I'm fairly sure I'd seen all of series eight before, but I have no idea how, because, yes, those were the days when you had to actually watch things week-by-week on television or they were gone. It first aired when I was ten years old, and I think I caught some of it then, but I doubt I was diligent enough to keep up with the schedule at that age. Maybe I saw it via the endless repeats on Dave. (Er, Dave is a television channel. I don't know if you're aware of that, but it occurred to me that that sentence probably sounds odd if you're not.)

Some of the writing is dated now, but it's still funny and often feels more contemporary than you'd expect.

Yes! I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that, when your show's set in the far future, it's hard to rely on current events or pop culture for your jokes (although they do sneak a few references in there).

The low-budget nature of the show is probably a feature, not a (star?)bug, since cheap model f/x look pretty much the same no matter when they're being made.

This is a great observation that hasn't really occurred to me.