Red Dwarf
8.482%
An unambitious slob from Liverpool has been awakened from a high-tech stasis chamber 3 million years in the future to find that he might be one of the last humans alive. Hopelessly lost in space, this crew of mostly sad-sack bachelors kill time and share adventure aboard.
12 Seasons
Cast of Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf Ratings & Reviews
- 匚卂尺ㄥJanuary 26, 2025Having grown up watching the mid-series (IV, V and VI) in the early nineties on the BBC, I picked this box set up having foolishly lent all my individual series remasters to someone from uni I haven't seen since. Presentation is a bit grotty and cheap looking in regards to the title menus, but that's totally acceptable at the price. It was quite refreshing to watch the original transfers, it certainly added to the charm knowing you're watching the 'original' cuts. As a brief rundown of the quality of the series, they follow a trajectory moving from character comedy more into situational comedy as more money was made available. Series 1 and 2 focus more on close knit character humour (with brilliant writing for the burgeoning relationship between Lister and Rimmer, especially in the fantastic 'Thanks for the Memory'), through series 3 and 4 where the concepts and ideas began to be developed a bit more as Starbug allowed travel to other settings (plus, pleasingly, character development of the Cat from marginal - I'd forgotten quite how marginal in the first series - to a major player, along with the welcome addition of Kryten). I personally feel RD peaked in series V and VI, where the writing was sharp as a tack and some of the ideas and settings fantastic. All 4 characters are well developed and there is a brilliant 'cockpit' dynamic with quick pacing and superb banter between all. Hardly a dud episode in those 2 series, but many classics, Quarantine, Back to Reality, Legion and Gunmen of the Apocalypse probably the best. To be honest, upon recent rewatching, it struck me quite how atrocious series VII and VIII are. Series VII has some nice conceptual ideas, for example in Tikka to Ride, the season opener, but the humour once Rimmer departs is very flat and Kryten goes from being wonderfully dry and cynical in the preceding 2 series (I feel he owns Series V) to some squeaky, irritating and frankly irrational character who seems to suffer from a complete personality reset and emerges wholly unfunny and quite embarrassing. Kochanski tries her hardest, but the cast are working with substandard material and it shows. Season VIII suffers similarly, although Chris Barrie is back (which saves it from being a complete car crash). Some of the episodes in Season VII and VIII are utterly dire, so be warned. High Points: Future Echoes, Thanks for the Memory, Queeg, Marooned, The Last Day, Justice, Most of Series V and VI Low Points: Series VII and VIII almost without exception, sadly (Tikka to Ride and Cassandra can make a case). A couple of duds from the earlier series like Body Swap and DNA which whilst not being atrocious, aren't up to the high standards of that around them.
- marlie.jane4d agoThe chemistry between the entire ensemble makes Red Dwarf the best show I've ever watched, and I could watch it again and again. infact i have xxx 10/10
