Red Dwarf Remastered was an attempt in the mid-1990s to bring the earlier series of TV comedy Red Dwarf up-to-date. A collaborative effort between the BBC and Grant Naylor Productions , it was hoped that remastered versions of the old episodes, combined with the recently completed seventh series of the show, would make an attractive syndication package for the US market.
Changes
Some of the changes made for Red Dwarf Remastered include:
- New opening credits for series one and two
- All new computer generated special effects
- All videotape work filmized to give a more expensive "look"
- Cropped to 16:9 widescreen
- Scenes involving Holly re-filmed with actor Norman Lovett
- Minor cuts to dialog
- Replacement music and audio effects to some scenes
Fan reaction
Most of these changes were felt by the fans to be unnessecary. Some of the new effects shots appeared less convincing than the original model work, in particularl that of Red Dwarf itself. The filmizing process resulted in degraded picture quality.
There was also an outcry at the changing of some dialogue, such as Holly's joke about about Felicity Kendal's bottom being replaced with a similar joke about Marilyn Monroe - ostensively because US audiences wouldn't know who Kendal was.
The remastering process was halted after the completion of work on series three. All recent reruns and the DVD releases of the show have been of the original untreated versions. Despite this, the most recent series of Red Dwarf retains the CGI model of the ship created for the Red Dwarf Remastered.
