Cutting Together

Editing Sweets - by Andrew Ellard

16 August, 2002

The content of the bonus features discs has become the most talked about area of the new Red Dwarf DVDs - both outside the production and inside it. The content is being compiled jointly by Grant Naylor Productions and BBC Worldwide, and both of us have been determined to really push hard for as many extras as possible.

As of this week the bulk of the bonus material has been selected, edited, and delivered. I was able to hang around in the edit suite more than can reasonably be expected - partly to spectate, and partly for the free bowl of sweeties.

Doug Naylor has been supervising the final cuts of the additional material, which have been compiled by Red Dwarf editor Mark Wybourn along with assistant editor Jim Skinner. It's been a few months since I trawled through the rough cuts of series I and II on VHS video, hunting for sequences that didn't make the final shows - and now here they are, captioned, titled, edited and ready to go. There are around eighteen minutes worth of deleted scenes for each series, and they look... well, in some cases they look like they were cut with good reason - but no less interesting for that. We'll bring you a full list soon.

There's also the by-now infamous Smeg Ups (compiled from series I and II respectively), a new pair of featurettes, a commentary for The End by Rob Grant, Doug Naylor and Ed Bye (taken from their Six of the Best CD recording), the full-length, uncut, claymation-free version of Tongue Tied, the Red Dwarf A-Z and two very hush-hush Easter Eggs.

Most exciting of all, though, are a new documentary and interview. The series I disc will feature Launching Red Dwarf, an all-new 25-minute documentary telling the story behind Red Dwarf's first series. It features interviews with all four main cast members - Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Norman Lovett - as well as co-writer Doug Naylor, producer Paul Jackson and commissioning editor Peter Ridsdale Scott - without whom Red Dwarf might have been just another rejected script on the pilot pile.

My own private joy comes from the second season's bonus extra - an exclusive interview I conducted with Doug Naylor which focuses on the details of series II. Even if think you know everything about Red Dwarf (which I kinda thought I did), there are stories here that have never been told before. And the penguin never even got a look in!

Meanwhile, up at BBC Worldwide the guys are trawling the archives for trailers and other goodies. Detailed lists will be available closer to release. Three months to go - will the sweets last until then?

More DVD Details will follow soon...