Customer Reviews

Red Dwarf: Series VII

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Red Dwarf Series VII is very different than any Red Dwarf to come before it. Rob Grant, half of the team that till then had created and written all Red Dwarf episodes, left the show and the strain on remaining writer Doug Naylor clearly shows. Some of the writing slack is taken up by others, including Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), who has written a few successful books on his own, but the feel of the show is never the same from here on out. The humor is now less dense and arguably less sharp at times, and the situations in which the characters find themselves often do not have the same comedic quality of the older shows. Additionally, Chloe Annett is introduced as Kochanski. While competent, she is far different than any of the actesses that originated the part like C.P. Grogan, and her addition to the cast takes time away from funnier established characters, like the Cat, who is brilliantly played by Danny John-Jules. To add to the list of unwanted changes, Chris Barrie was not fully available for this series and so is absent much of the time.

That said, if you love Red Dwarf, you'll probably feel obligated to own these later shows anyway. There are still occasional brilliant moments, and the cast is still funny and committed to their roles, even if the writing is now very uneven. Series VII is better than Series VIII, which takes Red Dwarf even further away from it's original comedic fundamentals.

As in Series VI, in Series VII the crew are still living aboard Starbug and still chasing the trail of their larger mother ship, the Red Dwarf. Episodes in Series VII are:

1. Tikka To Ride
Lister ignores Kryten's warnings about the hazards of time travel and takes the crew on a quest for more curry that will change history.

2. Stoke Me A Clipper
Ace Rimmer returns to Red Dwarf to enlist the aid of Arnold Rimmer to continue his galactic fight for justice. Can Arnold actually be up to the challenge of becoming the greatest hero in the multi-verse?

3. Ouroboros
Lister discovers his true origins in a well-written episode full of paradox.

4. Duct Soup
Lister tries to make Kochanski feel at home and Kryten becomes a wee bit jealous, with expected comedic results.

5. Blue
Lister actually finds he misses Rimmer and Kryten invents a creative and hilarious solution to the problem.

6. Beyond a Joke
The search for spare heads for Kryten leads the crew to a dangerous encounter with Simulants and GELFS.

7. Epideme
A deadly and sentient virus infects Lister and drastic measures are needed to destroy it.

8. Nanarchy
Kryten's "nanobots" (microscopic robots) are found to be the culprits in the disappearance of their home ship, Red Dwarf, and may also provide a solution the disability with which Lister was left after the previous episode.

In spite of all the changes to the show after Series VI, Red Dwarf Series VII is still better than most anything else on television. It's only when one compares it to earlier Red Dwarf that it seems disappointing. Previous Red Dwarf DVD releases have had excellent extra features, with hilarious outtakes (Smeg Ups), featurettes, hidden features, deleted scenes, and more and this set will be no exception. There's also a "lost episode" called Identity Within, performed by Chris Barrie and raw footage included in the extra features, so Red Dwarf fans will find plenty to love on this release.

So Red Dwarf 7 is almost upon us, this one being one of the most debatable ones of the entire series. Grant Naylor becomes half the man he used to be in this series (Grant Naylor is a made up person from Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, the two writers of Red Dwarf who have a bit of a spat and split up so only one of them writes this series), Rimmer decides to leave (Chris Barrie was in others things and decided to leave) and Kochanski comes back, but in a different form (Claire Grogran was on MTV and they get Chloe Annette instead).

This doesn't sound a great start to begin with, and to be honest with you I do think this is the weakest series so far. However I do think they other series are all fantastic so being the weakest means this is only good (of course I should point out I am a major fan!)

The episodes are:
1. Tikka To Ride
2. Stoke Me A Clipper
3. Ouroboros
4. Duct Soup
5. Blue
6. Beyond a Joke
7. Epideme
8. Nanarchy

This series takes Red Dwarf in a different way to the rest - of course it would have to with Rimmer leaving and Kochanski coming back - but I still enjoyed it.

The depressing thing about this series is that after this one we only have the final series 8 to look forward to and hope that they manage to finish the film by the time that is out so we can enjoy more Dwarf!

Overall 4/5, less then the other series (5/5 for all the rest IMHO) but still very funny and better then most other series out there.

My favourite episodes are probably the Tikka to Ride, where they run out of curry and travel back in time to Dallas, 1961 and beam into a book depository... (not saying any more then that - you can watch it to find out) and Blue just for the Arnold Rimmer song (He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer Without him, life would be much grimmer He's handsome, trim, and no one's slimmer He will never need a Zimmer He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer)

In short, if you have all the other series, buy this one. If not... go buy them first, THEN buy this one :)

Although Red Dwarf would slowly decline in Series VII and then rapidly do so in Series VIII, the terrific extras on these sets make them worthwhile for any Red Dwarf fan. Here are specific descriptions of each set.

Red Dwarf Series VII is very different than any Red Dwarf to come before it. Rob Grant, half of the team that till then had created and written all Red Dwarf episodes, left the show and the strain on remaining writer Doug Naylor clearly shows. Some of the writing slack is taken up by others, including Robert Llewellyn (Kryten), who has written a few successful books on his own, but the feel of the show is never the same from here on out. The humor is now less dense and arguably less sharp at times, and the situations in which the characters find themselves often do not have the same comedic quality of the older shows. Additionally, Chloe Annett is introduced as Kochanski. While competent, she is far different than any of the actesses that originated the part like C.P. Grogan, and her addition to the cast takes time away from funnier established characters, like the Cat, who is brilliantly played by Danny John-Jules. To add to the list of unwanted changes, Chris Barrie was not fully available for this series and so is absent much of the time.

That said, if you love Red Dwarf, you'll probably feel obligated to own these later shows anyway. There are still occasional brilliant moments, and the cast is still funny and committed to their roles, even if the writing is now very uneven. Series VII is better than Series VIII, which takes Red Dwarf even further away from it's original comedic fundamentals.

As in Series VI, in Series VII the crew are still living aboard Starbug and still chasing the trail of their larger mother ship, the Red Dwarf. Episodes in Series VII are:

1. Tikka To Ride
Lister ignores Kryten's warnings about the hazards of time travel and takes the crew on a quest for more curry that will change history.

2. Stoke Me A Clipper
Ace Rimmer returns to Red Dwarf to enlist the aid of Arnold Rimmer to continue his galactic fight for justice. Can Arnold actually be up to the challenge of becoming the greatest hero in the multi-verse?

3. Ouroboros
Lister discovers his true origins in a well-written episode full of paradox.

4. Duct Soup
Lister tries to make Kochanski feel at home and Kryten becomes a wee bit jealous, with expected comedic results.

5. Blue
Lister actually finds he misses Rimmer and Kryten invents a creative and hilarious solution to the problem.

6. Beyond a Joke
The search for spare heads for Kryten leads the crew to a dangerous encounter with Simulants and GELFS.

7. Epideme
A deadly and sentient virus infects Lister and drastic measures are needed to destroy it.

8. Nanarchy
Kryten's "nanobots" (microscopic robots) are found to be the culprits in the disappearance of their home ship, Red Dwarf, and may also provide a solution the disability with which Lister was left after the previous episode.

In spite of all the changes to the show after Series VI, Red Dwarf Series VII is still better than most anything else on television. It's only when one compares it to earlier Red Dwarf that it seems disappointing. Previous Red Dwarf DVD releases have had excellent extra features, with hilarious outtakes (Smeg Ups), featurettes, hidden features, deleted scenes, and more and this set is no exception. There's also a "lost episode" called Identity Within, performed by Chris Barrie and raw footage included in the extra features, so Red Dwarf fans will find plenty to love on this release.

Red Dwarf VIII, the last Red Dwarf series produced for television, is so far off the original premise and comedic style of the first few series of the show that in many ways it seems like a completely different show. Having an entire ship full of people with whom Lister can interact really shatters the great comedic premise on which Red Dwarf was created, that being that Lister is the last human left in the universe. The premise of bringing back the entire crew and then putting the main characters in prison for nearly the full eight episodes is contrived and limiting. I believe Series VIII has a lot of unwelcome changes and writing difficulties compared to earlier series of the show. The humor is now clearly less dense and less clever, often relying on low and obvious gags that do not even approach the level of razor-edged wit and originality prevalent in earlier episodes of the show.

Nevertheless, there are a few bright spots in this series. Chris Barrie is back and the full cast of regulars is present for the entire series. And there is some occasionally inspired humor that still manages to make this better than most of the other shows on television. Cassandra particularly stands out as a good, "classic" Red Dwarf episode.

Finally, the extra features, as on the other Red Dwarf DVD sets, are terrific, with Smeg Ups, deleted scenes, extended versions of two episodes, a making of documentary, commentary tracks, and much more. The extra features alone are worth the price for any "serious" Red Dwarf fan. Based on that alone, I would recommend this set. Plus, what Red Dwarf fan can resist completing their collection? Sadly, as of this writing, Series VIII is the last Red Dwarf ever produced.

Here is a synopsis of the plot of each episode in this set:

Back In The Red Part I
Kryten's nanobots have recreated the ship Red Dwarf and the original crew as well, which is an especially good thing for Arnold Rimmer.

Back In The Red Part II
Rimmer uses a virus that enhances sexual magnetism to assist him with attracting female crewmembers, but this gets him into trouble when he dines at the captain's table.

Back In The Red Part III
Lister and his bunch face time in the brig for crimes against the Space Corps., so they escape to try and prove their innocence.

Cassandra
Lister joins a special military unit comprised of convicts, only to discover it's basically a suicide squad. Things get interesting when they face the all-knowing Cassandra. This episode is the one in Series VIII that is the most like a classic Red Dwarf episode from earlier series of the show; it is cleverly written and hilarious.

Krytie TV
Kryten's private TV station is most amusing to his fellow prisoners, but the jokes are at the expense of others, which gets him into a bit of trouble.

Pete Part I
Rimmer and Lister are forced play against the guards in a basketball game. They sabotage the opposition's half-time juice with a virility enhancement drug.

Pete Part II
The crew becomes the prey when a sparrow devolves into one of its large dinosaur ancestors.

Only The Good
Rimmer passes into a parallel universe where his other self is the ship's captain.

What with
1.Loss of writer
2.Loss of one major character
3.Effects and models problems
4.Not filming infront of a live audience
5.A 3 year gap between series

It was really inevitable that series would be different to what we are used to.As a comedy in its own right its good and very funny but as series 7 in red dwarf its not as good as whats gone before

Chloe annett as kochanski i did not mind but for me plot wise its obvious that she is far to uptight and posh a kochanski then compared to clare grogan.And i would jave thought lister would not like a person like that.

The extras are great with a fantastic read through by chris barrie of the lost episode identity within and a great making of which is worth the price alone.

In the end its still a funny series duct soup in my opinion being the stand out episode
Just do not buy this expecting it to surpase previous series

...Which isn't to say that it is necessarily "bad." It just means that, all arguments aside, the only people who would be buying the Red Dwarf DVD's are fans anyway, so you probably have your own opinion of the this season. With that being said, I originally had planned to stop buying the season's after Series 6 (my favorite, along with Series 4). I always felt the show should have ended after Series 6, with the irony of the crew killing themselves. But anyway... After talking with my girlfriend, another life-long fan, I decided to pick up Series 7 to further complete my collection.

Regardless of how you feel about Series 7, I gave the item 5 stars because it is put together fantastically. There are tons of extras, including extended, remastered versions of three episodes... So much stuff that they had to make it three discs. So yeah, if you like Red Dwarf and Series 7, then this DVD set is worth the money. I'm not going to comment about the quality or changes in Series 7, since everyone else before me has already pointed out all of its pros and cons just fine.

I didn't know anything about the background production of the show until I read all the reviews here. I only know from what I watched when this series was released on PBS. What I noticed were the following:

More colorful sets
Much better special effects
A new female lead which really helps balance out the show
8 episodes instead of 6
The only negative was Chris Barrie (Rimmer) missing in a few episodes

So I really don't understand what these people are talking about how the show being drastically different. The show drastically changed during season 3 as well with the introduction of Kryten. And then did another change during season 4 when Red Dwarf was lost. I mean look at the Cat, he changed from a fish obsessed narcisist to an effective pilot of Starbug with a keen nose sensor. To me these changes kept the show upbeat with more variety. I absolutely love Seasons 7&8 and they're my favorite seasons because we now had the lead characters interacting with more than just a single new person per episode. The show has always changed drastically from season to season. Season 7&8 was no different. And I don't think it ever lost its magic.

First I'd like to say that if you like the first six series, then you must watch the seventh and eighth series. I know a lot of people have written bad reviews about series seven(and eight) but I believe those people are the types that do not like change.Yes Chris kockanski is played by a new lady (Chloe Annett)and Chris Barrie leaves after the 2nd episode. Well not really leaves he is in an episode later on called Blue. Yes Kryten does get "menstrating-woman" syndrome. Yes Doug Naylor (writer) is not involved as much in the creative side of the show. However, laughs are still there! I will say that the first four seasons were more of a comedy based on sci-fi. While the later series are a Sci-fi based on comedy. The "look" of series 7 and 8 are far superior to the "gray" sets of series 1 and 2. I love this series! I love all the Red Dwarf series! Basically if you are casual fan I would give this a rating of 3 stars. Never seen it before I would give 3.5 stars. But if you know Krytens middle name or who Fionna Barrington is (warm composte series 5), 10 out of 5 stars is what I would rate this series(if for no other reason than 8 episodes instaed of 6!) Later smeg-heads!

As mentioned in the previous review, Red Dwarf abruptly went off the air following transmission of its sixth season at the end of 1993. A criminal case involving actor Craig Charles and the breakdown of the working relationship between writer-producers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor proved disastrous, and although both problems were eventually overcome (Charles was fully exonerated; Rob Grant departed to become a novelist leaving Naylor in charge) it took a long time to sort it all out.

Other problems also seemed to conspire against Red Dwarf's return. As of the sixth season, Red Dwarf was pretty much the sole reason for the continued existence of the BBC's special effects and miniatures department, and with the show on indefinite hiatus the department was closed down, meaning that future special effects requirements would have to be handled by private firms and thus on a far more expensive basis. Actor Chris Barrie had also gone on to enjoy even greater success as the title character in BBC-1 sitcom The Brittas Empire, which was a much simpler and faster show to shoot than Dwarf. As a result, he decided not to appear in Red Dwarf on a full-time basis in the next series. Possibly even a bigger change was the removal of the studio audience, with the show now being fully pre-recorded and only the tape being shown to a studio audience later on. This clearly throws off the rhythms of the actors in the show, with some lines obscured by audience laughter and a few out-of-place pauses for laughs that weren't as big as was hoped for.

Despite these problems, the show's ultimate return was not in doubt. It was BBC-2's single highest-rated TV programme, it was one of the biggest-selling BBC series on video (of any kind) in the 1990s and during the years it was off the air the BBC received numerous enquiries as to when the show would return.

Season VII aired on BBC-2 in early 1997 and it was immediately clear that this was a different show to what had come before. Chris Barrie's character of Rimmer departed in the second episode, though he appeared in several further episodes in brief flashbacks or cameos. Despite a higher budget, the show also struggled with its special effects requirements, with very primitive CGI and some seriously shoddy model work replacing the very accomplished miniature filming and digital effects of Seasons 5-6.

To help secure funding for the long-planned Red Dwarf movie (the prospective backers for which had asked for a major female character to be added to the roster), Naylor decided to add the character of Kristine Kochanksi to the crew on a full-time basis. Kochanski had appeared in several previous episodes in Seasons 1, 2 and 6 played by Clare Grogan, but with Grogan unavailable the role was recast with Chloe Annett. This move wasn't initially popular with the fans, as Annett's previous role had been in the quite spectacularly awful Crime Traveller, but Annett actually turned in a good performance and eventually won over many of the fanbase.

With all of these behind-the-scenes changes it is perhaps inevitable that the quality of the scripts suffered quite badly. Season VII isn't quite the unwatchable pile of cack some hardcore fans describe it as, but it clearly hasn't had the same care and attention paid to the writing as in previous seasons. The extremely rapid dismissal of the Season VI cliffhanger is a little disappointing, but the completely nonsensical technobabble reasons given to explain why Starbug is now many times its former size are very strange indeed. That said, the rest of the opener, Tikka to Ride, in which the Red Dwarf crew inadvertently change history when they travel to Dallas in November 1963, actually has quite a clever premise and a strangely affecting conclusion. It also just about manages to fall on the right side of good taste.

The second episode, Stoke Me a Clipper, is a bit of a disaster. A James Bond-style opening sequence featuring Ace Rimmer sky-surfing on the back of a crocodile is quite entertaining, but the rest of the episode is weak, illogical, badly contrived and deeply unfunny. The third episode, Ouroboros, re-introduces Kochanksi (or rather, a version of Kochanski from an alternate reality) and sees Lister's ex-wife (from Emohawk) showing up again. It's a little bit funnier, but still not up to the standards we expect from the show. Duct Soup, a 'bottle' show set in Starbug's flooded engineering decks, is probably the highlight of the season with some good dialogue and a few good laughs reminiscent of earlier seasons. Blue, in which Lister realises that he misses Rimmer, is also quite amusing as Kryten sets out to remind him precisely what Rimmer was like.

Beyond a Joke starts with a great sequence in which Kryten, annoyed with the crew for missing supper due to being in a VR 'Jane Austen World' simulation, invades the simulation in a Russian T-73 tank and kills everyone (resulting in the largest explosion ever filmed for the series, due to over-eager army demolitions experts who were fans of the show trying to impress the actors). After this it nosedives into the ground with a lot of guff about 'nega-drives', more rogue simulants, more GELFs and a second 4000 series mechanoid who isn't very funny. Epideme has a good premise - a sentient virus that chats to its host whilst it tries to kill him - but the virus has a very annoying voice and the script doesn't really go anywhere after establishing the initial idea.

Nanarchy, the Season VII finale, finally has the crew locating Red Dwarf and learning what happened to the ship when it disappeared. It's a mixed bag of an explanation, being amusing and SF-oriented, dealing with the hitherto unexplored-on-the-show science of nanotechnology, but it's also reliant on the idea that Kryten, a robot whom we have been reminded many times as having being built for the express purpose of cleaning lavatories and was extremely cheap, also had inside him billions of nanobots capable of rearranging atoms. It doesn't really make any sense. Anyway, there's another cliffhanger ending, the return of Holly (the original, played by Norman Lovett) and overall it's a decent enough ending to the season.

The seventh season is a mixed bag, it has to be said. The visual effects and writing are radically inferior to what has come before, although the acting (from both the regulars and guest stars such as Brian Cox) remains strong. The addition of Kochanski to the cast also works surprisingly well, somewhat better than I think most people were expecting at the time. At the same time, this season was also made with significant background problems, and in that context it could have turned out worse. The biggest problem, and one that was unavoidable, is that the series really hurts without Rimmer as part of the mix. Luckily, Chris Barrier had such a blast filming this season that he agreed to return full-time for the eighth, which contributed to that season's somewhat higher quality.

The first time I watched series seven of Red Dwarf I found it terrible. The usual suspects - the laughter track, the lack of Rimmer, and the arrival of Christine Kochanski.

I bought the DVD only to complete the set (with number eight to come). However, on second viewing the series has its funny moments and the storylines seem fresher than series six (though this isn't as funnier). Despite the flaws, series seven is still better than most TV comedy on offer (as another reviewer stated). Christine Kochanski, played by Chloe Annett, does bring new life and helps fill the vaccuum left by Chris Barrie.

Red Dwarf's long run (eight series) is not only down to good comedy writing and performance, but also its adaptability to evolve - giving it a new lease of life now and again. I'm sure time will give a truer picture in how important this series is in relation to the others.

Apparently, according to reviews, series eight is truly terrible, but I haven't seen it so I cannot pass comment on it.

If you are a fan of Red Dwarf then you will probably be familiar with this series anyway. However, if you have just come across this excellent comedy, then I suggest trying the earlier series first to get the best of it.

Every TV show gets to a point where it just needs to stop and this is where Red Dwarf needed to stop. Series 7 is very very different to the previous 6, in some ways it's good and in alot more ways it's very bad. For starters Chris Barrie decided to leave which left a major gap in the cast and co-writer Rob Grant also decided to part ways with Doug Naylor and co. The whole look and feel of the show changed big time which left us with a show that was more like a comedy drama than a situation comedy. Chris Barrie was replaced with the paifully unfunny Chloe Annett as Listers long time love interest Kochanski and there was no live audience. All in all series 7 seriously lacked the comedy punch of the previos 6 and the lack of Rimmer left Lister with no one to bounch off. Kryten suddenly turned gay and the Cat just became more and more irratating as the season progressed. It's not all bad however there were some really good episodes in this season such as the excelent 'Tikka To Ride' and 'Ouroboros' one of the few without Chris Barrie that actually worked and 'Stoke Me A clipper' is lots of fun 'Blue' is worth watching just for the munchkin song at the end. The rest are mostly awful in particular 'Beyond A joke' witch i found to be embarrasing and the awsomely dull 'Duct Soup'. Overall the show on it's own is not up to much but the DVD extras are well worth the asking price.