Red Dwarf : Complete BBC Series 7 [2005] [DVD]

Anyway - people here are moaning that the episodes for series 7 and 8 are spread over 2 discs. Please be aware that three hours is really the maximum you can get on one disc before picture quality begins to suffer enormously. The eight episodes each for series 7 and 8 really make cramming them all on one disc impossible. Further to this, the extended episodes of three of the episodes, plus the "remastered" Tikka to Ride, all of which take up their own disc space as seamless branching would have been too expensive, needed to be accomodated too. I'm sure most will agree there's no other way they could have done this than by arranging the episodes as they have.

Judging this disc on the merits of all the extras on top of the series, there's really no way of rating it lower than three stars. The 90 minute documentary is fascinating as are all the usual deleted scenes, smeg ups, musical cues, raw effects footage (including CGI efforts this time) plus the so-called lost episode Identity Within. The only extra not really worth watching all the way through is the "fan films" feature, which is a bit like sitting through an embarrassing sixth form revue! You'll see what I mean...

I wouldn't say "buy to complete your collection" as that statement is reserved for the abysmal eighth series, but don't start with this series if you're new to Red Dwarf. The episodes are actually better than I remember them being in 1997 and with the commentaries plus all the different versions this is actually quite a fascinating set.

Tikka To Ride is by anybody's standards a very clever episode crammed full of great verbal and visual gags with an ingenious conspiracy theory plot involving the assassination of President Kennedy. It ranks highly as a superb opening episode and would have set the tone and standard for series 7 if it were not for Chris Barrie's departure which had to be dealt with. The second episode Stoke Me A Clipper is an eclectic episode opening in an unconvincing and very dated WWII scenario complete with rubber crocodile, switching to medieval England and finally moving to deep space. A mortally wounded and humourless Ace Rimmer arrives on board to convince Red Dwarf's Rimmer to take his place which he does to explain Rimmer's departure. It's a poignant,downbeat and strangely darkly lit episode which seems much longer than it actually is. The loss of a major character and the viewers favourite is a bitter pill to swallow and when coupled with the aforementioned historical settings and the new film style it's ultimately an unsatisfactory episode. Ourroboros, the third episode puts series 7 firmly back on track and introduces the new Kochanski and dynamics of the revised crew. The intimacy and immediacy of Red Dwarf in a studio was lost on film which lent it a more distant and remote look and a detached ambience but it did offer some superior cinematic visuals notably the scene in Epideme where the crew are walking through the abandoned JMC spacecraft Leviathan and a glob of ice falls down Lister's neck and in Ouroboros where Starbug is chased by the Gelf ship across a snow covered planetoid. CGI's made their debut in 7 and are universally inferior and much derided in comparison to the model shots in earlier series. The producers weren't happy with them either and has taken the opportunity to re-master the CGI sequences on Tikka To Ride especially for this DVD. The remaining episodes have many memorable stories and scenes; Lister and Rimmers kiss; Robert Llewellyn's first foray into writing a script (Beyond A Joke) and the return of Norman Lovett as Holly for starters. This series is a lot better than many remember it and has a wealth of humour that is easily missed when watched with a determination to dislike it.

There are many extras on this DVD, over four hours worth of interviews, outtakes,deleted scenes, the usual behind the scenes documentary entitled Back From the Dead, a 16 page collectors booklet, three discs instead of the usual two with the third featuring Krytens head on it. There is a genuinely exciting extra which is of an unbroadcast episode called Identity Within taken from a script centred on Cat, read and voiced/mimicked by Chris Barrie accompanied by specially commissioned storyboards. There will also be the inclusion of two competition winning short "films" made by fans. Oh and it's got a really nice purple cover with Kochanski on the spine - miaaaooowww.

The first problem was in the script writing. The gestalt entity that was Grant Naylor split, with Grant going one way and Naylor staying on to write the series. As anyone who was read their respective Red Dwarf books (Backwards and Last Human - both superb BTW) will attest, Naylor has a great imagination, but it was obviously Grant who brought us the laughs.

The second thing is the CGI - it's awful! True, you could always tell that Starbug was just a well made model (plus they reused the same shots of it over and over) but the effects in the show are terrible and look like something my old Spectrum could produce.

Rimmer leaves, and Kochanski arrives - big mistake. Chloe Annett looks fantastic but is no patch on old 'Goal-Post Head'. She does not fit it and has no real purpose in the show.

All the characters are grossly over simplified. True, Dave Lister will always be a beer swilling, curry guzzling moron, but as we see in Camile, Timeslides and many other episodes, he has a heart, a brain and a real depth of personality. Vindaloo and lager is all that remains of his personality. Likewise Kryten has always struggled for acceptance, but here he changes from the droid struggling against his past in Kryten and the Last Day to a shalow, guilt stricken, house droid again.

The canned laughter is horrible, and no patch on a live audience. Nuff said!

The episodes are not without their moments, but even those that do begin as great comedy soon tail off into bland sci-fi drama. At the end of Series 6, we saw the cast of the Red Dwarf die, only to be saved by the damage done to space-time. On the evidence of the series we must end with the immortal words of Arnold Judas Rimmer, Bronze Swimming Certifcate and Silver Swimming Certificate: 'Better dead than smeg!'.