Tuesday , March 19 2024
Red Dwarf X brings back the original Red Dwarf cast for more merry mayhem and hilarious misadventures in deep space.

DVD Review: Red Dwarf X

Red Dwarf is a science fiction comedy series that began on the BBC in 1988.  It has run nine seasons previous to this release, although there have been gaps of several years without new episodes on more than one occasion (between 1993 and 1997, and again between 2009 and the current series).

Red Dwarf X has the same cast as in 1988, and despite the obvious differences over the past 25 years, the characters are just as funny, quirky, and charming as they have ever been.  If you are a fan of the show, you will love Red Dwarf X, and if you’ve never seen it before, you will still love it because the plot is insanely easy to follow.  The new series does an excellent job of  maintaining the look and the spirit of the earlier series.

There are four main characters, all of whom are trapped together on a space mining ship. Only two are actual  survivors of a radiation leak which wiped out everyone else. One of these is Dave Lister, played by Craig Charles, the last living human being in the universe, and the other is Cat, the only surviving member of a humanoid feline species, who looks and acts like a cross between James Brown, Little Richard, and your average talking tomcat. 

The other crew members are not actually living creatures. Arnold Judas Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie, is a neurotic, bureaucratic hologram of Lister’s former crew mate.  He was chosen by the ship’s computer to be company for Dave, even though they always hated each other in life. Kryten, played by Robert Llewellyn, is a service mechanoid but is intent upon becoming more human.

Together, these four  characters create hilarious mayhem and stumble into misadventures that leave audiences in tears of laughter.

The package includes two discs.  The first has the six episodes produced for season 10, and the other bloopers, commentary, and a very long documentary about the making of X titled We’re Smegged.

The humor here is British, but American audiences will love it, too. It is slapstick and often scatological, but utterly entertaining. Be prepared to roll with laughter.

About Rhetta Akamatsu

I am an author of non-fiction books and an online journalist. My books include Haunted Marietta, The Irish Slaves, T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do: Blues Women Past and Present, Southern Crossroads: Georgia Bluesand Sex Sells: Women in Photography and Film.

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