How many times have you watched the episodes?

[Warbodog]

Random question. I’m assuming we don’t all keep stats. Ian mentioned “what must be hundreds of viewings” in his Blu-ray review. I doubt I’ve ever watched anything as much as that, except some TV adverts and possibly that first Simpsons video we got.

As a complete guess with no way to check, I’d say I’ve watched my favourite episodes 20 times(?), the rest of I-VI & VII Xtended 10-15 times, rest of VII 3 times (’97, ’00, ’18), VIII 5 times (only Cassandra post-2000), BTE twice, most of X 3 times (F&S twice, DD once), most of XI-XII twice (Siliconia & Timewave once). Listened to abridged IWCD & BTL cassettes as much as any episode (20-ish), but only read the full novels a couple of times.

Most of that was basking in each DVD before the next was released (didn’t buy VII & VIII). I’ve had several years in a row where I didn’t watch any Red Dwarf to save it up, despite following G&T. Bad fan?

[Warbodog]

Those numbers would be a lot bigger if they hadn’t deleted the original videos in the late 90s when I was ready to buy them and would have watched the shit out of them. I found Smeg Ups second-hand and probably watched that 20 times just to see the costumes and sets from ‘good’ Red Dwarf. Very age-specific tragic nostalgia there.

[Dave]

I haven’t a clue, but guessing…

In the twenties for series IV-VI, probably a bit less for I-III, probably low teens or single digits for VII and less than five for VIII.

For the Dave era I’ve watched them all probably around four or five times.

[si]

Enough to know a great deal of them inside out. I’m old enough to have been a full-on fanatic for most of the thirty years it’s been around, and the twenty-odd years since I got my first VHS (which I took to school, who’d play vids in the canteen during dinner).
Not sure if 20+ seems too high or too low a number (though there have been less viewings of classic episodes these past few years, I’ll admit), so I’ll just have to stick with ‘a lot’.

[NoFro]

BBC era all came out on DVD throughout my teenage years and I pretty much watched Red Dwarf constantly for a good while. They were pretty much the only DVDs I had so I just watched them all the time. Reckon I must have seen each episode of 1-6 at least 50 times but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d watched many of them much more.

BtE I’ve watched probably about 10 times. X came out when I was at Uni so yeah, had time to watch that a lot. I was just so excited for new audience sitcom Dwarf that I must’ve watched them each about 20 times just when they came out, even though I had issues with them. XI I’ve watched about 5 times. XII probably 4 times except for Timewave which I’ve watched twice.

Dwarf is by far my most watched TV programme.

[Ben Saunders]

Since I watched the VHS tapes to death as a child (our IV VHS eventually began playing slower and slower and more and more warped until eventually we replaced it with a DVD, I could be hitting some seriously high figures, especially in the mid series.

XI and XII I think I’ve watched twice each, X maybe three times and BtE maybe 5 times, but for all the rest of the series’, it would be impossible to count. I’ve only seen Nanarchy twice because it wasn’t on our VHS when I was a child.

[NoFro]

Missed VII and VIII.

VII less than I-VI, more than X.

VIII probably about the same as BTE.

[Ben Saunders]

50 viewings of I-VIII (not all equally) SOUNDS like a huge number, but is actually relatively small compared to how long my childhood obsession with the show lasted. We could be talking 100+ here, especially of series V and VI.

[NoFro]

Yeah there were several teenage years where I wasn’t gaming and when I was sat around the house with nothing to do, I’d just watch Dwarf. Then there were the weekends where I’d go to a mates and we’d watch the latest series I’d just bought on DVD and when it finished we’d just start it again and if there was a really funny episode we’d just watch it on repeat.

[Warbodog]

I ‘screened’ Quarantine in my mind recently when unable to sleep and seemed to get it fairly accurate, with a bit of backtracking when I remembered I’d forgotten a line. Don’t know how many times that takes to burn in, but I couldn’t recall many episodes with that same clarity – maybe The End & Future Echoes Remastered and Tikka Xtended because I had those on video early and may have watched more.

I didn’t think to tape a series until VIII when I was 13. If I was slightly older I would have taped the repeat run or bought them all, rather than resenting only having access to the worst Red Dwarf of VII & VIII. It’s a late-90s human tragedy.

[bloodteller]

I couldn’t possibly say, but I know I’ve seen a lot of I-VIII enough times that I have them more or less entirely memorized in my head. I’ve unfortunately even seen Only The Good enough times that I remember how to say cesiumfrancolithicmixealibidiumrixydixydoxydexydroxide without having to look it up. (and yes, that might not be how you spell it, but then it’s never written out in the episode so whatever)

[Dave]

I was slightly older I would have taped the repeat run

This is what I did. I rewatched IV and V constantly as a result – those are probably my top series in terms of multiple viewings.

[si]

Despite having the tapes, I recorded repeat runs of s1-5 in the mid-90s, making my own covers. Which I’m still pretty darn proud of.

[John Hoare]

1-VI is *really* tricky. I really did watch them endlessly, but I can’t put a number on it. Definitely more than 20, probably less than 200.

VII and VIII I watched a bit at the time (all recorded off-air on VHS), and then… stopped. I haven’t watched any of them except for prepping for a DwarfCast in years.

BTE: I saw it at the time. Never really gone back to rewatch. I can’t face it.

X and XI roughly three times: once on TX, once to prep for the initial DwarfCast, and once to prep for the Retrospective DwarfCast. XII is only twice, because we haven’t done the Retrospective DwarfCast yet. Even the better episodes, I just don’t feel like rewatching. I don’t really do that with much TV these days, to be fair. My lifestyle doesn’t support rewatching the way it used to.

I watched Lemons and M-Corp a little more than that, as I had to write the reviews.

[Ben Saunders]

Seconding the fact that re-watching just isn’t something I really do anymore, mostly because I get bored of experiencing the same thing over and over now. Less so with music, but it still happens. Once a year is more than enough for me, now, although I’ll watch something if it’s on, I just won’t seek it out.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Here’s something I realised this week re-watching Series I on the blu-ray … I think I’ve seen the re-mastered versions of I-III more than I have the originals.

When I was old enough to want and capable of buying the videos, years before the DVDs came, only re-mastered was available.

I spent time tracking down the originals at car boot sales etc and still have them on (by the time I had them all the DVDs were being released), for years all I had was re-mastered, Six of the Best and series 7+8.

A lot of series IV-VI I hadn’t seen for a long time.

But I digress slightly … point is, there are edits in the Re-mastered versions that feel “right” to me, because that’s all I ever knew for several years. Things like the blackcard/white card stuff and “you never learn do you” in balance of power. and “yes god” is sorely missed at the end of well, the end imo. I think that even now I’ve seen re-mastered more, or maybe I’m on par now with broadcast versions but still, little things in the edits catch me off guard sometimes.

[Pete Part Three]

I bought Red Dwarf 1 Bytes One and Two while it was being repeated and watched those episodes endlessly so I’d guess at least 25 times for most of them. A bit less for the rest of Series 2-6, especially Psirens which I didn’t see for another year after the rest of 6 (missing from the repeat run), and Emohawk which I only saw once before official VHS release as the VCR broke down the day it aired.

Series VII probably about 10 times.

Series VIII…maybe 7 times? I don’t think I even watched it properly when it was released on DVD. Just stuck on the cast commentaries and seethed. I watched it last year for the first time in at least 15 years. And seethed.

Back to Earth…maybe 5 times on various versions.

Series X, Trojan at least 6 times as I saw it twice before broadcast, the rest a couple of times less.

Series XI and XII, I think 3 times so far except for Officer Rimmer and Mechocracy which I saw recorded. I’m not really into rewatching stuff endlessly these days. Even films I liked a lot, seem a bit too familiar on the second watch with minimal exceptions. (Conversely, if I watch something I don’t like, I’ll forget it pretty quickly as I’ll stop giving it a huge amount of attention early on)

[International Debris]

Here’s something I realised this week re-watching Series I on the blu-ray … I think I’ve seen the re-mastered versions of I-III more than I have the originals.

Mm, me too. It makes watching 1-III that bit more exciting as they still feel ‘new’ to me – I saw the originals once as a kid, and then not again until getting them on DVD in 2003, at which point I’d stopped the ‘watching at least one series a week’ VHS-wearing madness of my younger years.

I had off-airs of VI, VII and VIII in order, and bought Remastered in a slightly staggered order (the last one I got was S1 Pt1). VI and VII I’ve probably watched more than 100 times. VIII slightly less. Remastered from Waiting for God to Polymorph more than 50, the other six Remastered slightly less.

IV off-airs maybe 30 times. I never caught a repeat run of V for some reason, so I only got off-airs when my friend tapes a run on Gold, only a year or so before the DVDs came out, so I may have watched those fewer than ten times. I’ve watched the 1-VIII DVDs through probably five times + commentaries maybe three times.

Rimmerworld I only watched on first broadcast (a repeat run problem meant my VHS had Dimension Jump instead), so I have probably only seen that episode five or so times. V must still be fewer than 20 in total, meaning those seven episodes still surprise me from time to time.

BtE: broadcast, Director’s Cut twice, plus cast commentary once and Doug’s commentary twice.

X: broadcast, probably four or five times on DVD.

XI: broadcast (Twentica twice), DVD twice.

XII: broadcast (Skipper twice), DVD once.

Plus all Dwarfcasts once.

tl;dr – lots.

[GlenTokyo]

I’ve watched BTE probably the least, maybe 3 times, I don’t really like it. X, XI, XII the same I imagine due to then being recent and a bit inconsistent rewatch-ability wise.

The rest I’d say I’ve watched them once a year the last few years but as a kid and teen when I didn’t have a lot to do I watched them constantly. I’d say I’ve watched III-VI 50 plus times easily, 1 and 2 a few less because I didn’t appreciate them as much as a youth, maybe 30+ times, and VII I’ve seen more than VIII, probably 20+ and 10+ times.

That’s could be out by a factor or 2 or 3 though, it was basically the only thing I watched when I was younger and it’s hard to accurately cast your mind back twenty-odd years.

[Dax101]

1-6 i have watched more times then i can remember. series 7 and 8 a little less but i still gave them a fair few watches.

Dave era wise i think my rewatches have been going down from BTE to X, XI and XII. there is a fair amount of the last 2 seasons i don’t remember.

[Lily]

I only got into Dwarf as an adult, shortly before the DVDs started coming out. I’d guess I’ve only watched the original 1-8 a couple of dozen times.

BTE, maybe twice times and Dave series maybe three times?

I find it surprising how under-watched BTE seems to be in this thread though. Previously I’d got the impression here that BTE was well regarded and liked, but it can’t be that much if no-one is re-watching it really?

[Warbodog]

I don’t have anything against BTE, but don’t need to watch it more than once a decade. Not seen the director’s cut.

Most of VII and VIII I don’t need to watch again, although my childhood Phantom Menace bile against post-Tikka VII had definitely faded when I finally rewatched some last year. X feels warm and cosy because I was so glad to have the series back, so I’d be more likely to rewatch those than XI or XII even if the quality might be lesser.

[International Debris]

I find it surprising how under-watched BTE seems to be in this thread though. Previously I’d got the impression here that BTE was well regarded and liked, but it can’t be that much if no-one is re-watching it really?

A lot of the positive response to IX was because it was so, so much more Dwarfy than VIII, and meant Only the Good… was no longer the end of the show. If that feels like damning it with faint praise… well, that’s probably what it is.

[Ben Saunders]

I love BtE, I just don’t feel the need to rewatch it, lol. Caught it on its original run, then the repeat, then watched the director’s cut say four times. Then another three (?) times if you count listening to the commentaries,

[Ben Saunders]

There was a time when I was young where I would genuinely watch the same movie every single day for extended periods of time. Empire Strikes Back and Goldmember are the two I remember watching to death, as well as I think Rush Hour. Whether I should have been watching Goldmember or Rush Hour at that age at all is open for debate, but I think I turned out alright.

[International Debris]

By a similar token, I’ve watched Blackadder Back and Forth more than any of the other episodes, because I bought the VHS before taping the series. I think at one point I watched it every single day when I got home from school.

[Warbodog]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail when I was 10. Found 2/3 of it taped off TV and watched it at least once a day for a while, forcing other people to do so too. Eventually caught up on the rest and watched that enough as a teenager to drill it all in.

I might have watched our select Turtles and Simpsons videos even more when younger, since dialogue from those episodes still rattles around my head unbidden today.

[Pete Part Three]

I’ve watched BlackAdder’s Christmas Carol every Christmas Eve for at least twenty years. I’ll maybe do a full series rewatch every few years, so I must have seen that many more times more than the rest of it.

[Taiwan Tony]

I’m amid a Blackadder rewatch. Having not seen the first series for a while, and knowing it much less well than the other three, I was surprised to discover how okay it was. Some episodes are basically in the mould of later series, but he’s doing a funny voice. Plus! Because I’ve seen Bells a fucking load, when I got to it it felt like an anti-climax. But the feeling passed when I reached Head and Potato.

[International Debris]

I overwatched Blackadder (particularly The Third). The lack of any real ‘depth’ to it means it doesn’t have much non-comedic rewatch value, so when I know every single joke, it loses some of its magic. Going to give it a few more years now before I go back to it.

[Dave]

I watched Blackadder so much as a kid that I know it almost too well, and watching it is as much for nostalgia as anything else these days.

But the Christmas episode still holds up better than most in terms of rewatchability, and I still watch it every year.

[Taiwan Tony]

I wouldn’t say Blackadder lacked depth. But that’s because I love it and get defensive.
I would level the same criticism at Father Ted, however. As good as it is, I can’t watch it on repeat.

[Warbodog]

Bells also felt over-familiar when I watched through a few years ago. I don’t think I’ve watched it more than the others, maybe it’s just so damned memorable or is always showing up as clips.

Currently rewatching Arrested Development which has plenty of depth, at least in terms of Easter eggs, symmetry and Simpsonsesque background gags you can feel proud for spotting before the wiki fills you in on the 75% you missed. I never watched any of the Netflix series because I wanted to wait long enough to get the full benefit of a rewatch first.

[International Debris]

By lacking depth, I mean it’s not really watchable for beautiful character moments, story arcs, an expanding universe, etc., in the way other shows – say, Red Dwarf, for instance – are. It’s arguable that those moments do exist in Blackadder Goes Forth, which might be why it’s the most re-watchable for me, despite Third being my favourite overall.

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