The adventures of 'the boys from the dwarf', otherwise known as the surviving crew members of the Jupiter Mining Corporation ship Red Dwarf.
I love Red Dwarf for the sci-fi concepts, humour, themes and characters, but it is a show that I have experienced highs and lows watching over the past thirty-something years.
The plot follows Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer, The Cat and eventually Kryten as they travel across space and time, play pool with planets and get up to all kind of mind bending sci-fi shenanigans on board Red Dwarf and its shuttle craft Starbug. Continuity has never been a strong point in the writing but it's not really meant to be taken seriously. Circumstances are often contrived to present cool sci-fi concepts, lampoon shows like Star Trek and put the characters into funny situations.
A number of great ideas have been used over the years. Some of it clearly spoofing other sci-fi movies and shows, whereas others feel quite original. Importantly the initial premise of what happens to Lister in the very first show, setting the scene for the next 3 million and 30+ years, is one of the most ingenious sit-com ideas of all time. Along with the sci-fi a number of interesting themes have been explored such as friendship, loneliness, psychology, humanity, religion, war, slavery, fate, elitism, capitalism and totalitarianism.
The humour is character driven, with The Rimmer v Lister, odd couple dynamic powering everything. Two polar opposite characters ironically stuck with each other for what seems like eternity. Add to the mix the excellent supporting characters and the freedom to put them in almost any situation. When its works it's superb and when it doesn't work and it's pretty poor.
All performances are brilliant with Craig Charles' distinct persona stamped upon Lister. His acting in the early days wasn't as strong as the later years but he got by on charisma alone back then. Danny-John Jules played a very one-dimensional character as The Cat, but he lives and breathes it with epic timing. Robert Llewelyn is an excellent character actor and plays Kryten in a number of different comic ways, the best of which being dry, excellently delivered one-liners. Norman Lovett the short-lived Red Dwarf computer Holly is pure gold. His deadpan persona is incredible and it's a shame he was so underused.
Saving the best till last. Chris Barrie brought to life a quite magnificent comedy creation in Arnold J Rimmer. For me he's up the with a number of classic comedy characters such as Basil Fawlty, David Brent, Richard Richard, Edina Monsoon, Harold Steptoe and Derek Trotter. He is one of the reasons it works so well.
Personally I find it's early years to be the most enjoyable (series 1 - 6) and it gets back into the swing of things later on (series 10-12). What came in between didn't work for me (7-9) and this is mainly down to the writing losing its way, possibly for the sake of syndication.
There are several great episodes such as 'Thanks For The Memory', 'White Hole', 'Marooned', 'Dimension Jump', 'Skipper' and my favourite 'Back To Reality'. The average episode always entertains for the majority as the characters are naturally funny whatever they are doing. Beware there are a number of weaker efforts in the middle years where the writers were experimenting with different styles and dynamics that didn't work.
(Updated - August 2023) - You can currently watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer.
Overall I feel the show is a 7.5/10 but I always round upwards.
I love Red Dwarf for the sci-fi concepts, humour, themes and characters, but it is a show that I have experienced highs and lows watching over the past thirty-something years.
The plot follows Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer, The Cat and eventually Kryten as they travel across space and time, play pool with planets and get up to all kind of mind bending sci-fi shenanigans on board Red Dwarf and its shuttle craft Starbug. Continuity has never been a strong point in the writing but it's not really meant to be taken seriously. Circumstances are often contrived to present cool sci-fi concepts, lampoon shows like Star Trek and put the characters into funny situations.
A number of great ideas have been used over the years. Some of it clearly spoofing other sci-fi movies and shows, whereas others feel quite original. Importantly the initial premise of what happens to Lister in the very first show, setting the scene for the next 3 million and 30+ years, is one of the most ingenious sit-com ideas of all time. Along with the sci-fi a number of interesting themes have been explored such as friendship, loneliness, psychology, humanity, religion, war, slavery, fate, elitism, capitalism and totalitarianism.
The humour is character driven, with The Rimmer v Lister, odd couple dynamic powering everything. Two polar opposite characters ironically stuck with each other for what seems like eternity. Add to the mix the excellent supporting characters and the freedom to put them in almost any situation. When its works it's superb and when it doesn't work and it's pretty poor.
All performances are brilliant with Craig Charles' distinct persona stamped upon Lister. His acting in the early days wasn't as strong as the later years but he got by on charisma alone back then. Danny-John Jules played a very one-dimensional character as The Cat, but he lives and breathes it with epic timing. Robert Llewelyn is an excellent character actor and plays Kryten in a number of different comic ways, the best of which being dry, excellently delivered one-liners. Norman Lovett the short-lived Red Dwarf computer Holly is pure gold. His deadpan persona is incredible and it's a shame he was so underused.
Saving the best till last. Chris Barrie brought to life a quite magnificent comedy creation in Arnold J Rimmer. For me he's up the with a number of classic comedy characters such as Basil Fawlty, David Brent, Richard Richard, Edina Monsoon, Harold Steptoe and Derek Trotter. He is one of the reasons it works so well.
Personally I find it's early years to be the most enjoyable (series 1 - 6) and it gets back into the swing of things later on (series 10-12). What came in between didn't work for me (7-9) and this is mainly down to the writing losing its way, possibly for the sake of syndication.
There are several great episodes such as 'Thanks For The Memory', 'White Hole', 'Marooned', 'Dimension Jump', 'Skipper' and my favourite 'Back To Reality'. The average episode always entertains for the majority as the characters are naturally funny whatever they are doing. Beware there are a number of weaker efforts in the middle years where the writers were experimenting with different styles and dynamics that didn't work.
(Updated - August 2023) - You can currently watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer.
Overall I feel the show is a 7.5/10 but I always round upwards.