Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Red Dwarf X Blu-ray Movie Review

Sitcom misadventures... in spaaaace!

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 12, 2013

I'm card-carrying member of the Doctor Who fold. I have an unhealthy love of Torchwood. Generally, if a British sci-fi series makes its way stateside and has BBC stamped on the cover, I'm in. No questions asked. The arrival of Red Dwarf X gave me pause, though. I'd caught snippets of the original series over the years -- admittedly without watching an entire episode or giving the late '80s and '90s iterations of the show a fighting chance -- and I reviewed the Blu-ray release of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth in 2009, the poorly received, painful to watch pseudo-ninth season turned TV/BD movie. Suffice it to say, I flew into Red Dwarf X a bit blind and a bit uneasy, watched all six episodes and, after a surprisingly short adjustment period, found myself having a blast. So while I can't quite speak to how longtime fans will react to the latest six episodes of the series, I can safely say newcomers have little to fear. I'm already working on tracking down the first eight seasons so I can go back and start fresh.

Not so boldly going...

To fall for Red Dwarf, you first have to fall for the Red Dwarf's crew: bumbling computer-generated hologram Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), dutiful robo-servant Kryten 2X4B-523P (Robert Llewellyn), three-million-year old human Dave Lister (Craig Charles), and flamboyant humanoid feline Cat (Danny John-Jules), the distant evolutionary descendant of Lister's long-dead cat. It's tough to explain the appeal of the spacers -- Rimmer is an arrogant dolt, Kryten is a pushover, Lister is a freeloader and Cat is vain -- other than to point to the cast's chemistry, timing and good-natured charm, and writer/director Doug Naylor's tricky blend of cleverly skewed sitcom convention, mundane subplots, mildly heady sci-fi and tongue-in-cheek bargain budget production design. The result is a bizarre crossbreed of '80s-era Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory, live studio audience and all. The laughs come early and often too, even though the first X episode, "Trojan," has some trouble finding its groove. Thankfully, Red Dwarf X soon begins delivering on all fronts and making the most of its resurrection.

Episodes include:

• Trojan: Rimmer receives an SOS Distress Call from a doomed ship commanded by his all-conquering brother, Howard (Mark Dexter). But Rimmer can't bring himself to save Howard until he's on an equal footing career-wise. He has 15-hours to pass his Astro-Nav exam and become an Officer. The same exam he's already failed nine times.
• Fathers and Suns: Every year Lister sends himself a Father's Day card to celebrate the fact that he is his own father. But when Rimmer points out he's been a lousy father to himself, Lister decides to do something about it. Meanwhile, Rimmer and Kryten install a new computer: the beautiful - but lethally logical - Pree (Rebecca Blackstone).
• Lemons: Marooned in Britain in 23 AD, the Dwarfers need an 8-volt battery to power up their Returner Remote and get home. Remembering a lesson from school, Rimmer suggests they make a battery out of lemons - but the nearest lemon to Britain in 23 AD is in India, 4,000 miles away. They begin their journey, a journey that will ultimately lead them to a meeting with a historical A-list Celebrity (James Baxter) that could alter the entire history of civilization.
• Entangled: Lister loses Rimmer in a game of poker to a group of Biologically Engineered Life Forms and in return gets an unwanted gift - a groinal exploder programmed to detonate in 24-hours unless Lister pays his debts. Meanwhile Kryten and Cat become quantum entangled and do everything in perfect unison.
• Dear Dave: Lister has women trouble when he gets himself in a love triangle with Snack Dispensers 23 and 34; then, to make matter worse, gets a letter from an old girlfriend telling him she's pregnant and it might be his. Lister and Rimmer hunt through the mountain of letters from the mail pod to discover if Lister is finally a dad.
• The Beginning: Hiding in an Asteroid, surrounded by a Simulant Death Ship and a fleet of Annihilators, the Dwarfers begin to wonder whether this is the beginning of the end. Only one man can save them. Unfortunately, that man is Arnold J. Rimmer.

Red Dwarf X Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Red Dwarf X comes to Blu-ray with an attractive, at-times striking 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation sure to please fans of the series. Contrast is a touch dark now and then, but colors are natural and perfectly saturated, primaries are bold, skintones are quite lifelike and black levels are nice and deep. Detail doesn't disappoint either. Edges are crisp and clean, without any troublesome ringing, and textures are well-resolved, right down to the fabric of Rimmer's uniform and the cracks and creases in Lister's leather coat. The encode is proficient too, barring a few minor unsightly anomalies. Significant artifacting, banding and noise never make an appearance, but aliasing invades on occasion -- the most noticeable of which occurs in "Dear Dave," specifically in the wide shots between 15:30 and 19:30 -- and several CG or effects-laden shots are problematic. Still, I doubt Red Dwarf X could look much better than it does here.

Red Dwarf X Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I'll save my live studio audience rant for another review, except to complain about its prioritization in Red Dwarf's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Loud, jarring and sometimes overbearing, the laughs that erupt from the audience are granted too much presence in the mix, almost to the point of dwarfing dialogue. It doesn't help that the soundscape itself is a rather front-heavy one, and the majority of the series' rear speaker activity involves laughter. Good news, I suppose, for those who like to feel as if they're a part of the audience. Not so good news for those of us who care more about the show than the people watching it. But I digress. Voices are otherwise relatively clear and intelligible, the LFE channel does its duty and does it well, dynamics are decent, effects and music are given proper support, and there aren't any serious issues to endure.

Red Dwarf X Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• We're Smegged (HD, 122 minutes): Why does Red Dwarf X need two Blu-ray discs, particularly when all six episodes of the series are housed on a single BD-50? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to introduce We're Smegged, a feature-length documentary that delves into the development of X's six-episode run, the decision to produce each episode in front of a live studio audience, the challenges the team faced in shooting grand interstellar set pieces and action sequences (while accommodating said audience), the art of found-object production design, casting the various aliens and new characters, performing to the delight of an enthusiastic crowd, building props and various machines, and much, much more.
  
  Add to that countless interviews with just about every member of the cast and crew, episode by episode, scene by scene breakdowns, visual effects overviews, model shoot dissections, and candid footage of everything from table reads to on-set rehearsals, production meetings, set construction, costume design and... well, you name it, it's covered here. Strange as it may sound, We're Smegged is worth the price of admission alone. The fact that it accompanies a hugely entertaining season of Red Dwarf at such an accessible pricepoint only makes it that much more notable.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 29 minutes): Numerous deleted and extended scenes are available for each episode (as well as the closing titles), all of which can be viewed with optional commentary from writer/director Doug Naylor.
• Smeg Ups (HD, 13 minutes): A genuinely funny outtake reel rounds out the package.

Red Dwarf X Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Other than established fans, I suspect there aren't many people out there willing to give Red Dwarf X a fair shot at winning them over. If it weren't for the fact that I had a review to write, I don't know that I would have ever boarded the Red Dwarf. But sci-fi and sitcom fans who brush past the latest series release are missing out on a genuinely entertaining TV comedy that grows on you with each passing episode. It doesn't reach Who levels of greatness, but it's addicting, and sometimes that alone is good enough for me. Fortunately, BBC's Blu-ray release is worth the price of admission thanks to an excellent 1080p video presentation, a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and a must-see three-hour supplemental package. For Dwarfers the world over, it doesn't get much better than this.