Cheap Red Dwarf - Series 1 & 2 (DVD) (Chris Barrie, Craig Charles) (Juliet May, Andy DeEmmony, Doug Naylor, Ed Bye, Rob Grant) Price
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Later seasons broadened the show's horizons until at last its premise was so diluted as to be unrecognizable, but in the six episodes of the first season, the comedy is witty and intimate, focusing on characters and not special effects. Slob Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is the last human alive after a radiation leak wipes out the crew of the vast mining vessel Red Dwarf (episode 1, "The End"). He bums around the spaceship with the perpetually uptight and annoyed hologram of his dead bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie, the show's greatest comedy asset), and a creature evolved from a cat (dapper Danny John-Jules). They are guided rather haphazardly by Holly, the worryingly thick main computer (lugubrious Norman Lovett).
The second season showcases the show's sardonic, sarcastic humor to perfection. The cast had gelled, the drab sets were spiced up, a little more money had been assigned to models and special effects, and the crew even went on location once in a while. "Kryten" introduces us to the eponymous house robot (here played by David Ross), although after this first episode he was not to reappear until season 3, when Robert Llewellyn made the role his own. Then in "Better Than Life" the show produced one of its all-time classic episodes, as the boys from the Dwarf take part in a virtual reality game that's ruined by Rimmer's tortured psyche. Other highlights include "Queeg," in which Holly is replaced by a domineering computer personality; the baffling time-travel paradox of "Stasis Leak"; the puzzling conundrum of "Thanks for the Memory"; and the astonishingly feminine "Parallel Universe." --Mark Walker
| ACTORS: | Chris Barrie, Craig Charles |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Juliet May, Andy DeEmmony, Doug Naylor, Ed Bye, Rob Grant |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 29 March, 1989 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Warner Home Video |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color, Closed-captioned, Box set |
| TYPE: | Television |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 4 |
| UPC: | 794051171726 |
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Customer Reviews of Red Dwarf - Series 1 & 2
An excellent start to an excellent show, with good features. Although, in my opinion, Red Dwarf didn't become a true classic until about its 3rd series, the first 2 series' are definitely better than most shows first couple seasons (with the exception of Futurama, which was hilarious from the get-go).
The first series, to me, wasn't really all that funny, especially the first episode. The first few shows were basically utilitarian in that they set up who the characters were and the premise of the show. Jokes seemed to be very uneven, and sometimes few and far between. I would give the episodes of the first series 3 stars.
The second series is much better. The actors seemed to finally have the handle on their roles and the jokes, on the whole, were much funnier, as were the plot lines. I would give the episodes of the 2nd series 4 stars.
That brings us to the DVD presentation and packaging of these series'. First of all, these episodes are the original ones shown on the BBC, not the "Re-mastered" ones that are available on VHS. I think they are better the original way, because i felt the computer effects didn't mesh well with the overall look of the show in the re-mastered versions. THe original episodes were given a bit of a tocuh-up visually, though, so they do look at least as good as the re-mastered versions for their DVD release.
Special feature-wise, these discs are pretty well stocked. Each has several deleted scenes, music cues, and a photo gallery, as well as outtakes (taken from the "smeg-outs" and "smeg-ups" tapes, but only from those individual series' from which they came) and commentaries.
The commentaries, all featuring the four main stars of the show (Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, and Norman Lovett) are pretty good and fairly entertaining, but not all that informative. Most of the interaction between the guys are jokes and put-downs (usually directed at Lovett, and his bald head), with the occasional story or reminiscence. Series 1 also features a commentary on the first episode ("The End") with writers Doug Nayler and Rob Grant, and director Ed Bye. It is basically those three telling the story of how Red Dwarf came together, with no actual comment on what's happening during the episode.
All-in-all, i'd give the special features 4 stars.
Those three grades (Series 1 episodes, Series 2 episodes and special features) average out to a 3.67, which rounded up is where I got my 4 star rating from.
That said, if you are a Red Dwarf fan, this is a must buy, but if you are only a casual fan, you may want to wait until next year to buy the 3rd and 4th series DVD's, which is when the show got REALLY funny.
Great picture and extras, Buy it or be a gimboid
Just got these the other day. And of course I couldn't sleep until I had watched them both... with commentary turned on of course.
The picture and sound are excellent. The commentary (by the whole cast no less) is great. They chit chat about the history, what was going on when things were filmed, odd things they remember, etc. Very enjoyable and quite humorous for the Red Dwarf fan. Lots of other interesting extras to explore on the DVD as well. All in all it is a very nicely done DVD. If you are a RD fan, you have no choice but to go buy it. Ace would approve. :-)
My only complaint is that they are only going to release two seasons every year. The wait for the next ones are going to kill me.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
You can't watch just one!
This series is habit forming. These opening shows were so wonderfully fresh and funny - there is nothing like them! I laughed until I couldn't laugh anymore! I watched the entire lot of episodes in one sitting, and I wanted MORE! Unbelievably funny and fascinating! You can't help but fall in love with these kooky characters!