Content Confirmed

Series IV's Extras - by Andrew Ellard

12 December, 2003

It's strange to be looking at a list of extras this way. Fans who have followed the progress of the Series IV DVD extras will know that this content was completed and delivered to the BBC back in July - which may seem early, but believe me when I tell you that, because of authoring, certification and subtitling, a single day more would have meant missing release dates!

Content Confirmed Content Confirmed

So it is with a strange sense of nostalgia that we can announce the full extras list for Series IV - 'strange' because, of course, the DVD isn't actually out yet, it's due for release on February 16th.

In the intervening time, fear not - reddwarf.co.uk will be providing details of the cover art, CG menu designs, chapter points and deleted scenes, not to mention the usual quiz, Toaster interviews and desktop wallpaper. The best is, indeed, yet to come. For now, though, feast your eyes on the extras list:

Cast Commentary Featuring Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn and Hattie Hayridge.
Built to Last A brand new, episode-by-episode documentary charting in-depth the making of Red Dwarf IV.
Deleted Scenes Over 20 minutes of cut footage from Series IV.
Smeg Ups A compilation of outtakes and fluffs.
Ace Rimmer - A Life In Lamé Holly charts the history of the inter-dimensional hero.
"Lurve" Featurette Despite being three million years into deep space, Lister still finds chances for tonsil hockey - mostly with ugly GELFs...
Can't Smeg Won't Smeg Ainsley Harriott boards Starbug as Lister and Kryten take on Rimmer and Duane Dibbley in a climactic curry contest.
Trailers Two trailers for the show, now only archived by dedicated fans on VHS and retrieved for this DVD.
Special Effects Footage A compilation of raw effects footage.
Isolated Music Cues Instant access to the various elements of Red Dwarf IV's music score.
Talking Book Chapters Selected sections of the books, read by Chris Barrie, which delve even deeper into ideas from the series.
Photo Gallery A mighty collection of production, effects and behind-the-scenes images.
Weblink Link to the official website - which includes a production diary for this very DVD.
Subtitles English subtitles for episodes and extras.
Easter Eggs Several bonus extras will be hidden within the DVD menus - can you find them all?

Overall it's a package that matches up to the equally-impressive Series III, and maybe even improves on it a little. Lurve is my favourite of the musical featurettes by far, and Built to Last contains some great moments with our 11 interviewees - particularly the group recollection of Danny arriving late on Paul Jackson's one and only directing day...

The raw FX footage shows, closer-up, the garden/park area on Justice World, lingers on Ace's Ionian base, and includes Starbug firing its nuclear charge for the climax in White Hole. Speaking of which, there are some great discoveries among the music cues, including Howard Goodall's original - and very different - scoring for the planet pool sequence.

Gallery pictures are by Mike Vaughan - who would remain the Dwarf photographer from this point on, setting an image style for the show - and also include unseen design pics by Mike Tucker. And deleted scenes... well, we'll cover those another time.

You can pre-order the Series IV DVD right now from the UK and Australian Red Dwarf Shops.

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