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THE MOVIE
Red Dwarf is a very funny BBC science fiction/comedy series starring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Norman Lovett and Robert Llewellyn (although his character Kryten does not appear in this first series). The series was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor and directed by Ed Bye. Apparently, Red Dwarf still holds the record for being BBC2’s longest running, highest rated sitcom. All six episodes from the first series can be found on Disc 1, each episode runs for approximately 30 minutes. Here’s a quick look at each.
Episode 1 - The End
The first episode sets the scene. Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is a chicken soup dispenser repairman on the mining ship Red Dwarf. His roommate Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) is his superior, and he has ambitions to become an officer but he’s hopelessly incompetent. Lister has been caught with a kitten and Captain Frank Hollister (Mac McDonald) sentences him to 18 months in stasis as a punishment when he won’t give the kitten up.
Three million years later, Lister emerges from stasis. The ships computer Holly (Norman Lovett) informs Lister that a radiation leak has killed the entire crew of Red Dwarf and he’s the sole survivor. His only company is a holographic projection of his former roommate Rimmer (Chris Barrie) and The Cat (Danny John-Jules), a humanoid creature descended from his kitten, which was safely sealed in the ships hold three million years ago.
Episode 2 - Future Echoes
Holly is having a bit of trouble navigating his way back to earth at light speed, and travelling at this speed is starting to cause anomalies in time called future echoes. Lister sees himself at 170 years of age and later tries to cheat death by changing a future echo seen by Rimmer.
Episode 3 - Balance of Power
Rimmer is concerned about the food inventory and the number of irradiated haggis but it’s Saturday night and Lister just wants to party. Once again, Rimmer reminds Lister that he’s his superior. So Lister decides to do some study so he can become an officer.
Episode 4 - Waiting for God
Red Dwarf stumbles upon an unidentified object floating in space. Rimmer presumes that it’s an alien capsule and daydreams about all the possibilities. Lister rubs off a bit of space dust on the side and discovers that it is actually a Red Dwarf garbage pod. With that bit of excitement over, it’s time for more important things like being God.
Episode 5 - Confidence & Paranoia
Holly is a bit bored, he’s read everything and asks Lister to erase some of his memory so he can re-read all the Agatha Christie novels. Lister’s been watching some of Kristine Kochanski’s dream recordings and now he wants to get a hold of her personality discs so that he can find out how she really feels about him. He’s also coming down with something and his hallucinations start to come true.
Episode 6 - Me2
Rimmer is moving out of the quarters he has shared with Lister for the past two years, he’s got a new roommate, another holographic projection of himself. Lister’s happy, he’s a free man, he can now live it up now, leave his socks on the floor. Rimmer accidentally leaves behind his death video, leaving Lister to wonder, why his last words were Gazpacho Soup.
THE TRANSFER
Video:
Red Dwarf, they should call it Dirty Brown-Orange Dwarf. That’s what the colour of the ships hull looks like, even the fresh paint Lister is applying is far from bright fire engine red. The series is presented in 1.33:1 full frame. Detail isn’t the best, and this transfer also suffers from a number of other problems; film grain, background noise and incidences of comet tailing. This series was first broadcast way back in 1988, though, so I guess we can’t be too hard on it. Cult fans of this series are unlikely to be put off.
Audio:
This DVD has three audio soundtracks, all feature Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound (the later two are audio commentary tracks). The default production audio soundtrack is satisfactory. Dialogue is generally clear and highly intelligible, apart from a few brief moments here and there where the pre-recorded laughter track drowns out the actors voices following a good joke. This DVD does come with English subtitles though if you’re having trouble. There didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems on this DVD.
THE EXTRAS
DISC 1
Cast Commentary
The cast commentary features actors Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett. This cast commentary track is available on all six episodes and is well worth listening to if you can find the time, as there are some very funny moments.
Bonus Commentary - Episode 1
This commentary track can be found in the episode selection menu, or it can be enabled on the fly by selecting audio track number three. This commentary track features writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, along with producer/director Ed Bye. The three of them talk about the genesis of Red Dwarf. This commentary only runs for the first episode, but it still very interesting.
DISC 2
Launching Red Dwarf
This is basically a 25 minute documentary about how the Red Dwarf series came about. It features interviews with executive producer Paul Jackson and writer Doug Naylor, along with cast members Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett. Lots of reminiscing and quite a number of humorous insights as well.
Photo Gallery
A number of production photos from the Red Dwarf series featuring photos of the cast members, Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett. There are also a number of drawings and even the original BBC purchase order to build an 8 foot long Red Dwarf model spaceship.
Trailer
This is the original BBC trailer shown to promote the Red Dwarf Series.
Outtakes
There are a number of humorous Smeg Ups to be found here. With Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and even Norman Lovett forgetting, or stuffing up their lines. The “bleep” machine works overtime in this 3.35 minute montage.
Japanese Episode
A Japanese version of the first episode (“The End”) in the Red Dwarf series.
Model Shots
These are some of the special effects created by Peter Wragg and his team. This raw footage has been dug out of the BBC archives of Visual Effects. It is basically a montage of shots of the Red Dwarf model as it travels past camera in front of a star-filled background. Running time is 5.21 minutes.
Audio Book Clips
Two extracts from the audio book; Red Dwarf - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. These audio book extracts are narrated by Chris Barrie, but also feature the voices of the other cast members, Craig Charles and Norman Lovett.
Music Cues
A number of musical pieces used in the Red Dwarf series, including the Main and Opening Theme, Space Walk, Rasta Billy Skank, not to mention Space, Character, Dramatic and Additional pieces.
Deleted Scenes
There are 13 deleted scenes to be found on this DVD. Each is separated into an individual chapter, making it easy to skip scenes. All deleted scenes are presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Visual quality is comparable with the series itself, however, these scenes are presented without visual effects or final sound mix. Total running time is around 21 minutes.
Drunk Featurette
A montage of scenes from the Red Dwarf series showing the Lister, Rimmer, The Cat and Kryten partaking in a little alcohol consumption, and experiencing the ill effects the next morning. Running time is 3.57 minutes.
Hidden Feature
Not really, what I’d call hidden. This extra can be found in the “Bonus Materials” section on Disc 2. Highlight the small Polaroid photo on the wall above Lister’s bunk and you’ll get to see footage of the Polaroid photo developing, which was used in Episode 2. Running time is 2.32 minutes.
Weblink
An internet link to the official Red Dwarf website (www.reddwarf.co.uk) where you can read the latest Red Dwarf news, find out about the upcoming film, etc.
SUMMARY
Red Dwarf - Series 1 has finally made it to DVD. This two disc box set features all six episodes from the first series, plus a disc of bonus extras including deleted scenes, smeg ups, documentary and more. The visual and audio transfer aren’t the best, but this is still a very humorous series and well worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of this cult science fiction/comedy series.
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