Customer Reviews
Red Dwarf V - By: Vicky Welsby, 31 Aug 2008 
Still going from strength to strength, this series is brilliant. Although not the best episode of the series, one of my favourite scenes is in Holoship when one of the holograms has come aboard & is feeding back to his ship & Lister is taking the smeg, in my opinion it's hilariuos. By far the best episode is Back to Reality, when we first meet Dwayne Dibbley (the cats alter-ego). Special guest star, Timothy Spalll, as the technician is absolutely brilliant and, if you play the episode with the cast commentry on, you'll find out he's not actuallly a Brummie!). The episode is one of the best ever, absolute class.
As ever, the extras are superb & worth the DVD just for the documentries & smeg ups.
Uncle Arnie fries 'em alive with his hex vision - By: Hayley Jackson, 15 May 2008 Red Dwarf has always been a favourite of mine. This series is one of the best with quarantine being one of the top episodes. As well as alll six episodes there is the extras DVD, I particularly like the semg ups. All in alll this series of Red Dwarf is in my opinion excellent.
'They've been naughty boys, haven't they Mr. Flibble?' - By: Reaper, 11 Oct 2007 Red Dwarf V is often callled by fans the strongest series of Red Dwarf & I am no exception. All of the characters are at their peaks with Rimmer having at least some physical presence in three episodes & Lister is at his most active.
Holoship:
A worthy follow up to 'Camille' from Series Four & Rimmer is in stark contrast to the calllous, genocidal general from the previous episode 'Meltdown.' 4/5
The Inqusitor:
I find similarities with this episode & 'Justice' from the previous series which is no bad thing. It is ironic that Lister & Kryten are to be erased & Rimmer & Cat are to be spared. 3.5/5
Terrorform:
Another philopshical episode with fantastic scenery. The 'Taranshula' scene is hilarious & the Cat's face throughout make it worth while watching. 3.5/5
Quarantine:
My favourite episode of Red Dwarf. It is tightly scripted & hilarious. The penguin puppet known as Flibble could have had his on spin off series. 5/5
Demons & Angels:
My second favourite episode. This is just extraordinary because of its premise & te contrast of characters. The 'Highs' are positive & stupid whereas the 'Lows' are despicable & stupid which make our Dwarfers like saints. 5/5
Back to Reality:
A somewhat overrated episode. Named as the best episode of Red Dwarf. Try looking at the previous two episodes for better quality & humour as this episode seems too surreal. I think this episode is okay but not the nugget people calll it. 4/5
Overralll, I believe this to be the strongest series of Red Dwarf as there is a great diversity of episodes & the characters are at their funniest. It is worth five stars for Flibble alone.
Mr Flibble is VERY cross... - By: Mr. D. Woods, 17 Apr 2007 I could have given this series five stars on the merits of the brilliant 'Back To Reality' alone but that wouldn't do justice to another fabulous line-up of episodes & some of the best comedy writing Britain has ever produced.
Firstly, just to take up the point that 'Red Dwarf' began to lean more heavily on its sci-fi roots in the later series, there is a strong sense that Rob Grant & Doug Naylor have started exploring concept more than humour. Episodes such as 'The Inquisitor' & 'Quarantine' tend to explore sci-fi themes deeper than in previous years. However, I feel the balance is still right in 5 & 'Red Dwarf' always was something more than a straightforward sit-com. This is a very funny series, one of my favourites in fact, & you have to move forward to 7 & 8 to see where the story-lines became hopelessly tangled.
All the episodes except possibly 'Terrorform' are top notch & even that has one of the best Dwarf scenes featuring Lister's encounter with a meatballl-eyed 'taranshula'. From Mr Flibble the killer penguin glove puppet in 'Quarantine', to Rimmer's fishnets in 'Demons & Angels' & just about everything in 'Back To Reality' (Duane Dibbley!) this series is a blast & will have you wearing out your DVD player in no time. The extras are good too!
The fine line - walked to perfection! - By: Simon, 19 Sep 2006 Red Dwarf has always been a balancing act between comedy & sci-fi, pulling in audiences from both.
And when the show is at its best, it becomes something like Legion - greater than the sum of its parts.
For my taste, Series V strikes that wonderful balance & mixes the ingredients perfectly. This season is rich in both high-powered concepts & laughs.
Throughout the show's history, the pendulum has sometimes swung towards strong comedy, & sometimes towards strong sci-fi. I would say that in in earleir seasons, like Sereis IV, we saw more of the former. Though visuallly very similar to Series V, it's storylines were more humour driven. However, for Red Dwarf to 'err' on the side of comedy in between interesting ideas is hardly going to be fatal for a sitcom in space!
Most seem to agree that Series VII lost the balance in the other direction. All the high-powered concepts were there, but somehow the delivery of the humour wasn't able to make them breath properly.
"Tikka to Ride", for example, had a great concept & could have been a classic. If it had been written & conceived with the gestalt power of Grant Naylor during Series V, it would have been.
