TV on Tape: Red Dwarf Movie Review

As TV sci-fi sitcoms go, Red Dwarf is the one to beat.

On the BBC since 1988, this British spoof started off with a premiere episode called “The End,” in which a ne'er-do-well crewman aboard the miles-long interstellar mining craft Red Dwarf awoke from cryogenic detention to learn that his shipmates succumbed to a radiation leak and three million years have gone by. Mankind is extinct, and his only companions are a sentient hologram of a much-disliked officer, the ship's sarcastic computer, and a natty-dressing humanoid evolved from a pet cat (later a robot joined the ensemble). Coasting through a hostile universe, these pitiful remnants of humanity are constantly threatened by alien interlopers, bizarre phenomena, and their own incompatible personalities, in plotlines conceived by the writing team of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor that are riotously funny yet often sf in the best mind-expanding sense (it helps that Red Dwarf has the luxury of spectacular f/x; check out the cosmic zoom that opens the first-season series).

A cult fandom has dedicated ‘zines, web pages, and even destructive computer viruses to the program. Two-volume sets of the first five seasons are carried on video in the U.S. (more extensive collections exist overseas). Recent attempts at an American remake of Red Dwarf were unsuccessful. Or, in the words of show's far-future slang, all smegged up.

1988-present/C GB Selected cast: Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules, Norman Lovett, Hattie Hayridge. VHS FOX, FCT