Boys from the Dwarf...

Introduction

They’re back. The slime is still on its way home.

Many years in the making, and an aborted film later, a proper, full series of Red Dwarf has returned. It needed Dave to pay for it (the TV channel, as opposed to any other Dave) but it was worth the wait.

The traditional 6 episode format was as follows:-

Trojan

Rimmer receives an SOS distress call from a doomed ship commanded by his all-conquering brother, Howard. But Rimmer can’t bring himself to save Howard until he’s on an equal footing career-wise. He has 15 hours to pass his Astro-Nav exam and become an Officer. The same exam he’s already failed nine times.

Fathers and Suns

Every year Lister sends himself a Father’s Day card to celebrate the fact that he is his own father, but when Rimmer points out he’s been a lousy father to himself Lister decides to do something about it. Meanwhile, Rimmer and Kryten install a new computer; the beautiful, but lethally logical, Pree.

Lemons

Marooned in Britain in 23 AD, the Dwarfers need a 9 volt battery to power up their Returner Remote and get home. Remembering a lesson from school, Rimmer suggests they make a battery out of lemons but the nearest lemon to Britain in 23 AD is in India 4,000 miles away. They begin their journey, a journey that will ultimately lead them to a meeting with an historical figure which could change the entire history of civilisation.

Entangled

Lister loses Rimmer in a game of poker to a group of Genetically Engineered Life Forms and in return gets an unwanted gift: a groinal exploder programmed to detonate in 24 hours unless Lister pays his debts. Meanwhile, Kryten and Cat become quantum entangled and do everything in perfect unison.

Dear Dave

Lister has women trouble when he gets himself in a love triangle with Snack Dispensers 23 and 34, then to make matter worse gets a letter from an old girlfriend telling him she’s pregnant and it might be his. Lister and Rimmer hunt through the mountain of letters from the mail pod to discover if Lister became a father.

The Beginning

Hiding in an asteroid, surrounded by a Simulant Death Ship and a fleet of Annihilators, the Dwarfers begin to wonder whether this is the beginning of the end. Only one man can save them. Unfortunately that man is Arnold Judas Rimmer. Who is about to find out something about his father...

Video + Audio

An excellent 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, as first broadcast. Nothing wrong from a technical point of view, and this is the best looking Red Dwarf ever (lots of details about why that is can be found in the documentary in the extras).

We also get a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as first broadcast, and again perfectly fine technically.

Extra Features

The usual selection of Smeg Ups and deleted scenes with commentary tracks. Sadly, no commentary tracks on the main episodes. But...

The main extra here, and almost worth the money on its own is “We’re Smegged”, a brilliant 2 hour documentary which is 100% “warts and all” and tells you pretty much everything you wanted to know about the series, and lots of things you might not have wanted to know, like how close it came to never making it to screen (on several occasions).

It is fantastic, so much detail about everything. Location shoots going wrong, model shots running into difficulties, hard drives going missing, footage of the recording nights, the warm up act, readthroughs, make up, set design, misbehaving props and much more. One of the best DVD documentaries ever recorded.

Apparently it also nearly didn’t make it on to the final DVD - that would have been criminal!

Conclusion

The slime is back. And the boys from the Dwarf are well and truly back. There was a bit of a mixed reaction when the first episode was broadcast (I remember a few people reacting negatively on Facebook that night) but I’ve always maintained that this was a return to form, and across the six episodes it definitely panned out that way.

And when watched in the context of the documentary that explains so much about the difficulties faced, and how much hard work went in to the series, it all adds up to essential viewing for Dwarf fans.

This will make an excellent Xmas present for any Dwarfer - you can’t just watch the episodes, you need to see the documentary to really appreciate it.

Recommended.