBehindMe: Rimmer unleashes a verbal assault on the new female crewmember Katerina Bartikovsky, unaware that she's behind him. The task of warning him that she's standing right behind him falls to Kryten, who ends up complimenting Bartikovsky's breasts to make his point.

* BigBudgetBeefUp: Totally subverted. The scenes on Red Dwarf ''look'' spectacular, but this is mostly thanks to general advancements in special effects. The three-parter actually had a minuscule budget that was made up for by much of the crew working for free. This is probably why the story takes place in ''real life'' at all.[[note]]This is the reason why many CG-animated movies based on existing properties, such as ''Film/TheSmurfs'' and ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog'', have a similar formula of taking the title characters to the real world, since it's a lot cheaper to shoot a pre-existing forest than it is to create one in a computer.[[/note]]

* [[spoiler: SequelEpisode: One for the Season V Episode; "Back To Realty"]].

* TheUnreveal: The show resumes in its traditional four-character format with no mention or explanation about the previous season's cliffhanger ending.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: As noted above, the special features a sequence showing ludicrous useage of the EnhanceButton trope, bouncing off of windows and even reflective doorknobs, all to get the phone number on the reverse side of a man's business card. At the end, Kryten asks why they didn't just look him up in the phone book, since his name was on the side of the card visible in the original photo.

* NoFourthFall: The plot consists of the intrepid four discovering that they're just characters in a TV series, and trying to track down the writers to find out how long they have left. [[spoiler: Subverted, as it was actually a group hallucination brought on by the ink of a psychedelic squid]].

* BigBudgetBeefUp: Totally subverted. The scenes on Red Dwarf ''look'' spectacular, but this is mostly thanks to general advancements in special effects. The three-parter actually had a minuscule budget that was made up for by much of the crew working for free. This is probably why the story takes place in ''real life'' at all.

* CassetteFuturism: Kryten actually provides a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian]] explanation for why ''Red Dwarf'' has this aesthetic when the Boyz visit a DVD shop in 2009 and Lister (being a late-22nd century boy) is confused as to what [=DVDs=] are. Turns out, at some point in the mid-21st century, humanity had such a problem with losing [=DVDs=] that they reverted back to videotape -- as VHS cassettes, being bigger and bulkier than [=DVDs=], are much harder to lose.
* EnhanceButton: One scene features a wildly over-the-top parody of this.

* CassetteFuturism: Kryten actually provides a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian]] explanation for why ''Red Dwarf'' has this aesthetic when the Boyz visit a DVD shop in 2009 and Lister (being a late-22nd century boy) is confused as to what they are. Turns out, at some point in the mid-21st century, humanity had such a problem with losing [=DVDs=] that they reverted back to videotape -- as VHS cassettes, being bigger and bulkier than [=DVDs=], are much harder to lose.

* CassetteFuturism: Kryten actually provides a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian]] explanation for why ''Red Dwarf'' has this aesthetic when the Boyz visit a DVD shop in 2009 and Lister (being a late-22nd century boy) is confused as to what they are. Turns out, at some point in the mid-21st century, humanity had such a problem with losing DVDs that they reverted back to videotape -- as VHS cassettes, being bigger and bulkier than DVDs, are much harder to lose.

After a series of incidents on Red Dwarf involving a giant squid, the hologram of a female scientist and dimension portal, Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten arrive back on Earth circa 2009, only to find that they are not actually real, but characters in a television series called ''Red Dwarf''.

* TakeThat: A great number of Take That(s) aimed at ''Film/BladeRunner'', Creator/TheBBC,, ''Series/CoronationStreet'' and other material.

* TheUnreveal: The show resumes in its usual four-character format with no mention or explanation about the previous season's cliffhanger ending.

* ChannelHop: The miniseries was made for [[Creator/{{UKTV}} Dave]], unlike all previous series which had been done for Creator/TheBBC. When he hears about Dave, Lister assumes that the channel is actually named after him.

* ChannelHop: The miniseries was made for [[Creator/UKTV Dave]], unlike all previous series which had been done for Creator/TheBBC. When he hears about Dave, Lister assumes that the channel is actually named after him.

* ChannelHop: The miniseries was made for [[ Creator/UKTV Dave]], unlike all previous series which had been done for Creator/TheBBC. When he hears about Dave, Lister assumes that the channel is actually named after him.

''Red Dwarf: Back to Earth'' with the characters Rimmer, Cat, Holly, Kryten and Lister (also referred to as ''Red Dwarf IX'' and ''Red Dwarf: Series IX'') is a three-part miniseries continuation of the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It was the first television outing for Red Dwarf in over ten years. The storyline involves the characters arriving back on Earth, circa 2009, only to find that they are characters in a television series called ''Red Dwarf''.

* TakeThat: A great number of Take That(s) aimed at ''Film/BladeRunner'', Creator/TheBBC, and other material.

** The Crew get attacked by a large Squid creature in Part One. This point, as well as the title of the Mini-Series itself, Foreshadow that it is actually a Sequel to the Episode "Back To Reality"!

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When the clerk at a sci-fi shop mentions an event in [[UnInstallment Series IX]] where Kryten rushed to tell Lister that Kochanski had been sucked out of an airlock, Kryten is shown giving a rather guilty expression. He later confesses that he helped Kochanski leave Red Dwarf and made up her death as a cover story.

* ActorAllusion: The crew meet Creator/CraigCharles, and Rimmer asks for his own sitcom (Chris Barrie starred in ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'', which alluded to Brittas having a similar event occur in his past to Rimmer).

* WholePlotReference: The mini-series is a long parody of ''Bladerunner.''

''Red Dwarf: Back to Earth'' with the characters Rimmer, Cat, Holly, Kryten and Lister (also referred to as Red Dwarf IX and Red Dwarf: Series IX) is a three-part miniseries continuation of the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf. It was the first television outing for Red Dwarf in over ten years. The storyline involves the characters arriving back on Earth, circa 2009, only to find that they are characters in a television series called "Red Dwarf".

* TakeThat: A great number of Take That(s) aimed at ''Bladerunner'', the BBC, and other material.

* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman: Katerina Bartikovsky argues there's no moral problem with murdering a hologram. She is a hologram who wants to kill Lister, also a hologram. [[spoiler: So he kills her instead.]]