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Considered by some fans to be the end of the “classic series” of Red Dwarf, the sixth season completes the total departure from the ship that gives the show its title. Red Dwarf, though mentioned on a few occasions as a ship that the characters have lost track of and are trying to relocate, is never seen even once this season, while our heroes are stuck in a Starbug shuttle whose inner dimensions seemed to be constantly growing to almost TARDIS-like proportions. And yet there’s always at least one bona-fide classic on offer (in this case, the International Emmy-winning Gunmen Of The Apocalypse) and the other five episodes are peppered with classic moments. (more…)

I remember, way back in 1993, getting my first glimpse of Red Dwarf V on a friend’s PAL-converted VHS tape just shipped over from the U.K., and getting the jokes while missing a lot of the visual detail. Until recently, a dub of that already-dubbed-and-converted tape was my only copy of the show’s fifth season. Needless to say, going from that tape to this 2-DVD set was almost like watching a whole new show that I had only heard before.

Some of my first impressions about Red Dwarf V still stand, however: despite featuring what may well be the most brilliant single story of the entire show (Back To Reality), this season is where just a little bit of a rot began to set in. The show was still funny, but this season was where someone, somewhere, decided that the emphasis on action-adventure needed to outweigh the emphasis on comedy. (more…)

I have such mixed feelings about the fourth season of Red Dwarf. It’s still fall-down funny in many places, and still packs enough of a conceptual SF punch that it puts whole seasons of certain Star Trek spinoffs to shame. But somehow, it began to veer away from its roots, those early shows with no budget that relied on character relationships, into something more action-oriented because suddenly the producers realized that they did have a budget. In the following season, action would take center stage in several episodes. It’s still funny - it would always be funny - but just somehow lacked the heart of the early seasons. (more…)

When it comes to full-season TV DVD box sets, it’s hard to top Red Dwarf. Commentaries on every episode by the entire regular cast of the show, documentary features that redefine the word “extensive,” and bags of other bonuses. Red Dwarf III certainly isn’t about to make an exception.

It certainly doesn’t help that this may well have been the best season the show ever had. Delicately balanced between the SF action show it was about to become, and the hilariously wordy sitcom origins from which it sprang, the third season manages to reach for the best of both worlds and comes up a winner more often than not. (more…)

Aired later the same year that its first season debuted on BBC2, Red Dwarf II proves that the first six episodes of the series had a certain universal appeal - and that the second batch of six shows could eclipse them. The second season of Red Dwarf solidifies the strengths of the core characters, while also upping the stakes in the bizarre exercise of using hard SF conventions as the cornerstone of some hilarious character humor. (more…)

The first season of Red Dwarf premiered early in 1988 on BBC2, and it was a revelation - a buddy comedy that just happened to be set in deep space. While some sitcoms have used SF as a setting successfully (Quark) and less than successfully (the later UPN flop Homeboys In Outer Space), Red Dwarf was the first to hit the nail on the head, balancing the SF elements and some masterful character comedy. If not for Red Dwarf, it’s doubtful that more recent entities like Lexx would exist. (more…)