Red Dwarf: Series VIII

Red Dwarf itself was absent for most of the last series as the crew had mislaid it, but the mining spaceship now makes a welcome return, having been completely refitted and restored by Kryten’s rogue nanobots. So when spacebums Lister (Craig Charles), Cat (Danny John-Jules) Kryten (Robert Llewellyn) and Kochanski (Chloë Annett) board their old ship, they are surprised to find not only the original ship’s computer, Holly (Norman Lovett), but also the old crew miraculously brought back to life, although unfortunately this includes Rimmer (Chris Barrie). Of course, the boys from the Dwarf have been used to having the run of the ship, so it’s not long before they are up to their necks in trouble.

Series VIII features the Skutters in superb and controlled working order.This is progress indeed as the Skutters were last seen in earlier series, when owing to a slight technical hitch, they used to pick up a mini-cab radio transmissions near the studios which resulted in them randomly attacking the cast without warning, much to the delight of the studio audience. Highlights include Danny John-Jules as the Cat engaging in a stunning dance sequence with the spacecraft Blue Midget, Kryten’s metamorphosis into a scheming media-show host, Rimmer’s metamorphosis into an irresistible sex object and Pete the Sparrow’s metamorphosis into a gigantic dinosaur.

Includes the episodes:

Back In The Red – Part One - The nanobots have not only re-created Red Dwarf they have also populated the ship with is old crew, which is extremely good news for Rimmer. It’s bad news for Lister, as he is back to sharing a room with him. It’s also bad news for Cat and Kryten – they were not part of the original ship’s complement and are now under investigation. Cat is confusing doctors with his syncopated pulse. Kryten is bemusing a psychiatrist with his incorrigible honesty. This episode also sees the return of Mac McDonald as Captain Hollister, together with crew members Selby (Paul Bradley) and Chen (David Gillespie).

Back In The Red – Part Two - Rimmer plans to move up the career ladder – using extremely dubious means. He gains access to Red Dwarf's confidential files, and then takes up the opportunity when he is invited to dinner with the Captain and the senior officers.To make the evening go with a swing, he douses himself with a "sexual magnetism virus" which will make him irresistible to the female crew. In the meantime, Kryten has to come to terms with the fact that he has been classified as a woman due to his lack of male sex organs.
Back In The Red – Part Three - The Dwarfers face two years in the brig for crimes against the Space Corps. On realising that their defence has more holes in it that Lister's underpants, they escape to prove their innocence, unaware their every move is being monitored by the authorities. In the meantime, the Cat falls head over Cuban heels in love with the Red Dwarf ground controller (Yasmin Bannerman) and does an elaborate tap dance with Blue Midget to impress the girl of his dreams.

Cassandra - On Holly's advice, Lister joins the "Canaries". He thinks it is the prison choir, actually it is a battle-hardened convict army, trained to go on suicide missions. And he’s also enrolled Rimmer, probably the yellowest of yellowbellies in the whole universe. On their first mission, Rimmer meets Cassandra (Geraldine McEwan), a computer with the ability to predict the future with 100 per cent accuracy, which prophecies his imminent death.

Krytie TV - To Rimmer's horror, Lister's guitar is found among Starbug's debris and delivered to their cell. Meantime, Kryten, who has been reprogrammed, starts his own pay TV station for the prisoners. Ratings soar with the broadcast of Women's Shower Night.When Kochanski finds out, Kryten’s next idea is an elaborate sting and his first victims are Lister and Rimmer.

Pete – Part One - Life has not been the same since the nanabots re-created Red Dwarf, and now Lister and Rimmer are forced to take on the guards in a basketball game. The only way they believe they have a chance of winning is by sabotaging the opposition's half-time juice with ‘Boing’, the virility enhancement drug. Needless to say, the match is a fiasco and their punishment is two weeks of spud duty.With Bob the Skutter’s help, Lister gets hold of a virus which eats potato skins. It also eats clothing and hair...

Pete – Part Two - The Dwarfers find themselves in a life-threatening situation when they devolve Pete the Sparrow into a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a time-wand, and he goes on the rampage in the cargo decks.To make matters worse, Pete has eaten the time-wand, so the Dwarfers hatch a cunning plan to get it back via a dinosaur portion of cow vindaloo. Unfortunately, Pete also eats through the crew's food stocks – including two-and-a-half tonnes of mint-chocolate ice-cream, 2,000 gallons of Coca Cola and 400 orange ice pops – with devastating effects. Rimmer and Lister are sent on the mission to put things right, but things don't go quite as planned.

Only The Good - The Dwarfers are now on probation and are trying their hardest to behave, but things are not going their way. Kryten decides to get his revenge on Lister for giving him dodgy advice on female biology and hides big bully Baxter's (Ricky Glover) stash of illegal hooch in Lister and Rimmer's cell, just before a cell inspection. Meantime, Rimmer crosses into a mirror universe and finds another version of himself captaining the ship.

Cast
Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Craig Charles
Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Danny John-Jules
Kryten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Llewellyn
Kochanski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chloë Annett
Holly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norman Lovett
Rimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Barrie
Production Credits
Red Dwarf Created by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rob Grant, Doug Naylor
Written by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Doug Naylor, Paul Alexander (co-writer on two episodes)
Producer/Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ed Bye
Executive Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug Naylor

British Comedy Awards®
1994 – Best BBC Comedy Series
International Emmy Awards®
1994 – Popular Arts

 

“...the cult television series exerts a mysterious hold over half the student population of the Western hemisphere.” -_The Times
“...the BBC series which turned science fiction inside out and introduced the word ‘smeg’ to the everyday vocabulary of pre-teenagers.”- Independent
“...back to its very best... This eighth series has lived up to expectations, taking the familiar characters into new situations and proving as inventive as any of the past series. Excellent fun... and not just for smegheads.”- Morning Star
“The original concept owed everything to Douglas Adams, but the style is now its own, playing wantonly with the laws of astrophysics and mixing oneliners with parody, witty allusions, farce, slapstick and groansome puns. Non-stop fun for little boys from seven to 77.” -The Times
“Scripts take laughter-raising only so far.The character chemistry of Craig Charles, Robert Llewellyn, Danny John-Jules and (especially) Chris Barrie does the rest.”- Daily Mail
“...laugh-a-minute lunacy from outer space ... You can tell the quality of a sitcom by the calibre of its guests. Geraldine McEwan popped up...” -Mirror
“As quirky as ever.” -Sydney Morning Herald

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