I know not everyone's seen it, but I just got a copy of the pilot episode(s) done for American audiences. Here are some of my thoughts concerning it:

Lister: although he was no Craig Charles, he did show some occasional sparks of being good, especially in his scenes with Kryten. Portrayed as less of a slob and more of a "cool dude."

Rimmer (both actors): woefully mis-cast. Neither of the actors in either presentation captured the lovable weasel we all know. In fact I thought the actor who played the 1st officer would have made a better Rimmer.

The Cat (male version): ok I guess. Kind of a pale imitation of Danny John-Jules.

The Cat (female version-played by Terry Farrell of "Deep Space 9"): Actually kind of an interesting character. Obviously added to the show for some sex appeal. She certainly looked great, and was very different than her male counterpart-fearless, agressive, and daring. An interesting counter-point in the scene they showed with Lister.

Kryten: same actor, playing more or less the same character. Good as always.

Holly (played by Jane Leeves of "Frasier"):I would have thought that Jane would have made a good Holly, But somehow it just didn't work. I think she was trying to imitate Norm Lovett's deadpan delivery and it just didn't work for her. She should have gone after a more Hattie Hayridge style.

The sets from then original show were faithfully re-created (they used the "officer quarters" set rather than the original "crew quarters," and the very few special effects they did looked ok. They also edited in ship model shots from the original pretty well.

The theme music, frankly, was awful, as was the acting of the person who played the captain.

Do you know if anyone has a copy of the pilot online?

I got it from an amazon.com auction.

So are you dubbing copies now for people interested? For a small gratuity, of course.

I'm willing to pay for copy too.

Not that I wouldn't be willing, but I don't have a 2nd VCR to do that with. However, I think it's still available at AMAZON.COM. Cost me 20 dollars (American).

Went to Amazon. Didn't have any. But I did find one on e-Bay. Just after I'd lost my job that is!!!!!!! ARGGGH!

Bad luck, man.

If anyone is interested, I've got a poor-quality copy of the first pilot (male Cat) available in UK format.
Mail me on ptcull@essex.ac.uk if anyone wants a copy

You can also download a (very poor) copy from www.kazaa.com.

I've seen this as well, or rather half of it. After that I just couldn't take the pain any longer and had to stop.

If you want to see it I recommend getting it from the net, it's IMHO not worth paying for. (Particularly if you're a RD fan, as it will upset you even more.)

They made Lister a "cool easy-going good-looking fella" and Rimmer a moron. It just shows that the casting people really didn't get what the show was about. And the dialogue was just lame compared to the British version.

Really, don't waste your time on it.

Mr Flibble, did you see the male Cat version or the Dax Cat version? I have heard that the Dax Cat version is actually ok. Not great, but enjoyable.

For those who don't know much about the American version, a lot can be found here

I liked it. I heard it was so awful, but my friend showed it to me on his laptop just a couple of days ago. (Funny how this board just popped up on the Last Day page now.)

I was braced for the worse, but it was pretty funny. I was glad that Grant and Naylor were the ones who made it, and not someone other schmucks who didn't understand it. I also thought Jane Leeves looked soooooo scrumptuous. But I wondered where Terry Farrell was, since she played Cat in the promo shot that I saw of the cast years ago.

I would've given it a chance had it premiered.

Just saw the (1st?) pilot on Veoh.com.

Theme music - ugh!

I feel they miscast the main leads.

Lister looked too much like a leading man mussed up a little to appear slobby and I don't think he really captured the character all that well.

Rimmer lacked the smug arrogance to pull off the character.

The (male) Cat - Eh, kinda of a tenth rate version of the original actor.

Holly - Meh. Could have been better, but okay.

So was the second pilot really just over ten minutes long or did I just see a cut down version?

The actors playing Lister & Rimmer were better then the first pilot. Been interesting to see what they could do in a full story.

Terry Dax as Cat was... odd? Different enough from the original that you can't really make any comparisons, but from the short sequence hard to say how she would work long term.

I managed to get both pilot eps from YouTube.

Personnaly, I think there was a lot of good stuff:

1) The title crawls.
2) Lister's response when Kryten reveals that Frankenstien is pregnant.
3) The scene where Kryten blows up.
4) The conversation with Holly.
5) The reactions to Rimmer being the only intact hologram.
6) Rimmer's comparing death to attending an Amish Batchelor party - I hope they didn't get into trouble for that!
7) The scene where Holly explains the evolution of the Cat race.
8) The future selves scene
9) The Black Box update.

Any thoughts?

Apparently they are trying again. This time CBS wants to go the 2016 Ghostbusters route, because that worked so well.

Here's Mecharandom42's take on it. Language Warning!

Doesn't Doug Naylor and/or Dave own the rights? You can't just go making your own version of someone else's property.

Yes, Grant Naylor Productions own the rights and copyright to RD, not the BBC.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they cast a famous English actor in the role of captain, but then had them speak in an American accent to exude confidence. Oh wait, wrong show.

So any new American version would have to be cleared by Grant Naylor Productions.

Let's hope they say no.

Especially after the smegging mess they made of Star Trek!

Amen to that, my friend.