Red Dwarf is a long-time cult hit among SF fans, and it's not hard to see why. The characters are engaging, and the interplay is frequently very funny. Much of the humor derives from the sheer cluelessness of the principals and the time-honored comedic tradition of rendering the dominant member of the team, in this case Rimmer, a bossy, self-absorbed twit who thinks he's a lot more impressive than he actually is.

Say what you must about Lister, the most useless slob who ever occupied the upper berth on a spaceship—at least he knows he's useless, and harbors no pretensions of ever being anything else. He's likeable, if you don't expect anything from him. But Rimmer, who in life succeeded only as the laughingstock of the crew, is a vain and posturing twit whose every attempt to trumpet his own competence only reveals himself as even dumber than Lister. As for Cat, he's so impressed with himself that he spends his days strutting through the corridors, praising his own coolness in a series of garish suits.

It's all cheap and rude, with an occasionally interesting science-fiction idea despite off-putting (and quite probably facetious) creator commentary to the effect that they tried to avoid actual science fiction whenever possible, because nobody really likes that stuff anyway.

The extras on the two-DVD package include outtakes, episode commentaries by the performers, a sound library, photos, deleted scenes and an excellent animated menu.