"RED DWARF: BACK TO EARTH – DIRECTOR’S CUT"
Blu-ray Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Chris Barrie as RIMMER Craigh Charles as LISTER Danny John-Jules as CAT Robert Llewellyn as KRYTEN Sophie Winkleman as KATERINA Unrated Own it on Blu-ray October 6 BBCAmerica.com Studio: BBC America Directed by: Rob Grant & Doug Naylor Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The characters in the long-lived British sci-fi comedy “Red Dwarf” get a three-episode revival. Taking place after “Series X,” the crew find themselves accidentally hurled through a dimensional portal that takes them to our present-day Earth. There, they learn they are simply characters in a television show and decide to take matters into their own hands to possibly change their fate and get back home.
WHAT I LIKED
I have heard my sci-fi fan-buddies sing the praises of “Red Dwarf” for the better part of a decade, but until now, I have never seen the series. What’s impressive about this three-episode run is how accessible it is to the new viewer.
I can’t say that I wouldn’t recommend this film without at least a brief visit to the “Red Dwarf” Wikipedia page so you can figure out who is who. However, the comedy is pretty easy to catch once you’re familiar with the characters.
It’s not that we haven’t seen this type of show before. In fact, there was an animated Garfield DVD released not too long ago that deals with the same dimension/reality-bending concept. However, the folks in “Red Dwarf” handle things in a much more adult way.
The final climax in the third episode is the best of the bunch, really taking a shrewd look at what might really happen when the cahracters discover their sudden ability to control their fate.
After watchign this, I can see that “Red Dwarf” was a fine series that was more comedy than sci-fi, and knowing the tastes of the niche sci-fi audience, I can understand its popularity.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
If you’re not a “Red Dwarf” fan, you might get lost a bit with the characters. Instead of relying on prior knowledge of the series, it would have been nice to be given a recap of who the characters are, at least as a special feature, to expand the audience of the Blu-ray.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The three episodes of the “Back to Earth” series can be found on the first disc, which also includes two commentary tracks: one by the cast and the other by the director.
The second disc includes an impressive number of special features, including an all-new documentary of the show, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, bloopers known as “smeg-ups,” several additional features, trailers, web-based videos and a photo gallery.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the series and those who like quirky British sci-fi.
