Red Dwarf - Series 4 (DVD)

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==** WHAT IS RED DWARF..?==

Red Dwarf is a sci-fi comedy which was initially created in 1983 with the first series being aired on the BBC. In the very beginning there was an on board radiation leak, (thought to be caused by the incompetent Rimmer) which killed everyone on board apart form Lister, who was imprisoned in ‘Stasis’, (suspended animation) for possessing an illegal life form, ( a cat he had found on a planet). Lister ...
...he and the crew of Red Dwarf run into many obstacles, some serious, some silly, but all very dangerous for a man lost in space.

==**LIST OF CHARACTERS…==

'''Dave Lister''', _(Craig Charles)_, was the lowly technician on the doomed mining ship before the fatal radiation leak and is now the only human left alive. He survives on hot curries and home made drinks, which gives him a rather ’different’ odour, although this ... more

Writers: Rob Grant and Doug Naylor
Director: Ed Bye
Starring: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Hattie Hayridge and Robert Llewellyn.

This fourth series was first aired on the BBC in 1991 and continued to follow the now famous and much loved characters on the doomed Mining ship ‘Red Dwarf’.
As this series was about to air it came across a few little hurdles, forcing a few episodes to be postponed, for instance, ‘Dimension Jumper’ and ‘Meltdown’ were set aback due to the Gulf War, therefore the opening episode became ‘Camille’, which when first aired coincided with valentines day, (which was nice and romantic for Kryten anyway).

** WHAT IS RED DWARF..?

Red Dwarf is a sci-fi comedy which was initially created in 1983 with the first series being aired on the BBC. In the very beginning there was an on board radiation leak, (thought to be caused by the incompetent Rimmer) which killed everyone on board apart form Lister, who was imprisoned in ‘Stasis’, (suspended animation) for possessing an illegal life form, ( a cat he had found on a planet). Lister was held in stasis for his own safety by Holly, the ships computer, until the background radiation cleared, which happened to take 3 million years to do so.
During those 3 million years Listers pet cat had mutated and evolved into a new species, becoming a human/cat, or feline sepias to give it its proper name.
So when Lister is released for ’stasis’ his only companions are the cat, aptly named ’Cat‘, and a hologram of Rimmer, who was Listers immediate superior, with Holly believing would stop Lister from going crazy, although it actually has the opposite affect as Rimmer is probably the most arrogant and cowardly person in the entire crew.
During their travels they are joined by Kryten, a servant mechaniod, who they rescued from a death filled space craft, and a computer who decides to change into someone new.

But right from the start Listers only hope is to get back to planet Earth but on his way he and the crew of Red Dwarf run into many obstacles, some serious, some silly, but all very dangerous for a man lost in space.

**LIST OF CHARACTERS…

Dave Lister, (Craig Charles), was the lowly technician on the doomed mining ship before the fatal radiation leak and is now the only human left alive. He survives on hot curries and home made drinks, which gives him a rather ’different’ odour, although this goes well with his ’relaxed’ style of dress code and mass of knotted hair.
He seems to enjoy life although his relaxation is always disturbed by a certain member of the crew.

Arnold Judas Rimmer , (Chris Barrie), is a Hologram of Listers once immediate superior officer, who was brought back to try and keep Lister sane during his journey through space.
Rimmer is a regulation follower, even if he manages to get the regulation quotes wrong, and is so selfish he is always willing to put the other crew members lives in danger to save his own skin, (even though he is already dead and the only thing he should be wary of is a power cut).
He tries to come across as a fearless leader, sometimes comparing himself to the likes of Napoleon, but when it comes down to the crunch he is usually found quaking in a cupboard.

The Cat, (Danny John-Jules) who descended from Listers illegally held cat 3 million years earlier is a typical cat, only in a semi-humanoid state, having turned into a walking, talking human/man. He sometimes uses his exceptional sense of smell to warn of danger, although getting it wrong on many occasions, causing more trouble than anything else.
He has a massive ego and thinks mainly of himself, (he is a cat remember), and with his inability to be able to pass a mirror or reflective object without preening himself a simple walk down a corridor could take some time with him.
His continuous fruitless search of a mate seems never ending, although in this series he really does show who his true love would be.

Kryten, (Robert Llewellyn) is the strange shaped head mechaniod, and the newest member of the crew, being found on a space ship serving a group of women who had long since died.
He only desire is to serve humans, although the longer he spends with Lister the more he seems to be turning human, although his ’behavioural protocols’ always seem to keep him under control.
Although he is programmed to serve his human host he still has no trouble with belittling anyone with his quick dry wit and cracking emotionless square head.

Holly, (Hattie Hayridge) is the ships computer with an IQ of over 6000, but millions of years alone during the radiation leak has affected her circuits somewhat, giving her a dry sense of humour and a slightly comically wicked side.
Her sense of humour becoming more dry as time goes on, with her behaviour seeming to become more erratic in each episode.
Holly has the task of piloting the ship and keeping the remaining crew members alive, whilst trying to keep Rimmr and Lister from killing each other.

** SERIES 4...

Episodes…

1) Camille
Lister is busy helping Kryten become a little less robotic and a lot more rebellious by teaching him how to tell fibs, but Kryten just can’t get the hang of it at all.
Meanwhile, when the crew receive a distress call from another ship they rush to its rescue, where Kryten believes he has met the love of his life in the form of a female mechaniod.
Unfortunately, this lovely vision of robotic beauty isn’t quite what is seems, much to the other crew members horror as they begin to uncover the truth.

2) DNA
When the crew find a spaceship drifting through the darkness it is not long before things are going very wrong for them all.
As they begin to investigate the deserted ship they come across a machine which can change things into even weirder things, like turning Lister into a rodent, Kryten into a human and a mutton vindaloo into a mass of man eating mush.
So with the ‘Dwarfers’ now in fear of their lives, running from a hot curry dish, the crew realise that it will take a special plan to defeat the advancing monster.

3) Justice
When Red Dwarf inadvertently picks up a small pod which is heading for ‘Justice world’ they decide to take the cargo to the planet. But on arrival Rimmer is accused of killing all those on Red Dwarf and has to stand trial for the hundreds of deaths. So with the possibility of Rimmer going to prison it is up to the rest of the crew to defend him in court.
Meanwhile, the contents of the rescued ‘pod’ is intent on seeking revenge for its captors, chasing the frightened Red Dwarf crew through the ‘Justice Zone’.
Fortunately, Lister soon realises that there is only one way to defeat the pursuing danger, but can he do it in time?

4) White hole
Whilst trying to boost Holly’s IQ back to its normal amount Kristen makes a slight error, forcing Holly’s IQ up to a massive 12,000, unfortunately, with the increase in brains there is a reduction of life power for the ships computer, down to three minutes. This rather bad news forces Holly to shut down all unnecessary electrical power outputs, in order to come up with a plan.
This power down means the ship is drifting helplessly through space with no power for anything, including opening the internal doors.
Meanwhile, in typical Red Dwarf luck, the ship is heading for a space phenomenon, much to the crews horror, but things can only get worse when the only plan to stay alive involves Lister, a game of pool and a large amount of drinking.

5) Dimension Jump
When a space craft collides with Starbug the ‘Dwarfers’ soon realise that there are parallel dimension, but they are soon amazed when they meet the ‘parallel’ Rimmer, who turns out to be a lot different than the ‘none-mass’ of cowardly mush that is the Rimmer they know.
The parallel Rimmer really shines through, especially when Starbug crash lands onto a wet planet, forcing some serious repairs. But the ‘real’ Rimmer is not too happy about the ‘new’ Rimmer, blaming him for his own misfortunes in life, and is even more annoyed when the parallel Rimmer offer to do a bit of micro-surgery on Cats broken leg.

6) Meltdown
The ‘Dwarfers’ teleport onto a once inhabited planet, soon realising that they have landed up on a theme park of wax androids, where character such as Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Gandhi live.
But when Rimmer and Kryten are taken prisoner by ‘Elvis Presley’ they begin to think that things aren’t quite what it seems.
Meanwhile, when Lister and Cat are captured by Adolf Hitler and are force to watch as Winnie the Pooh is shot by Al Capone they soon realise that maybe all is not peaceful on the wax world.
It is not long until Kryten works out that there is a war raging on the planet between two ‘forces’ and the Red Dwarf crew have landed right in the middle of it.
Once Rimmer realises that this could be his chance to shine in military action he decides to lead a small group of ‘soldiers’, including Queen Victoria, Mother Teresa, Ghandi and Marilyn Monroe, to defeat the enemy, who consist of Richard the Third, Hitler and Mussolini.
So, with a world full of wax warriors there can be only one outcome, much to Rimmers delight but Listers horror.

** IN CONCLUSION…

The Red Dwarf steam roller just thunders along, flattening many other so called comedy shows in its path, the brilliant and somewhat uniqueness of the humour which this show emits is what has made it such a popular show indeed. It is no wonder it has become a cult classic.
This forth series is as good as the previous three, with another 6 brilliant stories, excellently portrayed by the five member cast of the wackiest space crew in the universe.
In this series the stories are just so hilariously funny you’ll be crying with pains in your sides throughout.
I don’t usually have favourites as I love all the episodes of Red Dwarf, but in this series my personal favourites are ‘DNA’, for its shear stupidity and total vindaloo madness, and also ‘meltdown’, just to see Rimmer in his element as a leader, watching as he tries to control his little army… pure genius. But then again, the other episodes are just as great to watch.

The acting continues as fantastic as ever, with the recent addition of Llewellyn, as Kryten, really settling in well indeed, gelling with the ‘older’ cast so well it is as if he’d been there from day one. His dry wit and straight face becoming soon becoming his trait as he banters with the rest.
As for the ‘older’ cast, well, they just carry on as normal, Charles playing the curry loving slob Lister brilliantly, with his liverpudlian accent giving him that certain je ne sais quoi.
Barrie continues in his little quest to make the fast growing Red Dwarf fan base really take a dislike to the snivelling coward that is Rimmer, portraying him so well as the uptight, wanna-be general with a fear of hard work.
Plus John-Jules as Cat, who makes his character become more selfish as the show steamrolls along. His silly comments and bizarre little proverbs really do slot into the plots fantastically well indeed.
And finally, Lovett as Holly, the feminine side of the crew, albeit being a head inside a monitor, managing to bring in more quick dry wit and fast one liners.
The people in charge of the cast really chose wisely in the beginning, then continued by opting to add a new character and a new face without spoiling the show itself, which is not an easy thing to do. The new faces quickly gelling with the others to continue to bring the fans that sci-fi comedy that we all want.

Personally, when I sit back to watch Red Dwarf I become totally engrossed right from the beginning of the first episode, enjoying the dry sense of wit and quick style banter. The now five main characters really do seem to take everything in there stride.
It is not long before I’m crying out with laughter, tears roling down my face as Kryten cracks another brilliant pun with his face as straight as a plumb line, whilst my face become contorted due to the giggling. A lot of the time I do have to rewind parts as I have missed yet another comical section because of my uncontrollable laughter.
I do realise that it is not to every ones taste, I mean, my wife doesn’t like it as much as I do, but that could be down to the fact that I tend to ignore her whilst it is on t he television, so when I want to watch it she goes off somewhere with a James Patterson book for a quite read, sometimes having to shout at me to stop laughing so loud. But for all those that don’t really get this show there are many more that, like me, can watch it all day long, loving every minute of its mad style of comedy.

In all, another excellent comedy series from the seriously mad minds of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who both seem to enjoy slapping the critics right in the mouth as they persist with sticking to what has become a fantastic and well loved idea for a space comedy.

This forth series was released on DVD in 2004 and if you want to get a copy then you can get it from www.amazon.co.uk for less than a fiver, which for that small amount of money you get two discs containing 3 hours of entertaining fun, including some Extras like ‘Smeg-ups’, deleted scenes, a full cast commentary documentary, a cast documentary and more. 

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