Red Dwarf is a low budget sci-fi comedy using well-known comedians in the main parts. The storyline opens with the mining ship Red Dwarf on its way to assignment on another planet when the captain discovers a stowaway, a cat smuggled in by our anti-hero and lead character, Lister (Craig Charles). Lister is punished by being placed in stasis for the remainder of the trip and time no longer passes for him. When he is released, instead of the 3 years he is supposed to have missed, he finds he has lost 3 million years and the entire human race is dead. Trying to make sense of things together with the onboard computer Holly (Norman Lovett), he discovers that the drive plate was not correctly fixed leading to the radiation poisoning of the entire crew. The dead crewmate who caused the accident, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) is reactivated as a hologram in order to explain himself. Lister and Rimmer dislike each other immensely and Lister frequently makes fun of Rimmers over the top perfecionist ways, whilst Rimmer is sarcastic and disgusted over Listers careless and lazy approach to life. Along the way they discover that Listers cat had had kittens in the hold and in the 3 million years that they were in the bowels of the ship they have evolved into a humaniod race with their own culture and consider Lister to be their God. The one remaining cat (Danny John-Jules) is vain and self-involved and obsessed with suits. The four characters have a common goal of returning to earth, which is several years distance away, so in the meantime they pass the time investigating passing objects, discovering a mutated virus, learning about the ship, each other and the cats past and generally winding each other up. The Six episodes of series 1 are 'The End', 'Future Echoes', 'Balance of Power', 'Waiting for God', 'Confidence and Paranoia' and 'Me2'. Overall a good start to an excellent show spanning 8 series. The only downsides are that there isnt much set variety due to the shows low budget, and the humour can be somewhat low-brow at times, but both of these improve as the series progress. Definately worth seeing!Read full review
This item was bought by my son for me for Fathers day 2012, and with my permission he logged in and ordered it. I love Red Dwarf, and this was an excellent purchase and extremely appropriate. I now have all but the last two series and they will come when finances or anniversaries permit.
Grownup watching it
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
An excellent dvd with an excellent cast cannot wait until I have all the complete series! this show just gets better with each episode
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 !!!!Read full review
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