Reaction
The changes received a mixed response from existing fans. Design changes, in particular to Red Dwarf, were generally disliked, and the shift from models to CGI was not seen as an improvement. 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). 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.
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.
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 web-streaming "Watch Instantly" 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.
Read more about this topic: Red Dwarf Remastered
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