 |
Red Dwarf: Complete BBC Series 1 (DVD)
by carl_lazarevic
Red Dwarf is a science fiction sitcom set aboard the city sized starship of the title, and features a small crew of misfits who struggle to get along together in the depths of deep space. The crew is made up of one surviving member. Dave Lister, a man who happens to be the biggest slob in the universe. It is also speculated that he is ... the last surviving member of the human race. Lister was once placed in suspended animation as punishment for smuggling a pregnant cat aboard the ship, but woke up three million years later to find the rest of the crew dead. Now his only companions are a hologramatic recreation of his dead roommate Rimmer, and a lively fellow who seems to have descended from Lister's pet cat. There's also the ships computer Holly, an A.I intelligence with the same intellect as 12 million P.E teachers.
If you have ever had the good fortune of seeing an episode or two of Red Dwarf then you may be surprised at how humble its origins actually were. The first series had an extremely low budget as the show had not yet proven its longevity. This means that you can forget high concept alien killing machines as the show had to focus more on establishing the personalities of the individual crew members. This does mean that the show misses out on some of the hysterical concepts that it would grow into, but fortunately meant that the writing and dialogue were kept very sharp. Some of the incidental characters who weren't popular enough to survive get a much loved showing here. It's not always easy to cope with the very drab visual style forced on the show by its budget, but all is forgiven whenever Lister's toaster starts complaining.
What the writers lack in budget though, they more than make up for in imagination. Fans of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy will love the random; though often sneakily satirical, nature of the writing in each episode. Some of the smaller arguments between characters are hysterical, and you will be quoting some of the best lines for years to come.
- Episodes -
The first episode The End is set on Red dwarf mostly before the accident. It explains holograms, why Lister survived, and where The Cat came from. This explanatory nature slows the pace right down and prevents it from being the best. However Lister's awakening and the Cat's introduction are hysterical. 3.5/5
The next episode Future Echoes is a classic episode and my favourite of this series. In it the ship hits Light speed and the crew start seeing glimpses of their own futures. It has some absolutely hilarious writing, particularly the banter between Lister and Rimmer. 5/5
Balance Of Power sees Lister get fed up of the loneliness and so applies for a promotion to Chef. He will then outrank Rimmer, and can thus order him to switch off and swap places with the girl of his dreams. This episode is a perfect showcase for all of the characters as Cat obsesses over some fish, and Holly has a lot of fun at Rimmer's expense. 4/5
Waiting For God has Holly announce to Rimmer that he has discovered a Pod. Rimmer thinks it's Aliens with the technology to build him a new body, but Lister is a little distracted. He has recently learned how to read Cat books, and come to the realisation that he is their god. Satire against organized religion is rampant in this episode, and Holly is on top form. 5/5
Confidence and Paranoia is my second favourite episode of the first series. Lister gets sick but Rimmer is more concerned that it's raining Herring in their room! Then the Mayor of Walsall suddenly appears and spontaneously combusts in the corridor! This all culminates with the appearance of two new individuals who are claiming to be the embodiments of Lister's Confidence and his Paranoia. The guys playing Confidence and Paranoia do very well, and there are some classic moments with The Cat. 5/5
Me2 is the series conclusion and sees Lister's worst nightmare come true. He is alone in deep space with two Arnold Rimmers. The question is, will it be a permanent arrangement, or will Rimmer's personality clash with himself get too much? Great stuff in this episode as Lister views a video recording of Rimmer's death while Rimmer has a blazing row with himself. Plus the ending is soup-er. 4/5
- The Disk -
Extras
Disk 1
There's a commentary on the first episode with Charles, Barry, and Jules. They seem to have a lot of fun insulting each other over the series hair styles and costumes. There's also a hidden Easter egg on the disk. On the main menu you'll see a clip board with the numbers 4691. Click on that to go to the food dispenser and punch in 4691 to open an animated interview, but it's nothing special.
Disk 2
The first thing you find on disk 2 is a big documentary on Red Dwarf. It's one of those documentaries you always get with a cult classic where the crew sit around talking about how it nearly never happened and the difficulties they faced getting the show made.
There's a photo gallery for those of you who buy DVDs for the pictures. I find them dull personally. If that wasn't exciting enough the next extra lets you watch a photo of Lister and two babies slowly develop. Then more pictures, this time photos of the model ships used throughout the series. Absolutely riveting stuff!
It does pick up. There's a little feature called Drunk, which is basically a music video featuring clips of the characters drinking alcohol.
The different musical scores used in the series are available on the disk and are always fun to listen to.
They've also included clips from the Red Dwarf audio book, but this feels like a cheap advertising ploy actually.
Click on the toilette to gain access to a few outtakes from first season. To be honest I'd already seen them on my Smegups and Smegouts videos, but if you haven't then they're a good laugh.
There are some deleted scenes that are not too bad, but most of them are extended scenes that were cut for a reason.
In fact the leaflet inside the case is probably the best feature as it tells you about making the series in general. It expands this info into a making of description of each episode, and the last two pages point out some of the goofs the crew regret.
Finally; and someone please explain the point of this to me, disk two is home to the Japanese pilot. It's not a different episode it's the British pilot in Japanese and it would have been far easier to just include a Japanese track on the first disk. That would have left space for the American pilot for a series that never got off the air. Sure it was rubbish, badly acted, and recycled jokes from the British show, but if it had been on the dvd then I wouldn't have wasted time trying to find it!
- How does the DVD look? -
The picture quality is fine. It's not earth shattering or anything but it's certainly above average which wasn't difficult considering the lack of colour in these early episodes. As an older TV show it's only available in 4.1 though.
- How does the DVD sound? -
Sound is good but nothing special. It comes through clearly, but is only available in Stereo. Once again this is because the series is so old.
- Overall -
Red Dwarf is my favourite comedy series ever. This first series isn't as good as the later series but it's a nice start. The disk sadly is a waste. You can get the 'Just the shows' boxed set a lot cheaper than the individual series, and all you miss out on so far are a few worthless features.
Read the complete review |
 |
Red Dwarf X (DVD)
by Schlubalybub
I've been a fan of Red Dwarf since I was quite young, and I was excited when the series returned to Dave in 2012. I received the DVD set for Christmas, and it was excellent.
The Episodes:
1. Trojan.
Trojan was a brilliant opening episode. The crew find a derelict vessel and receive a distress call from ... another ship, which turns out to be run by the hologram of Rimmer's brother, Howard. A very funny episode, involving a parody of TV shopping channels, the crew pretending to be Space Corp personnel, and a huge revelation about Howard Rimmer.
- Highlights
Lister being on hold for the majority of the episode
Howard Rimmer's revelation
The use to which the crew put Crawford, Howard's simulant companion, at the end of the episode.
Cat: Not paying attention as to whether it's a little green man or a little red man? Of course they're not, they're mooses!! Jeez... Swedes: they expect too much!
2. Fathers and Suns.
It's Father's Day, and Lister is making a card for his Dad. Who, incidentally, is himself. He receives the card he made last year, then drinks himself to oblivion so that he forgets what he has written. Meanwhile, Rimmer and Kryten boot up the new ship's computer, a female called Pree. Pree can predict what will happen based on her analysis of the crew, so makes entire conversations redundant. Because of this, Lister ends up jettisoned from the ship, and the rest of the crew find themselves in a dive into the nearest sun. Due to flawless logic, the ship reverts to normal and Lister ends the episode as he started- playing computer games.
- Highlights
Lister's video and punishment for his son.
Rimmer's desired design for the new computer.
The Cat's reaction on seeing the new computer.
Lister's argument to save the ship and crew.
3. Lemons.
After a flat-pack rejuvenation shower goes wrong, the crew find themselves on Earth, 23AD. As they left the battery for the remote on Red Dwarf, they need to make one- out of lemons. This leads them to India, where Lister accidentally discovers Jesus. Once they make the battery, they bring Jesus back to the Dwarf and operate on him for gallstones. Jesus reads a history book about things that have happened in his name, and returns to India trying to denounce Christianity. The crew return, and discover that Jesus is in fact, Jesus of Caesarea. The episode ends when the crew decide to stay in India for a little longer to get a curry, and possibly spot a famous religious figure...with his famous twin brother.
- Highlights
Jesus of Caesarea, and his obsession with bags.
Lister's use of "Jesus"
The travel through 1st Century Earth
Rimmer: A bald mullet. A skullet. Bald at the front, mullet at the back. You wouldn't want to go out in public with this guy.
4. Entangled.
The Cat is chasing a space weevil through the ship and stumbles across Kryten conducting an experiment which causes the two to become quantum entangled. Meanwhile, Lister has lost Starbug (and Rimmer) in a poker game with some BEGGs, who die before they are able to remove the explosive device they have fitted Lister with. A trip to the space station where the device was developed leads to a meeting with a Professor Irene Edgington, who (once transformed back into a human from a gorilla) helps (somewhat) remove the device before an unfortunate event causes her to disappear.
- Highlights
Rimmer's love of the space station, which was staffed by scientists that were always wrong.
The Cat and Kryten speaking at exactly the same time, annoyingly
Professor Irene.
5. Dear Dave.
Lister is depressed. He misses the human race, a fact which Kryten inadvertently keeps mentioning. Rimmer and Lister are going through the mail pod, trying to find letters addressed to them, when Lister finds a letter telling him that he may be a father. Meanwhile, a love triangle occurs between Lister and two vending machines- one in love with him, one accusing him of sexual harassment. The rest of the episode involves Lister coming to terms with being a father three million years in the past, before discovering that he was not the father.
- Highlights
Rimmer and Lister betting on who will find a letter addressed to themselves first.
The Cat's advice to Lister
6. The Beginning.
The crew are visited by a rogue simulant called Hogey, who (yet again) challenges them to "a duel across time and space." He has attracted the attention of a group of Annihilators. Rimmer attempts to plan an attack, but can't concentrate. The Cat tells Rimmer that he can't concentrate because of his father. After watching a Holo-lamp, including some very important information regarding his father, Rimmer plans to save them- a plan that works.
- Highlights
Hogey the Roguey is fantastic
The Annihilators and their planning
The last line before the credits, echoing the first ever episode.
The Series
I felt that the series as a whole was excellent. There were some fantastic jokes, and I felt that the episodes were all great. The weakest episode, I thought, was Dear Dave, although I still enjoyed it. My favourite was Fathers and Suns, with Rebecca Blackstone playing the new computer fantastically. Overall, it was a great series, with very little to complain about.
The DVD
The DVD contains some extras- a two-hour documentary on the making of Red Dwarf X, which is fantastic and really interesting, called "We're Smegged", also deleted scenes and the usual Smeg-ups. Unfortunately, the DVD did not contain the usual commentaries on each episode, which I was a bit disappointed by, but I understand that they could not fit it into the schedule with cast members having other commitments.
Overall, I do think that this DVD is well worth getting for any Smeg Head.
Read the complete review |
 |
Red Dwarf Complete Collection (DVD)
by Craig86
Having been a fan of the Red Dwarf series for a long time I decided to buy the complete box set, I always prefer waiting until there are no more to be released and then buying a box set as opposed to one DVD at a time, I didn't foresee the new series Red Dwarf X but hindsight is wonderful.
Nevertheless the box set includes all ... eight of the original series created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, the box is durable and looks just fine placed up on the shelf with your other box sets.
The series starts with Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer, two bickering chicken soup machine repairmen aboard the space mining ship Red Dwarf having the first of many disagreements. They will later end up on the huge vessel with just the ships computer Holly, a life form evolved from Dave's cat and an android named Kryten.
The first series is probably my favourite, the banter between Dave, Rimmer and Holly in this opening series is at times eye watering. The cat also makes appearances but at this stage his character is yet to develop into its potential.
Kryten soon joins the crew, labelled "dwarfers" and is a character that changes a lot in appearance and personality, by the final few series I felt this character was at his peak. The dialogue between him and the other characters is superb.
I have seen most of episodes at least three or four times now and they don't get old, my favourite series is the first but then I also enjoy the later series also as that is when you have additional characters and I feel the Cat and Kryten characters have fully developed. I enjoy watching every episode and find them at times insanely funny, in some episodes their is a joke that keeps popping up all the way through, it is very clever how they do this.
This will appeal to science fiction fans due to its theme but above all it is a classic British sitcom up there with the best of them, I think therefore anyone who enjoys a good laugh should have a look at this box set, I'm sure most will love it as I have.
Read the complete review |
