Red Dwarf new and old

When asked about Red Dwarf (or, more frequently, when not asked at all but talking about it anyway), I tend to say that the golden era was series III to V [roman numerals are traditional when it comes to Red Dwarf series], and after that it generally went downhill. This is at odds with a lot of people on the internet in this modern era, who tend to group VI in with those three as if they were all one big unit, but I always think of that one as a much later kind of age, somehow, and I realise that that's just because of how I got into Red Dwarf in the first place.

The first time I watched Red Dwarf was series III - and not the first time it was on (although I might maybe have seen bits of it), but the repeat airing in October/November 1990, having heard good things from people at school. 1990 somehow still doesn't seem all that long ago, but I suppose it was - my 14th birthday came in between "Marooned" and "Polymorph".

You have to remember that in those dark and distant times, there was no internet, no streaming, no satellite TV worth speaking of, no constant repeats of classic shows. Not even any videos of Red Dwarf available to buy or rent. "Someone at school says it's good" was pretty much the only way to find out about something like this. But having found out about it, and watched the third series, I made a point of watching series IV when it was on telly in February/March the next year. And by then, it was something everyone at school was talking about! People who'd watched the first two series, and remembered anything about them, were very much in demand, although thin on the ground.

Series III came out on video in late 1991, adding to the mystery of those first two unseen seasons, we got series V on TV in February/March 1992, and then that was followed by series II on video at last, letting the newcomer fans glimpse how Red Dwarf looked in prehistoric times! So by this point I'm as big an expert on and fan of the show as it's possible to be without the internet or a really good book on the subject.

And then in 1993, there came a really good book on the subject!

Yes, the much-thumbed book is still in my bookcase. You modern people with your websites and wikipedias have no idea what it was like in the days when you had to learn things from actual books. But this one was awesome! And that's really what completed my education as a Red Dwarf fan, leading to lots of watching and reading about the first five series, and meaning that everything that came after it was always going to be a footnote to the golden age.

Red Dwarf VI eventually hit the screens in October/November 1993 ("Legion" was broadcast on my 17th birthday), only 18 months after the previous season, but too late to be anything but "not as good as it used to be" in my mind. I mean, it was all right, but it's not real Red Dwarf like it was in the good old days...

Even so, I'm glad it's still going on, and looking forward to the next series, if any!