Red Dwarf

Although Red Dwarf is over 17 years old now, it's only in the last year or so that I've seen it in-depth. At first I was a little cautious as it was described as a "cult" favourite, which I think is a polite way of saying geek/nerd fest. Fortunately my concerns were unfounded, as it is one of the funniest sitcoms I've ever seen.

The reason for this, in my opinion, is the terrific writing by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor - who also wrote the excellent Spitting Image. Of course, good writing would be useless without good actors delivering the lines, fortunately ever part in Red Dwarf is perfectly cast. Craig Charles (an unknown stand up comic before he was cast) and Chris Barrie (who previously worked with Grant and Naylor on Spitting Image) are both excellent in the lead roles of Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer respectively. Robert Llwellyn, who plays Kryten, an android, only joined Red Dwarf in season 3, but quickly established himself as a lot of peoples favourite character. My favourite character, however, has to be the Cat, played by Danny John-Jules, mainly for the outlandish outfits he habitually wears.

Unfortunately the series is no longer on T.V. (in fact they haven't made any new ones since 1998), but you can now buy the series on DVD, and I strongly recommend you do (especially for the fantastic extras that are included).

Where to start? The writing, the cast, the effects . . . superb.

Firstly, the writing. The situation is so unbelievable it works. Three million years out into deep space, with the unlikeliest crew you could find. And bizarre and funny things just keep happening. The secret? You might ask the same question of previous comedy greats. It just is.

The effects - especially since remastering - are breathtaking. I don't know how "true to life" it is, but it doesn't need to be. Seeing Starbug come crashing through the cargo bay doors is a joy to behold.

And the cast. Sensational. Chris Barrie (Rimmer) is the outstanding comedy actor of his generation. With the possible exception of Rowan Atkinson, I don't think there's a single man alive who could play the smeghead so well.

Equally, Craig Charles as Lister - a complete slob who is in fact the most decent person among the crew. A beautiful irony, and Charles focuses on the slob part so well that we tend to forget the character's decent side. This is not a bad thing - quite the reverse. When the decent side does appear, it is all the more prominent for it.

Norman Lovett (1-2, 8) and Hattie Hayridge (3-5) as Holly, the computer. I prefer Lovett's take, and don't fully understand why he was replaced. Hayridge did a fine job (indeed there's some moments that Lovett couldn't have done), but Lovett is the definitive Holly. He has the comic face for it.

Not forgetting Robert Llewellyn as the guilt-happy mechanoid Kryten, who overacts beautifully, as does Danny John-Jules as the vainest life form ever to have existed. Brilliant.

These ingredients made Red Dwarf amazing. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor's writing collaboration was a thing of beauty. As a team, they function superbly.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Something's missing when they're not together. Series 7 had its moments, but was distinctly lacking - not least because Chris Barrie was in less than half the episodes. Series 8, it dropped even further. Barrie was back, but that was the only plus. Bringing the entire crew back was a very big mistake.

Overall? I'd say 8/10 for originality and sheer zaniness!

For those who do not know. The series was created and initially, exclusively written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.

This lasted until Series 6.

And each series - to me - just got better and better. To where 5 and 6 were just outstanding overall.

Then - after Series 6 - Rob Grant left the show.

And Doug Naylor brought other writers onboard to help him create further series.

And, sadly, the show dropped noticeably in quality.

It's heart was still in the right place. Even a bit 'nicer' and 'warmer' than the other series.

But the pacing and the humor went noticeably down.

The former made the show seem almost cartoonish.

The latter was just dumbed down a bit. And physical gags (though some were very funny) became the main source of humor. As opposed to verbal ones.

It just felt like the show had gone from originally written by seasoned, very-talented sci-fi writers/creators.

To - later - a series created by intelligent college students who were sci-fi fans.

So... Series 1-6 - some of the most outstanding, science fiction entertainment that I have ever seen.

Series 7+ - a very good series with only moments of brilliance.

Reading through these reviews brought on a wave of nostalgia for me , I watched this show religiously from the very first episode , it's quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen . The first series when it was originally shown was so new and so different it was a really refreshing change from the usual dross that is the vast majority TV comedy . The friction between Lister and Rimmer is what really drives the show in the early episodes , it's great the way in which you have these two people who utterly detest each other but are confined together with no hope of escape from each other's company .

With the third series the show took a change in direction and pace , with the introduction of the character Kryten as a regular and the all new female version of Holly . With any other show this might have signalled the beginning of the end , such radical changes rarely go down well but with Red Dwarf it was like a new lease of life and saved the show from becoming stale or repetitive . Series 4 and 5 continued in a similar vein with the stories becoming ever more way out and crazy , all riotously good stuff .

Then along came series 6 and another set of very major changes , for a long time I had a really hard time getting into this series , the loss of the ship Red Dwarf was such a major change and it really kinda threw me . Upon repeated viewings this series really grew on me though , and it has some seriously funny episodes right up there with the best of them , and the end of the last episode in the series was really quite shocking , it actually brought a tear to my eye .

Next we have the ill fated seventh series which started out well enough with the episode tikka to ride , but after that it rapidly degenerated , it deeply saddened me to see what my favourite TV show was becoming , it was but a shadow of it's former self and with series eight things took a further plunge into banality and throw away one liners , what a terribly sad way for it all to end .

At it's best this show is the best entertainment it has ever been my pleasure to watch , but eventually I guess you can have too much of a good thing and I doubt we'll see it's like again .

Let's get one thing straight here: I don't watch much TV. A lot of the shows nowadays really get on my nerves. But RED DWARF is different. DWARF is shown on Saturday nights on my local PBS station, and the week just isn't the same if I can't see my favorite bunch of marooned space bums. The story is a bit of a long one: Dave Lister, a technician aboard the mining ship RED DWARF, is punished for having an unquarantined cat on the ship. His punishment involves going into stasis for 18 months, forfeiting all pay (which he wants to save up so he can move to Fiji with his cat and the love of his life, Kristine Kochanski). But while he is in stasis, his supremely anal-retentive superior officer and bunkmate Arnold Rimmer fails to fix a restraining plate properly on a warp drive, and the whole ship undergoes an internal nuclear explosion. When awakened by Holly, the ship's slightly loopy computer, Lister finds out he has been in stasis for over 3 million years. Rimmer, resurrected by Holly as a hologram, is back to keep Lister sane yet seems more probable to do the opposite. Lister's cat, who was pregnant, was safely sealed away in the cargo hold of the ship. There the cats have bred for 3 million years, and the last survivor of their race pops out of an air vent, a Felis Sapiens, or commonly known as just Cat. Together, they try to find a way back home to Earth...even if it takes 3 million years!

I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good laugh. :o)