Red Dwarf - Series 1 (DVD 2002)

In this original series of the Red Dwarf legecy we experience some of the best situation comedy ever written by the rare genius of Rob grant & Doug Naylor.

A wonderfull first season of the show see's 6 hillarious episodes set the story for a show dubbed in 1994 as Best Comedy at the BBC Comedy Awards.

Released on 2 disc DVD in 2002 by BBC Worldwide Ltd, It contains over 90 minutes of bonus footage Inc, Cast commentary, deleted scenes, Documentrys, photo gallery and a collectors booklet stuffed with information on all 6 episodes as well as directing you where to look for mistakes in filming and storylines.

An absolute must watch for all nubies to the show and regarded as a cult classic by thousends of "Dwarfers" throught the world, Red Dwarf I (The original series) is a must have for any sci-fi or comedy fans collection.

You can be sure that this is very well made DVD and you can see from the effort that has been put into the animations on the menu screens that all aspects have been thought about down to the last detail.

Buying this DVD wont improve your life but it will provide you with alot of laughs along the way and by the time you have seen what Series 1 has to offer I hope your left as I was! Wanting more..... and there's much more......

Firstly bear in mind that although the DVD came out in 2002, Series 1 of Red Dwarf was written 20 years ago in 1988 and aired on BBC2.

This has to be one of the all time cult classic shows - never again will the BBC (or anyone else for that matter) create such great entertainment with such low budget props ! After 20 years I can still watch this time and time again and thoroughly enjoy it plus my 12 year old has watched every episode back to back and loves it as much as I do. Its almost compulsory viewing while having a take away curry and lager (it will all become clear when you watch it).

The scene is set on a mining ship travelling through space mining gems and such like from space debris. Following a catastrophic radiation leak the ship's computer seals the cargo bay and stasis booth (containing Dave Lister) for 3 million years until the radiation clears. This is no small ship !

After 3 million years, Dave Lister (Craig Charles) - the last human is released from Stasis and is joined by a senile computer (Norman Lovett), a hologram of his former bunk mate (Chris Barrie)and a cat in human form (Danny John-Jules)which has evolved over 3 million years from a cat safely sealed in the hold.... The madness begins.

Red Dwarf ran for 8 series and it was always left open for a 9th series or even a film - who knows maybe it will happen yet. Every series of Red Dwarf changes things a bit - in Series three a further key member joins the crew - Kryten an accentric service droid played by Robert LLewellyn. The interaction between the cast is excellent but there are often flaws in the storyline - this is all part of its charm !

The BBC could not have picked a better cast to play these characters and there isn't a bad episode.

Also when buying the DVD (rather than the videos which were released much earlier) you get a lot of bonus extras including deleted scenes and smeg ups (outtakes). I have replaced all my videos now for DVD's just to get all this great extra material - a must have for any fan - all 8 Series !!!!

This is the series of Red Dwarf that has the most claim to a cult following. The production crew and cast were unhappy about its appearance and so BBC did not repeat the shows.
BUT... on viewing now, all these years later, you can see all of the ingredients that made RD such a huge hit.
The jokes are good, the banter between Rimmer and Lister quite edgy (in real life they did not get on too well at this stage)and the storylines were innovative.
So we have 6 episodes that set the scene for the 7 series' to follow. Well worth buying for historical perspective alone.
The extras are very good, plenty of interviews, deleted scenes and wonderfully relaxed cast commentaries.
If you get a chance, buy this 2 disc set. It will amuse you and interest you at the same time.

Detailed item info
Description
The complete first series of the popular television comedy sci-fi series. 'The End' sees a radiation leak wipe out the crew of Red Dwarf leaving only one survivor - Dave Lister. In 'Future Echoes' Red Dwarf breaks the speed of light leaving the crew experiencing visions of their own futures. 'Balance Of Power' sees Lister about to take his chef's exam and if he passes he will be able to have Rimmer replaced as the ship's hologram... In 'Confidence And Paranoia' Lister gets a mutated virus which makes his hallucinations come to life leaving the ship beset by herring rain amongst other things... 'Waiting For God' sees the ship's computer, Holly, find a pod floating about in deep space and Lister pleased to learn that he is a god. In 'ME2' Rimmer creates a duplicate of himself, all seems perfect until they both find themselves in a conflict that only one can win...

Series 1 shows how Dave Lister (Craig Charles), Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Cat (Danny John-Jules) and the ship's computer Holly (Norman Lovett) came to be the only 4 beings left aboard the Jupiter Mining Ship - Red Dwarf.

The episodes are all funny, although you'll laugh at some more than others.

You probably thought of buying this because someone was humming the theme tune or you've had a discussion recently with someone about great comedies from yesteryear. Then you thought: I know, I'll check out eBay! Then you were quite surprised at how many people were selling the DVDs of each series. And at how many people were bidding for them. I know it surprised me.

Just as a reminder - it may be worth checking other sites for some of the series (there are 8 in all). A quick look at play.com, shows me that there are savings to be had for some of the later series. Don't necessarily buy it on eBay just for the sake of it.

That said, I've bought 7 series on eBay so far (just number 8 to go!) and have had very few problems (and those have been minor).

Thanks for reading,

Rob