Yes, we’ve got a video! News Posted by Jonathan Capps on 4th October 2016, 15:18 Ah, the BBFC, they’ve served us so well over the years, with episode title reveals and confirmations of DVD extras aplenty. As expected the forthcoming DVD and Bluray release has now been through classification and so all episodes and extras can be found on their website. I’ll be keeping this rundown spoiler neutral, although be warned that some of the BBFC’s notes might reveal details about the rudeness levels of future episodes. For reasons you’ll see in a moment, I’m going to skip Twentica for now and go straight to Samsara, in which we learn that the BBFC considers numerous fellating skeltons to be “moderate sex references” but still go the extra mile to award this episode a 15 certificate, so I guess it’s at least like Marooned in that way, if no other. Give & Take is incorrectely labelled with a dirty, disgusting, blasphemous “and” but when Dave viewers get to see it this Thursday they will only have to worry about the more acceptable “infrequent moderate innuendo”. Onto currently unseen episodes, now, with Officer Rimmer upgrading itself to “moderate sex references”, which given what we know of the premise of this episode could lead to some disturbing situations. Krysis now, which will befauling our screens later this month with “mild bad language, drugs references, rude humour”, hopefully none of which deal with a run away robo-penis. The series finale, Can of Worms, will give us “mild sex references” so presumably we’re spared an in-detail exploration of a cat’s barbed penis. Twentica also has a normal entry, but wait curiously also has a separate entry for an edited version. We’ve combed around and have been unable to find a reference to dual versions for any of the other episodes, so what the hell even is this? Neither listing indicate any cuts being made, they were both classified on the same day, and the only noticable difference is the latter runs a whole 51 seconds shorter than the original. The closest we’ve got as to a clue is Doug’s earlier mention that they made some tweaks to the episode after early screenings, so best guess is that the original was submitted early on and they then resubmitted based on the tweaks they made just before broadcast. This is backed up by the fact that the version currently on UKTV Play is only 2 seconds shorter than the ‘edited’ version, meaning that’s probably the one we saw on broadcast. Onto to the extras now and all the things we’ve previously seen leaked through DVD covers elsewhere are also confirmed by the BBFC. It’s worth noting that the Behind the Scenes feature is running at just over 50 minutes, which is pretty brief compared to what we’ve had in the past. I’m not too worried about this turn of events, though, as as revealing and interesting as We’re Smegged was, it did go on a bit. Other than that and a collection of the shorter running items on the extras list we also have a whole 15 minutes of deleted scenes (which is just marvellous) and 20 minutes of model shots like it’s fucking 2002 or some shit. Finally, more developments are afoot with the DVD artwork (and no, this has nothing to do with the tedious Twitter ramblings of a certain co-star) with a company called Steelbook giving us a look at what seems to be the final design of the Steelbook edition artwork in all of its purple glory. They also confirm a release date of the 14th November and the inclusion of Danny John-Jules in the cast photo.
So all the DVD’s up to this point have been rated either PG or 12, this will be the first one rated 15. They can have lots of swearing and nudity in the BTS documentary now, they might as well, it’ll still be rated 15!
Not technically a series release, but I think Just The Smegs had a 15 rating, despite the fact almost all of the lcips it contains were reclassified as at most 12 for theior inclusion in the series releases. Presumably thi is because there wasn’t enough different about them on the dedicated release to warrant a re-classificiation.
The behind the scenes is presumably shorter simply by dint of the production being far less problematic. 52 minutes (as part of a wider collection of bonus material running to over an hour and a half) is still pretty good going when you consider that most major BBC/ITV dramas get around a 15-minute featurette and nothing else these days…
The documentary might be running a little short because they’re saving some footage for the series XII release? Having one long production schedule must limit the behind the scenes elements. Speculating.
Guessing a combination of the above two reasons for the BTS documentary length – production seems to have been far smoother this time around (in fact, possibly the smoothest it’s run on any Red Dwarf series?) and I’d imagine they’ve indeed saved some juicy footage for Series XII’s home release. Good to see a nice long Deleted Scenes package and a decent-sized Smeg Ups reel. Thrilled to see 20 minutes of raw model shots – was hoping to see these back after having been AWOL on the Series X release. Wonder if it’s all Series XI stuff or if they’ve sneakily included some of the Series X shots too? = P
Shortest series documentary we’ve ever had, shortest Smeg Ups reel we’ve ever had (a whole 65 seconds per episode…), shortest total extras running time we’ve ever had. Not too happy – other than the episodes and minus the model shots (which are welcome but not as welcome as stuff they’ve left off or longer versions of the stuff that’s been downsized) there’s only 70 minutes of ‘proper’ extras. I mean, it’s a case of unwrapping the disc and the whole thing being over an hour and a half later, 20 minutes of which was mute. That’s not in keeping with the legacy of a range that 9 years ago released a box set of extra extras due to demand. This is where I do feel the right to get on my entitlement high horse as someone, presumably at BBCWW (it’s obviously not GNP) has imposed an insulting list of restrictions with an underlying message of “that’s enough”, and has zero understanding of how what’s left of the physical video market operates and how to capitalise on it. This is a recurring theme with Worldwide though. Completely clueless and with turn-of-the-decade ideas about the modern video market (and a big hello to the dying-on-its-arse-BBC Store). The X release was very stripped down but still felt enough like an event due to the presence of what was legitimately a feature length addition that covered everything that was traditionally absent. This appears stripped down further to the point where it doesn’t even feel special enough to get excited about. I just can’t get that revved up spending £16.99 on a disc that’s clockwatching at me, and I’m surprisingly fine with the idea of waiting for a price drop on it.
If you want to get your money’s worth you could always try re-watching the episodes. With that attitude, in 2002 we’d have had Red Dwarf I Re-Mastered with Animated Menus and Scene Selection.
I guess I’m coming from the angle of it’s 2016, we’ve got what is shaping up to be the best series since 1993 and we’re getting a series XI Blu Ray which has a specially shot documentary on it and we’re pretty lucky to have all that. Most shows get far less when it comes to special features. A lot of big budget movies get far less than an hours worth of special features and very few sitcoms even get a Blu Ray release.
In 1994 and 1995 we all shelled out £12.99 for 51 minutes of exclusive Smeg Outs/Ups. But yes, it used to take whole weekends to get through the DVDs and this will definitely be devoured in one sitting. Looking forward to downloadable Doug commentaries (X & XI pleeeaaassseeeee!).
(In reply to NoFro) We’re not getting the release for free though. We have a legitimate right to evaluate its relative value for money. The irritation comes from the fact that GNP would CLEARLY rather this have more on it, but have been told no by people who have no fucking clue what they’re doing. This isn’t a GNP thing, or a ‘state of the industry’ thing. It’s a BBCWW thing. Shearsmith and Pemberton were refused commentaries, extras or a Bluray for Inside No 9 to the extent that they’ve defected to an indie for series 3. Outside of 2|entertain’s madness, things are a lot brighter. Seen the Brian Pern release? That’s a comedy show a hundred times more obscure than Dwarf, with over three hours of extras. And on Bluray. But again they had to go to an indie to do it properly due to preposterous restrictions. Virtually all cult TV shows with fanbases get Bluray releases, it’s one of the few pockets of the physical media business that is still very healthy, like how classic rock reissues still shift massive units on CD. Red Dwarf is still a big seller – it’s in the ‘geek culture’ (ugh) bubble. It shouldn’t have its commercial exploitation shackled due to know-nothing ‘house rules’. It comes down to one thing – Doug Naylor shouldn’t have to be coming up with creative workarounds to effectively spite the release of his own bestselling DVD.
There are 100 minutes of VAM on this thing. Looking at some recent releases, I’d guess that’s comfortably far more than any other UK TV release this year. How exactly do you know for sure that GNP wanted there to be more on this? Did Doug tell you himself? Could it not just be, as speculated above, that the documentary is shorter because they don’t have to cover events such as the last two and a half episodes having to be thrown out and replaced with new ones at the last moment, only being able to film half of one episode in front of a studio audience because the rest hasn’t been written, scrapping the first model shoot because somebody was under the impression they “didn’t need a director for that”, discovering the first episode isn’t going to pass quality control standards and losing all the rushes?
I just asked Doug on twitter if he’d be doing downloadable commentaries for X, XI and XII. He liked my tweet so I can only assume that this is definitely going to happen.
In terms of actual (i.e. not mute) footage, there’s less than half of what X had. And X itself was a big step back on BtE. I’ve heard firsthand from more than one person about how hurtfully incompetent what’s left of 2|entertain is, plus other horror stories about them on increasingly familiar themes. They’re now run by people who don’t understand or care about the market, and that’s basically the end of their interest in it. This constant downsizing of the Dwarf releases is screamingly obviously not the wishes of anyone in the GNP camp.
This is where I do feel the right to get on my entitlement high horse as someone, presumably at BBCWW (it’s obviously not GNP) has imposed an insulting list of restrictions with an underlying message of “that’s enough”, and has zero understanding of how what’s left of the physical video market operates and how to capitalise on it. Steady on, that’s a Hell of a conclusion to draw from exactly zero evidence. Keep in mind, the key difference between the Dave era releases and the BBC ones is that the Dave releases have been reactionary while the BBC stuff was retrospective. It’s easy to whinge about the lack of a two-hour making-of featurette when you consider that, actually, there’s a lot more to say about something you did years ago when you’re digging up fun memories and anecdotes than there is about something you literally just worked on and may be kind of mentally and emotionally tapped out on. Couple that with the fact that the lead time on the BBC DVDs was, for the most part, a full bloody year, whereas the lead time for this is considerably shorter between shoots, final edits, and farting out the final release. Do I wish we’d gotten the DVD release of XI in January instead? Actually, yes. But then Dave, BBC Worldwide, GNP and Baby Cow all miss out on a potentially very lucrative Christmas influx of cash that – no, but yes! – could go towards Series XIII. No, really. Then there’s the fact that we’re looking at a DVD release that covers half a production period. Half. XI and XII were shot back-to-back. I wouldn’t be surprised if the XII DVD didn’t include a little more in the way of BTS stuff, combining with the XI features to form one glorious whole.
How exactly do you know for sure that GNP wanted there to be more on this? Did Doug tell you himself? Well, he’s already voiced his displeasure at the lack of commentaries, so it’s obviously something that’s at least partially out of his control. The length of the documentary is a little disappointing – we had more for BtE, which was a third of the length of XI. Certainly the double production block with XII will play into that, but even so it does seem somewhat light. I suppose the truth is, we’ve been spoiled with the first nine series, plus Bodysnatcher. Few series get the extras treatment they did, so the recent ones have seemed incredibly light in comparison. Obviously with less archive material available, they’re not going to be quite the same, but BtE still gave us a fair amount, and TWO commentaries. By most TV DVD standards, this release is strong on extras – by Red Dwarf DVD standards, it’s very disappointing. I don’t think it’s unfair to point out either of those perspectives.
50 minutes for XI, 50 minutes for XII. Two series, back to back, 1hr 40m in total. Sounds pretty good for a production which has had virtually no issues getting into a completed state in contrast to Series X. Plus 20 minutes of model shots? My pleas have been answered.
I appreciate that I’m playing the angry internet hardliner card on this issue but I think it’s important to point fingers and acknowledge that something is askew here. It’s not the end of the world but when I think back to the years when all the original releases came out, there was a long period of time when DVDs and extras were entirely what Red Dwarf was. They were really important to me and a lot of people. Oversharing alert – as is my wont, I had a fucker of a nervous breakdown at the end of last year that took months to subside. My therapy was replaying all the DVD documentaries and commentaries over and over and over again. If I seem a bit intense on the issue of a DVD having a shorter than expected bonus disc it’s because these things saved my actual life. More than once. Less of them is less of the thing that stopped it all hurting so much. Back to the central point, I know I sound whiny, and that it’s not the first time I’ve overreacted to Dwarf DVD omissions, I bloody know. History repeats. Equally, I just don’t think it’s something-and-nothing either. We’re being short changed for fucking stupid reasons.
Darrell, it’s like kicking around with your pals, isn’t it. Familiar voices, anecdotes and laughing along with their humble recollections. I stick the Series III to VI commentaries on at times for similar reasons. Not much time has passed since XI and XII, I can understand why the cast might not be up for a commentary but not having a Doug & Richard commentary for at least a few episodes on the disc itself is a fucking scandal.
Do you remember buying three episodes for a tenner on VHS? (“Rrrrr. Great days.”) (“We used to dream of living in a corridor!”) Etc. Perhaps suggest some sort of Kickstarter…
I remember getting Red Dwarf VIII Byte One on VHS from Music Zone but they put the Smeg Outs tape in it instead. The old days.
Remastered followed by Red Dwarf VII bytes 1, 2 and bollocking 3. I didn’t even bother buying the Red Dwarf VIII VHS (although I did borrow it from the library to watch the Smeg Ups), Ian the Smegmeister claiming that Krytie TV was ‘pure class’. The late 90s were so much shitter than this.
My favourite Red Dwarf VHS was series I, The End. Three very strong episodes and a real sense of comedy history in the making. Series IV, Camille came a close second. I miss my videos.
I appreciate that I’m playing the angry internet hardliner card on this issue but I think it’s important to point fingers and acknowledge that something is askew here. I really don’t see it that way. The only conspicuous thing here is the lack of commentaries, and that’s been a notoriously sticky issue for pretty much every release anyway. And I’m really not sure how compiling a tonne of raw model footage is somehow invalidated by it not having any sound. Oversharing alert – as is my wont, I had a fucker of a nervous breakdown at the end of last year that took months to subside. My therapy was replaying all the DVD documentaries and commentaries over and over and over again. If I seem a bit intense on the issue of a DVD having a shorter than expected bonus disc it’s because these things saved my actual life. More than once. Less of them is less of the thing that stopped it all hurting so much. This is clearly a massively sensitive issue, but the fact that you have that level of attachment to the extras that have gone before (which I completely understand) doesn’t really put you in the best position when it comes the massive assumptions you’re currently making. It doesn’t really make it sound like you’re basing any of these feelings on any sort of facts. The behind the scenes feature is 30 minutes shorter than that on series X, recorded and compiled under *entirely* different circumstances. Nathan has been producing these things for years, and the entire crew have been contributing to them for longer, they know how to make them worthwhile.
With the production doubling up, you’d think a lot of stuff only needs to be covered once across the two documentaries. Essentially this is Part One of a two part documentary covering one block of Red Dwarf production.
I assumed the featurette was gonna be Formica! The Dwarfers dabble in science. Music – Sorry by Justin Bieber.
I’m going to put in an early prediction for a segment of the documentary – some kind of Starbug nightmare. Had Mike Tucker lined up with his original Starbug that they used in X, but when they went to film they didn’t have enough money to build a smaller one with The Model Shop, or the model shop didn’t have time before another project, so they went to The Magic Camera Company who bashed out a half scale and a large scale one made from donated parts from an original knackered Starbug cheaper than TMS could. Which is why the old model is on the shirt in the store and on the screens inside Starbug. Doug will sigh. Also, Craig will say that the characters are sort of characatures of the actors and Doug just nicks bits from their lives and Danny will rewrite the history of the show.
The fact is, we HAVE been spoiled rotten in the past with amazing releases! Most current shows and films have next-to-frig-all extras. It’s a huge shame, but understandable from a budgetary pov, especially when there are only a small number of people interested… Hell, even something as colossal as The Force Awakens has been short-changed (and that includes its upcoming double-dip release…) btw cannot wait for Inside no. 9 series 3!! Intriguing about the DVD/Blu-ray…
I have an idea, how about a collection of G&T commentaries from regulars to the site? Hell, we could even do a few at Dimension Jump, get pished and put a swear box in front of the microphone whenever it gets blue. I’ll bring along the first bottle of vodka and you can all bring the banter.
The Red Dwarf DVD’S are the pride of my collection, and have by far the best special features of anything else in my collection. The Series I-VIII releases were a special event in themselves. the twice a year release knowing that you were getting all the special features and looks back at all the series were fantastic plus the retrospective commentaries. i did not really come into X or this series ( or even XII for that matter ) with the thought that 2 weeks after the series has finished on tv that we would get the same kind of DVD release we used to have. 50 odd minutes behind the scenes ??? awesome 19 minutes of model shot? fantastic. the deleted scenes are possibly shorter as there was less to delete this time around. shorter Smeg ups do not bother me too much, it may be a faster paced montage of clips. there is still more going into these DVD’s than there is on nearly any other release right now ( as others have said the Force Awakens DVD/ BLU Ray was a big disappointment) if they were releasing the dvd with just the episodes and zero extra features with the intention of doing more at a later date then i could see why people would grumble. but for what we are getting so soon after release… bring it on. also place bets now on what the Reversable sleeve is going to be ? i will say maybe the Science room this time.
get pished and put a swear box in front of the microphone whenever it gets blue. Christ, you’ll need a fucking swear TARDIS.
The state of DVD extras these days is fucking abysmal, isn’t it? Pretty much every big release gets NOTHING. The Force Awakens, Captain America Civil War, Batman Vs Superman – not a ruddy sausage. I’d give my left nut for a commentary on XI, but we can’t really complain. And as others have said, there was a time when we had three episodes on a tape and nowt else. But we was happy, weren’t we?
I have an idea, how about a collection of G&T commentaries from regulars to the site? I’ve wanted to put together a G&T forummer’s commentary for the first US pilot since forever, and even added a few people on Skype back in the day with a view to making that happen. Could be fun to revisit that idea.
Hell, even something as colossal as The Force Awakens has been short-changed (and that includes its upcoming double-dip release… Lucasfilm tends to be stingy with bonus content.
I’m guessing the reason the documentary is shorter is because XI and XII were shot together so it’s essentially part one and two :) . Still, I’m glad we still get most of the bits and bobs that generally go with the DVDs. Since everything is digital downloads these days I’m glad the production teams still bother to make the effort.
The state of DVD extras these days is fucking abysmal, isn’t it? Pretty much every big release gets NOTHING. The Force Awakens, Captain America Civil War, Batman Vs Superman – not a ruddy sausage. I hear ya. Daredevil Season 1 was released on Blu-ray and DVD this week and you’d think they’d add at least some extras to make it worth paying for a DVD/Blu-ray of a Netflix Original Show, which you watch practically for free… but nope, absolutely fuck all. Which was a major disappointment for me to say the least since I LOVE the show and would’ve thought it deserved a better treatment, and Marvel would shell out a bit of cash for some extras :(.
I’m into the bargaining stage of grief now. Listening to the BAFTA podcast and Dan Clark interviews on my headphones and pretending it’s XI commentaries.
Just watching the DVD of Pompidou which I picked up today and to my delight there’s a 35 minute documentary, 5 minutes of outtakes and a full commentary over all six episodes. So it does still happen, but again it’s an indie release (on Acorn) rather than a 2|e job.
Doug has said that a visual joke in Officer Rimmer (he retweeted a picture, so spoiler warning!) gets discussed in the Making Of.
Just watching the DVD of Pompidou which I picked up today and to my delight there’s a 35 minute documentary, 5 minutes of outtakes and a full commentary over all six episodes. So it does still happen, but again it’s an indie release (on Acorn) rather than a 2|e job. SOMEONE ELSE LIKED POMPIDOU I AM NOT ALONE In thirty years time I’ll still be telling people that they’re “very naughty”.
For me it’s “HE REALLY HURT ME!!! (theatrical sad face & whimper)” which has been absorbed into my life. It’s a crime they buried it like they did, effectively deciding it was unpopular before the public had a chance to decide for themselves, bumping it from One to Two and into a Sunday afternoon graveyard slot. They spent two years developing and making that show, all wasted. I wonder what would happen if CBBC were to give it an experimental repeat run. It’d get treated so much better by Salford.
I quite like the reversible cover, although why not Snacky on the sidebar? He at least boarded Red Dwarf after all… I also think the actual cover is an improvement on X’s.
The formatting and proportioning’s not quite right on the reversible cover (it looks vaguely fannish as a result), so there’s a PSD got misplaced between 2012 and now…
The ‘painting’ doesn’t continue into the spine. :/ Can’t remember where I shared it before, but I still think my brother’s oldskool sleeve looks ace. https://twitter.com/bromley001/status/782630221396709376
I never get why people get Eurostile mixed up with Microgramma as they’re really different. It happens on album art by The Future Sound of London and it always really bugs me. Anyone know any obvious differences between Microgramma and GreenMountain3?
They are familial to each other, and by the same designer. But they are incompatible together in a design, I agree. As for GreenMountain3, isn’t it just a clone? There are other Microgramma pirates as well, I don’t think mine’s legit either although I forget what it’s called.
