Red Dwarf

One Britain's great science fiction comedies, "Red Dwarf" is one of the United Kingdom's finest television exports. This is due to the fact that alot of the comedy, through the characters, satirizes British stereotypes (slobs, snobs, neurotics) and makes its own commentary on the bleakness and absurdity that is human life.

The format, which has become considerably more flexible in recent years, started thus. Set in space, some two or hundred years or so in the future, on an enormous mining ship called Red Dwarf, working class slob Dave Lister (Craig Charles) finds himself placed "in stasis"(frozen in time) as punishment for illegally hoarding a cat on board the ship. Awakened by the ship's senile computer Holly (Norman Lovett), Lister is shocked to discover he's been in stasis for three million years and the rest of the crew have been killed by a freak accident.

Asides from the now-senile computer, Lister's only company is a vain, narcissistic lifeform who evolved from his cat (Danny John-Jules) and a hologram of Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), his bossy and officious superior.

This was the set up for the first two series of Red Dwarf. The format changed in series three when Holly swapped sexes and became Hattie Hayridge, and the crew recruited Kryten (Robert Llewllyn), an eager-to-please mechanoid with an overactive guilt chip. In series six, Red Dwarf and its computer were abandoned, and the crew were forced to survive in modified shuttlecraft Starbug.

Chris Barrie left as Rimmer in series seven and was replaced, courtesy of an alternate universe storyline, by Kochanski (Chloe Annett), the love of Lister's life. The ship, complete with resurrected crew, returned for series eight and saw the adventurers, along with a back-from-the-dead Rimmer, thrown in the ship's brig for their adventures in the previous series.

In the first two series with a minimum main cast, the much-despised grey sets lent an appropriately barren, lonely backdrop to the very character based comedy. Most of this consisted of intimate comic banter between Lister and Rimmer, occasionally livened up by the Cat's hilariously self-obsessed prescence or an off-the-cuff joke from the laconic Holly.

Seasons three to five broadened the scope of the series, making it more experimental with different science fiction concepts. The added prescence of Kryten helped this, his 'groinal socket', susceptibility to the whims of a sometimes deranged Rimmer and increased attempts to break his restrictive programming brought new comic dimensions to the series.

Series six and seven reverse the comedy-science fiction ratio of the series in that the former now takes a back seat to the latter. In other words the comedy of the series accentuates the main science fiction based plots. The comedy emphasis was restored for series eight, although, much like series seven, this element was alot weaker than before.

The series benefitted from alot of strong characterisation. Craig Charles embodies carefree slob Lister, while Chris Barrie turns in a wonderfully uptight performance as the hopelessly neurotic Rimmer. Dancer Danny John Jules brings alot of colourful charm to the Cat, while Norman Lovett is wonderfully sardonic as Holly, whose almost apathetic stupidity allows for alot of comic misunderstandings. After being replaced by Hattie Hayridge for a few seasons, Lovett returned in series seven.

Robert Llewellyn, his entire head covered in a prosthetic mask, has some fine moments in a character that is very much a comic take on the android "Data" from "Star Trek:TNG". Chloe Annett is wonderfully superficial as Kochanski, but is attractive enough to make plausible Lister's attraction to her.

Series eight was helped considerably by the return of Mac MacDonald as Red Dwarf's hapless Captain. During the two-part episode "Pete" he is subjected to a series of increasingly hilarious indignations, prompting a wonderfully humiliated performance from MacDonald.

Time will tell whether or not the series will return, but the series remains one of the definitive comic staples of British television.

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.

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!

I have watched this show as long as I can remember, and I've always loved it! This is "Men Behaving Badly" in the extreame! The completely OTT character traits and the extreamly exagerated situation make for the funniest 30 minutes of TV you could watch! All the characters are both lovable and cringe worthy in their own ways.

Lister (Craig Charles), with his lazy, slobby ways and Rimmer (Chris Barrie), in his uptight neurotic way are the two people you would least like around in a crisis! Rimmer would be too concerned about panicking professionaly and Lister would save his beer and curry before anyone else! Watching them throw insults at each other constantly makes for the funniest scenes! Not that the others aren't brilliant as well! Cat (Danny John Jules) And Kryten are brilliant too. They all bring something to the show.

The person (or machine) that steals the show everytime is Holly, played by both Hattie Hayridge and Norman Lovett. They are both briliant! Holly's frankness and detached obseravtions are brilliantly written and make me laugh everytime.

A True cult classic if ever there was one. Will be remembered long after the likes of Friends and Will & Grace have been tossed into the pit of TV oblivion. It just goes to show that you don't need great special effects and top rate Hollywood actors to make great TV. The cheapness of it is part of it's charm!

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).