"Red Dwarf" (1988) TV series 1988-????

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Creators:

Rob Grant
Doug Naylor

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Release Date:

29 March 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The adventures of the last human being alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Red Dwarf | Space | Mining Ship | Computer

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Craig Charles	...	Dave Lister / ... (55 episodes, 1988-2009)
Danny John-Jules	...	The Cat / ... (55 episodes, 1988-2009)
Chris Barrie	...	Arnold Rimmer / ... (51 episodes, 1988-2009)
Robert Llewellyn	...	Kryten / ... (43 episodes, 1989-2009)

Runtime:

30 min (52 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Esperanto

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:12 | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The design of the Cat's pink suit from the first series was copied from an old black suit belonging to Danny John-Jules' father, who got married in it. John-Jules brought it in after deciding none of the designs provided were really appropriate for the character.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 46th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1994) (TV)

Soundtrack:

theme

Who Wouldn't Want to be Trapped in Space With These Guys?

Red Dwarf is for anyone who enjoys a good laugh, and doesn't mind taking their science fiction with a grain of salt. Yet I think it's necessary to break the show up into three distinct parts.

Part One encompasses seasons one and two, which revolves primarily around the relationship of Rimmer and Lister. The first two seasons have a great low-budget appeal (most of the scenes take place on a couple of sets)and really mixes sharp wit and satire with a sense of loneliness.

Part Two is seasons three to six, and a new character, Kryten, is added to the list (this is not bad at all: Kryten gets a lot of the best lines). With the show's growing popularity and increased budget, the characters venture more and more outside their giant spaceship and explore "strange new worlds". Action and physical comedy take more and more precedence during these seasons. This is the high point of the show's run.

Part Three includes seasons seven and eight, and in all honesty, are best avoided. Several years elapsed between seasons and six and seven, and it shows. The show's creators made several mistakes in plot, story, and character, and the actors appear to be going through the motions, and much of their character traits, which made the show so great in the first place, are missing or warped in very disappointing ways.

Still, I highly recommend the first six years of this program. They're just the motley crew I'd want to be lost in space with.