Red Dwarf Remastered was an attempt in 1997 to bring the first three series of the BBC's cult sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf up to date.[1] A collaborative effort between BBC Worldwide and Grant Naylor Productions, it was hoped that remastered versions of the episodes would prove more appealing to broadcasters in international territories.[1] Only Series I-III were remastered, although the BBC had commissioned for the remastering of Series IV and V as well. Doug Naylor decided to put the project on hold and wait for technology to catch up with their vision.[2]
Some of the changes made for Red Dwarf Remastered included:
The changes received a mixed response from existing fans. Design changes, in particular to the Red Dwarf ship itself, were generally disliked, and the shift from models to CGI was not seen as an improvement.[3] There was an outcry at the changing of some dialogue, particularly with regards to the removal of certain popular sequences (such as the aforementioned "black card/white card" joke).[3] Naylor, himself, stated that he was slightly disappointed with the results, as the technology required for the ambitious remastering wasn't available at the time.[2]
Internationally, Red Dwarf Remastered was sold to Japan, South America and other countries with significant success — finding fresh audiences who were unaware of its remastered status. The availability of isolated audio tracks for language dubbing allowed the programme to reach more foreign-language broadcasters.[2]
Most recent UK repeats and the DVD releases of the show have been of the original untreated versions, although appearances depend on a channel's individual archive — in early 2003 the remastered "Marooned" incongruously appeared during a repeat run of the series on UKTV Gold that otherwise consisted of the original versions; and they have also popped up from time to time on UKTV G2 in addition to Virgin Media's On Demand service. Netflix currently has the original versions on their DVD-by-mail service having previously provided the remasters on the web-based streaming service, and the remastered versions were inadvertently sold on iTunes until mid-2009 when they were "corrected" to the original versions.
Plans to remaster series IV-VI were abandoned due to negative fan and critical reception, although series VIII (produced in late 1998, a year after the completion of Red Dwarf: Remastered) retains the CGI model of the ship created for the remastered I-III. This was acknowledged in the show with dialogue about how the ship had changed shape to its original design before the Jupiter Mining Corporation made a number of cutbacks, thus retaining series continuity.
The 2009 Back to Earth specials featured new CGI Red Dwarf which was much closer to the original non-remastered model. Later, in 2012, Series X finally made use of the original 12' remastered model, albeit cut down length-wise to more closely match the original design.[4]
For the release of the Series VII DVD, the first episode Tikka to Ride was remastered. This only consisted of replacing the original last-minute CGI effects from the original broadcast with up-to-date, 2005-standard CGI. The original version was also included on the DVD.
Remastered episodes have found their way onto DVD in continental Europe as the official series releases. Localised releases in Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg all contain the remastered episodes. The remastered episodes were also released in Japan in their shorter NHK broadcast edits featuring significant edits, different title and credit sequences and Japanese dubbing. The Japanese version of remastered pilot episode "The End" was included as a bonus feature on the English language DVD release of Series I.
The US Netflix streaming release (though not the discs) also used the remastered episodes for the first three seasons until the show was first removed from the service. When the series returned to Netflix, the original non-remastered versions were used (though with some music replacement). The series has since been removed from Netflix again. In 2017, the series was uploaded to BritBox, where Series I-III run in their original versions.
The remastered episodes of Series I–III were made available on DVD in the UK on 12 November 2007 as part of The Bodysnatcher Collection with an identical release in Australia following on 7 May 2008. The box set includes all 18 episodes cropped to letterbox format but still presented in 4:3 as they were on the VHS release. The set also included documentaries concerning the Remastering project and the making of the original Series I and II (as these were absent from the original DVD release of these series).[5] A text track is also included, detailing all changes between original and remastered versions.[5]
The special features include what has been called the "original assembly" of the first episode of Red Dwarf, plus a lost episode, known as "Bodysnatcher", for which this set is named, which has been created in the same style as "Identity Within" for the Series VII DVD.[5] The release also features commentary and interview contributions from Rob Grant, co-creator of Red Dwarf, marking his first direct contribution to the DVD releases.[5] This set was not released in the US, and it is now out-of-print in the UK and Australia.