Red Dwarf: The Promised Land [Blu-ray]

Great continuation of a BBC classic

“Red Dwarf: The Promised Land” continues the adventures of the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf – Dave Lister (Craig Charles), Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), Cat (Danny John-Jules), and Kryten (Robert Llewellyn). The film builds upon the story that began way back in 1988 in the franchise’s fourth episode, “Waiting for God,” in which Lister learns that Cat’s people, Felis sapiens, worship him as their god, “Cloister the Stupid.” The crew face-off against Rodon (Ray Fearon), who leads a band of feral cats that demand that all cats worship Rodon rather than Cloister.On the Red Dwarf, Lister feels listless. Meanwhile, the ship receives a distress call from a group of cats fleeing Rodon. Initially, Rimmer ignores it, but the Dwarfers must flee their ship aboard Starbug when they reinstall Holly (Norman Lovett) and he decommissions the ship. They arrive at the derelict ship Iron Star, where Rimmer finds that he can upgrade his hologram setting from “hard light” to “diamond light,” though it damages his light bee’s battery requiring him to be plugged in. The Dwarfers also discover the cats who fled Rodon on the Iron Star, leaving Lister in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to explain to them that he’s not a god or allow them to continue finding comfort in their beliefs. Unfortunately, Rodon attacks the Iron Star, and the Dwarfers crash on a desert planet, where they seek wreckage from the Iron Star to teleport away. Failing that, they find a way to contact Red Dwarf and install Holly’s backup files from the previous 3 million years. The film concludes with revelations, a space battle, and further revelations.When Rimmer’s hologram enters “low power” mode, he becomes grayscale with mono audio. Series creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor originally intended the hologram people to look this way, but could not achieve the effect with their budget at the beginning of the franchise. The holograms only appeared in grayscale in the comic strips in the “Red Dwarf Magazine.” This features some jokes destined to become classics of the franchise. For example, the use of a giant 3.5” floppy disk to reinstall Holly is a great visual gag, similar to how “Back to Earth” referenced tape technology as more advanced than Blu-ray. The portrayal of the feral cats involves some great cat jokes, like laser pointers and scratching points. There are also plenty of nice callbacks to previous stories for fans, but they don’t overwhelm the new story. Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, and Robert Llewellyn work brilliantly together. After all these years, they’re a well-honed troupe and work well with the newcomers. The film may have flashy effects and HD resolution, but the plot is classic “Red Dwarf” and will leave fans pleased. Bonus features on this Blu-ray include a documentary about the making of “The Promised Land,” “Through an Audience’s Eyes” (further examining the making of the film, but with more mention of shooting in front of an audience), Smeg Ups, and deleted scenes. “The Promised Land” shows that “Red Dwarf” is going strong all these years later. One can only hope they make further specials.

I was happy to see this latest episode come out on DVD. I own all of the previous DVDs and have seen them a few times. There is something about British sitcoms that I enjoy much more than the American attempts to make me laugh. My only disappointment was that there was only one story for the price. However, if the entire gang makes another chapter and puts it or them on DVD, it will also be made a part of my collection.Red Dwarf forever.

This has to be the best installment of the Red Dwarf universe yet. I actually watched it a second time and still laughed.

I have all of the Red Dwarf seasons! Although this was probably a 4 out of 5, It's still nice to know that the Boys from the Dwarf are still kicking! I hope that they keep going.

Over all the show's well produced and the Red Dwarf crew actors are as refined and good as usual.You enter with high expectations of Cat interacting with the other cats, but he has almost no involvement with them. You think that he would have a main character role, but just the opposite is true. It seems as if he has the fewest lines of all the crew including some of the extras.So, if you're expecting to see a show about Cat and his being reunited with others of his race, you'll be in for a letdown. It's more like Red Dwarf mashed into a CGI Star Wars knock off and the crew battling an evil race of Cats. It is entertaining but feels somewhat lacking when it comes to true premise.Even though I enjoyed seeing another episode of Red Dwarf, I felt let down about the whole Cat interaction thing that I was hoping to see. I would say that if you want to see it, don't get your expectations up based on "the promise land" title and just take it as another show from the series.Personally I didn't care for the CGI and Star Wars science fiction stuff as it felt a little too farfetched and out of sync with the Red Dwarf gritty comedy budget feel. It was like Hollywood filled in parts of the filming and script writing, it just doesn't mix well.

First time buying from this seller. Excellent speed of delivery and quality of product.While this "special" (which we fans got instead of a new series) is very good and clears up a few points from series 1 its not the best of the boys from the dwarf. You a fan? Then this is a must see/must own! Just getting started with the small rouge one? I would suggest any of the first 6 series to get your toes wet with. Regardless, plenty of laughs to be had.

Although this is a feature length film, rather than being broken up into epidodes, it's exactly what fans of the series would expect. Unlike Back to Earth, this was filmed in front of a live studio audience. It's both cheesy and creative, as Red Dwarf has always been. Good for all ages. I started watching Red Dwarf on PBS when I was a 5th grader, back in the late 80's. I'm always excited when a new season comes out. The Promised Land has a scene involving Holly that had me laughing so hard I was crying! Definitely a must see for fans of the series! Probably won't appeal to those who aren't already familiar with the show and characters.

When Red Dwarf is at its best it is absolutely fantastic. But when it’s on autopilot, going through the motions, and basically the tv equivalent of reheating yesterday's vindaloo, you get something like The Promised Land.Part of the problem is that Red Dwarf doesn’t work as well with a large guest cast. Meltdown, Timewave and series VIII attest to this. The Promised Land is no exception.There are an awful lot of guest cats in this guest cast and none of them can hold a candle to Craig, Chris, Robert, Danny and Norman. You need a Timothy Spall or a Craig Ferguson for them to play against. Nobody in Promised Land was in the same league.Red Dwarf also doesn’t scale up. The best stories are the smaller ones that focus on a single conceit or clever premise. I’d take Thanks For The Memory, Waiting For God or Marooned over a feature-length special like this that has more padding than the NFL any day.Instead of a singular cohesive story this feels like a patchwork of several half-baked ideas all held together by Duct tape, Blue-Tack and the goodwill of fans like me who have an affection and nostalgia for this show and want it to succeed.As ever, I appreciate the performances of the main cast. All great. And having some new Red Dwarf to watch after all of these years is a wonder. Lister’s moonlight speech was really nice. And Doug Naylor can still bang out some quality gags…So even if this is maybe not the best of Red Dwarf ever, it’s still good fun to watch and well worth the purchase.The special features are slimmer than Karen Carpenter’s aura. You get some talking head interviews and some behind-the-scenes stuff, and who doesn’t love watching a good smeg-ups reel? It’s good but, much like The Promised Land, it just ends up feeling like more of the same.

Even though in the first season it was stated that the other humanoid cats were killed when their ships collided with an asteroid it turns out they survived and now find their god Lester. But there are some of the cats that don't believe and want a military dictatorship. There are some funny moments and funny situations but it seems a little forced. It may be it is time to put this series to bed.

Was a Great Series - i think everyone is a bit worn out - Covid is to blameDid not enjoy this as much as Set 12Shipping was very quick though

It was a OK watch - but not as good as I had hoped.So much more could have happened and didn'tLove Red Dwarf? This will go on sale

A must have for a real fan!Streaming services are very nice but all the behind the scene features are priceless :)