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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: BBCDVD 1117
- Running time: 174 minutes
- Year: 1988
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 36
- Sound: Stereo
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: 1 * DVD 9, 1 * DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Audio commentaries, Deleted Scenes, Smeg Ups, Original Trailer,”Launching Red Dwarf” Documentary, “Drunk” featurette, Japanese versionof “The End”, Special effects raw footage, Isolated music cues, Talking bookchapters, Photo gallery, Weblink, Easter eggs, Collector’s booklet
Director:
- Ed Bye
Producer:
- Ed Bye
Screenplay:
- Rob Grant and Doug Naylor
Music:
- Howard Goodall
Cast:
Arnold Rimmer: Chris Barrie
Dave Lister: Craig Charles
Cat: Danny John-Jules
Holly: Norman Lovett
Todhunter: Robert Bathurst
Chen: Paul Bradley
Selby: David Gillespie
Captain Hollister: Mac McDonald
McIntyre: Robert McCulley
Peterson: Mark Williams
Kochanski: Claire Grogan
Like a breath of fresh air, the original version of Red Dwarfis now available. A damn good sitcom for at least three series, with occasionalhiccups along the way from numbers 4-6, culminating in a couple of “I’ll watchthem just to see what happens”, from which there were only a few choice moments,albeit more in the final series, I’m so glad we weren’t given the so-called”remastered” versions, still available on video.
For those who weren’t into this series at the time, the plan was to crop allthe episodes from their original 4:3 to the 14:9 compromise you get for widescreenprogrammes on analogue TV, as well as dumping the horrible “film effect” on it,which actually removes half of the video frames, replacing them with the previousone, resulting in an unwatchable mess a la Brookside, since early 2002.Various edits were made and extra, unwanted, special effects just thrown in.It was a mess. But now things are back to normal.
The crew are dead, killed by a radiation leak.
The only survivors were Dave Lister, who was in suspended animation during
the disaster, and his pregnant cat, who was safely sealed in the hold.
Revived three million years later,
Lister’s only companions are a life-form who evolved from his cat
and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram simulation of one of the dead crew.
I am Holly, the ship’s computer, with an IQ of 6,000
– the same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers.”
Lister attempts to get it on with Kochanski.
As the first episode, The End, begins, we see how Chicken Soup machine maintenanceengineer, Dave Lister (Craig Charles) and his priggish, smarmy “smeghead”superior, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), are unlikely to ever get on,constantly taking a swipe at each other, always attempting to belittle theother one, Lister succeeding more often.
Rimmer’s preparing for a big astro-engineering exam by writing all the expectedanswers over his body. None of that matters, though, when the incident listedabove occurs and everyone’s reduced to sawdust apart from the one remainingman, the hologram of Rimmer and Cat (Danny John-Jules), but what tobecome of Lister’s one true, yet unrequited, love Kochanski (Claire Grogan,here listed as ‘C.P. Grogan’)? Yes, you guessed it – sawdust.
As episode two, Future Echoes, begins, Rimmer questions Lister on whetherhe’s going to spend the day having a ‘morning slob, then an afternoon slob, andthen a quick snooze before the main evening slob’, which is what Sunday shouldbe about surely? And what Lister doesn’t need is some lip from his singingtoaster.
Lister’s planning to return to Earth, but as Holly attempts to turn the shipround and break the light-speed barrier, the crew notice that they can seethemselves and any mirror reflections appearing before they happen, causingmany a paradox, catching up with things they’re about to do before they actuallydo them. So, what to make of the photo of Lister with his two babies and Rimmertelling him he’s just seen Lister die?
Cat announces he’s available for all the lady cats.
in Balance of Power, Lister’s missing his friends and wishes Rimmerwould let him turn his hologram off so he can spend an evening with Kochanski.Rimmer won’t allow this because he’s the superior officer of the two, butLister takes the plunge to pass the necessary exams. After all, it can’t bedifficult because even the man who changed the bog rolls was higher than thosetwo, according to our hero.
Meanwhile, the Cat’s worked out how to get multiple helpings of food fromthe dispenser, but he ends up having a little too much fishy on his dishy.And Rimmer’s got one last trick up his sleeve to trick Lister into failinghis exam.
We learn in Waiting for God that Lister didn’t really pass the exam,as if we couldn’t guess, but the culinary theme continues in a way as he’sgot various food types all over his shirt. As Lister explains that he’s reading a cat dictionaryby smelling it, Rimmer tells him he should try the shirt, as it’s probablya novel by Victor Hugo.
Rimmer gets all excited when an unidentified object is picked up by Holly,imagining that it contains an beautiful alien woman with six breasts. “Imaginemaking love to a woman with six breasts”, ponders Lister. “Imagine makinglove to a woman!”, is Rimmer’s reply. Such expectation, but Lister works outthat the markings on the side are “RED DWARF GARBAGE POD” with some of thewriting burnt off.
As an aside, Lister learns that he’s become a God by the feline world as theymisinterpreted his laundry list and his dream of living as a farmer on Fiji,during the three million years he was in stasis.
Two Rimmers?
Lister’s not very well in Confidence & Paranoia after a visit to theofficer’s deck, which he didn’t realise hadn’t been quarantined, but it wasworth it for a quick sniff around Kochanski’s quarters.
His fever brings hallucinations out into reality, including the two elementsof one’s personality as stated in the title, played out by Craig Ferguson(Confidence) and Lee Cornes (Paranoia), who turn out to make bestfriends for Lister and Rimmer, respectively, the former helping Lister tofind Kochanski’s personality disk so she can be brought back to life, butwill it work? No, it just brings to life a second Rimmer!
This theme continues in the final episode of this series, Me2,as Rimmer leaves his roommate to go live with the only person he loves, himself,literally.Left to his own devices, Lister takes a look at the video Rimmer had made ofhis own death, the accident caused on board by his own negligence when itcame to fixing the drive plate, but why were Rimmer’s last words, “Gazpacho Soup”?
The revelation comes towards the end of the episode, but first there’s anargument to deal with. After the two Rimmers disagree voiciferously, withone calling the other “a filthy piece of distended rectum”, he confessesto Lister that they have had a “bit of a tiff”.
PS. I wonder why some countries swap round episodes 4 and 5 when the last oneclearly follows on from No.5? This even happened on the UK video.
Dave measures his bubble gum size…
Oh, how the days just fly by.
The sound is as you’d expect – basic stereo, with dialogue largely clear,apart from the odd occasion when studio-recorded laughter intervenes andobscures it. The picture, though, has problems. Yes it’s in the original 4:3,but it looks like it’s been from PAL to NTSC and back – it’s rather too blurry,so it could just have been badly transferred to the digital media.
The extras take up a second disc (DVD 5), aside from the commentaries, theline-up being as follows:
- Launching Red Dwarf (25½ mins):A featurette mixing in clips with chat from various cast and crew members,Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, Paul Jackson, Peter RisdaleScott and Doug Naylor, talking how the series came to creation,with Red Dwarf being created because there was a budget allocated fora second series of Adrian Edmondson’s Happy Families, even though theyknew that was never going to be made.
- Photo Gallery: 25 pictures of the cast and various video sleeves.
- Episode 1 trailer (70 seconds): A trailer back in the days whenBBC TWO was just called “TWO” and onscreen logos were a world away.
- Japanese Episode: A dubbed version of the first episode, withalternate graphics here and there and the bastardised theme music. I’d like tohave seen the “Red Dwarf USA” footage on DVD. Let’s hope they’re saving thatfor a future disc.
- Isolated Music Cues: The theme tune, the opening theme andmany incidental music pieces from the series, like a menu-driven version ofthose BBC Radio Workship LPs.
- Audio Book Clips: Two extracts from the audio book, “Red Dwarf- Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers”, read by Chris Barrie. I think I’llstick with the real programme, thanks.
- Model footage (5 mins):The original Red Dwarf model drifting through “space”. Raw footage withoutmusic. One for the completists.
- Drunk (4 mins): A compilation of all the drinking scenes fromall the series to that rowdy Chumbawumba song I can’t stand.
- Deleted Scenes (21 mins):13 deleted scenes from this series, including an alternate version of a scenefrom the pilot given that the entire episode was re-written and filmed in frontof a different audience, plus one from Me2 which showsthat Lister erased the wrong Rimmer.
- Smeg-Ups (3½ mins):Out-takes from episodes in this series.
- Easter Eggs: On the first disc, move to “Select Episode” on themain menu and press right, where it highlights “4691”. Enter this combinationand view Future Echoes (5½ mins), an animated discussion from thecrew about that epiosde.
Then on the second disc, between the trailer and Photo Gallery, click on thebutton for a shot of Lister’s family photo being developed (2½ mins)
- Weblink: You can open up a web page on a DVD-ROM drive, oryou can just click onRed Dwarf.co.uk
- Audio Commentaries: A series-length cast commentary fromCraig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett, plus a bonusfirst episode-only commentary from writer/crew members Rob Grant, Doug Naylorand Ed Bye.
The DVD states there are six chapters per episode, but there’s actually seven,making 42 in total, the first one being the opening scene of the ship in eachepisode, and those numbered from 1-6 actually being chapters 2-7.Subtitles are in English only and the menus contain looped soundclips of Holly,often accompanied by the bastardised version of the theme music used in laterseries.
PICTURE QUALITY
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.