I'm going to eat you little fishie.
As I mentioned before, I've always tended to go easy on Red Dwarf. So it's not really a surprise that I liked Back to Earth. Yes, the gag ratio wasn't as high as in the past, the lack of laugh track was odd and it really would have played better all in one rather than split up, but I liked it.
I was a bit nervous with all the meta, fourth wall breaking but it all came together in the end; a joy squid did it. And I did love that it turned out the the crew created us. All very science fictioney, and like Kryten said, multiverse 101.
There were only two bits that got an out loud laugh out of me, Rimmer shoving the female hologram in front of the car (and Kryten's reaction) and Cat's skillful landing out of the portal then dancing off, but there were lots of smiles through out. And it was great to see the return of (now CGI) Bob the scutter and the *I'm going to eat you little fishie* song. In fact it was great to see the return of Cat being, well, a cat.
I knew enough about Blade Runner to get the main points (yes, need to sit down and watch a version of that one of these days) while the bits that went over my head didn't spoil it. I found the over the top photo analyzing scene funny and only found out that was a reference after, but then unrealistic photo analysis is used all the time in crime drama.
I was quite pleased to see Kochanski pop up at the end. Yes, I like her too.
In one of those CGI paradoxes, it looked really good while still quite clear that they didn't have a blockbuster budget.
If that's the last new Red Dwarf ever it works fine as an ending. Much better than that sodding cliffhanger (so I don't completely give it a free ride). But it is still perfectly possible to make more. Which would be nice.
I want this on DVD.