Red Dwarf (Series 1-8) Retrospective/Review, Part 2 

"Are you absolutely sure, it does mean changing the bulb" might be the greatest Red Dwarf joke ever.

As others have already mentioned, I'm also interested in seeing a Part 3 which covers _Red Dwarf: Back to Earth_ (IX), series X-XII, and _Red Dwarf: The Promised Land_ (XIII) somewhen.

19:41 the blue alert gag is one of the funniest things of all time, not just in red dwarf. When you see that one little box blinking "alert" and thats all that happens, i mean... ive seen that a million times, and its still funny every time. The red alert gag is just the cherry on top, and another cherry on top when Lister says "our red alert bulb"

I listened to the Chris Barrie audio book infinity welcomes careful drivers 100’s of times growing up. His ability to do all the casts voices is amazing. Also the book fleshes out everything the budget couldn’t do. Highly recommended

It blows my mind that the guy who played Rimmer in the USA series that everyone thought was terrible, was so good in Malcom In The Middle. He would have made a great Rimmer in later life.

Yeah, series 6 is the pinnacle. The team at the top of their game. I was so haunted by the cliffhanger ending, and it’s strange to think that due to the gap between 6 and 7, that cliffhanger and it’s eventual resolution represent my transition from childhood to adolescence.

Yeah, season six was the pinnacle. A superb combination of wildly different sets, concepts and stories. All executed so well. I remember watching it as a lad and it was a true family tv event - mom, dad, sisters, brothers and all of us used to look forward to it every week. Very fond memories. Season eight is also notable and well up there as one of the best. I remember watching it for the first time and being bathed in that feeling that Red Dwarf is back after the disappointing seventh season.

I love how much Red Dwarf will explain complex sci-fi and physics concepts, yet is so happy to do the most enjoyably dumb and simple jokes. I mean that in a good way. Put it this way- it's a show that explains things like white holes, time travel, different dimensions, and what are the most memorable jokes from it? Probably things like: the shrinking boxers, Mr. Flibble, the Vindaloovians, Winnie the Pooh getting the firing squad, all the Space Corps directives Rimmer thinks he knows, Cat trying to relieve himself in a backwards reality, "Everybody's dead, Dave", Talkie Toaster asking if anyone would like any toast, "Step up to blue alert/Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb" and so on.

We need part 3 please the story isn't complete without it, and Red Dwarf deserves a fitting ending

This completely passed me by, back in the day. I’m going to watch it now.

I agree series 6 is outstanding. Every single episode is one of the best of the entire show.

It's a shame they didn't make Lister's lost arm permanent. He was shown all the way back in series 1 as an old man with a prosthetic arm. Epideme/Nanarchy would have been a great point to introduce the change. Then again the SFX needed to give Lister a robot arm for every episode since might have been beyond the budget.

I liked the seasons with Kochanski honestly. The First season with Chloe Annette was just captivating and I will never forget the Nuweet, Ratoot, Hunungah rant, or the trainers in the fridge complaint, or the perfect cg teachers and perfect cg friends bit... nor will I ever forget the cottage cheese, but never ever with pineapple chunks in

HELP THE CHANNEL GROW: www.patreon.com/rowanjcoleman UPDATE: Thankfully after some thumb twiddling, RU-vid has released the age restriction on Part 1! Thanks to everyone who helped give it a boost while it was taking a hit in the views :)

Part 2 was just as good as part 1 very well done.

Thank you so much for taking what must have been a considerable amount of time to put these 2 retrospectives together. You inspired me to go back and rewatch the show from the start! I don't have great memories of season 8 from when it originally aired, but am genuinely excited to rewatch it now after hearing all the great things you said about it. Would also be really interested to hear your take on seasons X-XII in some format...I thoroughly enjoyed a good chunk of it honestly. Thanks again

I still think that classic Red dwarf has some of the best written comedy I've ever come across and that every cast member brings so much to the show.

You should jump onto series 10 through 12 as soon as possible. A great return to form and the last extended special was very good too.

God I love this series. I actually hope we get at least 1 more series.

God I love Red Dwarf so much. All of the first 8 seasons are great. To this day if someone in my family says "go to red alert!" another of us say "are you sure? That does mean changing the bulb."

Really enjoy these retrospectives. This was the first one on a show I knew virtually nothing about. Red Dwarf is a British sci-fi comedy. That's was the full extent of my knowledge about the show. After seeing this I'll have to give it a try for myself. Keep up the good work, still waiting on the Stargate/Atlantis retrospectives

I look forward to seeing Part 3 once you've caught up. And possibly a Part 4 in the future if they continue making more Red Dwarf.

Most Red Dwarf fans have seen every episode many times (being the geeks we are), so I was quite surprised to discover that these fine Red Dwarf retrospectives were made by a man who hasn't even seen all the episodes yet! Only about three quarters, by the sound of it!

Series 6 is just so good, that in my own head it really ends when Starbug gets blown up in the last episode. It's fine that later series exist, and other people enjoy them, though. I just have a lot of nostalgia and formative comedy experiences wrapped up with watching the earlier series, as a child and a teenager, with my dad and brother. Another interesting overview.

Lister saying "our Rob or Ross" in the Ouroboros episode always makes me laugh. I watched this back in the day, and I still love the show now.

IMO the first two seasons are the best. They are the ones I always rewatch - great reminder of my college days.

I think the hideous flame out of the locker was one of the funniest gags they ever did!!! 😂😂😂

Changing the bulb. I’ve seen it a thousand times and it still never fails to utterly crack me up.

I’ve been a die-hard Dwarfer my whole life, and was tickled that these retrospectives came out recently. Thank you for all your time and effort. My adorable rascal of a cat is even named Miss Flibbles.

1:01:03 imo is the single funniest scene between these two. They have had a season apart and it's clear both Craig and Chris are very comfortable back together and thrive off each other. A season of pent up energy in lister makes it all the funnier with his glee at annoying rimmer. Fans seriously underestimate season 8

Fantastic retrospective! I grew up during the peak era and red dwarf was must see TV for kids at my school. So many memories and great to see so many things I never knew about the production

Anything after Series 6 loses it's magic. I remember my family all agreeing with each other when Kochanski came onto show, it just lost it's charm. My Dad used to record the various repeats and previous Series on VHS, we use to watch them quite a lot... From Series 7, the jokes and characters felt flat, our house just stopped watching it. It went from being 'must watch' TV... to something you'd have on in the background while doing more interesting stuff.

2:16 I can't tell you how happy it made me seeing Mike Frisbie in this. Sci-Fi Saturday Night (although it started on Fridays) was a staple of my childhood, with Red Dwarf and Dr. Who becoming huge bonding programs with my dad. Frisbie's segments were like a weird fever dream, definitely the perfect setup to these shows!

Definitely agree about the added emotion and drama that Series 7 brought to the table. Love that scene at the end of Stoke Me A Clipper where he's saying goodbye, to them as Ace, but really a heartfelt one from himself.

Well, I was quite enjoying your retrospective, Rowan, right up until 37:37 where you mentioned Crime Traveller and unlocked a 25yr old memory!! I had to Google it and ended up watching the 1st episode! Remember watching it on TV back in the day as a teenager. Cheers Rowan. Excellent retrospective

It's magical to watch these unheroic, not particularly brave or talented schlubs transform into a relatively capable group of almost-but-not-quite-ever complete heroes. I don't think there'll ever be another sitcom like this.

Yet another TRIUMPH of a video!!! 👍❤

Man, thank you so much for all the hours you spent making both of these deep dives. You absolutely nailed what made Red Dwarf amazing and I think this might be one of your best retrospectives ever. Your love and passion show through, and seeing all this stuff again really hit me in the feels.

I enjoyed the run of RD on Dave, but one thing which was very noticeable was how dramatically they had to compress the episodes to fit the more rigid time-slot. Several episodes end so abruptly that my TV still has whiplash.

Excellent review! I first saw Red Dwarf back in the late 80's on Georgia Public TV here in the US. They started Dr. Who back around 83' or 84' after the Britcom hour. They started getting other Brit Sci Fi, Tripods, Starcops, and then Red Dwarf. We didn't realize there were three seasons until we slowed down and watched the scroll at the beginning of the episode. Great memories!

suprised there wasn't more focus on the quarantine episode. surely the best episode

And so, the epic saga of Lister of Smeg continues...

I remember being so confused with 'out of time' and the cliffhanger ending, as between its airing and the next episode the following week (in what at the time I presumed would be the conclusion), the Dunblane Massica took place, so regularly scheduled programming was changed.

Please cover the dave releases in this format, it would be interesting to hear your take on the newer episodes. Shame that there may not be any more red dwarf :(

Firstly I'd like to say thank you for choosing Red Dwarf as the subject for another of your most excellent retrospectives. So.... Thank you :) You've put together a most enjoyable and comprehensive review.

That "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse" sequence has Danny John-Jules dressed in a suit similar to Martin Short in "The Three Amigos".

43:16 this episode is my all time favorite, that scene at the end that shows all the light bees forming a ring in space was amazing!!

10:30 I see what the US suits were doing - they were truly trying to turn Red Dwarf into an American sitcom. US evening sitcoms of the 70s-90s were written assuming the audience is distracted. They're having dinner, cleaning up, having family time, etc. These shows weren't designed to be watched, they were designed to be *watched at.* Hence the focus on standalone one-liners and a disinterest in plotting. This same logic, btw, is why other famously well-written US comedies like Police Squad and Arrested Development failed. They demanded more attention and active viewing from the audience than they were 'supposed' to.

Series 7 was also delayed by Craig Charles being accused, imprisoned and then found not guilty of rape shortly after Red Dward VI aired.

This was an amazing two parter, loved them both thank you so much. Will definitely revisit all the series from start to finish. Hope you will make more as they were so entertaining.

Seeing Mike Frisbie's floating visage while you begin describing Red Dwarf's international success at 02:14 was a huge flashback to spending my adolescence watching Sci-Fi Friday Night on Iowa Public Television.

I thought the newer series were pretty good to be honest. It was nice to get back to basics with the core cast and episodic stories. The more ambitious specials and multi-part episodes never seemed to pan out. I'd take series 10 over 7 & 8.

So cool to see my silly US pilot remaster here, thanks Rowan, made my morning seeing that! Great vid btw, love it!

It is sad and I feel torn because red dwarf was never quite as good again as it was before the partnership broke up. But I can't really blame Rob Grant because you can't keep writing something you have no enthusiasm for anymore and having read (Colony), watched (The Strangerers) or listened to (The Quanderhorn xperimentations) the stuff he did after he left I'm glad he did so he could write the fresh, new things he was more interested in. The Quanderhorn xperimentations radio showis especially fun if anyone wants a recommendation.

Red Dwarf US: So guys, this character is the slobbiest, laziest person imaginable. The worst person to be the sole representative of humanity. A man who has wasted every single bit of potential he has. He's so checked out of life that he fills holes in his trousers with spray paint..... Let's cast a good-looking, charismatic, we'll-put together guy and give him dialogue & characterisation so bland he might as well be a wax mannequin.

Well done Rowan, that was a great two parter. I really enjoy your work. Personally I love seasons 4, 5 and 6 of the show most, I didn't care too much for 7 but did enjoy 8 as the dynamic of a much bigger cast really helped to refresh the show and Mac MacDonald was a fantastic returning addition. Look forward to seeing what's next from you.

Great couple of episodes Rowan. You keep doing great work mate. Thanks!

Thanks for creating this retrospective. It's been great revisiting Red Dwarf and hearing another fan's perspective on the later series.

My first recollection of Chloë Annett was in the UK/Japanese movie, "Learn to speak Japanese", (along side the actor who played "Pigsy" in Monkey Magic") which is why seeing her in Red Dwarf was SUCH a surprise!

It's a close call between Red Dwarf and Only Fools, which is the best British comedy of all time.

Red Dwarf remains one of the absolute best series ever made!

I'll be honest, while seasons 5 and 6 are my absolute favourites, I've absolutely adored 10, 11 and 12. They really pulled the series back after the stumble of Back To Earth.

Great work Rowan. I have recently re watched everything up to Series 8. I have found that series 8 actually gets funnier the more you watch it. I also agree with the Back To Earth comments. It was not very good and I was dreading what was to happen after, but actually as the new series have gone on, it has become funnier again and something akin to it's old self, so I hope you get to watch the rest of it. Red Dwarf is up there with Black Adder among my favourite sit coms along with another series that barely gets a mention but had me screaming with laughter, the roaringly funny Coupling, but I do not expect to see you do a retrospective on that!! LOL Great work as always

Great 2 part documentry on Red Dwarf, earned a new sub from this, now to binge your other stuff, Keep up the great work.

Have to admit, I really liked Back To Earth as a one-off. It felt like an appreciation of how much the fanbase love the show and have kept it going through the years. The Blade Runnery stuff at the end is dumb but it felt like a deliberate parody of the genre as well as commentary on real life circumstances. It's not an episode of Red Dwarf but it is a movie about Red Dwarf.

I gotta encourage you to continue watching the new series. They might not be as consistently good as S6 but there's definitely some gems in there.

This 2 parter has been amazing. Thanks for making this awesome video

Really enjoyed this, but it's a shame you've stopped at S8 and not blasted through 9 - 13. 10 onwards is pretty good. You can knock them all out in a few hours.

FANTASTIC DOCUMENTARIES! You've earned a new subscriber today. BRAVO.

I was born in 1985 so I started watching Red Dwarf from season 3 onwards. This was absolutely must watch tele along with Star Trek The Next Gen, and while on a smaller scale I didn't think it looked cheaper. The best season by far has to be season 5 as every episode is iconic. Half of what made Red Dwarf was the characters being lost in space just looking for a good time and being forced to coexist with each other out of necessity while all having vastly different personalities. The other half was the amazingly funny situations they would be put in by using classic sci-fi tropes/mechanics, like time travel, or replicators, or a morphing alien, or virtual reality, etc. Dare I say it was more imaginative than Star Trek. Unfortunately, after a 4 year gap from season 6, they came back with season 7 and I was greatly disappointed. while the first episode had quite a good sci-fi concept with the President Kennedy shooting the comedy was really lacking. The rest of the season just got worse. Rimmer being replaced by Kochanski just sucked. Something about the dynamic was lost and also by having the crew returned in season 8 too. The great sc-fi situations had mostly gone as well. The only bit I think I cracked a smile at was when they were being knocked about all over the captain's quarters. And the change to Kryten's character was just weird. He wasn't one of the boys anymore and neither was Kochanski. Obviously I'm showing my own bias here but that is what the show established what it was at it's core. It was a British show for lads or maybe anyone who likes laddish stuff. I believe I watched Back to Earth and was so fed up it I just abandoned ship. I found out years later that Rob Grant had left after season 6 and it definitely shows. I suspect he was vital to coming up with the core ideas of the show. I will always have a fond place for Red Dwarf seasons 1-6 (with 1+2 acting as prequels for me). Seasons 4-6 will always be some of the best tele I have ever seen and that is due to the writing and is a testament to the writing talent we used to have in this country. Other than the first season of Noel Fieldings Luxury Comedy I don't think I've seen such quality British writing since the days of the IT Crowd which ended in 2010. Maybe one day that will change back and we can have a comedy renaissance.

Just finished series 5 earlier, Ghosts is honestly just such a special show. I think I have to agree with your top choice, Pat is definitely the funniest 😂

You can all have my mum. Everybody else did. Pretty much the funniest line ever. Poor Rimmer.

Thanks for making these retrospectives, i feel like i learned more about the series as a wholw from watching your video as appose to the actual red dwarf documentary. It also felt a lot more engaging

Hope you do a part 3. The thing with Back to Earth was that it was suppose to be two parts. Part 3s budget came from what was suppose to be a clip show with the cast re-acting the clips.

man thats what i like to see after a nap, new content

Definitely a huge fan of red dwarf, have been since i watched red dwarf on PBS with my Opa. He loved BBC comedy. And thank you for making these videos! Fantastic quality and i Definitely learned alot about the show. Well done! Thank you sir!

Another banger and these two videos are getting me back into watching red dwarf.

I wouldn't call Kryten a jealous housewife 'in contest' with Kochanski over Lister; I would call Kryten more of a 'mother hen'. ^^;

Amazing video, perhaps a Red Dwarf marathon is long overdue.

When you were growing up and met someone who said "I love Red Dwarf", you'd know this is someone I can be friends with

Great stuff. Hope there is a part 3. There is still some top episodes to come.

As ever, videos beyond praise on this channel - such utter quality!

Excellent work, I really enjoyed this and part one. Keep it up.

Awesome!! Dropped whilst I was at work in Australia but looking forward to watching this later on! Hope the Smeeeg heeeaads don't block it again!!

Even though I do agree that season 6 is peak Red Dwarf, season 8 is the one I have the most fun with. I really like the concept of them in the brig of the ship and the return of the crew is a really nice change of pace

I watched every second of this. Thank you, really enjoyed it

Looks like it's time to cactch up on Red Dwarf!

I'm personally torn between s4 and s6 as my favourite. I really liked the inclusion of a narrative arc in s6 along with the recurring Space Corp Directive jokes. Limiting the main set to Starbug kinda made sense by that point too. Rimmerworld might be my favourite episode here. S7 was a dissapointment although Duct Soup stands out for me, exploring the new character dynamics with a more modest plot. I enjoyed s8 a lot more at the time, as a whole it has merit although in hindsight it seems a little stretched for ideas after the initial 3-parter. The current Dave-era is unusually consistant in both quality and appearance, i'm not sure yet whether it holds up to multiple rewatches like the classics however. I hope we'll get a proper review of these on here too, one day.

Tnx for putting in the work! Excellent!

Modern Red dwarf still has some greatness in it. The only one I have trouble sitting through is the latest special "The Promised Land", I at least hope we get a more appropriate ending soon.

Series 3 through to 6 are absolute must own series.

Great two parter, thank you! Would be interested to see your retrospective on season 9 onward...

One of the things I've found a bit offputting about the online fandom is how many seem to completely dismiss Doug Naylor because the show's best years were with Rob Grant involved too. When you look at the solo work of each writer it seems to me that Doug is the guy who brought a lot of heart to it, and the ambitious storylines and themes. Rob's writing is more concerned with intricately constructing jokes like a farce than any sort of thematic depth. In contrast to Doug he really seems to actively enjoy having his characters suffer injury, humiliation and even death for a punchline. From the behind the scenes it also sounds like Rob's perfectionism is what led to the heights of Series 5 and 6 because he shot down a LOT of ideas as not being outstanding enough (at the expense of running behind schedule on the writing). I think of the two of them Doug Naylor was best suited to run Red Dwarf by himself, but the two of them together were an amazing team.

this is probably my favourite channel atm... makes a change from all the negativity and "criticism" can't wait to see more...!

Awesome series! It would be cool to see you continue it in some form, perhaps doing a top ten list of your favourite episodes from the modern era? :)

Excellent work Rowan. Keep watching the new Dwarf. It never reaches the highs of series 5 or 6 but it’s comfortably as good as 3,4 and 8.

Couldn't catch this part at the time. But will watch it soon. Watched part one live with everyone else. You really gave it the love and attention it deserves... but then again you do that with everything. There is an honest, warts and all approach to your work but any criticism always comes from a place of love. Thanks for all your retrospectives.

As a fan of Red Dwarf in the states, you really filled in gaps for me. Thanks for this.

I enjoyed this so much. This was fantastic. Thank you!

Looked forward to this, really enjoyed both parts.