Red Dwarf: Complete Collection (DVD)

While it's not unusual for shows to change over time, it's rare for that change to be driven by creative necessity rather than simply getting better ratings or increasing the demographic base. Two shows come to mind immediately - both of which I consider to be nothing less than great: "Primeval" and "Red Dwarf." If they were changed merely to give their audience greater titillation or bathos, as most shows are, it wasn't apparent. These two shows didn't just suddenly get different; they slowly evolved from how they started to how they ended. And they evolved creatively, in both instances expanding the show's original parameters. Likewise, in both shows, the harbinger of change was there from the start; it wasn't simply tacked on: in "Primeval" it was, of course, Dr. Helen Cutter, whose descent into madness drove the show relentlessly toward its harrowing conclusion; but in "Red Dwarf" it wasn't anything as apparent as a character's psyche. In "Primeval," the evolution is obvious: it began as a "monster a week" show then widened its parameters to include an intriguing plot-line which raised it to the level of a psychological thriller. But in "Red Dwarf," though the change from beginning to end is as enormous as anything in TV history, it's a much subtler process. You can't really point to a definite season (i.e., series) or a particular episode or character and say "Ah, that's where it all changed!"Series 1 can best be characterized as having the natural charm of innocence and naivete. I loved the show from the very first moment. The four main characters - Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer, Cat, and Holly the Computer - were absolutely enchanting, with all their quirks and foibles and vanities. And though their interaction was awkward and tentative, even at times hostile, they made do with their lot in life: four characters all alone on a spaceship which, according to Holly, would have taken years just to turn around, let alone go anywhere. Every episode of Series 1 focused on their attempts to establish something approaching a normal life; yet each episode took them a little farther from where they started - as well as farther from anything even approaching normalcy - leading to the introduction of a fifth character, the android Kryten, in Series 2. Kryten comes closer than anything else in the entire Series to fitting the standard sit-com prescription of having been added to breathe new life into the show. However, that's only because he disappeared for the rest of Series 2 and didn't reappear till Series 3, which does make it seem as if the producers wanted to test his audience appeal before they made him a permanent fixture. And it is true that, once he really got going, he came very close to stealing the show at times. Just as there's never been a leading man as self-indulgent or uncouth as Dave Lister, or a Hologram as neurotic as Arnold Rimmer, or a computer as obtuse as Holly, there has never been an Android even remotely as goofy or self-effacing as Kryten. Of course there's simply never been a humanoid evolved from a cat; but even a real cat's vanity and preening wouldn't hold a candle to Cat's.One thing is certain: "Red Dwarf" becomes increasingly surreal with each passing Series. It begins with the death of the entire crew except Lister, who had been locked in stasis for smuggling a cat on board, and Cat, who had evolved in an air shaft which had somehow been protected from radiation; and it ends with the entire crew being reanimated by an army of overzealous nano-bots. Ironically, but not unexpectedly, life for the original survivors becomes increasingly more harrowing once the crew reappears on the scene. And, in between, each Series takes the five main characters on one outrageous adventure after another - each adventure fully capable of being developed into an edge-of-your-seat traditional sci-fi show, but in "Red Dwarf" developing into a comic nightmare of epic proportions.It's easy to say which are your favorite episodes; but virtually impossible to say which are the best episodes. From Series 1, "Confidence & Paranoia" is one of my favorites - Confidence getting his come-uppance being one of the most hilarious scenes of the entire show. From Series 4, there's "Camille," which is also one of the very few episodes one might call "poignant" - a quality which, except for one or two episodes, mostly disappeared after Series 1. From Series 5, "The Inquisitor" has just about all the elements that make the show great. "Tikka to Ride" from Series 7, besides being hilarious, is quite possibly one of the most ingenious episodes in the history of TV. And from Series 7 comes "Blue," which has one of the most wonderful sequences of any episode, relating to Kryten's on-going dissatisfaction with the Kochanski from a parallel universe. From Series 3, my all-time favorite episode: "The Last Day." This is Kryten's crowning glory as a character, what with his notion of "Silicon Heaven," where all the used-up electronic machines go. And from Series 2, "Thanks For The Memory" is my back-up all-time-favorite; plus, it's Holly's crowning glory as a character, especially as he relates his chronology of what seems to have happened. Then, from Series 4, there is "Meltdown," which shows Rimmer at his worst and Lister at his best; Dave's final observation on the catastrophe Arnold has wrought stands as one of the great anti-war statements of all time and raises this otherwise ordinary episode to a much higher level.Over time, my favorites have changed somewhat. After six airings and counting, I no longer find it necessary to watch the complete series but to focus on whichever episode I'm in the mood for. And the ones I now find myself heading for are "Holoship" and "Terrorform" from Series 5 and "Ouroboros" from Series 7. The beginnings of "Holoship" and "Terrorform" are absolutely priceless; and "Ouroboros" is kind of the ultimate "feel good" episode of the entire Series. But as I said, I wouldn't dream of offering these, or any other episodes, as the best "Red Dwarf" episodes. Because they're all great, even my least favorite: "Demons & Angels" from Series 5. And even including "Demons & Angels," I consider Series 5 to be, if not the best then the most characteristic of all eight Series. If you could only watch one of the eight, I think Series 5 would be it.But by far and away my favorite thing about "Red Dwarf" is the anticipation of watching it all over again from the start. Now well beyond my sixth go-round, the episodes are as fresh, as interesting and as funny as the very first time around. You can't ask for more in a TV show.

Aboard the Jupiter Mining Corporation vessel Red Dwarf, Dave Lister, a lowly 3rd Technician, smuggles aboard a pregnant cat and when he is found out he is confined to suspended animation for refusing to surrender the animal to the captain. During his time in stasis his bunkmate Arnold Rimmer, a lowly 2nd Technician, is forced to perform the maintenence duties without Lister's help and inefficiently repairs the drive plate, causing it to blow and subjecing the entire crew to deadly radiation. 3 million years pass until the background radiation level has dissipated to a safe level. At this point Holly, the ship's computer, releases Lister from stasis and tells him of the accident and also ressurrects Rimmer as a hologram to be a companion for Lister. After the initial shock, Lister realizes that he has the run of the ship, allowing him to be, basically, himself: a layabout slob. Rimmer and Lister discover that the cat had been sealed in the ship's hold during the accident and has bred there for the last 3 million years and evolved into man, one of whom is still on the ship. The rest of the cats mistook Lister's laundry list as navigation instructions to a habitable planet and crashed and died in space. When he discovers his new friend, Lister decides to complete his dream of owning a farm on Fiji and orders Holly to set a course for Earth. Much of this first season involves Rimmer trying to still boss Lister around even though he is just a hologram, the cat coming to grips that he is the last of his kind alive, with Lister constantly trying to get Rimmer to "turn himself off" so Lister can keep company with Kochanski's hologram instead. This is because the ship can only support one hologram at a time. Kochanski was the attractive officer Lister was in love with before he went into stasis.The main dramatic thrust of the series from this point forward is Lister's attempt to get back to Earth. Along the way, however, are frequent distractions that usually see the Dwarf crew encountering strange races and lifeforms that have developed in the intervening millions of years. However, a core tenet of the series is that there are no aliens anywhere in the universe -- every element of the large and bizarre mix of intelligent life within the Red Dwarf universe is in one way or another derived from Earth, which is a result of developments in robotics and/or genetic engineering.The crew roster changes as the years go by. During the second season, the Red Dwarf crew encounter the sanitation mechanoid Kryten, rescuing him from a long-since crashed vessel. Initially, Kryten only appears in one episode of Season 2, but by the beginning of Season 3 he has become a full time character in the series. At the end of Season 5, disaster strikes when Lister loses Red Dwarf, having forgotten which planet he parked it on. However, we later learn that Red Dwarf was actually stolen. This forces the crew to travel in the smaller Starbug craft for two seasons, with the added side-effect that they lose contact with Holly. In Season 7, Rimmer departs the crew to take up the role of his alter-ego from a parallel universe, Ace Rimmer, whose name has become a legend and a legacy passed down from dimension to dimension and is everything Rimmer ever wanted to be. Shortly afterwards, the crew find a replacement for Rimmer when they encounter another parallel version of themselves. In this universe, it was Kristine Kochanski -- Lister's long-time crush and ex-girlfriend due to merged realities -- who went into stasis, while Lister died and was brought back as a hologram. A complicated series of events leaves Kochanski stranded, and she is forced to join the crew.Finally, in the eighth season, Red Dwarf itself is reconstructed by Kryten's nanobots that had stolen it and broken it down into its constituent atoms. In the process, the entire crew of the ship -- including Rimmer -- are resurrected, but the Starbug crew all find themselves sentenced to two years in the ship's brig on a set of convoluted charges. The series ends, however, with Red Dwarf being eaten away by a virus and all on board evacuated, save for Rimmer who is left to face Death, in the form of The Grim Reaper, for the second time. Unhappy with his predicament, he knees Death in the groin and runs away -- although the cliffhanger ending leaves this open to interpretation.I really thought that the first five seasons of Red Dwarf were the best. I didn't care for seasons six and seven that much when the crew was traveling in Starbug. The good part of season six is that the role of the Cat was significantly increased to great comedic effect, although the trade-off is that Holly's antics are sorely missed. In season seven Rob Grant, half of the team that had created and written all Red Dwarf episodes, left the show and there was a clear downturn in quality and imagination. Kochanski's addition could not offset the loss of Rimmer, and the show just lost something. Season eight was better, since with the entire crew restored, there was more opportunity for character interaction under completely new circumstances. Chris Barrie is back as Rimmer, and this was certainly a welcome change. In spite of the fact that I am not crazy about seasons six and seven, I would still recommend the entire collection to anyone. It is far funnier and more original than almost anything else you'll ever see on television.

The show itself is hilarious. The dvds, however, arrived with a partially crushed case. Try and order it by itself and far enough from other orders to prevent combinations that could damage it.

The spouse watched this as a kid and insisted that we relive the fun...definitely a great suggestion, love the old school British humour, it's a really fun watch

What happened to British humour? This might be the last of that satiric intellectual nonsense. Red Dwarf grew as they grew older.

Fabulous scripts and perfect actors - it'll give you a good laugh when you need it! :) It also contains lots of special features. I lent it to my sister last week, and already miss it ;) BUY!!

Hours of great entertainment to watch

First of all, I will plead with those reading this review to IGNORE the other customer reviews that claim that the original opening sequence is missing. It simply isn't true!For years I have put off buying this complete set due to those reviews saying that the Original "Ship Painting" opening sequence has been removed, along with reviews that say Holly's screen part's have been altered or chopped up........NOT TRUE either.This set is the BBC release, and just like the original aired series, the famous Opening Sequence with the guy in the space suit (Lister we presume) Standing in the middle of a Giant red letter "F" painting the outside of the ship while the Brilliant instrumental opening theme song plays in the background is fully intact and plays during the first 2 seasons, just as it did in the original airings.Once we get to Season 3, the opening of the show changes just like it did in the original BBC airing of the show as well. Holly's part's are also all intact and unaltered. So why people have been Lying in their reviews of this set is beyond me.Anyhow, glad I finally bought it after realizing the BBC would not be releasing a Blue Ray version anytime soon. Each season contains 2 discs. One of the shows, and the other for the extras. All the episodes play in their original format and are just brilliant to watch. It's the only show that I have watched that has been made over such a long period of time. It has taken the BBC 25 years to make 10 seasons of Red Dwarf, with an 11th season set to start shooting in October of 2014. It appearsAlong with this set, I purchased the 9th season (which consists of only 3 episodes, but are well worth it) and 10th seasons, which were available on Blue Ray separately.Seasons 1& 2 were filmed and aired the same year. Then one year later came the 3rd season. Then it took 2 more years to make season 4, which followed with seasons 5-6 the following two years. Then it was not until 4 years later that we got the long awaited 7th season of Red Dwarf, followed by another 2 year break to get the 8th season. After season 8 It was more or less known that the show was finally over. The following years left fans on the edge of their seats waiting for the Red Dwarf Movie...which was eventually completely shut down and never happened. Then 10 years later, out of the blue a 3 part season 9 was made to the shock of many dedicated fans that is said to be Red Dwarf meets Blade Runner. Another 3 years go by and we get season 10, which finally brings us back to the Original Vibe and style of Seasons 1-6. Now with an 11th season set to start shooting in the fall of 2014, it would appear the Red Dwarf may be back on a bit of a re-bound.