Yogi Berra was right. It’s deja vu all over again. If you remember, we reported earlier this year with regards to Dave, the perennial home of witty banter in the UK, bravely stepping up to the plate to commission 10 new episodes of the British comedy/sci-fi series, Red Dwarf, with a target launch date of 2011. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, bad weather conditions seems to have delayed the launch just a bit.

Now, however, looks like the winds are dying down, clouds are parting and tweets are flying around the Internets about an end of 2011 production timeline being finalized with an early 2012 launch date on the horizon. All I ask is that they get it on the air before December 21, 2012 which is the end of the Mayan calendar. Just sayin…

As we re-trace the story, Craig Charles (Lister) revealed and re-confirmed some cryptic details in a recent interview with Real Radio. You may remember earlier that Andrew Ellard has mentioned even more cryptically that a new series was “in development” following an earlier Charles “whoops, it just slipped out” interview.

What I’m taking as gospel, however, are the sage words of Robert Llewellyn (Kryten) when he spells out just a bit more detail on The Llewblog with his “Observations from a happy old man”. Have to say, I do share his concern over what is also one of the most intriguing items about the upcoming series. The thought of RD being filmed before a live audience. Last time this happened was 1998 and the word tweet didn’t exist unless you were talking about a bird.

Unfortunately, you can tell an audience of 400 for each show not to reveal any upcoming series spoilers until your last breath, but that just isn’t going to happen. Sadly, I’m guessing we’ll know the entire series story arc before it ever hits the light of day.

Spoilers or not, however, I’ve got the countdown to 2012 calendar already up. In the meantime, to pass the hours until 2012, check out Carpool with Robert Llewellyn.