Bluray artwork! News Posted by Ian Symes on 26th October 2018, 11:38 It’s rare that a TOS update is trailed in advance, but when it is, it’s usually something special. There is certainly much to discuss here – the artwork for the forthcoming Bluray release: Broadly speaking (and remember, this is just the opinion of this writer, not G&T as a whole): I LIKE IT. It’s very different – I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this – and it ought to nicely catch the eye on the shelf. It looks like it’s going to be absolutely huge, which is good and proper for a whopping nineteen-disc set. I’m not sure how well the artwork represents the series (you’d expect a cast photo to be on there somewhere), but I guess it’s not really aimed at people who don’t know what Red Dwarf is. Thirty years on, the brand is at the stage where a logo is enough to let you know whether or not you’re interested in buying it. Bearing the overall positivity in mind, some less broad opinions and observations: * I quite like the Starbug on the V-VIII box-within-a-box – it’s not particularly accurate to any particular model, but that’s OK when it’s so stylised. The Red Dwarf one, not so much. It’s clearly based on the pencil version, which is a shame considering how long it’s taken for it to be gradually removed from its position as the default. But worse than that, it’s just not a very good illustration – that ram scoop is weird, it appears to be underneath the ship, which is simply wrong. * The choice of the non-serif logo is good; I’ve enjoyed the way that’s now become the default branding for the show in general following its reprise on Series XI and XII. But argh, it’s the version where bits of the W and A are cut off by the ellipse, which irrationally irritates me. * Yay, confirmation that we’re getting all the Bodysnatcher extras, as a bonus nineteenth disc! Excellent news on every level – those features deserve a wider audience than the original release deserved, and it makes the collection as complete as possible for us hardcore fans who already have everything anyway. * Slightly weird, though, that it’s in its own individual cardboard sleeve – presumably slotted into the big box – rather than incorporated into the main boxes. Seems like a recipe for it getting lost or damaged. Plus, for some reason the front of the sleeve calls it “Bodysnatchers“. * Curious that the overall set seemingly has a 15 certificate, when none of the individual series releases were above a 12. It could well be that the certificate on the box is temporary while they await confirmation of the final rating. * Very much looking forward to the final confirmation of what extras are included. I wouldn’t imagine the Re-Mastered episodes will be included, which means we’re potentially losing the trivia track and a few commentaries from The Bodysnatcher Collection, although the commentaries could conceivably end up being used on the proper episodes. No firm indication on whether there’ll be any new extras exclusive to this release, but I wouldn’t put any money on it. As the TOS update acknowledges, it’s a shame that this isn’t out in time for Christmas, but having now finally seen the artwork and more in-depth details than “we’re doing a Bluray at some point”, it suddenly feels a lot more real and exciting. I’m still cynical as to how much the episodes will be improved by their upscaling, but at least we can look forward to having a significant chunk of our shelves filled by this beauty, and know that virtually everything from the previous DVD releases will neatly contained in one place.
That looks so great. Best looking singular Red Dwarf home release box art yet? The update also confirms that there’ll be a bonus disc containing the Bodysnatcher Collection special features. YES.
I may add a minature pool cue sticker onto that front cover planet scene. The bluray. She riiiiiiides!!!!!!
I quite like the artwork style – reminds me a little of the new H2G2 Blu-Ray cover. That’s good that the Bodysnatcher stuff is on there. How many copies of that are going on ebay in the next few days, I wonder… I guess one big remaining question is whether the Remastered episodes will be on there too, for completeness.
This looks like the kind of artwork you get when HMV is trying to unify a bunch of completely different films into some sort of collection that looks neat on your shelf.
Alas the pencil shape Red Dwarf that is used is only for one series in the set. Surely they should have gone for the classic shape as it’s more representative of the contents of the box set?
Obviously it is a shame that it won’t be sitting under your Christmas tree this year …but it’s just in time for my birthday. If we want to be *ultra* picky (and as Red Dwarf fans, we generally do), I’m not keen on the W & A missing those corners. I know we’ve had merch with that logo before, but it just irks me a bit. And yes, that view of the good ship Dwarf is odd, but that’s just us being awkward now. Yes, it looks very pretty. Looking forward to receiving it. :)
>I guess one big remaining question is whether the Remastered episodes will be on there too, for completeness. I think at dimension jump Doug said the remastered wouldn’t be apart of it. and if the Bodysnatcher extras are on that extra disc there, im gonna guess its an extra no on the remastered. And maybe thats a shame to a certain degree… and maybe its not, i can’t decide.
How does it work with Dwarfin’ USA? Would they have to pay for those clips again to be on a separate release? Also, my opinion is that the set doesn’t look horrible but it doesn’t look that great either and it really doesn’t scream the aesthetic of the show. It will look neat on my shelf though. It’s all about that sweet content though.
The Remastered episodes would take up 3 discs just on their own (unless they’re kept in SD), so they almost certainly won’t be on there. Makes ‘Re-Dwarf’ a bit more disconnected I guess. Like how we got ‘Dwarfin’ USA’ on DVD but not the American pilots themselves. (Side-note: they should put the American pilots on this.) It’s deliciously ironic that come January “Red Dwarf Remastered” will be the only episodes of Red Dwarf not available in high definition. Will be a shame not to get the text track and Remastered commentaries, though. Maybe the commentaries will be included as extra commentaries on the regular episodes? Would that work? I also see the bonus disc case says “Red Dwarf Mobiso-” on it, which makes it ambiguous whether we’re getting just the one Mobisode – as in Bodysnatcher – or all of them. COME ON, DOUG. GIVE US RED CHRISTMAS IN 1080P. THE WORLD DEMANDS IT.
My first reaction was “Oh dear” Not for me. XI and XII’s Starbug with the blobby engines and stupidly small feet that is literally in none of the episodes on this boxset, and the wrong Dwarf. 5 series and an episode vs 1 series. Should have been the proper one. Hopefully will be addressed. Don’t mind the discs themselves and the bodysnatcher extras are nice though
I thought it looked nice before you all started pointing out flaws :( Especially the W and the A, darn you for making me realise it would work better if they weren’t obscured
>I also see the bonus disc case says “Red Dwarf Mobiso-” on it, which makes it ambiguous whether we’re getting just the one Mobisode – as in Bodysnatcher – or all of them. Yeah they really should put all the Mobisodes on one of the disks. Id also like that little interview with Rob and Doug that on the Bodysnatcher microsite back in 2007.
XI and XII’s Starbug with the blobby engines and stupidly small feet that is literally in none of the episodes on this boxset, and the wrong Dwarf. 5 series and an episode vs 1 series. Should have been the proper one. Whoa, really? The Red Dwarf there doesn’t look like the pencil design to me. :-/
I think its just the angle that makes it look like its the Seres 8 Dwarf. i assume its not actually meant to be the longer ship. It might also be that the original ship seemed abit bumpier and rounder and the remastered seemed more flat.
I thought the same thing, although the ram scoop looks more like the new version. Looking closely at the image, the scoop doesn’t appear to be attached to the front of the ship in this artwork, the prongs seem to protrude out from underneath. Odd.
It’s definitely the pencil. Even ignoring the long, smooth shape, the top front bit has those two ‘horns’ that stick out, and the sides have the very small rectangle with the ship name. Anyway, I don’t like the designs at all. They’re technically rather nice, but not my thing and really don’t reflect the feel of the show. Bodysnatcher extras: nice. Lacking Remastered and, thus, the Remastered commentaries and text track: Bodysnatcher set isn’t yet redundant.
It looks…okay, I guess? I like that they went for creating some original cover art, but it doesn’t really feel like it fits with the general theme of the show at all. It looks far too neat, clean and polished for a show about a bunch of misfits on a rusty old mining ship
What’s even more fucking stupid is that the wrong Dwarf is on the I-IV box, if they’d have put it on the V-VIII one they could have justified it by saying “Oh, well, it’s the last Red Dwarf you see” but by putting it on I-IV neither of the ships on the covers features in any of the episodes they’re covering.
lol, VIII Red Dwarf on the I-IV cover, XI-XII Starbug on the V-VIII cover. Reminds me of the VHS covers where there’s a picture of Series V Lister on a collection of Series II episodes
Before anyone says we’re mean and we’re nitpicking, this set is for the nitpickers isn’t it? Casual Red Dwarf fans aren’t going to buy this, they’ll either be happy with their DVDs or watch it on Netflix. We notice this shit.
It doesn’t bother me all that much since the art designs are fairly simplistic. but yeah i kinda would prefer that the modern designs were not used to market the older shows.
Ok – here we go. Blu-ray update… um… 1. Pros: – incusion of Bodysnatcher features – newly comissioned artwork Cons (based on what is clearly preliminary artwork) – using the wrong Starbug and Red Dwarf ships (it absolutey is the remastered ship plus the ramscoop is missing its top half) – not putting the Bodysnatcher extras with their corresponding series – the idea of a bonus disc in a shitty card case is just naff and unnecessary – the fuckling logo, WHY are the letters ‘A’ and ‘W’ clipped again? Bad enough it was on the XII release! – atm nothing makes it clear (apart rom the series numbers) that this is the BBC era and nothing else (slap a sticker on the front!) – it is looking like remastered eps wont be included Look, i’m sure the art will vastly improve and hopefully someone can point out what needs to change. If series 3-8 have a corresponding disc with their feature documentaries attached and 1-2 dont well then that’s just fucking daft. My thinking is the bonus disc thing is because down the line the Beeb MAY release these as individual volumes, and so the inclusion of a bonus disc will be a box set exclusive. If the menus are like the last two releases i’ll be gutted. OH – and while you’re at it, put the chunky font Grant Nayor logo on the side as used on the XI/XII mobile games. It’s lovely!
The more I think about the artwork the more it gets on my tits. I don’t mind stylised artwork, I like vector art but I just feel like this is a poor showing. If I saw it on DeviantArt or something I’d think “I don’t like that but fair do’s” and carry on but when you’re buying the definitive version of something that you’re going to have to look at a lot not so much. How much are those 5 disc jewel Blu-ray boxes? Might get some of those and make my own artwork haha
– atm nothing makes it clear (apart rom the series numbers) that this is the BBC era and nothing else (slap a sticker on the front!) I saw you saying this on Facebook as well and I’m absolutely baffled as to why it’s a problem. The set quite clearly says “Series I-VIII” on the front. It makes perfectly clear exactly which series are included. There’s no need to make a “BBC era” distinction, not least because whether shown on BBC or Dave, Red Dwarf is still the same show with the same continuity made by the same people. Why would the average punter care that these are the episodes broadcast on the BBC and not on Dave? What is to be gained from making that distinction?
It says COMPLETE SERIES I-VIII and has a big BBC banner on top. I’d say it’s quite clear. If it said “The Complete Collection” or even “The Complete BBC Collection” that would be less clear.
I like the colours chosen and the design concept. I strongly dislike the artwork. It looks like someone’s efforts in mspaint, frankly. Since we have some lovely models of Starbug and Red Dwarf, why not do something with them rather than doing a simplified art jobby. Oh, and I still prefer the V-VIII logo.
Could be worse i guess. could be the remastered Blue midget design over 1 to 4. Although it does remind me of when for a few years after series 8 the show felt defined by the remastered designs and series 8 as its default look. Not a huge fan of the Starbug legs being so small on the new model for example, or that the legs go back when it flies. yeah i get that they are probably trying to make it look as much like a fly as possible but i don’t think that’s important.
– atm nothing makes it clear (apart rom the series numbers) that this is the BBC era and nothing else (slap a sticker on the front!) I saw you saying this on Facebook as well and I’m absolutely baffled as to why it’s a problem. The set quite clearly says “Series I-VIII” on the front. It makes perfectly clear exactly which series are included. There’s no need to make a “BBC era” distinction, not least because whether shown on BBC or Dave, Red Dwarf is still the same show with the same continuity made by the same people. Why would the average punter care that these are the episodes broadcast on the BBC and not on Dave? What is to be gained from making that distinction? Because to me it seems strange that the show is being split because the Dave era is already on blu-ray. Its this perception that Beeb era and Dave era and two separate things. To me, Red Dwarf is Red Dwarf and having a 1-8 box set and not a complete box set is still odd, hence if you are drawing a line i would prefer to see that line stated. Thats all. I think its ok for me to say this, the flac im getting isnt worth it. I dont care THAT much – chuck the burays in a box and give em to me. I just see all series as a family together is all. EDIT – what is to be gained? The average consumer knows fuck all about how many series there are, but most know the show switched channels!
Pencil and cut-off letters aside, I still think it looks quite nice no matter how much I look at it, and imagine it looks even nicer in person, as most things do
Oh, and yeah, the additional sleeve for the Bodysnatchers (sic) stuff is just messy. It just makes it seem like an afterthought (which it possibly was).
I’m really hoping the NTSC release doesn’t have the same screwy conversion as the last three series have had. It’s absolutely pathetic that they couldn’t be bothered to account for the shift in pitch. I could literally fix that in five minutes, not counting the time to re-export. There’s a strong chance I may simply buy the PAL release and rip it in full quality. Finally replace those shitty 320p 25fps AVI files taking the place on my Plex library of the several episode discs that have gone irritatingly missing over the years. Watching BBC Red Dwarf at a film framerate looks just as wrong as watching a film in that shitty horrible interpolation high refresh rate bullshit that modern TV manufacturers have brainwashed people into thinking isn’t hideous. Y’know, because it’s 2018 and somehow the default television viewing experience is in many ways crappier than it was 15 years ago. Physical media is not just better in terms of quality than reruns, unless something is available to stream it’s often literally the only way to watch a given show/film without any of the dozen deeply heinous picture-altering processes broadcast TV insists are necessarily to keep people from rioting in the streets over these terrifying black bars on the sides of their television sets. And that’s not even mentioning the amount of cuts made to make time for additional commercials, etc., etc., etc., etc., broadcasters are fuckholes and so on. I really really want to see some screencaps of Series I and especially Series III. The cargo bay in Polymorph is one of if not the darkest scene in III, which would make it an ideal sequence to demonstrate the new grade and picture clean-up. I am cautiously optimistic that this release will handle DNR with more grace than those early abominations of Universal Blu-Rays, like the infamous first hi-def release of Predator that looked like it’d been run through the smudge filter in Photoshop. This is a sample of a Series III grade I put together a while back. It doesn’t have any sort of noise removal, but I think I did a pretty good job of bringing out the color and making it slightly less grey. I figure if I can throw together something this much of an improvement just messing around, then the professional grade could easily be gorgeous. Plus they’d be working from master copies and applying these fixes in 1080p.
The Bodysnatcher Collection is on the shelf at my local CeX for £28, and I’m still not sure whether to just get that, or wait for this Blu-Ray to come out. Bodysnatcher is more aesthetically pleasing, and this Blu-Ray looks like it won’t contain anything I haven’t already seen (other than the Bodysnatcher stuff, which I could easily get my hands on as stated above)
I understand all the criticisms, but I still really like the art. The colours and minimalist design are just so striking and pleasing to the eye. Just seeing it made me excited about the set. Curious that the overall set seemingly has a 15 certificate, when none of the individual series releases were above a 12. It could well be that the certificate on the box is temporary while they await confirmation of the final rating. Having done a quick search on the BBFC website for all of the Red Dwarf stuff that’s already been classified a 15, I can see other possibilities: – This set has the original cut of Marooned, rather than the slightly altered version that was made to secure a 12 rating for the Series III DVD. – This set contains the Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs specials fully, not just the the individual outtakes edited together on a per-series basis like the original DVDs. – There’s brand new special features that have been rated 15. Also, I feel like they wouldn’t use 15 as a temporary rating. They’d just throw up a TBC or a 12, right?
>Its this perception that Beeb era and Dave era and two separate things. There may be encumbrances to putting BBC and UKTV content out on home video together though.
It makes sense to make this just Series 1-VIII anyway, because including the Dave era would (A) force people who already have the BtE-XII Blu rays to double-dip, and (B) would be rendered incomplete when the next series eventually happens. At least we can say the BBC era of Dwarf is definitely done. The Bodysnatcher Collection is on the shelf at my local CeX for £28, and I’m still not sure whether to just get that, or wait for this Blu-Ray to come out. Bodysnatcher is more aesthetically pleasing, and this Blu-Ray looks like it won’t contain anything I haven’t already seen (other than the Bodysnatcher stuff, which I could easily get my hands on as stated above) I would get it, just to be able to have the Remastered eps at least, for completeness. Because this Blu ray set is very unlikely to have those. If you don’t care about completeness or the Remastered episodes, then if you buy The Bodysnatcher Collection now, you can still re-sell it if you change your mind. But it might be more of a pain to get a copy later if you change your mind after CeX sell it so someone else.
It is likely this release will be missing some of the Bodysnatcher extras – almost certainly the commentaries on the Remastered episodes and the “What’s Different?” text track, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some other stuff fell off in the edit – so it would be worth getting a copy of the original release, and £28 is quite a good price to pay for it these days.
Apart from the ships which are crap for various reasons including ones outside of personal preference, I don’t find the rest that horrible but it looks like art you’d see on an Android game app icon, not Red Dwarf.
Well for collectors this will probably be worth buying, even if they don’t wanna buy the episodes again because they already have the DVD. so it probably helps to have a unique cover that people will buy just for that.
I’ll happily sell off Bodysnatcher given that most of the extras are on this – I don’t really care about not having Remastered (or the associated extras), although ideally the Blu-Ray set would have absolutely everything.
RD really doesn’t look like The Pencil to me – just the I-V ship in a stylised ‘end credits flyby’ angle.
RD really doesn’t look like The Pencil to me – just the I-V ship in a stylised ‘end credits flyby’ angle. It’s the pencil. You can tell with the shoulder blade things before the cone. And the ram scoop. The OG one’s pole things were sticks with a bit of decoration, the pencil has a lot of design in this area. The OG one would be sort of this shape, if the image works. I think the entire thing is due to pencil shots and new bug shots being available to use as reference, whereas they’d have had to find reference for the old ships, particularly Red Dwarf, maybe even make a 3D mock up to use as reference using various angles.
In case there was any doubt as to what ship they based the artwork on… Edit: and here’s possibly the source of the Starbug image, looks very close anyway.
It clearly is based on the Series VIII model, but the angle combined with the art style makes it look like it could be either model, or both combined, which seems like a fair outcome, even if it was just done that way for convenience. The most garish thing about the Series VIII Red Dwarf model is its extreme length, and that doesn’t come across for me in this cover. It definitely looks less like a pencil than in the reference image. Maybe more of a highlighter pen. Regardless, it looks good. Also, just to clarify something mentioned above, the ram scoop definitely is on the back, it’s just that the hole is smaller and lighter and the rails surrounding it are only visible in the bottom half of the circle – and they’re shaded so that they look like they’re angled the other way. This is really the biggest problem with the Red Dwarf ship cover.
The Bodysnatcher Collection for £28? Buy it now! Even with the Bluray’s, the Bodysnatcher Collection is just a thing of beauty all the way through, and you’ll be gaining stuff the Bluray’s won’t have. Plus you’ll have the happiness of actually owning it. I had no idea it would turn out to be so rare when I brought it.
Surely there are pictures of the original model floating around. Maybe not from that exact angle? I’m sure they could’ve used the end flyover though, it’s not like the art style is very detailed. It clearly is based on the Series VIII model, but the angle combined with the art style makes it look like it could be either model, or both combined, which seems like a fair outcome, even if it was just done that way for convenience. Have to disagree, nothing on that picture is anything like the original model. Which is fine because it’s not meant to be, my issue is why choose the (cut down) pencil for a series where it doesn’t feature.
Just had a thought: Are the the Series I & II doccos going to be placed with the Series I & II extras or the Bodysnatcher extras?… This is going to keep me up tonight.
so this isn’t a blue dress/gold dress thing. everyone’s brain reads the image of the ship as inside out?
it’s actually quite hard to see it the ‘right’ way – you have to see it from a distance and squint. the overall concept is strong I think
I’m sure in the year 2028 we can get a complete I-XIV (+Climactic Conclusive TV Movie) boxset collection for our hologrammatic projection receivers in time for the 40th anniversary
To me, Red Dwarf is Red Dwarf and having a 1-8 box set and not a complete box set is still odd Given that IX onwards have all been released on BluRay (and there are more series coming) and 1-VIII haven’t, it’s not that odd really.
Yeah, unless the show was definitely over forever, there’d be no point in doing a complete boxset. If they released “The Complete Series I-XII” boxset and then Series XIII came out, what then? You’d have to make another boxset, making the first one redundant. And then what if XIV came out after that? Another boxset. Your shelves would just be full of boxsets
I presume there’s a rights issue with releasing the BBC era and Dave era together. I figured that’s why the show only goes up to VIII on Netflix (and also because Netflix are shits like that – they have Robocop 2, Ghostbusters 2, Iron Man 3… but not the films that came before them).
I’m sure in the year 2028 we can get a complete I-XIV (+Climactic Conclusive TV Movie) boxset collection for our hologrammatic projection receivers in time for the 40th anniversary And the Live DVD.
Isn’t the point of this release because 1 to 8 hasn’t been released on Bluray yet? while the Dave era has already been released on Blueray? why put the dave era with this collection if you can already buy it in Bluray? I am kinda more disappointed they are selling 1 to 8 as a whole set.
As in you’d rather there were separate releases for each series? You’d be paying a lot more than £40 in that scenario.
Yeah, I’m sure there’s a possibility of getting them all together (although the logistics would probably be a pain in the arse), but I honestly think if they reissued BluRays only a couple of years old in this it would be a lot shitter.
I am kinda more disappointed they are selling 1 to 8 as a whole set. What’s the benefit of getting them separately. You can just put the Blu-Rays in the DVD cases if you just want them to look organized on your shelf.
It would make sense to replace my 1-VIII DVDs with Blu Ray’s (except The Bodysnatcher Collection because it has the remastered eps and it’s just fucking awesome so it’s worth keeping anyway). But my problem is that I really love the DVDs. They were a labour of love- love the artwork, the booklets, the menus etc- all of the stuff we’ll lose with the Blu Rays. But I also want the Blu Ray’s! I CAN’T STAND THE CONFUSION IN MY MIND!!!
A Dave era boxset containing BTE, X, XI and XII would be the same size as one of the two cases in this, wouldn’t it? So it might have been nice to offer that separately if a big I-XII boxset wasn’t possible or practical. Note: I said “nice”, not “feasible”.
I imagine a lot of fans will get the Blu-Ray set and keep all the DVDs too. But I don’t know if I can be arsed with that, personally. Just for shelf space if nothing else.
Plus, for some reason the front of the sleeve calls it “Bodysnatchers“. It’s hard to tell, but maybe it’s ‘Bodysnatcher’s Extras’ as in the extras that belong to the Bodysnatcher collection.
I did some BTE and Region 1 Blu-ray covers in the DVD style, a while back, I might have a go at knocking up some Blu-ray versions. Basically all I’d need to do is add a bit of blurb about the hi-res and put Blu-ray logos on it
I made further attempts to grade Series III, but then I got distracted by some really cool tools I never noticed before.
I made further attempts to grade Series III, but then I got distracted by some really cool tools I never noticed before. This is exactly how Remastered got started.
As predicted, a remastering happened. https://youtu.be/wcswjU1Qr0U I think my grade looks mighty fine, though.
It’s hard to tell, but maybe it’s ‘Bodysnatcher’s Extras’ as in the extras that belong to the Bodysnatcher collection. Nah, the biggest version of the pic on TOS shows it much more clearly – there’s no apostrophe and instead there’s a +.
However, since there are two different versions of Bodysnatcher on the disc, technically Bodysnatchers is accurate.
I figured that’s why the show only goes up to VIII on Netflix Doug said in that podcast interview recently that Dave doesn’t sell its shows to Netflix, so it is a rights issue, in that Dave won’t sell Netflix the rights to stream it
i feel like the art of the ship is based on the BTE-XII ship, the pencil ship cut down to be more faithful to the original, still doesnt make sense as it isnt featured in any episodes, and the pencil ship is only in the 8 episodes from series 8, the first rendition of the ship would have made more sense but probably would have been harder to put into the simplified style which i know is divisive on here but i find it really appealing (aside from the ramscoop issue)
I figured that’s why the show only goes up to VIII on Netflix Doug said in that podcast interview recently that Dave doesn’t sell its shows to Netflix, so it is a rights issue, in that Dave won’t sell Netflix the rights to stream it Makes sense, in the UK at least. I’ve had no issues with UKTV Play, just wish they had a PS4 app .
I find their iOS apps a bit temperamental. Watch something for too long and it freezes. Given their seeming push to get more people using their streaming service, some investment in their apps and as you say, apps for PS4 etc would be nice.
UKTV Play app has just been made available on my TV. No more hooking up the laptop to watch Taskmaster.
the first rendition of the ship would have made more sense but probably would have been harder to put into the simplified style Yes, much as I really dislike the design, the pencil does suit it more than the original one. The short body and the rounding behind the nose cone would make it just look like a blob on this cover; the pencil is at least recognisable and striking.
I’ve already got a TV running Android, a PS4 and an Apple TV – would be nice if they made apps for those rather than the answer to the solution being “go out and buy another streaming box”
Competition is good for driving the prices of individual services down, but bad for the fact that you need to pay for five or six services in order to get everything, therefore paying more than you would in a monopoly anyway.
Back to Earth used to be able to be streamed alongside the original I-VIII series on Netflix over here in the States back in late 2012 to early 2013. Though I suppose since Red Dwarf doesn’t have as much brand recognition here, UKTV would be more likely to do that again, similar to BritBox if Red Dwarf ever got back on US Netflix.
I really dislike this cover art. It’s cool that they’ve tried to put a bit more colour in than usual, but there’s too many planets and things. I guess the main outer design isn’t terrible, but the Starbug and Red Dwarf look shit. And the ram scoop thing is a really amateur mistake. Maybe hire someone who knows what it is they’re supposed to be making a drawing of? Whoever designed this seems to be emulating this artist, only not as well: http://blog.signalnoise.com/2014/11/18/signalnoise-black-friday-releases/ I guess it won’t matter much to me anyway, as I’ll just immediately rip the discs and add them to my Plex library – as I’ve done with the DVDs – then put the set in a cupboard somewhere, so I probably never have to look at the artwork more than a couple of times. But sheesh, I’m not a fan. Huge respect to whoever designed the DVD covers.
I can’t say I hate it, because I certainly don’t, but I also don’t quite like it. Not a huge deal, honestly. Even if I hated the artwork I’d pick it up, but it does seem cheap in a way I can’t articulate. Fortunately, NoFro articulated it for me: This looks like the kind of artwork you get when HMV is trying to unify a bunch of completely different films into some sort of collection that looks neat on your shelf.
It’s definitely the planets that are the worst for me. They look so cheap and corny, like something from a kids book about space or something. A bunch of brightly coloured planets all next to each other, lots with Saturny rings… ugh, it’s horrible. I could probably tolerate it otherwise, but they’re just so, so naff.
>They look so cheap and corny, like something from a kids book about space or something. What’s the book? The Junior Colour Encylopedia Of Space.
A bunch of brightly coloured planets all next to each other, lots with Saturny rings Although they do look Ideal for a quick game of pool.
What is it with Red Dwarf production types ignoring engines? I reckon from both angles of those ships, you’d see the top of the engine bells on Starbug and the engine ring thing on Red Dwarf. And on the actual show, the bigature doesn’t have any engines and they just don’t care and shoot it from angles where you should be able to see the engines anyway. Doesn’t quite boil my piss, but gets it on a light simmer.
*only just caught up on G&T after being away for the weekend* Well, this went down well… Hey, look, we had thirty solid minutes of G&T commenters being happy with something there.
*only just caught up on G&T after being away for the weekend* Well, this went down well… Hey, look, we had thirty solid minutes of G&T commenters being happy with something there. Ok Seb, be fair – design choice aside (coz I actually like the design concept) there are clear mistakes there. Simple straight question – are you personally ok with those mistakes?
Honestly, it’s fine. They’re stylised designs, so I don’t think accuracy is necessarily a big issue. In terms of the colours and overall style, I think it’s pretty good and will look nice sat on a shelf like a huge purple slab, which is the main requirement.
It looks pony, but it is just a box. I’m sure the reaction to the actual content will be more positive.
It looks pony, but it is just a box. I’m sure the reaction to the actual content will be more positive. Ham salad 1-IV, Pony V-VIII. There’s your box art.
Shut up, Thomas. ? I don’t really understand, or I’m clearly coming across wrong. No offense intended to anyone.
Scratch that – I’ve written my comments badly and I genuinely mean no offense. Apologies Seb and Ian.
I wonder if the wonderful world of Red Dwarf eBay sales will suddenly start selling DVDs at their original RRP and over because they think that the Blu-ray has suddenly made them rare.
It’s probably just me, but I really, really hate the DVD menus. I appreciate that some people like the design, but first and foremost a menu has to be functional for me, and sitting waiting while we do a tour of the ship just to get to anything just feels like a pain in the arse. That and the really horribly bad CG models that looked out of date when the DVDs came out. Not to mention the ‘find the extras’ game on disc 2. The only menus I really like are the Bodysnatcher ones.
I personally love the menus but I can completely see your point of view. Maybe now the audience has moved away from that and wants something simpler to navigate.
I loved the menus when I was young but I realised recently that the ones for either X or XI (or both) are actually supremely annoying when you’re actually trying to watch everything fairly quickly, all that faffing around. I now just have all the files ripped onto my hard drive for if I want to watch them, or I could use Just The Shows which has a great no-nonsense menu
I understand the idea behind the menus, but they definitely get in the way. And yet the menus for XI and XII make those releases seem a bit less special. I’ve said it before, but the menus for The Simpsons from season 5 onwards are how to do it. Lots of specially made animation, but it’s quick and easy to get to the episodes themselves.
>It’s probably just me, but I really, really hate the DVD menus. They were super cool the first few times, but got old quickly.
The first three were among the first DVDs I ever bought, so first time I watched them it was really fun watching it all. After that I got really annoyed with them. I also really don’t like menus with clips from the show on loop. If you’ve seen it before, they’re going to be annoying, and if you’ve not then they often spoil plot points or jokes. The Bodysnatcher DVD ones are lovely because you have an animation of the flying ships, but there’s no faffing about.
When the first lot of DVDs came out “Animated menus” was still something major motion picture studios put on the back of their big releases as a draw, so they’re just of their time. I like all the Red Dwarf ones, but the Starbug and Remastered Dwarf ones took a long time to do shit, VIII particularly. It’d be nice if they had them though, maybe just an option when you start the disc, but to be honest I very much doubt the will anyway. Think it’ll just be the same menu as XI and XII but with the colours and background images changed to match the series’ DVD cover and a different montage obviously. Quick to use which is nice at least. Those CG renders they made for the covers have been good value for money really.
The amount of effort that went into the DVD menus for series 1-8 is pretty incredible. especially when you compare it to the recent show releases which they didn’t really make as much effort with.
I’ve got good news for anyone worried about the Blu ray menus having overlong animations like the DVDs did – all Blu ray menus are exactly the same and extremely simple. Kind of a shame if you like your home Film/TV releases to have any kind of individual personality to them, but OK if you don’t care and just want them to function consistently.
I love the old menus. So distinctive and somewhat unique, when you consider that back in 2002, Scene Selection was still listed as a special feature – sometimes the only one of the release. Those menus gave the RD DVD a real personality. That’s why I was so pleased that the RDX menu made such an effort to be in the same vein as the old series 1-VIII menus. It’s also why I’ve found the series XI & XII ones disappointing, boring and annoying.
I really like the I-X menus. The intro, and then being taken around the ship etc. really gets me in the mood for watching the show. Plus they just generally look quite cool The XI-XII menus were really crap, I thought. I’d maybe understand if they were pressed for time and had to put together some menus really really quickly, but that doesn’t really seem to be the case. Along with all the other letdowns on the XI-XII DVD (where are the rest of the deleted scenes?) it does make it feel like they just couldn’t be bothered
The animations are nice if you’re just going to jump right in and hit “play all”, but for watching individual episodes they can get a bit tiring when you just want to get to the good stuff. XI DVD did feel like a significant step down, to be fair. Faster or optional animations would be nice
Yeah, if you could skip them they’d be much better for a start. Also if they didn’t look really fucking naff it’d be better still.
You can fast forward/skip some DVD menus from my experience, and I think you can scroll along in VLC, but yeah
Still wondering what could have made this a 15 certificate if that is indeeed acurate. Hopefully it’s uncensored smeg-ups at long last.
The virginity story is much less shocking to young people now than it would have been then, I assume. Plenty of people in the years below me in high school were shagging at twelve. By about fourteen you were a weirdo if you weren’t.
Some girl in my secondary school got pregnant at 15, and plenty of others got pregnant at 16, so they must have had sex at some point, but I don’t personally know anyone who was having sex when they were 12
Fairly certain someone got pregnant in third year at my school which would make them…. 14 at best. I wouldn’t say everybody bonked at 12, but it certainly did happen.
>Still wondering what could have made this a 15 certificate if that is indeeed acurate. Hopefully it’s uncensored smeg-ups at long last. Haven’t the Smeg Ups and Smeg Outs always been a 15, even with the beeping?
Ah yes, Just The Smegs was a 15, so if that content is included in the same form (and therefore not being re-certificated afresh by the BBFC), that would bump the overall package up to a 15. But you’d assume the inclusion of that stuff would have been mentioned in the TOS article if it was there. Unless the bit of the extras list that you can’t see in the massive version of the image is this, held back to be revealed later.
There hasn’t been any mention of any standalone Smegs disc, although it is of course possible that the full shows will be included as an extra on some series disc or other. But the wording so far definitely suggests that the extras discs will be series-specific in the way the DVDs were, so it seems unlikely.
