Red Dwarf: Series VIII
by Ed Bye
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DVD details
Actor: Chlo? Annett, Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert LlewellynDirector: Ed Bye
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Peter Morgan
Producer: Ed Bye
Producer: Doug Naylor
Writer: Doug Naylor
Producer: Jo Bennett
Writer: Paul Alexander
Writer: Rob Grant
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Esperanto (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 240 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
Product features:
- The nanobots have populated the ship with its original crew. This is especially good news for Rimmer, who is now a lot less dead, but is extremely bad news for everyone else. Locked up on Red Dwarf's prison deck, the crew join the Canaries, a battle hardened convict army and not, as they first thought, the prison choir. Pity it's not with the girl of his dreams. Pity it's not with a girl.Running T
DVD Reviews of Red Dwarf: Series VIII
DVD Review: Continues the change the show took in Season Seven
Summary: 3 Stars
Some fans of RED DWARF were truly upset by the changes in Seasons Seven and Eight of the show. In Season Seven Rimmer played a much smaller role while in Eight he was no longer a hologram. Chlo? Annett joined the show as Lister's former girlfriend Kristine Kochanski and while she did a nice job, she broke up the all boys club of the first six seasons. In Season Seven the action was on the Space Bug while on Season Eight they finally get back to Red Dwarf, but one on which nanobots had restored all of the former crew members that had died in the show's first episode. But while all of these represented major changes, the most important was the breakup of the Doug Naylor and Rob Grant writing team. Grant did not continue with the show and whether because of that or whatever, the comic tone of the show changed dramatically. As Craig Charles expressed it in an interview in the special features disc, the show ceased to be more of a sitcom and became more of a dramatic comedy.
I can't count myself among the more fanatic RED DWARF fans. I find it moderately entertaining and moderately funny in its best seasons, but perhaps because I was not among its biggest fans, the changes in the final two seasons bothered me a lot less than it seems to have done others. There wasn't as much at stake for me as there was for others. But I had no trouble finding large swathes of it to be quite humorous. Interestingly, even though Chris Barrie (Rimmer) was not a fulltime cast member in Season Seven (or perhaps because he wasn't fulltime and they were determined to make his moments as funny as possible) the funniest moments in the season belonged to Rimmer. The Season Seven second episode gave Rimmer a bit of a farewell by having Barrie play Ace Rimmer, and it was one of Chris Barrie's best episodes ever. Then later in the season the Star Bug's crew undergoes "The Rimmer Experience," which is nothing so much as a Rimmer musical puppet show. For my moment, that is the single funniest moment in the history of the series.
Season Seven was on Star Bug, but the bulk of Season Eight was on the newly reconstituted Red Dwarf. I commend the producers for wanting to do something different, but frankly it just didn't feel like RED DWARF with a full crew. Nor did it feel quite right with Rimmer being a human being rather than a hologram. There were also fewer truly funny moments. Though both seasons suffered from having less brilliant dialogue than the first six seasons when Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were crafting the scripts. The first six seasons were always more about talk and brilliant dialogue, while the next two seasons relied more on situational and visual humor as well as extended gags.
All in all, I'm glad that Seasons Seven and Eight were made rather than not made. They aren't quite as good as Seasons Three through Six (the first two, prior to Kryten's joining the show, simply weren't up to the level of what came after). Still, there were many good moments.
DVD Review: Red Dwarf VIII
Summary: 3 Stars
I only have one question...
WHERE IS SERIES 9!!!!!!!???
C'mon already, It's been long enough.
DVD Review: Great series/season!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love Red Dwarf. Seasons 5-7 were getting a bit lame (not horrible, but not as good as previous), but this (last?) season picks it back up and freshens all the jokes back up again. Very good season and good DVD.DVD Review: Beef - What's with the price discrepancy?
Summary: 4 Stars
Not a review but I love the series. I own up to season 6 and have to say each season is better then the prior. 6 was a delite!
My beef is why the price increase for the US DVD's. Amazon UK sells the UK versions for half the price we have to pay in the US. For instance 1-3 convert to be $14 USD each, 4 is $16, 5 is $17, 6 is $19, 7-8 are $23 each. Also they have a DVD set that is just the shows. 1-4 of this is only $20! 5-8 is $60. So for $80, you can purchase just the shows.
They do have a 17.5% tax rate but that is their tax and goes to their government so it not part of this discussion.
Lastly, what is the deal with the combo 7-8 pack for $81? Do you think we can't add? 7 is $35 and 8 is $35 = $70. Why is the combo $11 more?
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UPDATE: only days later since I wrote this and they just now dropped the price for 7 & 8 to 19.50 each. Finally I can complete my collection!
DVD Review: Not a bad way to end Red Dwarf
Summary: 4 Stars
Or is the end? Most people agree that Red Dwarf will return in some form, either a feature film or a TV show, but as it stands this is where Red Dwarf officially ended.
And I'll say it right now; I think it's good. The last two series of Red Dwarf are regarded noteably lower that previous series but I think a large part of that is the symdrome that applies to any long running thing, whether rock band, TV show etc. The earlier stuff is always considered the "classic" era, and later efforts are never regarded as highly. It's a case of looking back through rose tinted glasses, and selective recollection. I have seen all the series (bar series 4) and I rate this series as about middle of the pack. And for what it's worth Series 8 is actually the series that the actors enjoyed making the most.
Yes, the "nanobots" are a lazy plot device. To bring back characters, and ships from very early on because "teenty little robots" rebuilt them is objectively really kind of lame. Only in a sci fi comedy would this be allowed. I personally though thought it was good to see many of the characters from Series 1 back again. One of the main premises of Series 8 was to try go for a Series 1 kind of style; the bunk scenes are back, The Captains office, Red Dwarf corridors. So in that respect Red Dwarf has come full circle.
As for the actual comedy, some have complained that it's "silly". Well, when was Red Dwarf not silly? I personally think that the first series was quite hit and miss, and also contains the worst Red Dwarf episode, Waiting For God. Tha actual humour of Series 8 is about on par with the earlier series, and I liked it more that the weaker comedy drama of Series 7. There are a couple of unfunny, forced humour parts for example, the scene where the miniature Starbug is going down an air conditioning vent gets ebedded in a rat from the posterior side and Holly says "I hope we don't get stopped by the police. The don't like it when you're rat @rsed" It might have seemed hilarious to Doug Naylor when he wrote it and there was huge laughter from the audience, but I just found it unfunny and cringeworthy. But there are some really good jokes in it, both physical and verbal. My favourite moment in any red Dwarf episode is where Rimmer travels to a mirror universe where the cat has become a frumpy chemistry professor. Doug Naylor gave him the name of a chemical formula to say which he thought was actually unpronounceable, but Danny John Jules manages not only to say it, but say it quickly and with his best serious professor look on his face.
There is some CGI in this series, which some fans lamented. The CGI is by todays standards fairly bland, but it's adequate enough. The dinosaur and Blue Midget scenes were about as good as TV CGI could get in 1998.
There are some good extras on this set. Out-takes, 1 hour documentary on the making of the series, Gallery, and even a half hour documentary on the history of red Dwarf. The cast commentary though is largely useless. With 6 cast members sharing the microphone, it sounds more like they're reminiscing on a recently discovered phot album than anything; "Oh I remember filming this", "I worked with that guy in theatre, nice bloke he is" and there are times when literally there are 4 people talking at the same time, and you can't understand what any of them are trying to say.
If you haven't seen Red Dwarf yet, then I probably wouldn't suggest this series first. But if you managed to become a fan of the show, then I think this is a series that shouldn't be overlooked, regardless of it's lukewarm reception.
Description of Red Dwarf: Series VIII
The nanobots have populated the ship with its original crew. This is especially good news for Rimmer, who is now a lot less dead, but is extremely bad news for everyone else. Locked up on Red Dwarf's prison deck, the crew join the Canaries, a battle hardened convict army and not, as they first thought, the prison choir. Pity it's not with the girl of his dreams. Pity it's not with a girl.DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Cast Commentary "Back From The Dead" Original Documentary Deleted Scenes Smeg Ups "Identity Within" ? the lost episode Robert Llewellyn Video Diary Fan Films ? the winning shorts "Burning Rubber" Featurette "How Do They Do That?" - the effects Trailers and Kryten Introductions Raw FX Footage Isolated Music Cues "Dave Hollins" Radio Sketches Photo Gallery Weblink 16-page Collector?s Booklet PLUS Easter Eggs
Other
What's in store for the crew of the Red Dwarf in their final adventures? Well, for one, they've all been re-created--even Arnold Rimmer (unfortunately)--by the Nanobots, but Lister, Kochanski, Cat, and Kryten are almost immediately in hot water for allegedly stealing the Starbug. From there, things get stranger (or back to normal by Red Dwarf standards): it seems that everything the crew is experiencing is an artificial-reality creation programmed by the Red Dwarf's captain, Hollister ("Back in the Red, Part 2"); Rimmer discovers that despite his recent revival, he's doomed to die soon ("Cassandra"), which puts a serious crimp in his plan to finally make officer; the rewired Kryten turns a pet sparrow into a rampaging dinosaur ("Pete, Part 1") and turns a tidy profit by secretly filming women in the shower ("Krytie TV); and finally, the Grim Reaper comes to call in the series finale, "Only the Good Die Young," which reveals the fate of the entire crew. More bizarre than bittersweet, series 8 is classic Red Dwarf lunacy and an inspired sendoff for this unique and clever U.K. cult TV series. As with previous DVD sets, series 8 is loaded with extras, including commentary by the cast on "Cassandra"; "The Tank," which offers interviews with the cast and crew; and featurettes on the show's origins and special model effects designer Bill Pearson. Rounding out the extras are deleted scenes, raw effects footage, a gallery of stills, a frothy "Fight!" music featurette comprised of brawl scenes from the series, a battery of promotional spots filmed for BBC and American PBS stations (as well as the amusing Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace parody that heralded the beginning of series 8), a 1984 "Dave Hollings: Space Cadet" radio sketch, and as always, a collection of "smeg-ups" (bloopers). --Paul Gaita
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