Red Dwarf: Complete Series 8 (3 Discs)

And so to the final series of 'Red Dwarf' and, alas, the magic has left the building. Though the look of the show still astounds with its fantastic FX and production design the humour, not to mention the sheer inventiveness of previous episodes, is sadly missing. this time around. The eight episodes here (comprising a three parter and a two parter) sadly felt, at times, stale and predictable and often it seemed that more attention had been payed to the FX than anything else. The DVD allows viewers to watch the 3-part 'Back in the Red' and 2-part 'Pete' as long, unedited episodes but still the spark of genius seems to have long been blown out. The cast are still fantastic considering the decline in quality and one should still applaud the fact that the show retained its admiration and cult appeal after eight seasons but the time had finally come to leave the Dwarf behind. A typically packed 3 disc set includes honest extras discussing the shows sad demise and fans will still want to pick the DVD up so as to look great on the shelf with the other seven series but it's likely that this release will be the one you return to the least. So for now, at least, we must bid the Dwarf farewell and just rest easy in the knowledge that, at its peak, it provided viewers with hilarious comedy, science fiction and stories that, with all the newly released DVDs, can be enjoyed over and over again. And thank smeg for that!

Red Dwarf has undergone many changes over the years.

Seasons 1 and 2 were simplistic and relied on the character dynamic and comedy. Seasons 3-5 had some more money thrown at them and contain some of the best episodes with Season 5 being full of gems like quarantine and the Inquisitor. Season 6 went in a new direction, placing them in a different situation but something wasn't quite right. Frustratingly the occasional plot slip up of season 6 got worse with Season 7. It seemed that this was on the run up to the intended film and sadly suffered. So could it get worse?

Season 8 was the only season I gave up watching when it was originally broadcast. I got 2 or 3 episodes in and realised that this just wasn't funny anymore. The main fault was that it relied too heavily on pretty graphics. It was like they had found a new toy in the shape of CGI so ran with that and forgot to write the jokes (or like George Lucas, go back over the previous episodes to avoid plot foul ups).

Having now bought this to complete my set and watched it through sadly there isn't a good episode. The season is mainly multi part episodes which quite frankly was not needed and just became tiresome. I watched all 8 seasons over a period and sadly the cracks become too obvious when you do this. The worst part was the intended cliffhanger just had you hoping that it wouldn't return.

Buy it to complete the set, but it is unlikely you will return to this one. If you want to grab a season to remember it by, this is not the one.

Why are so many people slamming this? This is the best series since the first; Holly, Captain Hollister, the ship and Rimmer are all back on top form. The stories are fantastic and I don't recall a single moment when I wasn't laughing my socks off! Ignore all the negative reviews, this series is awesome!

One of the funniest with a lot of different characters to laugh at along the way

There's bound to be mixed feelings from most people, myself included, about this eighth and final series of this classic sci-fi comedy series. On the one hand its really great to see our regulars one last time but on the other the actual scripts offered up for this eight episode run are seriously lacking in the deft humourous touches that so typified the series for most of its tenure. On their own it would hardly rate as a 'must have' title however the BBC have certainly done us proud with a lavish 3 disc set brimming with a wealth of extras to help elevate the weaknesses of this season. Individually or as a collective extended version the three part 'Back In The Red' sits alongside the entirely worthy fascinating 29 min "Comedy Connections" BBC program on the first disc. You've got the remaining five episodes plus the option to see the 2 part 'Pete' in a 'feature length' version however disc two also offers up some else. On the lift panel click on the button to the right of the 6, then select the red test tube for a 7 min Easter egg. Rounding off this title disc three handles the bonus features with the now standard original documentary, this one under the title of "The Tank" runs to about 88 mins as the most prominent item. A weighty 67 mins of deleted scenes, 10 ¾ mins of 'Smeg Ups', a 2 ½ min "Fight!" themed featurette, a 16 page 'Collector's Booklet and collectively 186 self selection photo gallery images round out the standard extras you can find filling up this disc. If it were just for the episodes I'd easily be predisposed to say this title is merely for 'completeists' however certainly the extras go some way to compensate a fairly disappointing and lacklustre ending for the series.