Rating: 
Summary: The Worlds Premier Sci-Fi Comedy is here!!!!!
Review: ...and its about time. Join the crew of the Red Dwarf, as ship screwball and slacker Dave Lister is put in stasis as punishment for bringing an unquarantined, pregnant cat on board the ship. When he wakes up from stasis, he finds that 3 million years have passed, and he is the last member of the human race!!! Join him in his wacky adventures alongside "Holly" (the ships computer), Arnold J. Rimmer(a holographic representation of his deceased bunkmate), and "Cat" ( a humanoid who has 'evolved' from his cat).
Seasons 1 and 2 are available Feb 25th 2003, and two seasons will be released every ensuing February until all eight seasons have been released.This is the funniest television program ever made in my opinion, and I am sure you will enjoy it!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Attack of the killer computers
Review: According to some remarks in "bonus features", Red Dwarf is a "sci-fi comedy sitcom" originating from BBC. Recognizable influences come from Dark Star, Star Trek and Star Wars, and probably others. Series I and II each consist of six about-28-minute episodes. Episode 1 sets the premise that leads into the series scenario. Subsequent episodes should generally be viewed in sequence because these episodes can refer back to what has happened before. The more interesting episode elements deal with satirical treatment of sex, religion, evolution, FTL travel, time stream mix-ups, and technology, of which there are a few scattered clever and inventive jewels; but these are, alas, like islands in a sea of mediocrity. Most of the series revolves around two principal characters: Rimmer (a reconstituted hologram of the now-dead original) is portrayed by Chris Barrie (quite well, actually) as a perfectionist constantly obsessed with personal order and cleanliness of his "body", his wardrobe, and his surroundings. His nominal roommate aboard the ship, Lister (a surviving member of the original crew) is portrayed by Craig Charles as the (naturally) slovenly polar opposite. Much of the intended but never realized humor proceeds from this conflict using an old and worn device right out of Elementary Writing Class: Kindergarten Level. From a quite different direction having to do with the series' clever basic premise comes a third principal character, "Cat", in a no-holds-barred portrayal by Danny John-Jules which, along with related events, provide most of the more inspired humor and mad-cap sub-plot elements. Comparisons to Dark Star come to mind, and its effect on this series is pronounced. But Dark Star was thoughtfully and imaginatively crafted by budding experts using dead-pan humor and satire. The professional quality actors never broke character. Special effects, while primitive, were inventively supplied within a highly limited college-student budget. Yet these limitations actually enhanced and endeared the overall effect. Humor was always completely natural and needed no adornment. But there is a chasm between Dark Star and Red Dwarf: Class. There is too much annoying and amateurish breaking of character. Some reasonable, but primitive special effects end up like fragile rice paper stretched tautly over the sharp and protruding bones of an underlying carcass. Humor density is sparse. And therein probably lies the explanation for the single most degrading feature of this series: CANNED LAUGHTER. In the first ten minutes of Series I episode 1 (this reviewer stopped notating in disgust after that), canned laughter erupted at an average rate of every 12 seconds, with frequent inane giggles in between. Such disembodied spectral laughter occurs when two characters are interacting (in what is supposed to be a humorous situation but rarely is) deep in interstellar space and time, isolated by millions of light years and millions of years from the nearest earthlings (if such still exists) on a gigantic space ship. Nor does this annoyance seem to diminish and is "enhanced" by additional spectral CLAPPING in at least two Red Dwarf II episodes! (Series II by the way is a definite step downhill, if that's possible, from Series I.) The resultant intrusions were so annoying to this viewer that the episodes became increasingly difficult to watch, even for review purposes. And therein is perhaps the downfall of this series. Do those who produce this stuff use canned laughter to hide their minimalist efforts and/or to signal intellectually challenged viewers when to react to something as funny (when it isn't)? Perhaps they are slapping together a product for what they contemptuously perceive as (or worse yet, correctly realize is) their target audience's lack of intellectual vigor? Each series has two DVDs contained in a single normal sized quality storage case, wherein DVD 1 contains six 28-minute episodes and DVD 2 has 90 minutes of bonus features including the usual narcissistic, self-congratulatory, blather.. DVD 1 is held in a book-leaf like interior holder that hinges off the case's inner spine, a very nice arrangement. Picture quality is sporadically grainy at times, though generally adequate. Sound seems OK. Navigation to the various episodes and bonus features is clever.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally available on DVD
Review: After years of waiting, they finally released the first two series on dvd. With deleted scenes, smeg-ups, and lots of misc. other stuff, they're well worth the money and the wait. I can hardly wait until next year when series 3 and 4 are available.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent start to an excellent show, with good features.
Review: Although, in my opinion, Red Dwarf didn't become a true classic until about its 3rd series, the first 2 series' are definitely better than most shows first couple seasons (with the exception of Futurama, which was hilarious from the get-go).
The first series, to me, wasn't really all that funny, especially the first episode. The first few shows were basically utilitarian in that they set up who the characters were and the premise of the show. Jokes seemed to be very uneven, and sometimes few and far between. I would give the episodes of the first series 3 stars.
The second series is much better. The actors seemed to finally have the handle on their roles and the jokes, on the whole, were much funnier, as were the plot lines. I would give the episodes of the 2nd series 4 stars.
That brings us to the DVD presentation and packaging of these series'. First of all, these episodes are the original ones shown on the BBC, not the "Re-mastered" ones that are available on VHS. I think they are better the original way, because i felt the computer effects didn't mesh well with the overall look of the show in the re-mastered versions. THe original episodes were given a bit of a tocuh-up visually, though, so they do look at least as good as the re-mastered versions for their DVD release.
Special feature-wise, these discs are pretty well stocked. Each has several deleted scenes, music cues, and a photo gallery, as well as outtakes (taken from the "smeg-outs" and "smeg-ups" tapes, but only from those individual series' from which they came) and commentaries.
The commentaries, all featuring the four main stars of the show (Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, and Norman Lovett) are pretty good and fairly entertaining, but not all that informative. Most of the interaction between the guys are jokes and put-downs (usually directed at Lovett, and his bald head), with the occasional story or reminiscence. Series 1 also features a commentary on the first episode ("The End") with writers Doug Nayler and Rob Grant, and director Ed Bye. It is basically those three telling the story of how Red Dwarf came together, with no actual comment on what's happening during the episode.
All-in-all, i'd give the special features 4 stars.
Those three grades (Series 1 episodes, Series 2 episodes and special features) average out to a 3.67, which rounded up is where I got my 4 star rating from.
That said, if you are a Red Dwarf fan, this is a must buy, but if you are only a casual fan, you may want to wait until next year to buy the 3rd and 4th series DVD's, which is when the show got REALLY funny.
Rating:
Summary: Finding their bearings
Review: As a fan of Red Dwarf, I was really looking forward to seeing these first two seasons, for I had never seen the first and only caught some of the second long ago. I was not disappointed, but I was somewhat surprised. These are great episodes, but it is clear that the cast is still trying to figure out who these characters are and that the stories lack some polish. A must-have for fans, but new viewers may need some patience to understand our devotion to this show.
Rating:
Summary: At last!
Review: At long last, Red Dwarf is finally being released on DVD--and with enough tantalizing extras to cause any fan of the show to celebrate. With smeg ups, deleted scenes, documentaries and interviews (not to mention the crisp, clear quality of the original episodes on DVD), this is a release that I have long been anticipating. Crisp, fresh writing and marvellous acting more than make up for the, at times, low budget sets--and even for their low budget, they still manage to bring across an excellent sense of desolation and loneliness, essential to the show. I love this television show. And with two series' being released each February for the next few years, this is a tremendous event that should and will be celebrated by all Red Dwarf fans.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but with one BIG disappointment
Review: Great to have the series finally starting to come out on DVD, along with the many extras included. The biggest disappointment for me (and probably some other fans) is that none of the "extra features" material is closed-captioned or subtitled in English. This is rather a surprise, as most of the BBC/Warner releases in the past two years have been fully subtitled in English for the hearing-impaired. This one wasn't, and thus makes it essential to keep the VHS commercial releases of the Smeg-Ups tapes, as none of the out-takes are subtitled on the DVD releases. Maybe next time they will do a better job on this end. Hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Red Dwarf rocks
Review: He anyone who wants to watch Red Dwarf they are going to start showing Red Dwarf on January 26 on PBS to get listings go to psb.org
Rating:
Summary: Extras Galore
Review: Hrm, sorry kids, Cat is one of my favorites, though I tend to say that Lister is perhaps the strongest character of the lot. Nevertheless, it is all hilarious, and I urge all RD fans to buy these DVDs. Has good commentary, and fun interactive screen (though I do wish there were more to them). I am so antsy for the others to come out. Why do they have to drag out the anticipation? I suspect for monetary reasons. Such is life. Smeg happens, yeah?
Rating:
Summary: Owww...How'm I Lookin?
Review: Hrm, sorry kids, Cat is one of my favorites, though I tend to say that Lister is perhaps the strongest character of the lot. Nevertheless, it is all hilarious, and I urge all RD fans to buy these DVDs. Has good commentary, and fun interactive screen (though I do wish there were more to them). I am so antsy for the others to come out. Why do they have to drag out the anticipation? I suspect for monetary reasons. Such is life. Smeg happens, yeah?
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