Red Dwarf : Complete BBC Series 6 [2005] [DVD]

Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were truely on top form with this series. The characterisation is spot on. The action is fantastic and the episodes side achingly funny.

Everything that had gone before in the previous series were present and perhaps (to some) repeated but never in a way that felt repeated. The actors themselves were so comfortable by now they hardly had to act. The interactions on personal and group levels were almost poetic.

First out was Psirens which is a little troublesome but enjoyable with a great re-introduction sequence to all the characters that counteracts anything later in the episode. Next was Legion which is hilarious, if a little slapstick for red dwarf in places. It also gave Rimmer his hard light drive. Gunmen of the Apocalypse, the award winner, is a fantastic episode. Not the best ever but amazing non the less. Rimmerworld is somewhat of a rework of Terrorform from series 5 but funnier. Female Rimmers? Plus it had the funniest escape plan joke ever. "Or, we could just use the teleporter". Priceless. Emohawk was fabulous and brought back Ace Rimmer and Dwayne Dibbly which makes it an instant classic. Finally came The End. If the series had ended here it would have fit so well and we'd have been spared series 7 (although series 8 made up fot it, a bit). This shows the culmination of 6 years of character development and Rimmer's moment of glory, the bitter sweet comedy of the spoiled future and the most amazing 'what the f...@ cliff hanger ever. I mean even 'who shot JR' and 'Picard's a borg?' couldn't beat this. Watch this set if only for Gunmen and The End. If you dont find yourself thinking bring on series 7 by the end of it then I dont know what to do with ya.

Shame they did really.

But thats another review.

Not only does it contain what most fans concede to be the best episode ever (Gunmen of the Apocalypse) but it backs it up with such classics as Legion and Emohawk - some might say these hark back to previous episodes but... if it ain't broke don't fix it would be my response to this and besides anything that reintroduces Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibley must be worth a watch!!!! Psirens is a slow introduction to the series but still contains some classic one liners and other gags which will go on to provide the meat for the rest of this and subsequent series' - Cat's deader than quips, Rimmer's space corps directives and the Kryten's head jokes. I once read that Rimmerworld was only wriiten by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor as a sweetener to keep Chris Barrie with the show (obviously it ultimately didn't work) and the episode itself is the weekest of the series for me but side by side with such classics who really cares?? The final episode will have you on the edge of seat even today minus the "will there be another series" cafuffal that surrounded it when it first aired!! A stunning end to a stunning series really that saw the show develope into a more coherent series of events rather than the stand alone adventures that had gone before.

As for all the extras there's more smeg ups and deleted scenes than on series' 1-5 and after all most dedicated Dwarfers would buy the DVD for these alone so that's got to be a good thing! Plus the commentary is better than before (Craig is back after missing the recording day for the series 5 commentary due to illness) and almost as funny as watching the show itself!! Makes me sorry I never made it to a convention!

Overall my final word (or words) on the 6th series of Red Dwarf has to be SMEGGING FANTASTIC!!!!!

Lister was as dishevelled and grubby as the last human could possibly be, Kryten fussed and cleaned and kept Rimmer aware of Space Core Directives; Rimmer was at his most supercilious and the Cat was as vain and arrogant as ever. And we loved them for it.

One of the most important developments in this series was the introduction in LEGION of Rimmer's hard-light drive, allowing him to touch, feel and work, the later much to his chargrin.

Gunmen of the apocalypse is as good as its reputation suggests and a worthy dual winner of the 1994 emmy award in the 'Popular Arts' category and lesser known (but equally impressive) 'Most Innovative Use Of Kryten's Eyeballs' award.

Out of Time was a cracking conclusion to a magnificent series, which left only one question: what would series 7 have been like without the 4 year gap?