Red Dwarf VII - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Season 7 of Red Dwarf was make or break time for the crew of Starbug, it had been three years since series 6, co-writer and creator Rob Grant had decided to up sticks and not contribute to the show any longer but core director Ed Bye was back in the fold. Happily all of the off stage shenanigans don't work their way onto the screen.

Season 7 has more pure scifi than any other season of the show ( to recap the plot of the show is set three million years in the future space technician Dave Lister (the last human alive) is lost in space on the mining ship Red Dwarf with only a hologram, a mad robot servant and a part cat/human hybrid for company.) with great concepts explored (especially in the mind blowing opener Tikka To Ride) and the return of some old favourites (Kochanski, Lister's long time love, becomes a regular part of the crew) this season is probably one of my favourites. One of the episodes Beyond A Joke (a Jane Austen pastiche with tanks) was co-written by Kryten himself.

This is a three disc set and as with all the Red Dwarf releases is jampacked with special features and extras that must mark it down as essential.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

A huge amount of extras including the as always superb indepth documentary that examines each of the episodes with contributions from everyone involved in making the show, audio commentaries on the episodes, deleted scenes and smeg up bloopers, a look at an episode that never made it called Identity Within (complete with script reading by Chris Barrie), a video diary by Robert Llewellyn, short films made by fans of the show, a look at the effects used on the show, trailers and intros by Kryten, raw FX footage, isolated music cues, a couple of skecthes from the radio incarnation of Red Dwarf called Dave Hollins Space Cadet, weblinks, photo gallery, collectors booklet and best of all extended versions of the episodes Tikka To Ride, Ouroboros and Duct Soup.

In a word - stunning.