Red Dwarf - BBC TV Series 1-8 [DVD]
Category: DVD, TV series
Product description
![Red Dwarf - BBC TV Series 1-8 [DVD]](/img/red-dwarf-bbc-tv-series-dvd-box-set.jpg)
The series premise is simple but brilliant: how to survive in deep space, millions of years into the future with no hope of ever returning home or getting a decent curry, without going mad. Dave Lister, the last human alive, has no one to keep him company on his lonely days aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf apart from: Rimmer, the hologram of his dead bunk mate; Cat, a humanoid life-form that evolved from his kitten; Kryten, an android with more neuroses than you can imagine; and Holly, the ship's senile navigation computer.
Thankfully, life in deep space is not as dull and lonely as Lister first feared. First, there are the numerous alien lifeforms that he and his friends keep running in to - admittedly, most of them want to suck out their brains or imprison them for all eternity, but it helps to relieve the monotony. Then there's Lister's ex-girlfriend Kochanski, who keeps popping up in the most implausible ways imaginable, always inexplicably immune to Lister's slobby charms. Even more improbable, the original crew of Red Dwarf are not as dead as they first seemed - thanks to flashbacks, wormholes in time and nanobots, they keep coming back from the dead for narrative expediency. Mercifully, in space no one can hear you laugh...
Product review
As far as mad, off-kilter, lethally funny comedies go, Red Dwarf is
in a league of its own. One of the most original and hilarious situation
comedies that the BBC made, it attracted massive television audiences and
soon acquired the status of a cult classic. No one minded that its
plot ideas were stolen from famous movies (from Dark Star to Alien)
and other sci-fi series such as Doctor Who and The Hitch-Hikers'
Guide to the Galaxy. Indeed, part of the appeal of Red Dwarf
is spotting all the references to other films and TV shows. One episode
even manages to send up Casablanca
(with a hideous shape-changing green blob standing in for Ingrid Bergman).
The series completed its run on BBC2 back in 1999, but after countless attempts
to migrate it to the big screen failed, it resurfaced on the channel Dave
for another two successful series, with two more series apparently in the
offing.
Red Dwarf was at its best in its early years, reaching its zenith around Series V and VI with episodes acclaimed by virtually every fan: Quarantine, Back to Reality (a blatant rip-off of a Philip K. Dick novel) and Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Everyone seems to regard Series VII (the only series to be filmed on single camera, without a live audience) as a disaster, and Series VIII polarises Red Dwarf fans like nothing else, although it is redeemed by a brilliant penis gag.
When it started out, Red Dwarf was the classic 'oddball couple' sitcom following the tradition of Porridge and Steptoe and Son, with its two main characters - Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer (brilliantly played by Craig Charles and Chris Barrie) - failing spectacularly to get along with each other. From Series 3 onwards, plots took increasing precedence over character and the show looked bigger and classier, thanks to better special effects and a slightly increased budget. Danny John-Jules's Cat and Robert Llewellyn's Kryten both got more airtime and the series developed from a cosy two-hander to a sprawling four-hander. Thankfully, the gags kept coming, along with countless continuity slips.
One of the writers (Rob Grant) got bored and abandoned the show after Series 6, leaving his co-author (Doug Naylor) to keep the ship afloat, occasionally helped by guest writers. The inclusion of Chloë Annett's Kochanski is often cited as the main reason for Series VII's failure, but the main culprit was Naylor's obsession with making the show bigger and better - in doing so he pretty well lost sight of what made Red Dwarf so great and original. Series VIII may be funny, the production values may be stunning, but it's nothing like the original show. If you go back and re-watch past episodes like Future Echoes, Parallel Universe, Marooned and Bodyswap you'll see at once that what made the series so special was its inability to take itself seriously. When the show tried to grow up and reach for a bigger audience, it risked becoming just another smug and faceless sci-fi extravaganza.
All eight of the original BBC series have already been released separately on DVD, with a staggering wealth of features, plus commentaries from the main cast. For those not interested in such fripperies, this ten-disk box set is a more economical option, offering just the 52 original episodes without any frills or embellishments - just pure, unadulterated comedy in an unceasing torrent. Anyone who compiles a list of the funniest sitcoms ever and fails to mention Red Dwarf deserves to be put into stasis for at least three million years and devoured by a genetically engineered virus, before suffering the ultimate indignity - a cultural evening in the company of Arnold J. Rimmer.
Red Dwarf was at its best in its early years, reaching its zenith around Series V and VI with episodes acclaimed by virtually every fan: Quarantine, Back to Reality (a blatant rip-off of a Philip K. Dick novel) and Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Everyone seems to regard Series VII (the only series to be filmed on single camera, without a live audience) as a disaster, and Series VIII polarises Red Dwarf fans like nothing else, although it is redeemed by a brilliant penis gag.
When it started out, Red Dwarf was the classic 'oddball couple' sitcom following the tradition of Porridge and Steptoe and Son, with its two main characters - Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer (brilliantly played by Craig Charles and Chris Barrie) - failing spectacularly to get along with each other. From Series 3 onwards, plots took increasing precedence over character and the show looked bigger and classier, thanks to better special effects and a slightly increased budget. Danny John-Jules's Cat and Robert Llewellyn's Kryten both got more airtime and the series developed from a cosy two-hander to a sprawling four-hander. Thankfully, the gags kept coming, along with countless continuity slips.
One of the writers (Rob Grant) got bored and abandoned the show after Series 6, leaving his co-author (Doug Naylor) to keep the ship afloat, occasionally helped by guest writers. The inclusion of Chloë Annett's Kochanski is often cited as the main reason for Series VII's failure, but the main culprit was Naylor's obsession with making the show bigger and better - in doing so he pretty well lost sight of what made Red Dwarf so great and original. Series VIII may be funny, the production values may be stunning, but it's nothing like the original show. If you go back and re-watch past episodes like Future Echoes, Parallel Universe, Marooned and Bodyswap you'll see at once that what made the series so special was its inability to take itself seriously. When the show tried to grow up and reach for a bigger audience, it risked becoming just another smug and faceless sci-fi extravaganza.
All eight of the original BBC series have already been released separately on DVD, with a staggering wealth of features, plus commentaries from the main cast. For those not interested in such fripperies, this ten-disk box set is a more economical option, offering just the 52 original episodes without any frills or embellishments - just pure, unadulterated comedy in an unceasing torrent. Anyone who compiles a list of the funniest sitcoms ever and fails to mention Red Dwarf deserves to be put into stasis for at least three million years and devoured by a genetically engineered virus, before suffering the ultimate indignity - a cultural evening in the company of Arnold J. Rimmer.
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