Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3584 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-07
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 230 minutes

Synopsis
The generator and the back-up system fail in the middle of the night and the crew has to crawl through the mile-long labyrinth of service ducts to restart their engines. On the way they learn a few peculiar things about each other. When two realities converge, the Dwarfers then have to face their most terrifying ordeal yet - they meet a real, live human woman.

Customer Reviews

On its way down...
Of course not the nadir of Red Dwarf, yet to come with the silly knock-off series 8 (call that Chucklebrothers in Space if you will), this is the time when people agree it all began to go a bit wrong. I think it's an interesting step though - actually I think they could have gone further (and should have done for 8 rather than stepping back the way they did); I liked the look of the sets and lighting and the cinematic filming style. I also liked that they didn't film with a studio audience - I think they could have dropped the laughter track altogether and gone for for something really thrilling and dramatic. Keeping the humour in sitcom land was a weak compromise though, with the cast seemingly responding to an audience that isn't there. This DVD comes with three extended episodes without the laughter tracks.

Anyway - people here are moaning that the episodes for series 7 and 8 are spread over 2 discs. Please be aware that three hours is really the maximum you can get on one disc before picture quality begins to suffer enormously. The eight episodes each for series 7 and 8 really make cramming them all on one disc impossible. Further to this, the extended episodes of three of the episodes, plus the "remastered" Tikka to Ride, all of which take up their own disc space as seamless branching would have been too expensive, needed to be accomodated too. I'm sure most will agree there's no other way they could have done this than by arranging the episodes as they have.

Judging this disc on the merits of all the extras on top of the series, there's really no way of rating it lower than three stars. The 90 minute documentary is fascinating as are all the usual deleted scenes, smeg ups, musical cues, raw effects footage (including CGI efforts this time) plus the so-called lost episode Identity Within. The only extra not really worth watching all the way through is the "fan films" feature, which is a bit like sitting through an embarrassing sixth form revue! You'll see what I mean...

I wouldn't say "buy to complete your collection" as that statement is reserved for the abysmal eighth series, but don't start with this series if you're new to Red Dwarf. The episodes are actually better than I remember them being in 1997 and with the commentaries plus all the different versions this is actually quite a fascinating set.

Seventh Heaven (revised)
Despite the absence of any cowboys in this series it is still a magnificent seven. Series 7 was unfairly judged and harshly criticised when first broadcast and the dismissive prejudice continues to linger. I prefer the look and atmosphere of a live audience and choose model shots over the CGI's but there's still a large element of the earlier Dwarf still there. It would have been preferable had the creative writing/production team remained together but Doug Naylor's influence is strongly self evident.It would have been preferable if Chris Barrie hadn't decided to leave - we'd have been saved from Stoke Me a Clipper to start with. Every season has its significant changes in writing, lighting, visuals, effects, costumes and characters and 7 was no different. There was a lot of opposition to Kochanski coming on board to replace Rimmer. The fact is that she was coming on board anyway because the American networks need a female character so the show can be syndicated. So her character was initially unpleasant but anyone plucked from a very comfortable and pleasant universe to being stranded in a different and somewhat futile reality must just be a bit tetchy. The character softened up when she accepted her fate and integrated well into the team for series 8. When series 7 is re-visited and seen again in a different light with the knowledge that Chris Barrie was back in series 8 which was shot in front of a live studio audience and restored model shots,it might not be as bad as the critics remember and they maybe, just maybe will lighten up and acknowledge this is a comedy programme not reality and savour the many bitter sweet delights it has to offer. Given all the changes to cast and style, Doug Naylor had to quickly establish a new direction for the show and then build upon that. In just 8 episodes I think on the whole he succeeded admirably and should be applauded for retaining the spirit and maintaining the programme.

Tikka To Ride is by anybody's standards a very clever episode crammed full of great verbal and visual gags with an ingenious conspiracy theory plot involving the assassination of President Kennedy. It ranks highly as a superb opening episode and would have set the tone and standard for series 7 if it were not for Chris Barrie's departure which had to be dealt with. The second episode Stoke Me A Clipper is an eclectic episode opening in an unconvincing and very dated WWII scenario complete with rubber crocodile, switching to medieval England and finally moving to deep space. A mortally wounded and humourless Ace Rimmer arrives on board to convince Red Dwarf's Rimmer to take his place which he does to explain Rimmer's departure. It's a poignant,downbeat and strangely darkly lit episode which seems much longer than it actually is. The loss of a major character and the viewers favourite is a bitter pill to swallow and when coupled with the aforementioned historical settings and the new film style it's ultimately an unsatisfactory episode. Ourroboros, the third episode puts series 7 firmly back on track and introduces the new Kochanski and dynamics of the revised crew. The intimacy and immediacy of Red Dwarf in a studio was lost on film which lent it a more distant and remote look and a detached ambience but it did offer some superior cinematic visuals notably the scene in Epideme where the crew are walking through the abandoned JMC spacecraft Leviathan and a glob of ice falls down Lister's neck and in Ouroboros where Starbug is chased by the Gelf ship across a snow covered planetoid. CGI's made their debut in 7 and are universally inferior and much derided in comparison to the model shots in earlier series. The producers weren't happy with them either and has taken the opportunity to re-master the CGI sequences on Tikka To Ride especially for this DVD. The remaining episodes have many memorable stories and scenes; Lister and Rimmers kiss; Robert Llewellyn's first foray into writing a script (Beyond A Joke) and the return of Norman Lovett as Holly for starters. This series is a lot better than many remember it and has a wealth of humour that is easily missed when watched with a determination to dislike it.

There are many extras on this DVD, over four hours worth of interviews, outtakes,deleted scenes, the usual behind the scenes documentary entitled Back From the Dead, a 16 page collectors booklet, three discs instead of the usual two with the third featuring Krytens head on it. There is a genuinely exciting extra which is of an unbroadcast episode called Identity Within taken from a script centred on Cat, read and voiced/mimicked by Chris Barrie accompanied by specially commissioned storyboards. There will also be the inclusion of two competition winning short "films" made by fans. Oh and it's got a really nice purple cover with Kochanski on the spine - miaaaooowww.

'Hey, the Entire City's Deserted'
Not the most memorable or funny or titles, but then this was not exacly a memorable or funny series. I must first say how much I love Red Dwarf. I got into it around series V and quickly caught up with the old episodes. But, for me, VII will always be a huge letdown.

The first problem was in the script writing. The gestalt entity that was Grant Naylor split, with Grant going one way and Naylor staying on to write the series. As anyone who was read their respective Red Dwarf books (Backwards and Last Human - both superb BTW) will attest, Naylor has a great imagination, but it was obviously Grant who brought us the laughs.

The second thing is the CGI - it's awful! True, you could always tell that Starbug was just a well made model (plus they reused the same shots of it over and over) but the effects in the show are terrible and look like something my old Spectrum could produce.

Rimmer leaves, and Kochanski arrives - big mistake. Chloe Annett looks fantastic but is no patch on old 'Goal-Post Head'. She does not fit it and has no real purpose in the show.

All the characters are grossly over simplified. True, Dave Lister will always be a beer swilling, curry guzzling moron, but as we see in Camile, Timeslides and many other episodes, he has a heart, a brain and a real depth of personality. Vindaloo and lager is all that remains of his personality. Likewise Kryten has always struggled for acceptance, but here he changes from the droid struggling against his past in Kryten and the Last Day to a shalow, guilt stricken, house droid again.

The canned laughter is horrible, and no patch on a live audience. Nuff said!

The episodes are not without their moments, but even those that do begin as great comedy soon tail off into bland sci-fi drama. At the end of Series 6, we saw the cast of the Red Dwarf die, only to be saved by the damage done to space-time. On the evidence of the series we must end with the immortal words of Arnold Judas Rimmer, Bronze Swimming Certifcate and Silver Swimming Certificate: 'Better dead than smeg!'.