Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, Esperanto
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Video by CBS Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304052979
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,025 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Stuff, January 13, 2000

By 

wonderrat "wonderrat" (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Dwarf 5: Byte 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Duane Dibbley makes his presence felt! Rimmer and Lister as half brothers? It's all here and more in Series 5. 'Back to Reality' is the best episode here, but the other two are just as good. Check out Rimmer as Frank N. Furter's alter ego in 'Demons and Angels.' It's aboslutely hilarious and I guess Grant/Naylor must have seen 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' dozens of times in order to get the right effect! Of course the evil Lister seems just as slovenly as the good Lister but that doesn't matter (and the Cat as a saber-tooth tiger is a sight to behold). For once, Lister gets the short end of the stick here, which is a surprise as Rimmer is usually the victim of hideous tortures, such as getting a knobby thing the size of an agave cactus jammed up certain orifices (and to see that happen, get Byte 2 of Series 5).

Finally in 'Holoship', we see that Rimmer is actually a decent person at heart. If only he didn't have such a hard time living up (or down) to his parents' expectiations. Oh well, then the premise of Rimmer as the whipping boy would not exist. Wait until Series 6 to see Rimmer show the traits of nobility and self sacrifice(but only in the last episode)! Hmmm, I wonder what giant despair squid calimari tastes like.

Buyers should note that the episodes here are not in the sequence of their original broadcast order, but that's irrevelant since each episode is self-contained. Only in Series 6 does the sequence matter.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two classic episodes, one average, December 11, 2001

By 

Thomas J Clifford [e-mail] (Suffolk, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Dwarf V - Byte One: Back To Reality [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Red Dwarf V begins here. Well, on video anyway...the episodes weren't actually broadcast in this order. This series continues in the action/science fiction vein of the previous two series, so there's not much character comedy on offer. However, despite this, there is a wealth of funny gags and great stories.

Back To Reality-
Voted as the best episode ever. I have to agree. A truly stunning example of comedy/science fiction. The best example. This is the show that elevated Red Dwarf into an all-time great alongside Star Trek etc. There's a truly inventive plot, tension, suspense, laughter by the bucketload. Simply mindblowing television. 4/4

Demons And Angels-
The weakest episode here. Suffers from the whole 'running round the ship thing' again. This episode has some terrible editing, which spoils the realism of the piece. It does tend to rely on shock value and slapstick a bit. However, it is funny and entertaining, (the scene where high Cat and Rimmer are dancing is pant-wettingly funny) but by no means a classic. 2.5/4

Holoship-
This is easily in my top five all-time favourite episodes ever. A charming Rimmer love story that has a cinematic feel to it. An acomplished mix of drama and comedy, where the characters are noble to each other. You root for Rimmer throughout. He is a character to be loved not loathed. Great performances abound. A great acheivement. I just love this episode! 4/4

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Dwarf does it again!, September 1, 2000

By 

Elizabeth (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Dwarf V - Byte One: Back To Reality [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Back to Reality is often rated the most popular of all Red Dwarf episodes, and it's easy to see why. It's brilliantly scripted. After being chased by a leviathan and crashing Starbug, the crew realize that the entire Red Dwarf experience was nothing but a virtual reality computer game, and they must now continue their true lives back on Earth. When the Cat realizes he is only an utter geek named Duane Dibbly with enormous teeth and atrocious clothes, all hell breaks loose!

Demons and Angels sees a return to some first season roots (Confidence and Paranoia, Me2) as the duality of each crew member is explored, this time manifested into good and evil. This is a good spoof on the classic Star Trek episode The Enemy Within, wherein Kirk is split into very good Kirk and purely evil Kirk. Too bad Kirk never wore a merry widow and fishnet tights as Rimmer does...

Holoship is a lovely episode, who knew Rimmer had a romantic soul? Or any soul, for that matter? ;) He maintains his general smegginess ("Over the years I've come to regard you as...people I once met."), but it's nice to have him play the hero every once in a while too.

Back to Reality is worth the price of the tape alone, but probably would be most enjoyable after one has logged a good deal of space time with these characters. By the fifth season, Red Dwarf was still going strong. Check out this wonderful British Sci-fi series, you won't be disappointed!