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The crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf stumble further into
deep space facing an emotion-sucking polymorph, a psychotic
mechanoid and a version of Earth where time runs backwards...
Series
three of Red Dwarf sees a change to the established
cast from seasons one and two. Out goes Norman Lovett as Holly
and in comes Hattie Hayridge, and also in steps Robert
Llewellyn as the series 4000 mechanoid Kryten.
This
injection of fresh faces helps to up the tempo of the show
somewhat, and the script writing for this season seems more
polished. It also looks as though more money has been spent
on the sets, but as one of extras on this collection explains,
there was no additional money for sets, just a production
designer who knew how to stretch his budget to get fantastic
results.
The
episodes do feel rather dated and a lot of the jokes are not
as funny as I remembered them being. But they look good. And,
on the whole, this season contains some of the best episodes
of the shows entire run.
Another
thought that struck me was how old the cast look now - especially
Chris Barrie. So that Red Dwarf movie may look a little
strange if they ever get around to filming it.
But
it is the extras that let this collection down. Most of them
will only appeal to Billy Fanboys. The only extras of merit
are the tribute to production designer Mel Bibby and the deleted
scenes. The rest are pretty poor!
We
have Hattie Hayridge's video diary at a convention - proving
that she isn't acting when she plays Holly - she really is
that scatty in real life. There are some awful cast commentaries
(imagine you and your mates making your own commentary...
well it would be better.) There are very few titbits about
the filming, only the cast saying things like: "Oh...
this is a classic scene coming up!" and "Ha! Ha!
Great gag!" It could be because there are so many of
the cast involved, but I defy you to watch the commentary
to all six episodes.
But,
the extra that really takes the biscuit (no pun intended)
is Food. Apparently this is "an amusing food featurette
using clips from all eight series". What?!!? Talk about
scraping the bottom of the barrel. I can't wait for more in
this series on future DVDs. How about Male Member:
"An hilarious look at penis jokes using clips from all
eight series"? Or Stationery: "An off beat
look at jokes revolving around items of stationery using paper
clips from all eight series". What on earth was going
through their minds?
While
the episodes are entertaining, the BBC could have (and should
have) put them all on one disc and provided us with fewer
extras and a slightly cheaper price. Not what it could have
been.
Darren
Rea
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