Red Dwarf

S1E1 "THE END"
As someone who first got into RD around S3 or 4 when they were first airing, and only went back to watch the first two seasons later, for a long time I thought of S1 and S2 as "the boring ones". But watching it now, this episode is overall great. The opening titles are gorgeous - lovely effects work, and the mournful feel is a strong choice - I can't think of any other comedy that does that. The dialogue and performances are already there - it has a real Waiting For Godot feel, really snappy back and forth about nothing. The world-building is great too, full of little details. And like Dan says, it nails the set-up. Very efficient and organic. I'm honestly surprised to come back and like this one so much.
The only bad points really are the low-budget (could really do with some bigger sets and more polish on stuff like the funeral and even the port-holes, plus some scenes clearly didn't get enough coverage and have some wonky edits to cover it) and the incidental music which sounds cheap and jumps in and out jarringly.

S1E2 "FUTURE ECHOES"

With the benefit of this episode, we start to see Lister's mix of smart and stupid. I think the best way to characterise it is that he's a lazy slob, and he's often lazy about thinking as well. He doesn't read books or bother to try to think about stuff on more than an instinctual level ("I'm scared that I'm about to die, so I'm going to grab a pipe", even though he seems to know this doesn't actually make sense). But when he's trying to change the future, and forces himself to think it through, he's pretty smart about figuring out that he should stop Cat from trying to eat the fish.

The episode itself - it starts pretty slowly, doesn't really kick into gear until the echoes show up. At that point though, it's great. Rimmer's glee, Lister's panic, it all works great. Cat is really charming too - again, I had it in my head that he's takes a couple of seasons to warm up, but actually DJJ is killing it. I love his reaction to the dog photo, it's perfectly pitched between human and feline. Plus, it's only the second episode and they're already doing clever 'you can't change the future, only facilitate it' stuff, it's impressively ambitious. So the slow start is a shame, and Barrie seems a bit nervous in this one, rocking on his heels constantly and almost corpsing in the wig scene), but overall a strong ep. 

S1E3 "BALANCE OF POWER"
Another good one. It's at its strongest when Rimmer and Lister are bickering - all the white card/black card stuff is great - but I also like the continuing world-building (government health warnings on music is brilliant, the drinking game song etc). Also, interesting that this slips in a single gag with a talking appliance - perhaps Talkie Toaster would have felt less of an abrupt arrival in Future Echoes if that had remained as ep 5 or whatever.

S1E4 "WAITING FOR GOD"

Not as bad as I remember. I like the Life Of Brian-lite stuff, I like the Quagaar stuff. But this episode does feel like a bit of a mish-mash of stuff. I like Cat on his own and with Lister, but his interactions with Rimmer don't work. The scene with the cat priest is what really lets the episode down - the direction and editing don't sell the reveal, the music is jarring, the priest's performance is over the top, and the whole thing is just too rushed. They should have spent the whole episode on this, tying Rimmer into it somehow, or perhaps even drip-fed it more through the season.

Other positives - Rimmer is great throughout, especially his "I could have been God if I got your breaks" bit, and I like the cargo bay sets - the section where Lister falls out of the vent is really nice.

Interesting early mentions of quarantine and the fact that holograms can have heart attacks, and for those who have read the books, the idea of humans as a planetary disease.

S1E5 "CONFIDENCE AND PARANOIA"

I'm not a huge fan of this ep. I like all the ideas in it, but C&P are more cat priests - they're jarringly cartoonish and they're only around for a small segment of the episode. All the character stuff is good too, Holly and Cat's stuff is all strong.

Weird to realise that Rimmer is pretty close to being an incel. Also, more creepiness in going to bed with a concussed woman. He did imply in the previous ep that he was a virgin, so hopefully either morals or nerves prevented him from doing anything.

S1E6 "ME2"

I really like this one! It's all Lister/Rimmer character stuff with an extra twist to keep it interesting (and Holly/Cat doing unrelated side bits - Holly's is good, Cat not so much this ep). There's all the usual subtle world-building, and a great final scene. Also, it beat The Simpsons to an extended Citizen Kane riff by five years!

The only flaw I think is that Rimmer doesn't annoy himself with his personality, it's just an immediate bubbling over of his self-hatred. Would have been nice for him to realise, at least a little, how punchable he is day to day, and perhaps for Lister to get so bored he's glad to have someone around. It's another of these concepts that feels like it could do with going over two episodes, or at least being given another ten minutes.

Rimmer says "what a guy!" about himself - this had already happened once in a deleted scene or something (I mentioned it a while back, I think), so clearly it was a Rimmer-ish phrase that stuck in their minds to be reframed later for Dimension Jump

S2E1 "KRYTEN"

Really enjoyed it. Starts off nicely, showing off what seems like an increased budget with the new model shot. Nice touch with the creepy Alien style score that blends into the Androids theme, too. I remember it took me a surprisingly long time to realise it was specifically a reference to Neighbours, an Aussie soap opera that was extremely popular in the UK around then. This is the first time I noticed some nice little touches in it - the boom mic dipping into shot, and the fact that it's a Groovy Channel 27 production (the channel Lister mentions having a hologram presenter in S1).

Bit more colour in the sets - feels a little garish in places but it's a nice break from all the submarine grey.

Holly's great in this ep, the decimal music and dogs milk bits are perfect 'loopy computer'.

And finally, the Kryten plot is good fun and doesn't feel rushed (except for that last shot)! This feels like they're really setting out their stall for an improved second season.

S2E2 "BETTER THAN LIFE"

I mostly like Better Than Life, but I have lots of little quibbles too.

The pop culture refs are very dated - presumably they didn't realise at the time that this would be watched the world over, decades later! They also breaks the continuity a bit, though seeing as most of the time they can't remember people like Marilyn Monroe or Shakespeare.

Speaking of continuity, it doesn't really make sense that this other ship computer is also acting the same as Holly - why would it have also gone daffy? Feels a little unimaginative.

The observation dome scene is really nice - Lister being (mostly) kind, and Rimmer too depressed to be a closed-off dick. Also some backstory that at least explains if not justifies Rimmer's personality flaws. Could have done with a couple more takes to get rid of the rough edges, though.

I like the BTL section overall - it's fun, even if it looks horribly cheap. And the end gags - first Rimmer's mind rebelling against everyone, then the 'still in the game' twist - work great, though again they need a little polish (the bit with Rimmer's dad being Cat's idea works against the following turn, and the very last bit in the bunkroom feels rushed). I just feel like it needed about five more seconds for breathing space and a couple more camera set-ups or something. Maybe not even move to the bunkroom, just stay in the drive room to maximise the time available.

S2E3 "THANKS FOR THE MEMORY"
Great - firing on all cylinders. Loads of great character stuff, fizzing dialogue, clever plot. Only downer is that my Yvonne McGruder head canon has been explicitly contradicted.

Watching this, I finally figured out why Lister's space suit has got red marks on it - it's from painting the ship on PD, as seen in the opening titles! Great attention to detail.

S2E4 "STASIS LEAK"

Top episode! Cool concept, dealt with well. Cat's tagging along a bit more now, even if there haven't been any Cat-centric plots since Wait for God, and even that one was at least half-Lister-centric anyway.

For anyone who's seen the whole season, the music in the hotel lobby might have rung a bell.

S2E5 "QUEEG"

Another top episode! I think it's now got to that sweet spot, like Seinfeld did after a while for instance, where you know the characters well enough that you can give them a new situation and just watching them react to it is enjoyable. One little line delivery I love is when Rimmer is mimicking the other characters, and starts doing Cat. Cat says "Hey, now he's me!" and DJJ delivers it with an edge of anger to it, like he's getting cattishly territorial over the abstract concept of his personality.

Craig Charles did his own stunt for Lister getting thrown over that console and I'm always impressed at how good it looks.

S2E6 "PARALLEL UNIVERSE"

So not only was Rimmer nearly an incel, he was a PUA as well. Weird to see this 30 year old stuff still relevant. I think the reverse lad culture ties into all that and still works really well. Perhaps it's been done a bit more now (Ellen did an episode where she went to a parallel universe where being gay was the norm, for example) but it's still a solid trope and the character specifics really help.

Overall I really like this episode. The female counterparts are impressively spot on. Only quibbles are that the dog is really annoying and unfunny, and that Tongue Tied goes on a bit too long (and is completely unrelated to the story!).

Continuity stuff - great to see Rimmer mention peephole bras again, it's a tacky, adolescent fetish that fits him really well. Perhaps we've seen it before, but I noticed that the necrobics sign above the bunkroom mirror says "Holograms can have heart attacks too!", so it seems they do have to do exercise...

S3E1 "BACKWARDS"
Good fun, but it's also one gag that wears pretty thin by the end, and it's also a weird choice of ep for their first one in the new style - most of it's spent away from the regular settings. The Wilma conversation is a classic, shame it's completely disconnected from the episode.

S3E2 "MAROONED"

Love Marooned, it's a fantastic two-hander. It rushes a little at the start to get them marooned, but then it's perfectly paced and structured. I think the dialogue's all really funny, it just doesn't have any massive set-piece gags. It's great seeing some nice new bespoke model action shots, too.

I guess it makes more sense for Backwards to be the first ep rather than this one, because Kryten and Cat are barely present here, and it doesn't announce their new big-budget intentions in the same way. Maybe this being the second ep is to say "we'll still do stuff like this as well".

Continuity-wise, weird that they contradict the Yvonne MacGruder thing, Surely they can't have forgotten that detail, it's a big story beat when Rimmer gets drunk and tells Lister about it. Perhaps they're just willing to ignore contradictions if it allows for a better joke.

S3E3 "POLYMORPH"

Funnily enough, now I'm used to seasons 1 and 2, this one feels a little too cartoonish to me in places - stuff like them changing appearance when they lose an emotion, the tap bulging as the polymorph comes out of it, and Cat doing the whole Scooby Doo running past camera thing. At least with the latter they got there before Doctor Who did with Love & Monsters (speaking of the Doc, depending on your nerd Venn diagram, you may have recognised the sexy polymorph actress as France Barber who played Eye Patch Lady/Madame Kovarian in DW).

Aside from that, though, very enjoyable episode. Fun concept, well-paced, some great business before it shows up (Kryten starts coming into his own here, and the whole medical supplies bit is great), and the Alien pastiche works well. I will say they get more effective stuff out of the shape-shifting concept better than the emotion loss concept.

S3E4 "BODYSWAP"

Another great ep! Great concept, executed perfectly. I think the VO/acting matches up really well, on the whole. I think this could have been a good first episode for season 3 - it's got all the characters in it, it's set on the main ship and it's not a big crazy thing like Polymorph.

One thing I really noticed in this ep is the differences in how Cat interacts with Lister and Rimmer are subtle but they make a big difference integrating him into the cast more- just little things like how he shares a look with Lister when the self-destruct sequence starts up, or how he's discussing the actual story with Rimmer rather than just talking at him about fish.

Fucking hell, watching Bodyswap makes me hungry. I want a strawberry milkshake and a Toffee Crisp, I want a giant roast chicken and a platter of creamy buttery mashed spuds with a jug of gravy, and I want a chest full of custard doughnuts washed down with whatever it was Rimmer was drinking at the end there.

I also noticed that Lister seems to be a fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

S3E5 "TIMESLIDES"

another good one. I'm getting repetitive, but good concept done well, and all the character stuff is on point. I really like seeing the different versions of Lister, as a dopey politics-spouting teenager and a tacky billionaire. I also like the weedy young Rimmer and the way that 'Thickie' Holden doesn't seem to be thick at all, and Rimmer buying into the schoolyard bullying is his undoing. The time-travel limitations are clever too.

Negatives: they don't come up with a reason to stop using the time-travel (unless I missed it), which is a bit lazy. I guess there was only so much mutated fluid and it got used up? Also, would have been nice if they could have set up earlier a way for Rimmer to die, rather than just have him hit some hard to see and apparently extremely volatile crates of explosives. Still a nice gag though. Finally, the stuff in Lister's mansion feels a little cheap despite the impressive location - it's shot in a very sitcom-y way and it could have done with a few more extras or animals or something.

Apparently, in the remastered version "a running water video effect has been added to rich Lister's huge statue." That kills the entire fucking joke, you idiots. Doug Naylor really did go full Lucas after S6 - got rid of his creative partners, started messing up the old stuff...

S3E6 "LAST DAY"

Mostly fantastic. The dialogue is just firing on all cylinders throughout. The jabs at religion, the discussions of mortality, the diversions into anecdotes, the cheesy puns. I've been stealing that Jackson Pollock gag for years. Plus, with phones and what have you designed to fall apart shortly after their warranty period these days it's rather prescient.

I've been thinking of Nu-Holly as basically the same as old Holly, but she shows a bit more emotional range here, a bit more energy. It fits with the new show quite well.

The only negative is the sound mixing on the Hudzen scene - you miss a lot of the jokes and you can't really hear what Hudzen's saying because his voice is so low and growly. The staging for the drama is a little spotty as well.

S4E1 "CAMILLE"
Great. Feels pretty much the same as a S3 ep. Kryten's head looks a bit better.

S4E2 "DNA"

a fun episode. The human Kryten stuff is really strong. The curry beast bit is fun and a cool idea if perhaps a little rushed. Hadn't realised one of the dreadful Red Dwarf sell-out AA (Automobile Association) adverts nicked the 'Cat drains all the power with a hairdryer' gag directly from the show. So funny that just two years before the Jurassic Park movie came out, the concept of DNA had to be rigorously explained.

Continuity-wise, I think Holly's got a slightly snazzier, more sci-fi hairdo now, and this is the first time they say Lister and Kochanski had a relationship. They might reverse that again at some point, not sure.

S4E3 "JUSTICE"

A really fun episode, with loads of great bits, but it's very disjointed - Lister's mumps and Rimmer's holiday are unconnected to the main story and completely done with by the 9 minute mark, and the Justice World/court case doesn't intertwine with the simulant except for a way to defeat it - and they often end on a silly gag rather than a clever gag or a final story beat, but this one is particularly tacked on.

It's interesting that up til now it's been heavily implied that Rimmer was definitely to blame for the deaths of the crew, but there's a convincing argument here that it can't actually have been his fault. Also, they retcon the number of people originally on Red Dwarf up by a thousand!

The justice world production design is bad - it all just feels like the Red Dwarf ship, except for the incredibly cheap and ugly courtroom set. I'm not sure how I feel about the simulant - one the one hand, he's a perfect shitty 80s DTV action movie Rutger Hauer villain; on the other hand he looks like an old man in shitty cosplay.

S4E4 "WHITE HOLE"

I've always thought of this as one of the best of the entire series, but watching it this time I wasn't loving it and I'm not sure why. It might be because I'm so familiar with it, or perhaps because again the Holly IQ stuff doesn't really feel connected to the white hole stuff. Also, bringing Talkie Toaster back doesn't pay out much - we get pretty much the same jokes and he has no bearing on the plot. We don't even get to see a smart version of him. I think he's just there so Holly has someone to explain her situation to so the others can be elsewhere and get trapped by the shutdown.

I do love the "so what is it?" conversation, the planet pool concept, and them struggling with the lack of power.

Interesting to have it confirmed that Holly's IQ has definitely dropped, though - it has seemed a bit ambiguous up to this point whether that's the case or whether she's still smart (can invent the Holly Hop Drive etc) and it's just her personality that has gone daffy.

S4E5 "DIMENSION JUMP"

Great episode! Top idea, well constructed, good character stuff, all looks really nice. Ending fizzles out a tiiiiny bit but the credits music saves it.
Note of interst: All the homophobic stuff ('hunt the submarine', 'go pick out a ring') he aims at Ace and Skipper, as well as it being more characteristically toxic attitudes from Rimmer (and it's admirable that the writers keep this side of him up while occasionally showing glimmers of a good side to him, rather than softening him completely), is also that joke that you see in stuff like Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (I noticed another example recently, can't remember it now), where characters call alt-versions of themselves gay, the joke being that this is ridiculous because they know they're not. It's poking fun at homophobia and the character. But I think it's something that you wouldn't see today, it's a peculiarly 90s thing for some reason! 
Some of the Ace dimension set-up doesn't make complete sense but you can kind of head canon your way around it:

presumably that dimension is 3 million years earlier (so the dimension drive must also pull the ship through time as well as dimensions and space to get it to alternate Rimmers);

Bongo is identical to the guy from the android company video in The Last Day (maybe he has a different name and job in this dimension);

Holly is a physical person (Holly's face is based on Hilly from the genderswapped dimension according to the opening scrawl in Backwards, so presumably in the prime dimension the person whose face Hilly's was based on would be a man. Perhaps in Ace dimension, some people are gender-swapped and so this is that same character? Or she has a male fraternal twin who is female in the genderswap dimension and whom Hilly was based on);

Cat is a human from 3 million years earlier (ummm, just a huge coincidence 😬 )

(I know this is all super-pedantic, but it leans into the more cartoony side of Red Dwarf that sometimes jostles up against the sci-fi conceits in a way I find distracting.)

S4E6 "MELTDOWN"

This episode is pretty weak. I like the idea of Rimmer getting charge of an army, going a bit nuts and leading them all to slaughter in the name of victory, but it gets drowned here in all the 'lol celebrity lookalikes' guff. A few nice moments, but otherwise a contender for worst episode so far (possibly of the series).

Pedantry-wise, this is yet another bit of overpowered tech they've introduced and not bothered to write out again. They must have at least three ways to almost instantaneously get back to Earth by now!

S5E1 "HOLOSHIP"

I really like it. Good concept, well structured, lots of great guest performances, everything looks great. The main drawback is that though it's amusing throughout, it's not really laugh-out-loud funny at any point.

The best part of the episode is, of course, the close up of Chris Barrie's arse in tight velvet trousers.

S5E2 "THE INQUISITOR"

I think this one is really good. Sure, it's got similarities to other eps (them being judged; alternate versions of them; time-travel hi-jinx), but it's not just repeats, it's done in new ways. It's a cool concept that speaks to character, it's funny, the drama works and it's got a good ending. Kryten is particularly strong in this one.

S5E3 "TERRORFORM"

Bit of a weak episode. The start is great, starting in media res with Kryten damaged, and the whole taranshula bit is brilliant, but then it turns into a bit of a re-run of Confidence And Paranoia. There's too much set-up and not enough comedy, and you can kind of see the seams in the budget. It's not awful, but definitely skippable.

The "only two flaws" bit has become this season's running gag. Then the 'Space Corps directive' is the season 6 runner. I like how they started to pick one per season, it hits that catchphrase itch without actually being a catchphrase.

S5E4 "QUARANTINE"

Anyway, this is an excellent episode. Concept, comedy, character development, drama, action all working together really well. Strong ending, good effects.

I wouldn't say the luck virus is a deus ex machina, it's set up early and it ties in with all the other viral stuff. The only silly thing is that they have it sitting out in the open in the quarantine room, so they've been looking at it for five days. They could have at least put it in Kryten's satchel! I suppose one could argue that they didn't consider escaping until Rimmer's madness was revealed.

S5E5 "DEMONS AND ANGELS"

Very good ep. It's not particularly deep or anything but it's a really fun, well constructed adventure.

The thing I always think about with this ep now is when Dan pointed out that the bit in Terminator 3 when Arnie gets reprogrammed to go evil again is exactly like the sequence with Lister, and did an impression of the T800 with a Liverpudlian accent: "John Connor, I'm gonna kill yeh!"

S5E6 "BACK TO REALITY"

This is pretty much a perfect episode, probably my favourite. Brilliant idea, perfectly constructed with all the little reveals and everything. They're happy to take their time with the Timothy Spall and recuperation lounge scenes, but also have a bunch of dramatic scenes in there as well. I just love the shot of the fascist firing his gun, turning to camera then falling out of shot to reveal Kryten, then the dramatic music kicks in, then the sudden cut back to Starbug, it's all so perfectly executed. The guest stars are amazing, all the comedy is gold.

S6E1 "PSIRENS"

Psirens is great. Funny, clever, pacey. I hadn't realised before that it's a little bit Polymorphy, but it's different enough not to matter. Also, great to see Kochanski again, especially all battle-hardened!

S6E2 "LEGION"

Another great ep, the dialogue is really sharp and there's some great physical comedy too. I especially like Cat here, he's useful, snarky yet adorable (I love the cockpit scene, DJJ wrings so much out of it). One thing I've noticed is that the dialogue in this season is a little more florid, it's quite Blackadder-y. Stuff like "let's flag down a cab and get to Real Street" or whatever it was.

There's a fair amount of horror in the show (I don't know if it's a British thing, but it feels like a natural fit with sci-fi) and this episode in particular feels very much like an 80s episode of Doctor Who, down to the cheap 'tubby man in a lycra suit' villain design!

S6E3 "GUNMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE"
Great. Like White Hole, this one is heavier on the concept than the comedy so while I still enjoy watching it, I've seen it enough times that the impact has dulled a little for me. Still though, it is funny and well-executed. It looks great, down to the little visual effect on Kryten when he's affected by the virus, and Denis Lill is good as always.

S6E4 "EMOHAWK -- POLYMORPH II"

A really fun romp. I love how they cram three different bits of fan-service into one episode! 

The outside stuff looks good, the GELF make-up is surprisingly good, and the polymorph effects are improved.

S6E5 "RIMMERWORLD"

I'm not terribly enthusiastic about this one. It barely spends any time with the actual concept of the episode - a society of Rimmers might be a mash-up of Me2 and Terrorform, but it's different enough that they could have done something with it. But they spend most of the ep getting to it, then they spend two minutes in it. It's a stew of nice individual moments and busywork without a core to keep it all together.

S6E6 "OUT OF TIME"

I love it, it's up there with Back To Reality for me. Perfect mix of comedy and drama, looks great, well-structured, cool effects, great performances.

SEASON 7

So many bad creative choices in the first ten minutes alone, it's painful.

THE PROMISED LAND (post-Season XII special)

Painfully, embarrassingly bad. The tight writing and acting from S6 is all gone, this feels like a dress rehearsal or something.

One big audience-pleasing joke: they find a backup disk for Holly. It is an oversized version of a 3.5" floppy disk. (And bizarrely there is a second round of applause for the reveal that there is a very big disk drive slot for it to go in.) Terrible.

NOVELS
(forum posts)

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (or 'Red Dwarf' as the inside cover refers to it) is still great, and stands up as a sci-fi novel without knowledge of the tv show. It's a shame Grant Naylor couldn't have stuck together and kept on writing novels that loosely followed the continuing show past series 2.

...

I'm now reading 'Better Than Life'. It's pretty cool, but it's spending a bit too long in the game at the start. I'm looking forward to the bit where Lister makes friends with giant cockroaches.

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Not enjoying the second novel as much - it's starting to feel a bit too much like lazy transcripts of various episodes.

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BTL has got to the cockroaches bit, and it's brilliant - all the trash planet stuff is genius - really clever, exciting, hilarious Adams-esque sci-fi-com that they couldn't have done in telly.

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I've also got the two next novels, 'The Last Human' and 'Backwards', which I can't remember anything about except one of them having some stupid pink anti-grav prison in it.

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I'm reading Backwards now. As usual, the new bits are really good, the transcripts a bit rubbish. The other problem is that it takes too long over each section, doesn't have an overarching plot so it feels aimless, and it's forgotten to do character/comedy stuff as well as plot (perhaps with plot-man Naylor not supporting him, Grant overcompensated). It even has Rimmer being a bit too heroic and likeable quite often.

...

Finished all the novels. Backwards and The Last Human are okay, but suffer from similar problems - the episode-transcript thing, just starting to not feel like Red Dwarf anymore - especially as both take the series 6 'chasing RD' route - and not really having a very strong narrative drive. Neither novel seems to be going anywhere - Lister's quest to find Earth/tow it back to our solar system is forgotten, in place of a series of events that take them so far away from the original premise that Backwards resorts to going to an alternate reality where all that stuff in the past couple of novels didn't happen. Also, both get rather too dark - lots of death, sex and sadism.

They're both good enough writers to keep it interesting, but they do only have one or two literary devices each, which they use repeatedly, and the books just never feel as satisfying as the first (and to an extent the second).