Well, we were hoping to have the weekend off. But because the staggered, disjointed manner in which we all watched Series XI was so much fun, the extra features on the forthcoming Red Dwarf XI DVD/Bluray have been quietly and unexpectedly released on iTunes and Play Store. The extras were seemingly made available overnight to anyone who bought a series pass on either platform. Alternatively, the main documentary is available to buy on its own, while the deleted scenes and smeg ups are series pass only. The visual effects, model shots and image gallery are not available, but the trailers are there – for free on Play Store, but at the price of £2.49 on iTunes. Insert joke about Apple products being a rip-off here.

So, this was certainly a surprise. I assumed at first that this was a Krysis-esque fuck-up where things had gone live before they were meant to, what with the lack of any official notification, and the fact that we’re still a fortnight away from the physical release of this stuff in the UK. But the fact that it’s on both of these platforms makes me think otherwise. If this was a mistake, it’s pretty bloody amateurish. If it’s not a mistake, it’s also pretty bloody amateurish. Much like the way the release of the episodes themselves were handled, this is all a big mess.

So yeah, we at G&T are going to have to figure out between us how and when we start reviewing and discussing this stuff, but in the meantime… I dunno, use this thread for whatever. It seems that while the makers of the programme care about how its presented to the public, those in charge of its distribution do not give a solitary shit, so why should we?

UPDATE (30/10/16): They’ve disappeared from iTunes. The downloads will still play for those who grabbed them yesterday, but you can no longer buy them. It’s all still there on Google Play, though – if those disappear soon too, we’ll know the whole thing was a cock-up. Still, some sort of communication from an official channel would be nice, eh?