Red Dwarf - Back To Earth - Director's Cut [DVD] [2009]

This mini series is a victim of its own publicity. Expectations were raised so high that it was bound to disappoint many fans. I had my first reservations when they announced they were making a three part special, as opposed to a full series. What is clear from series 8 is that 2 or 3 parters don't work as far as Red Dwarf is concerned. It slows the plot down and for me there is a sense of trying to pad out the episodes with weak gags. If viewed as a one off feature, which this DVD has an option for, it works so much better. By ending episode 1 just as the plot starts to get going kills the momentum and by the time its picked up again in the second episode its killed once more.

As a story i think its very imaginative and entertaining. Yes it harks back to earlier series and isn't totally original but i thought the twist was constructed very well and sets it up perfectly for a future series. I also thought the serious scenes between Lister and Kochanski were beautifully played. In order to get the most out of this though it must be watched in one go.

I am a huge Red Dwarf Fan and hearing there was a new recently made mini series, I was really looking forward to see these actors reunited.

We live in an age of remakes and sometimes surprise returns of well known series/actors trying to recapture the peaks of glory. Many attempts in recent years of making a huge comeback of recreating nostalgia or continuing a series/franchise put to rest long ago , have been a mixed bag of decent effort and Epic Fail. So one has to keep an open mind nowadays and except returns of old greats to differ greatly from it's past success.

Luckily for Red Dwarf fans, things aren't that bad because many of the people behind the show are still involved , as well as the 4 main actors ! Infact my heart gives a huge salute to see them back together. It's actually very heart warming to see them play the same roles again without problems after such a long period of absence.

Unfortunately even though it's great to seem the old team back , it's not among the best Red Dwarf stories told. It gets a while to get into it ( Well with Red Dwarf having left us years ago , that's a given ) but later on it shows to have the makings of the more classic style of Red Dwarf Formula and the series classic trademark humorously confusing yet clever scientific explanations and twists.

This is still a great adventure with some fresh new twists, along with the usual great stuff you'd expect from Red dwarf.
One thing to note is that special effects are greatly improved and amazing to watch ..... which is a big step forward from the humble days of bad special effects budget BBC that we loved and gave great charm to the older series.
There are a few scenes that are particularly enjoyable to watch thanks to these modern advances .

Also without spoiling too much .. the location of this new adventure leads to funny new situations , although the general idea/concept does seem to be somewhat of a recycling of a past well loved classic episodes. but I don't mind so much since it's being told in such an exciting new way.

As a big Red Dwarf fan I'd still recommend this especially to loyal fans alike. This is one of the better comeback shows/titles that capture the spirit of their former endeavours without sacrificing too much for modernisation.
There are still many laughs to be had after all that's said and done.
This was not as bad as I expected and I very much enjoyed this recent return despite my cautious nature of modernising classic titles.

Although compared to the caliber of the shows in the past, I have to sadly give it an average rating. But that doesn't mean I didn't greatly appreciate the effort to bring one of my favourite comedy series back for one last farewell party.
All hardcore Red Dwarfers should still give it a try though and not be too harsh . But I think it might actually impress and entertain casual Red Dwarf fans alot more than the die hard ones.

I saw this "final series" when it was first shown on Dave. Having been a fan of Red Dwarf when it was originally shown on BBC I was intrigued as to how this would work so long after the original last series was made. Furthermore I had felt that the show had started to lose its momentum by series seven and eight so I was a little cautious about this new series. I remember enjoying it but not being over impressed.
I bought this on DVD for completeness as I had all the previous episodes on the two "Just The Shows" volumes. I enjoyed it much more on seeing it a second time and am glad I decided to buy it. The actors seem to slip back into their roles quite naturally despite such a long break. The story re-uses some ideas from the original show but with a twist, and it pays homage to Blade Runner in rather obvious but very successful way. If you a Red Dwarf fan I would definitely consider getting this as it is certainly a return to form and completes the Red Dwarf cannon.
I bought this one on Blu-Ray and was very impressed with the quality of the photography and the effects.