Red Dwarf : Complete BBC Series 8 [2003] [DVD] [1988]

Anyway. Red Dwarf 8... Not the best series by a long shot but still very enjoyable. The DVD seems to fix alot of the problems with the original broadcasts. For example, Back In The Red parts I-III can be viewed as one long episode. This cut makes alot more sense and helps the continuity run though alot better. The same also applies for Pete Parts I and II.
Upon re-watching the whole series back to back (i have nothing better to do,ok!) you do start to see alot of the jokes you missed first time round and realise that the scripting is actually very clever.
Although the series is only a three star (compared to series 4/5/6) the dvd bonus features bring it up to a 4 star.
The Tank original documentary is another spot on 90 minute run through of the episodes behind the scenes and the like, talking to all the major players involved and one or two minor ones.
The Comedy Connections program (a brilliant program on BBC1) has some brilliant (and cringeworthy) early footage of chris barry and danny john jules in his maid marion and her merry men days...
Other than these there is the usual fare such as smeg ups,deleted scenes, story boards etc.
What does let these other wise fantastic extras down are the menu's. Set in the bunk in the tank, they're slow to respond and actually finding what your looking for is a nightmare sometimes.

All in All, the series is good but not great though the extras make it a Four star package.

And the scutter is pretty cool too

This series promised a return to the pre series 7 glory days by being filmed in front of a live studio audience together with the heralded return of Chris Barrie to the ensemble. After the critical reception given to the cinematic style of series 7, perhaps it was inevitable it would revert back. On paper it was probably a good idea to increase the on board crew numbers and have larger upgraded sets. It would have worked as a novel but hasn't translated as well as expected to the small screen. The dynamics of a small eclectic group were diluted with Red Dwarf populated by so many anonymous bodies. The basketball game in Pete 1 and the audience in Krytie TV serve to illustrate this. Except for Captain McDonald and the pantomime performance of the Captain of the prison guards, the other characters are forgettable. When first broadcast Series 8 was a roller coaster ride. The first episode, Back in the Red, opens in a truly thrilling style with unforgettable moments including the genuinely hilarious rat sequence culminating in Starbug's spectacular crash. The whole episode is satisfying but Part 2 has to be the most disappointing episode of Red Dwarf ever only marginally beating part 3 to this claim. The story arc would benefit from being compressed into two episodes rather than protracted over three. Cassandra and Krytie TV are genuinely funny episodes and the highlights of this series. Pete 1 & 2 manages to combine amusing with lacklustre. The series conclusion, Only the Good, finally comes close to a story from the glory days. Overall the problem is that the science fiction has largely been shelved to concentrate on the situation comedy. But it is paramount that both elements are present in good proportion for Red Dwarf to succeed. Slap stick and farcical comedy are uncomfortably present with too much clowning around throughout this series. It does not live up to the expectations that it would emulate the high standards set by series 5 & 6 and consequently is considered a disappointment. Instead of looking like a BBC2 comedy it resembled a mainstream BBC1 show. In isolation Red Dwarf 8 is much funnier than other more lauded and overrated contemporary comedies but it will first and foremost be judged against its predecessors.
Externally Red Dwarf became elongated but the "red pencil" shape is an improvement for a ship that's 5 miles long. Internally and significantly it no longer looked like an industrial mining ship. The colours and the lighting were too bright and the sets were too clean resulting in a style resembling Whitbury Leisure Centre (The Brittas Empire). I see Red Dwarf as a claustrophobic industrial environment like a submarine or a battle ship not a luxury ocean liner as it was transformed into. There were some scenes that managed to convey more familiar interiors, notably in Cassandra when the crew were confined in a corridor set dodging a bullet. That was how series 8 should have looked. Nonetheless true fans and I'm one of them, are at least grateful to have a series 8 with a few great moments to savour rather than nothing at all.

Until series 8 I'd enjoyed every episode of Red Dwarf except Stoke Me A Clipper in series 7. However when seen again on the recent DVD after a long hiatus it's much better than I remember. So has time been good to series 8, enough to soften any initial prejudices? Yes with reservations is the succinct answer though it remains my least favourite series. It remains too bright and colourful with an excessive number of bodies contravening Space Corp Directive 1234567B. Nevertheless, and this is admittedly an unorthodox approach to viewing a DVD, if you listen to it rather than watch it you will develop a new found appreciation for the quality and strength of the comedy in the script. As a result thereafter your viewing pleasure is enhanced. I know it's a TV programme and this is a DVD and 50% or whatever percentage is visual but if you consider Red Dwarf's origins lie in a radio sketch show, Dave Hollins Space Cadet, and there are audio adaptations of the novels and a BBC world service radio series, it's a medium Dwarf has already proved itself successful in. After all this is sci-fi and duly requires imagination to appreciate it fully and what better way to imagine than to just listen and create your own visual interpretation. And don't just confine that experience to this series try it with the others in particular Meltdown from series 4. This episode has a low approval rating because of its visual appearance but as an audio episode it's brilliant.

It goes without saying Grant Naylor work extremely hard and with unbridled passion to ensure that the extras accompany each release are supreme and this will be no exception. In time this series will be more widely appreciated. I know I enjoy it more now than I ever did in 1999. However here and now it is the quality of the extras that will be the main attraction for this release. Overall 4 episodes provide a good standard of viewing pleasure with all 8 shining as an audio only experience. Buy it to complete your collection but also buy it because it's better than you may remember. I love Red Dwarf and it saddens me greatly after much soul searching I can only award this a three star rating. Having given series 7 a four star rating in a previous Amazon review, I would award series 1 the same and a full five stars to series 2 - 6 inclusive. Series 8 falls short of achieving their incredibly high standards so I can't honestly reward this release a higher status. Whatever comes next in the Red Dwarf saga be it the long awaited movie or six one off specials broadcast one a week over 6 weeks can only benefit from the hindsight afforded from this series.

This series of Red Dwarf takes the premise of the show established in Series I & II and takes it to a whole new level by turning it completely on its head!

Namely, the crew of Red Dwarf are back - recreated by the nanos. This means that Mac McDonald makes a very welcome return as Captain Hollister. Also, Holly (played by Norman Lovett) is back for the entire series after his brief return in Red Dwarf VII's 'Nanarchy.'

The bunk room setting returns for VIII, with many classic Lister/Rimmer conversations just like old times. However, more scope is now available for much more to happen with the entire crew back.

'Back In The Red' is a three-part episode that kicks off the series. However, this DVD release will allow you to watch the entire and xtended version of 'Back In The Red' (maybe the closest we will get to feature-length Dwarf if the film doesn't happen.) Not only this, but the two-parter 'Pete' is also viewable as an hour long episode here. Firm fan favourites Krytie TV and Cassandra also appear here.

Extras will include the usual high standard cast commentaries, documentary, featurette, easter eggs, deleted scenes, smeg ups and the like. In short, the usual superb quality and quantity that have come as part and parcel of the seven previous Dwarf DVD releases.

Being the eigth and (probably) final series of Red Dwarf, completists will already have this on their pre-order lists. If you are someone who does not, I urge you to do so. You may not quite get the adventurous voyages deep into space on Starbug that series 6 & 7 offered, but what I gaurantee you will get is a whole lot of laughs. After all, is that not what a comedy show should be for? Plus, where better to be than back on Red Dwarf itself!

A great series of a brilliant (and much missed) show.