PERVISIONS
Provisionally labelled as 'Red Dwarf: Pervisions', BBC Worldwide have financed the digital
re-mastering of Red Dwarf Series I-VI, enhancing the show using methods similar to those
used on the Special Editions of the original 'Star Wars' trilogy. The commercial
motivation is to make the series more saleable across Europe and the US, and especially
in the US syndication market for which Red Dwarf will have enough episodes once Series
VIII is complete. The official line is that it is being done to celebrate the show's 10th
Anniversary, and the tapes are packaged accordingly with the 10th Anniversary logo.
Videos of the original episodes are being withdrawn from sale as the re-mastered versions
become available around the world. The tapes available are as follows:
- Series I, Episodes I-III (containing 'The End', 'Future Echoes' and 'Balance of Power')
- Series I, Episodes IV-VI (containing 'Waiting for God', 'Confidence and Paranoia' and 'Me2')
- Series II, Episodes I-III (containing 'Kryten', 'Better Than Life' and 'Thanks for the Memory')
- Series II, Episodes IV-VI (containing 'Stasis Leak', 'Queeg' and 'Parallel Universe')
- Series III, Episodes I-III (containing 'Backwards', 'Marooned' and 'Polymorph')
- Series III, Episodes IV-VI (containing 'Bodyswap', 'Timeslides' and 'The Last Day')
Series IV-VI will be re-mastered and released in 1999.
The re-mastered version of 'The End' was shown on BBC2 in the UK on 13 February 1998, in
anticipation of Red Dwarf Night the following evening. The BBC will show the first three
re-mastered series following the first broadcast of Red Dwarf VIII in January 1999, with
the remaining re-mastered episodes and repeats of Series VII and Series VIII following
later in 1999. The first three re-mastered series have already been made available to PBS
stations in the USA, and the remaining series will be available once they are completed.
The re-mastered videos sport a consistent new style of packaging, featuring hand drawn
graphics of a much higher quality than those seen on previous Series I and 'Smeg Ups'/
'Smeg Outs' tapes. All the tape covers are set against a colourful space background and
a desolate planetary surface. Several, as with the cover of the first tape which is
shown on the right, show the new elongated Red Dwarf (see below) in orbit. The second
tape additionally depicts the ark of the Red Hats in the foreground, with the Blue Hats'
ark crashing into an asteroid in the background. The Cat ark is shaped rather like a
bubble car, but with the front resembling the face of an unevolved 20th century domestic
cat, and its sides decorated with camouflage stripes. The first tape of Series II shows
the abandoned celebration scene from 'Thanks for the Memory', with Rimmer's empty
projection cage, Holly's mobile monitor and a bank of speakers being dwarfed by the
towering form of the new Blue Midget (see below). The second Series II tape has a close
up of the new Red Dwarf emerging from the bottom right corner, whilst the first tape of
Series III features distorted images of Red Dwarf, Starbug and the Sensational Reverse
Brothers being drawn into some kind of vortex (presumably the time hole). The signpost to
Nodnol is also included as a detail of the drawing. The final cover simply pictures
Starbug and the new Blue Midget in flight.
The cover designs wrap around onto the spines of the tapes, where they are cleverly
integrated with a continuous graphic spanning the whole of the first three series. A
provisional version of the continuous design across Series I-III is shown below, depicting
the new Red Dwarf, Starbug and the new Blue Midget with its legs retracted (this appears
on the spine of Series II, Episodes IV-VI). Although too small to be seen here, it also
features details such as a skutter dressed in John Wayne gear on the planet's surface
(this appears on the spine of Series II, Episodes I-III). The first three series are
clearly being regarded as a unit, featuring not only a continuous spine design, but
consistent credits and sequential release dates.
The picture quality has noticeably improved following the application of the film effect
used on Series VII, which restores the brightness of the colours and sharpness of the
picture. The show is also now in widescreen. This is not the 16:9 widescreen ratio
seen in cinemas, but merely a centimetre or two of black at the top and bottom to make
the picture perfectly rectangular and thus more suitable to newer FST screens. As this
look is normally associated with feature films and more recent TV productions it does
help to make early Red Dwarf seem that bit slicker.
The sound has been digitally re-mastered and re-dubbed. Not only has this enhanced the
clarity of the existing soundtrack, but it has presented the opportunity to add, as the
official BBC description puts it, "new whooshy bits". The new sound effects really
do enhance the programme, bringing it closer to the standard of more modern sci-fi
productions. The sound effects for food dispensers, doors, the swing bin into which
McIntyre's canister is placed ('The End') and more have all been improved.
Sound effects have also been added where previously there were none, such as the addition
of the atmospheric background sounds of a busy ship when Rimmer and Lister are heading
towards the botanical gardens in 'The End'. There is also a new "whooshy bit" whenever
anything or anyone passes through Rimmer; the Cat hisses impressively when he "makes
himself look big"; a rush of air can be heard as the Cat makes his somersaulting
entrance out of the service duct, and a distinctive slurping occurs as the Cat laps up
his Krispies. Whilst most of the the additions are beneficial, a few are not, and a case
in point is the new crash which follows Rimmer's karate attack. Doug Naylor has stated
that this was entirely deliberate, intended to indicate that Rimmer's light-bee has
collided with an unseen solid object in the corridor. This would be a perfectly
serviceable explanation were it not for the fact that Rimmer had just faded out as he
passed through the Cat, clearly showing that he is not, at this stage, projected by a
light-bee. The only possible (ie unlikely) explanation is that it could have been
in his foot at the time.
Some of the music has changed, and here the improvements are dramatic. Particularly
noticeable in the first episode is the funky new accompaniment to the Cat's first entrance,
and the new mournful track played during the time that Lister is in stasis (and now
continuing through the initial bewilderment of his release). Previously the incidental
music used for these scenes was much less atmospheric. In other places the existing music
had been souped up, as in the disco in 'Balance of Power' where it has been made
noticeably louder without having any detrimental impact on the clarity of the lines
spoken.
Series I-III share new, standardised opening credits. These begin with a shot of Lister
painting the ship to a slow orchestral score as in the original Series I and II, but as
this pulls out we see that Lister is now sitting down on a platform suspended by a wire,
painting a similar red-on-white name onto a Red Dwarf that has changed dramatically in
shape from the one we have seen in the past (see below). Just as Red Dwarf begins to be
revealed in its full glory the up-beat opening theme previously used only from Series III
onwards kicks in, accompanied by a succession of scenes from the first three series,
The credits finish with a burst of flame from an asteroid, which clears to reveal the
serif version of the Red Dwarf logo (no series number is specified). Rather than then
wasting time by displaying an episode title screen, the action begins immediately as in
Series VII, with the episode title superimposed in white at the bottom of the screen along
with the 're-mastered' logo, in between two credits for Rob Grant and Doug Naylor as
creators and writers.
The end theme is a slightly different mix previously used in later series, and features a
few extra credits, such as that for Chris Veale under Digital Effects. The credits roll
over a flyover of the new Red Dwarf ship similar to, but less impressive than, the one
previously used in early series. In the background of this shot is a sun shining from
behind a shadowed planet. As the credits finish the sun disappears behind the planet, and
the final full screen credit appears for Grant Naylor Productions (previously this had
been for Paul Jackson Productions on Series I and II).
Holly's role has been markedly increased, with about half of Norman Lovett's lines having
been re-filmed. This is partly because in the original episodes there were several
instances where Holly had a voiceover but nothing in particular was happening in the
picture - these scenes now focus on Holly. Holly also has some extra lines. For example,
he now responds to Lister's call at The Beginning: "Holly!" says Lister. "Yes
God?" replies Holly. "Set a course for Fiji. Look out Earth - the slime's coming
home!" SOS jokes for Holly are being added to Series III-V, featuring, of course,
Hattie Hayridge, who has presumably also been asked to film other extra lines herself.
It was originally planned for all of Holly's footage to appear in black and white, but
this idea was rejected for the final release. Holly's image has changed nonetheless,
with the old, heavily pixelised, foreground footage of Holly being re-filmed to match
the newly shot pieces in which he appears in sharp focus as he did from Series II onwards.
However, in the ten years since the series was originally filmed Norman Lovett has changed
in appearance himself, most notably losing a tuft of hair at the front and the corner of
one of his teeth (which makes him lisp slightly in places). This would not matter,
except that Holly still appears in his old guise on screens in the background of the
picture. The digital Upgraders have managed to replace his image on the sleeping quarters
vid-screen, but not on the television images in sets such as the drive room, and
consequently the difference can clearly be seen between the pixelised 1988 Holly in the
background and the sharply focussed 1997 Holly in the foreground.
Red Dwarf has changed. Doug Naylor was keen to change the shape of the ship for Series
VIII, to allow the crew to drive it. As the last remaining model of the original Red
Dwarf had already fallen off a shelf (in suspicious circumstances), a new 12 foot long
model has been built by the BBC Visual Effects team at a cost of £37,000 to be used
throughout Red Dwarf Re-Mastered and all future incarnations of Red Dwarf. The shape
chosen by Doug Naylor is longer and thinner than the original ship, and can be seen on
the video cover shown above. It still has the hydrogen scoop at the front, and it
retains the characteristic surface detail - indeed this has been enhanced in both quality
and quantity, no longer obviously resembling an assortment of plastic mouldings. The
light bulb/booster at the back of the original has been replaced with a circular array
of smaller boosters, and hundreds of windows are lit up across the entire ship. The
entire model is far more detailed than the original, and would be perfect but for the
omission of an embedded moon (the new ship merely has a few burnt pock marks across its
surface. It is also much more manipulable as the new model has been rendered using CGI
technology, and at a very high quality so that it does not look two dimensional and
unrealistic as Starbug did in Series VII. Using this model and an additional smaller one
all of the footage of Red Dwarf in all series has been replaced with footage of the new
ship flying through a colourfully rendered vision of space heavily populated with CGI
planets, as seen in Series VII. In some cases these have been improved atmospherically
as well as graphically - for example, when Lister is in stasis in 'The End' we previously
saw one shot of Red Dwarf. We now see three shots of the new ship idling its way past
planets, creating a much more melancholy atmosphere and a better sense of time passing.
Blue Midget has been replaced with a newer, sleeker CGI version. To reflect the cramped
set which caused the ship to be abandoned originally, the inhabited portion of the ship
resembles a bubble car. Extending from the back of the cabin are two large engines, and
lining the bottom of the ship are not tracks as before, but two legs. On land these fold
out to triple the height of the ship, and allow it to walk and run, resembling the
Enforcer robot in 'RoboCop' or the two-legged attack vehicles of the Star Wars trilogy.
It takes off with a running jump, and in 'Thanks for the Memory' it staggers around
drunkenly in replacement of the existing gear-crunching flight back to the ship. All
footage of the original Blue Midget has been replaced with the new ship.
Not only has all footage of these two ships been replaced (and much of Starbug too), but
new special effects abound throughout the episodes. In some cases these replace old ones,
such as a new and less impressive time hole in 'Backwards'. However, there are also many
special effects sequences which are entirely new. To name but a few, in 'The End' when
McIntyre's casket is ejected into space we now see it out of the window when Lister says
"There goes McIntyre...", and then switch to a shot of the casket being propelled
rapidly away from the ship in our direction, giving us a close-up as it passes by. In
'Future Echoes' at the point of Red Dwarf's acceleration past light speed we see an
external shot of the new ship's boosters firing, before it accelerates sharply forward
much like a Star Trek ship going into warp. Inside the ship the scene of Lister shaving
is given a psychedelic out-of-focus effect to mark the event. In 'Polymorph' there is a
new sequence reminiscent of games such as 'Quake', which features the small Polymorph
making its way through the ducts aboard Red Dwarf. Holly's verbal explanation of Cat
evolution is now used as a voiceover for an evolution chart depicting the development
from Frankenstein to Danny John-Jules' Cat (as opposed to an unknown example of felis
sapiens) dressed in his zebra print coat. A pause has been added in Holly's speech
to ensure that this remains on screen long enough.
The new models have been on show at an exhibition of Red Dwarf in Blackpool Tower in the
UK since April 1998.
To make way for new effects and new lines, parts of the original episodes have necessarily
been cut. The black card/white card exchange in 'Balance of Power' is gone for example.
To use 'The End' as an example of the extent of the changes, aside from those
directly replaced the line "I'm not the lowest rank on this ship" has been cut, as
has the "sir" from Lister's "I do respect you... sir". The bulk of
McIntyre's speech has been axed, leaving him only to explain that Holly can support just
one hologram, and the incident where Rimmer falls through the console in the drive room
has also gone. On looking objectively back at the originals some of these cuts are
definite improvements, but others were mistakes. In particular the "sir" joke,
which could easily have remained if just a second or two were reclaimed elsewhere, such as
when Rimmer leaves for the exam "in complete and total control" and proceeds in the
wrong direction. This might have been a good joke if Rimmer had walked down another
corridor, but the positioning of the window in the scene shows that he is manifestly
walking into a wall. This would have been a better cut.
Nevertheless, for the most part the changes are positive. The exception to this is when
they add elements to the front of the picture, such as the backs of extra heads in front
of the camera at McIntyre's funeral, and the invasion of defective skutters whizzing
across the front of the 14B scene. The problem is that they look added on and
detract from the original scene. Another problem is where changes are inconsistent. For
example, the stars outside the sleeping quarters window can now be seen to move, and
nebulae are also apparent reflecting the new and colourful space in which the re-mastered
episodes are set. However, in any scene where an actor passes by the window the original
cheap light bulbs remain, and are if anything more noticeable by the contrast.
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