Stars: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Norman Lovett, Clare Grogan

Director: Ed Bye

Summary: The complete first series of the popular television comedy sci-fi series. 'The End' sees a radiation leak wipe out the crew of Red Dwarf leaving only one survivor - Dave Lister. In 'Future Echoes' Red Dwarf breaks the speed of light leaving the crew experiencing visions of their own futures. 'Balance Of Power' sees Lister about to take his chef's exam and if he passes he will be able to have Rimmer replaced as the ship's hologram... In 'Confidence And Paranoia' Lister gets a mutated virus which makes his hallucinations come to life leaving the ship beset by herring rain amongst other things... 'Waiting For God' sees the ship's computer, Holly, find a pod floating about in deep space and Lister pleased to learn that he is a god. In 'ME2' Rimmer creates a duplicate of himself, all seems perfect until they both find themselves in a conflict that only one can win...

The sci-fi spoof RED DWARF finds chicken-soup-machine repairman Dave Lister (Craig Charles) as the last human being in the universe on a spaceship 3,000,000 years in the future. Along with the holographic image of his deceased bunkmate, Rimmer (Chris Barrie), and other odd characters, Lister navigates the stars on increasingly bizarre adventures. This collection includes the first six episodes of the series: "The End," "Future Echoes," "Balance of Power," "Waiting for God," "Confidence and Paranoia," and "ME2."

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Notoriously, and entirely appropriately, the original outline for Doug Naylor and Rob Grant's comedy SF series Red Dwarfwas sketched on the back of a beer mat. When it finally appeared on our television screens in 1988 the show had clearly stayed true to its roots, mixing jokes about excessive curry consumption with affectionate parodies of classic SF. Indeed, one of the show's most endearing and enduring features is its obvious respect for the conventions of SF, even as it gleefully subverts them. The scenario owes something to Douglas Adams's satirical Hitch-Hiker's Guide, something to The Odd Coupleand a lot more to the slacker SF of John Carpenter's Dark Star. Behind the crew's constant bickering there lurks an impending sense that life, the universe and everything are all someone's idea of a terrible joke.

Later series broadened the show's horizons until at last its premise was so diluted as to be unrecognisable, but in the six episodes of the first series the comedy is witty and intimate, focusing on characters and not special effects. Slob Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is the last human alive after a radiation leak wipes out the crew of the vast mining vessel Red Dwarf (episode 1, "The End"). He bums around the spaceship with the perpetually uptight and annoyed hologram of his dead bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie, the show's greatest comedy asset) and a creature evolved from a cat (dapper Danny John Jules). They are guided rather haphazardly by Holly, the worryingly thick ship's computer (lugubrious Norman Lovett).

On the DVD:Red Dwarf Iarrives in a two-disc set, with all six episodes on the first disc accompanied by an excellent group commentary from Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John Jules and Norman Lovett. (There's also a bonus commentary on "The End" with the two writers and director Ed Bye.) The 4:3 picture is unimpressive, but sound is decent stereo. The second disc has an entertaining 25-minute documentary on the genesis of the series with contributions from the cast, writer Doug Naylor and producer Paul Jackson. Navigate the animated menus to find a gallery of extra features, including isolated music cues, deleted scenes, outtakes ("Smeg Ups"), a fun "Drunk" music montage, model effects shots, Web links, audiobook clips, the original BBC trailer and even the entire first episode in Japanese. --Mark Walker

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Cast Commentary, Writers And Director Commentary For Episode 1, Deleted Scenes, Smeg Ups, Original Trailer, Launching Red Dwarf Documentary, Drunk Featurette, Japanese Version Of The End, Special Effects Raw Footage, Isolated Music Cues, Talking Book Chapters, Photo
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1988
Release Date:	November 4, 2002
Runtime:	175 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B B C D V D 1117
Keywords:	Comedy, Two, Red, General, Series, I, Tv, Dwarf, Discs
Genre:	Comedy