Series IV Reviews

What's being said about the fourth DVD release? "Hefty and rewarding"!

2 April, 2004

Before we start, how about a few numbers? Total UK sales of Series I and II on DVD have reached over 350,000 - making us the BBC's second-best seller. (Bloody Ricky Gervais...) Series III has shifted 160,000 since November, and in a mere six weeks, Series IV has already topped 90,000 - still hanging around the charts and putting it on course to be the best-selling Dwarf DVD so far.

As for the rest of the world, Series III and IV only came out in America in February and have already totalled 60,000 to date - putting them well on the way to beating I and II's 120,000. In Australia, combined sales of I to IV so far top 75,000. Needless to say, we have some very happy international distributors right now. And we've yet to mention Japan's all-series 'vanilla' boxed set successes, or their plans to now release translated UK editions complete with extras.

But enough of the number-crunching, what did the Series IV reviews have to say? "There was nothing like it before, there's been nothing like it since" says Hotdog. "Red Dwarf's greatest smegging series" Empire tells us, is accompanied by "magnificent" bonus material. "First-class extras... Another great release for one of the BBC's brightest lights" says Dreamwatch. Meanwhile SFX praise this "typically packed affair" and in particular the "superlative Making Of documentary."

DVD Answers said "Good, imaginative scripts allow for action on and off Red Dwarf/Starbug giving depth to the characters and situations and served with a disc full of entertaining and decent extras make this possibly my favourite series so far." DVD Monthly added that "The second disc is as comprehensive as they come... Top of the tree is the documentary 'Built to Last', and it really is revealing stuff... a completist 's heaven... This is a hefty and rewarding package."

And finally, direct from our very own Webboard comes 'Todd Hunter': "The bonus disc is so heavily laden with features I could hardly lift it into the DVD player! Features that fascinate, make you drool and laugh again like you did the first time you saw the episodes, these features have been very well thought out and put to shame many Hollywood blockbuster films."

You can buy the Series IV DVD right now from the USA, UK and Australian Red Dwarf shops.