"This is an SOS distress call from the mining ship Red Dwarf. The crew are dead, killed by a radiation leak.  The only survivors are Dave Lister who was in suspended animation during the disaster and his pregnant cat who was safely sealed in the hold.  Revived three million years later, Lister's only companions are a life-form evolved from his cat and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram simulation of one of the dead crew......"

"... Three million years from Earth.  The mining ship Red Dwarf.   It's crew; Dave Lister the last human being alive; Arnold Rimmer, a hologram of his dead bunk-mate; and a creature who evolved from the ships cat.  Message ends..."   

That was the rather terse introduction from the ships computer, Holly.  In this season, Lister, Rimmer and Cat's search for 'skin' (or any form of life - or any form of anything) continues....

"Three million years into the future Dave Lister, the last human being alive, discovers that he is pregnant after a liaison with a female self in a parallel universe.   His pregnancy concludes with the successful delivery of twin boys, Jim and Bexley...Lister returns them to the Universe of their origin..... Kryten, is found in pieces after his space bike crashed into an asteroid.  Lister re-builds it but is unable to recapture it's former personality.  Holly, the increasingly erratic Red Dwarf computer, performs a head sex-change operation on itself and becomes Hilly."

This is one of the Classic Red Dwarf seasons.  many people declared that their favourite episode was from this season (including the lovely Penny)  The superb 'Camille', 'Justice'  and 'D.N.A'  are probably the highlights. 

You will notice however, that Holly plays a lesser influence on the activities of the crew (probably because she/he is becoming increasingly erratic).  There is a greater emphasis on technology in this season.

This season produced probably the greatest example of comedy science fiction ever!  The 'Back to Reality' episode was voted by British Red Dwarf viewers as the best. 

In this season we also see Rimmer fall in love and even MORE strange is that his lover falls in love with HIM!!!  Each of the crew are forced to prove that they are worthy of their existence (meagre though it may be).

In this season we see some pretty hoopy exploration of sci fi concepts.   'The Gunmen of the Apocalypse' theme may have seemed a little ropey in terms of the science, but who the hell cares when yer too busy laughing.  Other magnificent episodes are 'Legion' and 'Emohawk' (where Dwayne Dibbly returns). 

Psirens gave us that wonderful scene where Lister passionately kisses a giant cockroach and of course, who can forget the face of Rimmer on a female body in 'Rimmerworld'  !!

For so long, it was believed that this would be the final series of and yet, it provided fans with better graphics and the introduction of the lovely Kochanski!   Unfortunately this was at the expense of Rimmer. Some of these episodes were so wacky, it was difficult to keep up.  High points of the season were 'Tikka to Ride' where JFK shoots himself! (from the grassy knoll no less!).

The eighth season was a whopper. The nanobots have re-constructed Red Dwarf in all it's glory BIG TIME! It is now approximately one hundred times larger AND complete with all the original crew!   Rimmer was also reconstructed and along with Lister, Kochanski and the Cat, they wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Captain Hollister. Highlights from this series include flying Starbug up a rats bum in the first episode, the family Dibbley and a wonderful but unfortunately doomed Cassandra.