Customer Reviews

Red Dwarf: Series III and IV

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow, these discs are jam packed - 2 discs per series! Disc 1 contains the episodes, each episode has a commentary. Disc 2 contains the extras.

Indeed, there's more running time for the extras than there are for the episodes!

Being a Red Dwarf fan, I eagarly bought these releases. Warner Bros is WAY TOO SLOW in releasing these discs (that goes for Doctor Who as well, hint hint!)

$28 per series is a decent price, but if it were $28 for only the extra material, it's still worth the price. (that's not a hint, $28 per season is just fine for a 6 episode series.)

The episodes for both seasons are hilarious, the only clunkers being "Marooned" and "Meltdown", though the latter has some nice social commentary but lacks the visual of Winnie the Pooh being shot in front of the firing squad... fans already know this. For newbies, keep in mind the show is a bit raunchy at times, probably TV-14 level for American standards. (And these episodes were made in Britain in 1989 and 1991.) But it's still infinitely less offensve than South Park or most shows that are TV-14.

The only drawback is video quality. Not necessarily the quality of the mastertapes, which is mostly spectacular. (in series 4, I saw some brief edge enhancement and maybe a bit excess color bleed in spots.) It's the DVD compression. Sometimes the scene looks perfect. In others, it's very grainy/fuzzy as if too much compression was used to make the episodes fit on the disc. If I can see it 6 feet away on a standard 27" TV set, you chaps with 42" HDTV sets are bound to have a hissy fit, nor would I blame you. (Bodyswap, in the Lister/Rimmer scene where Rimmer contrived Lister to do a bodyswap so Rimmer will make Lister fit again is a clear example of where the poor compression quality can be seen.) Doctor Who also has the same problem in some of its releases... Is BBC America/Warner Bros using single density discs to fit 3 hours worth of TV show on a medium meant for 2 hours at high quality? They ought to use double density discs. I'll pay the extra money. (Or should I? "I Spy" had fit 4 hour-long episodes onto a double density disc and they look perfect, no compression artifacting that I had seen.) I can still say that the quality is better than VHS, but this is DVD - I've seen plenty of movies where this artifacting is barely visible, if at all. I shouldn't be seeing it here at all. (for the ultimate in bad compression, check out "Three's Company" season 1.)

Don't let bad video compression be a reason not to buy the disc and if you never move to HDTV then you'll never really have to worry (that'll change by 2006 though...). They still look very reasonable, and the compression is usually not as noticable or 'invisible' to the naked eye when the image is moving, as the naked eye is processing all the moving images and doesn't have time to stare at the finer details. And, again, the extras alone are worth the price for these volumes.

Hurry up series 5 and 6!!

Series 3 & 4 contain most of my favorite Red Dwarf episodes. "Backwards" is brilliant by any standards, and the others such as "Justice" (Lister: "What? Shoot him in the back?" Rimmer: "Of course in the back! It's only a pity he's awake!") and the strangely underrated "Meltdown" really stand out. By the way, in "Meltdown" its NOT seeing Winnie The Pooh get executed that's so funny - showing it would only prove to be very phoney and viewers might get as repelled as poor Lister.

All in all I'd highly recommend this series to anyone who would like a good laugh. The 2 disc sets are priceless for the extras they contain, and the commentary tracks are spot on (at times just as funny as the episode being watched). I agree with others that a year is too long to wait, but I guess it takes time to dig up all that archival material. Still - maybe 3 series per year...?

Just as last year's release of seasons 1&2 left me wanting for 3&4, this year's release has left me drooling for 5&6. It's likely I'll explode before 7&8 ever hit stores.
I've been a fan of Red Dwarf for literally as long as I can remember. At 22, I can remember watching the Boyz from the Dwarf and their antics when I was relatively young thanks to the wonders of PBS (and having to stay up late to wash dishes.) I think Chris Barrie as Rimmer was possibly my first love (though now my refined tastes prefer Danny-John Jules as Cat.)
A must-buy for any self-respecting Anglophile.

With more interviews, comments, chapter points, deleted scenes and Smeg Ups than on the first two series DVDs, Red Dwarf Series 3 & 4 are even better than those terrific earlier releases. With awesome episodes like Dimension Jump, Meltdown, Camille, and Backwards, be prepared to laugh yourself silly 3 million years into the future. Many thanks to the producers for releasing the original series on DVD and not the remastered versions occasionally shown on TV around the time Series 8 made its original run. The effects may not always have been great, but the jokes and cast in all their original comedy genius on these early episodes are fantastic and best left untouched.

Red Dwarf really hit its stride in Series 3 & 4 with the hilarious addition to the cast of Robert Llewellyn as Kryten and the original cast members explore their characters in new and extremely funny ways. This is Red Dwarf coming into its creative best and most comical. Have a chicken vindaloo and kick back and relax with one of the funniest shows ever on TV on either side of the pond.

I stumbled upon this band of misfits 7 or so years ago on my local pbs, I've been hooked ever since. I bought the first two series, because, well, I had to. But here is where they shine. Kryten definitely finds himself, becoming a strong leading character. Lister and Rimmer really get into their characters, and their interactions are so much more developed. Another nice development is seen in the cat, where he plays less of an 'over the top' role. This all leads to some of the best seasons. This pack includes some of my favorite episodes: polymorph, backwards, justice, white hole... too many to mention.

I would say that this purchase, along with 5 & 6 when they come out, are the series that the casual dwarfer would do best with.

the web red dwarf community ranks these two seasons at the top
not only does it have the laughs it has the most favorite scene of red dwarf

these dvds also have the cast on a track telling you of the fun they had making the show
it is a good buy and worth every cent

I was so excited to find Red Dwarf on DVD!! The bonus material is awesome and some worth viewing several times. Season three sees the entrance of Kryten as a permenant character and makes for an interesting change. Opening with the ultimate question is one of the best scenes of Red Dwarf. And let's not forget how catchy the "Ohm" song is. Season four takes up another level with our first introduction to Ace Rimmer. Kryten falls in love, we discover the white holes and Talkie the Toast just wants to make toast. I can't wait until I get season 5 & 6!

I love this! Ace Rimmer arives from another dimension, Kryten turns in to a human, a dangerous creature breaks in to red dwarf, Lister is forced to eat dog food, and red dwarf is allost sucked in to a white hole. The bonus features are great! Especialy the 'Backwards, Forwards'. This is one of the best DVDs I have EVER seen!

I've watche Red Dwarf my whole life (literaly since i was 8). And I've always been stuck with my duped from my aunt's recorded off PBS tapes. The diffrence in picture quality is amazing. I especially like the extra features. You can watch everyting from "smeg ups" to documentarys. each dvd has a diffrent documentry. And, if you're a real Red Dwarf freak, you can watch the episodes with comentarys by the actors. One thing I really like is that these DVDs have the option to view the extra features in an animated menu or a text menu. The first two DVDs only had an animated menu, which was quite frustrating to nagivate.

Red Dwarf - Series 3 & 4

Still as funny as ever. If you've got the older VCR tape version the DVDs are slightly different, and there's a lot of bonus content that the tapes don't have. I recommend buying the DVD version even if you've got the tapes.