back in the red: RED DWARF SERIES 1 DVD
posted by Matt Drzymala, review by Ian 'Ian' Symes

It seems like a lifetime away now, but I'll never forget the feeling I had when I woke up on Monday, 4th November 2002. My heart was beating at unhealthy proportions as I walked down to Woolworths, as if I'd spent a lifetime eating lard sandwiches and drinking meths. This DVD was always going to be special. I knew that from the moment it was announced on the official site. This review takes a retrospective look back on two little discs of joy.

The Series

What can I say about Series I that hasn't been said before? How about 'it was poorly written, the dialogue was useless and the model shots looked crap'? That would be a lie, of course. The main feature of the first six episodes is the double act between Lister and Rimmer. The bunkroom is the scene of so many memorable dialogues, such as the 'black card' scene from Balance of Power and the scene about Lister's plan in The End. There's also some great plots in the opening series. Perhaps not quite as good as later series, but Future Echoes is a classic sci-fi concept, made all the more great by the vision of Lister's death. The only critisism I have of the first series is the quality of the acting, particularly where Craig Charles is concerned. As for the DVD transfer, the series looks better than ever before. It's become a bit of a cliché

when talking about this DVD, but "the blacks really look black", as opposed to the dark grey of the video version.

The sound has been remixed to 2-channel stereo from the original mono, and it sounds great through my headphones. Considering the fact that the series was filmed on a long-dead type of videotape, they've done an extraordinary job in re-mastering it. But let's face it. Most of us didn't buy the disc for the episodes. We bought it for the extras.

The Extras

The main special feature on this DVD is the Cast Commentary. This is a jovial and entertaining affair. Despite being a bit quiet at times, the cast seem like they're having a great time; meeting up after all these years, looking over their old performances. There's some great running jokes about Norm's hair, Chris's cars and Craig's great boozing ability. There's very little behind-the-scenes info here, but there is some on the Writers and Director Commentary. Unfortunately, this is only on The End and it is taken from the Six of the Best CD, so most hardcore fans will have heard it already. This highlights the main fault of the DVD - Rob, Doug and Ed did not get into a studio and record a commentary. This would have made the package perfect, and the technical details we could have heard would have counter-balanced the whimsical cast affair perfectly.

Onto the second disc, and a brilliant documentary called Launching Red Dwarf. This is a compilation of new interviews with Chris, Craig, Danny, Norm, Doug and Peter Risdale-Scott, the former commissioning editor of BBC North West (not to be confused with the Leeds United ex-chairman), and some unseen interview exerpts from the A-Z sessions, featuring Chris, Craig and Executive Producer Paul Jackson. The documentary tells the tale of Series I from script to screen, as it were. Even I, a certified Red Dwarf geek, learned plenty of new things.

Another major feature on this disc were the Deleted Scenes. This is essentially new Red Dwarf material, for the first time in four years. Some of the scenes were cut for good reasons (bad audience reaction, crap special effects, poor acting, mentioning no names Ms. Grogan), but some were genuinely funny. I love Rimmer's line from Me2 - "Go on, Orson! He's giving the same performance he gave in Carry on Camping!"

There were also some specialist features, especially for people like me. These will be of little or no interest for the casual fan, but us geeks were in heaven. Firstly, the Original Trailer shows some vintage BBC Two presentation, and some truly awful freeze-frame effects. A completely brilliant inclusion was the Special Effects Raw Footage, five minutes of model shots direct from the rushes. My favourite feature however, was the Isolated Music Cues. Every single piece of music that Howard Goodall composed for the series is here, including the beautiful Blue Danube-style piece from Confidence & Paranoia. Also in the specialist section, Talking Book Chapters, which highlighted some of the differences between the series and the novel, and a Photo Gallery, which was excellent in all but one small detail - one of the pictures is from Series VIII.

The remaining features fall under the 'disappointing' category. The Smeg Ups were all used in the Smeg Outs video, and were often presented in non-chronological order. This is a bugger, seeing as the boys at GNP went through the rushes to bring us the deleted scenes, and I'm sure there are more out-takes availiable. Also, a couple of the Holly ones actually came from Series II. You have no idea how annoying this is. The "Drunk" featurette was a bit of a strange inclusion. It's jolly enough, but it really has no purpose. Similarly, the Japanese Version of The End was a bit silly. Funny though it is hearing strange Oriental voices eminating from our favourite actors, the novelty wears off within a few minutes.

I don't want to linger on the negative aspects, though. I'm sure it's just me being a curmudgeon. There are other features on the discs - two Easter Eggs, one of which is a little easier to find than the other, a brilliant Collector's Booklet, written by Andrew Ellard, a Weblink to www.reddwarf.co.uk , some truly brilliant, if not a little long, Animated Menus, and the usual DVD features, such as Subtitles and Chapter Selection.

Overall, this is the best DVD of 2002. Lord of the Rings, my arse. Never before has a classic show been treated with so much love and respect for a DVD release. All the minor imperfections can be attributed to lack of experience, and I'm sure that future releases will be an improvement.