Mundane observation dome

[Warbodog]

Do you have any miscellaneous insights on the series that may be worth contemplating for a few seconds before moving on with our lives? Here are some of mine.

1. The four regulars have names that can work any way around, though this would have been more obvious if David Ross had stayed and wouldn’t work if Chris Barrie used his real name.

2. The series’ lax attitude to continuity extends to the setting. Outside of Holly’s distress calls, I don’t think three million years is mentioned all that much after series I and before VI (not sure about later years). Instead, we get the extremely fudged “dead for centuries” and “travelling for thousands of years” – not actual retcons, but suggesting a more conventional setting for casual viewers tuning in and the sort of stories they’re telling. It’s only millions when they need it to be.

3. 200 years of stasis between series V and VI means that the earlier series took place in their equivalent of the early 19th century by comparison (e.g. Blackadder the Third). Since they didn’t run into a long-lived Camille or one of her great-great-etc grandchildren, it didn’t come up.

4. Although Lister is routinely slagged off in the series, he’s spared the level of seemingly authoritative character assassination that Rimmer gets, because the audience is aligned with Lister’s viewpoint most of the time. For example, we see Kochanski Camille belittling Rimmer’s interests, but we don’t get the equivalent of Hologram Camille reacting to Lister’s pickup lines, we’re left to form our own opinions on those. This flimsy point has not been considered much beyond this single example.

5. Cat’s costumes are overwhelmingly referenced more than anyone else’s in the series, but the least discussed by fans.

6. Ace Rimmer and Duane Dibbley were so seemingly ubiquitous in canon and tie-in merchandise through the 90s (Smegazine strips, T-shirts) that they still feel overused today, even though it’s been over 20 years since they appeared. Maybe they’re allowed back after all.

7. Only series III & V and maybe XI & XII (not as familiar with those) don’t have any sense of an arc whatsoever (though IV’s minor Kryten disobedience arc was already fucked up by episode shuffling). Series III is just about the only series where no episode directly references any previous episode, but it still has the Backwards scrolling text and general references to Rimmer having died and stuff.

8. One of the series’ most famous and quoted scenes – everybody’s dead, Dave – is a straight-up 2001: A Space Odyssey homage and would have been received that way at the time, but doesn’t work like that for most people coming to the episode later on or new viewers who are young or don’t watch old films.

9. Sometimes dismissed as lightweight and gimmicky today, Backwards was designed as an innovative interactive experience to reward extracurricular effort. As well as inviting fans to work out the backwards events and filming logistics, Arthur Smith’s eugolonom is teasingly long and “you scoundrels” is clearly a cleaned-up translation gag even before you’ve heard it. Unfortunately, by the time technology caught up with the intent and the ability to reverse media files properly on home computers became commonplace, Backwards Forwards came out and everyone just cheated with the walkthrough.

Imagine the quality of the musings I left out!

Topic

[Jenuall]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Cowboys?

[Jonathan Capps]

What would a good alternative title for Gunmen be?

Krytie TV

[Flap Jack]

A Diskful of Dollars

[Unrumble]

Butch Accountant & the Yuppie Kid

[Ridley]

Android Get Your Gun

[International Debris]

Horsemen of the Apocalypse, only the horsemen have guns. Gunmen of the Apocalypse. It’s a fairly rudimentary but simple to understand bit of wordplay, surely?

[Flap Jack]

But as they have both horses and guns in the episode, the title should really be Gunhorsemen of the Apocalypse.

[Pete Part Three]

Horsemen of the Apocalypse, only the horsemen have guns. Gunmen of the Apocalypse. It’s a fairly rudimentary but simple to understand bit of wordplay, surely?

Um, yes. That was my point. Why is the wordplay there, when the characters are horsemen (cowboys)? It’s not really wordplay if you’re swapping something that’s already relevant for something else.

Put it this way; it’s like the fucking stupid Doctor Who title “Spyfall”. Spyfall is clearly a pun of Skyfall, which is a Bond movie, so it implies the story is about spies to anyone who has seen “Skyfall”.

But when you’re also changing the first bit of the word to “spy”, it’s like being hit over the head with the pun.

[International Debris]

Because the horsemen of the apocalypse aren’t, traditionally, cowboys. Nor do they carry guns. And Gunmen of the Apocalypse, with its little bit of wordplay, makes a more interesting title than Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is unimaginative and generic.

[Bosco13]

I figured it was just meant to sound cool rather than make sense

[Pete Part Three]

Because the horsemen of the apocalypse aren’t, traditionally, cowboys. Nor do they carry guns.

But cowboys are, traditionally, “horsemen”.

makes a more interesting title than Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is unimaginative and generic.

What, like “Legion”, which is another biblical reference (and was originally titled “Call Me Legion”)? Surely the interesting thing about titles are letting people have preconceptions about what the stories could entail, and then surprising them by taking a core idea and giving it a sci-fi spin?

[Jenuall]

Titles don’t have to be a riddle wrapped in an enigma, sometimes it’s okay for them to be a bit simpler.

Though for that matter I don’t think either Gunmen or Legion are boring/unimaginative titles

[pi r squared]

What, like “Legion”, which is another biblical reference (and was originally titled “Call Me Legion”)? Surely the interesting thing about titles are letting people have preconceptions about what the stories could entail, and then surprising them by taking a core idea and giving it a sci-fi spin?

With the added knowledge of how the episode pans out, “Legion” is obviously a biblical reference, but I’m not sure that would be anyone’s first go-to assumption based on title alone. “<…>men of the Apocalypse” clearly is a more overt reference.

I have never really seen the term “horsemen” used in any other context than the “of the Apocalypse” one, but surely at best we would say that cowboys (with guns) are a subset of horsemen – a horseman does not automatically imply guns, and the more overt reference clearly does not suggest guns either, so I don’t think the “gunmen” wordplay is bashing its audience over the head in the way you think it is.

[Dave]

Arguably Gunmen Of The Apocalypse would have been a more apt title for Tikka To Ride.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

And Tikka to Ride would have been more apt for the deleted ending to DNA when Lister fucks the curry monster …

Oh wait, wrong thread.

[Flap Jack]

Arguably Gunmen Of The Apocalypse would have been a more apt title for Tikka To Ride.

For a second there you got me excited that we might have a fresh candidate for the “Interchangeable Episode Titles” thread, but then I checked and found that it had already been posted.

You’re a quick one, Dave, but Dave-of-9-months-ago was quicker.

Interchangeable Episode Titles

[Dave]

You’re a quick one, Dave, but Dave-of-9-months-ago was quicker.

[Welding Mallet]

Series V is probably the most accomplished of them all (please don’t hit me), but I do get annoyed at the level of Kryten’s exposition skills. In the very same series where it is confirmed to us that he’s a lavatory attendant he somehow knows what a Psi-Moon is.

Just makes the overlooking of Hattie Holly all the more sad…

[Dave]

In the very same series where it is confirmed to us that he’s a lavatory attendant he somehow knows what a Psi-Moon is.

I think this is intentional though. Kryten thinks of himself as being only a lowly mechanoid but he’s clearly picked up a lot of knowledge over the years and is a lot smarter and more capable than he gives himself credit for.

It’s Snacky Syndrome.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

In the very same series where it is confirmed to us that he’s a lavatory attendant he somehow knows what a Psi-Moon is.

I think this is intentional though. Kryten thinks of himself as being only a lowly mechanoid but he’s clearly picked up a lot of knowledge over the years and is a lot smarter and more capable than he gives himself credit for.
It’s Snacky Syndrome.

It is perhaps also something that they should have explored more in Krysis. Like, with Butler aboard Starbug, they get in trouble, and only Kryten knows how to save the day as only he has the experience of all the different weird space phenomena having travelled far and wide for years, whilst Butler stayed at home painting.

[Warbodog]

Series V is probably the most accomplished of them all (please don’t hit me)

I’ve always had the sense that V was the popular fan favourite, with II being the connoisseur pick. (I’ve never been all that big on II outside of a few episodes).

[Jenuall]

Series V is probably the most accomplished of them all (please don’t hit me)

I’ve always had the sense that V was the popular fan favourite, with II being the connoisseur pick. (I’ve never been all that big on II outside of a few episodes).

If I was in a “gun to the head” type situation and was forced to make a choice for best series then I would probably plump for V. It’s the most consistent for me – as well as having some of the shows highest highs it is also impressive in that it has a real lack of any dips or low points across the episodes. But then for me all of the “bubble” era series of I-VI are incredibly tight.

In the very same series where it is confirmed to us that he’s a lavatory attendant he somehow knows what a Psi-Moon is.

I think this is intentional though. Kryten thinks of himself as being only a lowly mechanoid but he’s clearly picked up a lot of knowledge over the years and is a lot smarter and more capable than he gives himself credit for.
It’s Snacky Syndrome.
It is perhaps also something that they should have explored more in Krysis. Like, with Butler aboard Starbug, they get in trouble, and only Kryten knows how to save the day as only he has the experience of all the different weird space phenomena having travelled far and wide for years, whilst Butler stayed at home painting.

Has he done that much travelling though? He spent the best part of 3 million years looking after the dead crew of the Nova 5 – we don’t really learn much about what he got up to before that so it’s hard to believe the Nova 5 did enough exploring for him to have come into contact with all the weird space phenomena he seems to know about.

Maybe he’s just more curious than the rest of the crew, whilst the likes of Lister and Cat are busy playing Durex volleyball perhaps Kryten is spending his time reading all the logs of the various derelicts they pass?

[Dave]

perhaps Kryten is spending his time reading all the logs of the various derelicts they pass?

As long as he didn’t read this one.

[Pete Part Three]

Anyone else notice a slight similarity with the closing theme and the bridge in Bowie’s Loving the Alien?

(1:24-ish)

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Maybe he’s just more curious than the rest of the crew, whilst the likes of Lister and Cat are busy playing Durex volleyball perhaps Kryten is spending his time reading all the logs of the various derelicts they pass?

Well, he has travelled with our crew for a few years. That’s more than Butler, and often they are getting into scraps.

But it’s clear Kryten downloads logs of other ships and studies them. He has a wealth of knowledge about the history of humanity and all the shit that’s happened beyond what Butler could learn sticking to his ship/region of space.

Kryten has taken it upon himself to learn and become useful scientifically, because he has the processing power to do so with ease.

[Jenuall]

perhaps Kryten is spending his time reading all the logs of the various derelicts they pass?

As long as he didn’t read this one.

He took one look at the authors previous work and just checked out:

[Jenuall]

Maybe he’s just more curious than the rest of the crew, whilst the likes of Lister and Cat are busy playing Durex volleyball perhaps Kryten is spending his time reading all the logs of the various derelicts they pass?

Well, he has travelled with our crew for a few years. That’s more than Butler, and often they are getting into scraps.
But it’s clear Kryten downloads logs of other ships and studies them. He has a wealth of knowledge about the history of humanity and all the shit that’s happened beyond what Butler could learn sticking to his ship/region of space.
Kryten has taken it upon himself to learn and become useful scientifically, because he has the processing power to do so with ease.

Do you dabble in reading logs?

[Pete Part Three]

Anyone else notice a slight similarity with the closing theme and the bridge in Bowie’s Loving the Alien?

(1:24-ish)

Oh, ignore me. This is old news according to google and also this very website.

[Warbodog]

I had The Log, but not that other beauty. “Utter mayhem!” Excited for the Craig Charles Book Club.

[clem]

Anyone else notice a slight similarity with the closing theme and the bridge in Bowie’s Loving the Alien?

(1:24-ish)
Oh, ignore me. This is old news according to google and also this very website.

This might be common knowledge too but the Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine track ‘Surfin’ USM’ begins with a sample from Bodyswap. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yMRVmkMlk6M

[Dave]

I’d never seen that before. Great!

[RunawayTrain]

An observation of fan perception rather than the show:

I came across a Twitter thread ranking the episodes in the user’s favoured order. Camille came below Krytie TV, Queeg was below {sobs} Pete and BITR because it was ‘boring’ now they’ve seen it so often! These were the two lowest-ranked eps of the BBC-era, 60 and 51 respectively. Much of series I and II came in the low/middle, most of VII was middling/top third … and number 1 was Siliconia!

Just blew my mind, to see such a COMPLETELY different perception of the episodes. Absolutely amazing.

[GlenTokyo]

An observation of fan perception rather than the show:

I came across a Twitter thread ranking the episodes in the user’s favoured order. Camille came below Krytie TV, Queeg was below {sobs} Pete and BITR because it was ‘boring’ now they’ve seen it so often! These were the two lowest-ranked eps of the BBC-era, 60 and 51 respectively. Much of series I and II came in the low/middle, most of VII was middling/top third … and number 1 was Siliconia!
Just blew my mind, to see such a COMPLETELY different perception of the episodes. Absolutely amazing.

I sometimes find it hard to wrap my head around the disparate nature of Red Dwarf fan sub groups.

To me, it’s crazy town to put anything post VI above anything pre VII, but some people care more about the gags than anything, and the broader, more tried and true sitcom comedy style of VIII and Dave Dwarf mean it really appeals to some, but less for the people who liked the sci-fi believability.

It’s like Lister’s speech in Ouroboros, Red Dwarf fans can never go extinct because as one group dwindles there’s always a new subgroup popping up.

Teenage girls on Tumblr that want Rimmer and Lister to fuck are the latest generation, which will make for some interesting Dimension Jumps in the future I’m sure.

There’ll be a group of 10 year olds being prepared by watching their parents DVDs that will eventually dress a bit like Paul Montague and won’t touch anything Red Dwarf that wasn’t filmed in Manchester or something.

[Warbodog]

I’ll always give a boost to original eras over revivals, whether it’s a TV show, discography or genre copycats, so even if I-VI isn’t mostly objectively best (which it probably is), it’s got the freshness and the classic look, atmosphere and nostalgia going for it that make even the weaker ones a luxuriously indulgent experience. I think my next poll ranking will reflect this actual love more unapologetically than feeling duty bound to rank some good Daves above the likes of Balance of Power – sorry, objectivity fans! We’ll die off one day.

I once saw a top 10 on YouTube (can’t find it now) that was largely sensible but included Identity Within. They were probably showing off though. But then, I consider the first novel to be the single best Red Dwarf ‘thing,’ which would seem crazy to many (but benefits from the show existing for the imaginary performances). Non-coincidentally, I read it before I’d properly seen anything earlier than VI, so it was my first go around with those stories.

Nostalgia and early exposure play a big part, but they can be overruled. Series VIII and especially VII should be nostalgic as hell for me, but I find most of them repellant, having problems with them at the time and disowning them before the DVD era (Cassandra’s still good though).

[Welding Mallet]

Anyone else notice a slight similarity with the closing theme and the bridge in Bowie’s Loving the Alien?

(1:24-ish)
Oh, ignore me. This is old news according to google and also this very website.
This might be common knowledge too but the Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine track ‘Surfin’ USM’ begins with a sample from Bodyswap. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yMRVmkMlk6M

Indeed, said clip opens the album itself!

[Welding Mallet]

An observation of fan perception rather than the show:

I came across a Twitter thread ranking the episodes in the user’s favoured order. Camille came below Krytie TV, Queeg was below {sobs} Pete and BITR because it was ‘boring’ now they’ve seen it so often! These were the two lowest-ranked eps of the BBC-era, 60 and 51 respectively. Much of series I and II came in the low/middle, most of VII was middling/top third … and number 1 was Siliconia!
Just blew my mind, to see such a COMPLETELY different perception of the episodes. Absolutely amazing.
I sometimes find it hard to wrap my head around the disparate nature of Red Dwarf fan sub groups.
To me, it’s crazy town to put anything post VI above anything pre VII, but some people care more about the gags than anything, and the broader, more tried and true sitcom comedy style of VIII and Dave Dwarf mean it really appeals to some, but less for the people who liked the sci-fi believability.
It’s like Lister’s speech in Ouroboros, Red Dwarf fans can never go extinct because as one group dwindles there’s always a new subgroup popping up.
Teenage girls on Tumblr that want Rimmer and Lister to fuck are the latest generation, which will make for some interesting Dimension Jumps in the future I’m sure.
There’ll be a group of 10 year olds being prepared by watching their parents DVDs that will eventually dress a bit like Paul Montague and won’t touch anything Red Dwarf that wasn’t filmed in Manchester or something.

This is very true. At my old workplace a colleague who knew that my “homeboys” and I were fans accosted us one day after she caught “that really funny bit when they can’t play basketball because…you know”.
I don’t think she saw our shared grimaces….

[International Debris]

I’ll always give a boost to original eras over revivals, whether it’s a TV show, discography or genre copycats, so even if I-VI isn’t mostly objectively best (which it probably is), it’s got the freshness and the classic look, atmosphere and nostalgia going for it that make even the weaker ones a luxuriously indulgent experience.

Yeah, I struggle to find <i>anything</i> that comes back from a hiatus – TV, music, book series – that properly recaptures the magic of the original version. Atmosphere is a huge part of my enjoyment of these things, and the look and feel of later Dwarf will always make it feel slightly off for me – I suppose that ties in with my Wafflem’n topic of not being able to enjoy the Dave era because it doesn’t have a slightly grainy video look. There are a handful of Doug solo episodes I’ll be putting in the bubble for the 2023 poll (The Emerald Experiment?), but for the most part even the best Dave stuff really feels more like a nice bonus rather than part of the version of the show I actually love.

[GlenTokyo]

I’ll always give a boost to original eras over revivals, whether it’s a TV show, discography or genre copycats, so even if I-VI isn’t mostly objectively best (which it probably is), it’s got the freshness and the classic look, atmosphere and nostalgia going for it that make even the weaker ones a luxuriously indulgent experience. I think my next poll ranking will reflect this actual love more unapologetically than feeling duty bound to rank some good Daves above the likes of Balance of Power – sorry, objectivity fans! We’ll die off one day.

I once saw a top 10 on YouTube (can’t find it now) that was largely sensible but included Identity Within. They were probably showing off though. But then, I consider the first novel to be the single best Red Dwarf ‘thing,’ which would seem crazy to many (but benefits from the show existing for the imaginary performances). Non-coincidentally, I read it before I’d properly seen anything earlier than VI, so it was my first go around with those stories.
Nostalgia and early exposure play a big part, but they can be overruled. Series VIII and especially VII should be nostalgic as hell for me, but I find most of them repellant, having problems with them at the time and disowning them before the DVD era (Cassandra’s still good though).

Yeah I agree actually, IWCD is to me the best of Red Dwarf, and I read it after I’d seen the first six series a million times. It’s all the bits you love from the show expanded on and given more room, and with some great moments that wouldn’t have fit the tone of the show but are fantastic.

Some high budget CGI adaptation with all the cast doing voices would be heaven.

I have a bit of nostalgia for VII, because I remember being so excited when I heard about it happening after such a gap, and for the t-shirt with the skeletons on, and Radio Times covers, not so much for the episodes.

[Dave]

I have a bit of nostalgia for VII, because I remember being so excited when I heard about it happening after such a gap, and for the t-shirt with the skeletons on, and Radio Times covers, not so much for the episodes.

Same here. I remember sitting down to watch Tikka, hugely excited, and really wanting to love it but immediately knowing it wasn’t quite the show I loved. Then discussing it with friends at school shortly afterwards and realising that everyone had gone through a similar experience with it.

[Warbodog]

Tikka was good enough that I didn’t have any issues with it at 11, but the next episode being rubbish, overly serious and getting rid of a character (maybe the best one) because the actor presumably couldn’t be bothered any more didn’t go down well.

I felt spoiled by Red Dwarf Night as a concept in 1998, but felt petulant about it being packaged in a VII vibe and this being what Red Dwarf was now, without the assurance that that era and style were already over (VIII was at least fresh at first).

[Jenuall]

Tikka is stronger than a lot of what came later in VII but even on the first watch of that episode I knew that the magic was missing.

It didn’t help that it was the first series I went into with significant preconceptions and fears – I started watching when VI first broadcast, then spent the next few years hoovering up the VHS content available, reading the books, Smegazines etc. so not only did the return have to live up to the level of indulging in that much goodness in a relatively short space of time, but also I was loosely aware of the behind the scenes issues leading up to VII which probably put my viewing experience on the back foot from the get go.

I very rarely re-watch VII or VIII but I do agree with a sentiment that has been echoed many times which is that the existence of the “solid if not always spectacular” Dave era has allowed my feelings toward those final two BBC series to mellow in recent years. They are no longer the last bits of Dwarf available and the fact that we have subsequently received better episodes means it’s much easier to not hold a grudge against VII and VIII!

[Welding Mallet]

The 14-year old me was far from the most of discerning TV viewers, but I remember being massively disappointed that when I finally got to see a NEW edition of Red Dwarf on the same day as everybody else it was just a knockabout romp based on an extremely serious event that happened 34 years earlier.

That has coloured my judgment ever since…and yet I still think it’s the best episode of that series…

[Flap Jack]

Teenage girls on Tumblr that want Rimmer and Lister to fuck are the latest generation, which will make for some interesting Dimension Jumps in the future I’m sure.

My initial reaction to this was “well, why not? It’s pretty much just the 3 or 4 of them in the crew alone with each other for the whole rest of Lister’s life, and already decades have passed. You’d think they’d try it at least once out of boredom.” but of course for this to be a likely event within the continuity of Red Dwarf, the show would need to actually treat the problem of Lister’s long term loneliness, boredom and probable depression seriously. And it doesn’t, for obvious reasons.

Anyone actually in Lister’s situation who managed to (via sci-fi plot devices) meet other living humans after coping with so much isolation and such little hope would be overcome with joy. Like broken down and weeping, obsessively following them around and talking to them, refusing to go back to the status quo etc. Yet whenever this happens – Stasis Leak, Parallel Universe, Backwards, Camille, Ouroboros, BACK IN THE RED, Back to Earth, Entangled, Twentica etc. – Lister is pretty darn chill about it, relatively speaking.

You could argue that the reason he’s chill is because it actually ends up happening quite often, but there’s still large stretches of in-universe time between most of these incidents, and he doesn’t exactly have reason to think these opportunities will keep coming.

[International Debris]

I still don’t like Tikka – it’s crammed with really, really awful gags, it almost entirely takes place on 20th century Earth, it destroys Kryten’s character within five minutes, and only exists by completely contradicting its own rules of time travel within the same episode – although I enjoyed some of it at the time. VII never felt quite right as a 12 year old – it was immediately my least favourite series – but I think I actually appreciated the more dramatic elements and the slight world-building elements, as well as finding some of it funny, especially Blue.

VIII felt really, really off to me on first watch. I wasn’t an even remotely critical viewer of anything before then, but from Chris’s performance in the opening scene I immediately realised this wasn’t right, and although some of the more questionable bits – knob gags and misogyny – appealed more to my 14 year old self than they do now, the series has always felt rough around the edges to me, only moreso over time.

I think it’s possible to put some of the blame of one’s own criticism on getting to know a show and then new versions not feeling quite as good – the gap between VI and VII meant that it would be seen by a lot of people as ‘new’ Dwarf, rather than stuff that was always around – only I didn’t see IV until 1998, and the first half of V until 2000, and they were immediately better than VII and VIII.

& I hate VIII as much now as I did in 2008. The existence of nine or ten ‘almost classic’ episodes hasn’t made it seem any better in hindsight.

[Warbodog]

only I didn’t see IV until 1998, and the first half of V until 2000, and they were immediately better than VII and VIII.

I won’t have been the only one seeing (most of) I-III for the first time when remastered was broadcast, and Back in the Red aired literally days after Parallel Universe so it wasn’t such a huge deal. It just had the bonuses of being current and not already knowing the plots from the programme guide.

I enjoyed it uncritically until Pete Part 2, which was so clearly a load of shite in a way that Back in the Red part 3 somehow hadn’t been. I went into the finale not really caring, but then I got to see the rest of unseen III-V on TV and video over the next year, so I wasn’t left hanging on VIII in quite the same way.

[Warbodog]

Abstract: Red Dwarf’s casual/deliberate retrofuturism is a joke that ages like wine, but it also helped the analogue neanderthals of the past to relate to confusing concepts and makes for a nice catalogue of the development and familiarity with computing since the 1980s. The modern series has seemingly held back in updating these references in keeping with the spirit of the old shows.

– Set details of 80s-90s computers (Commodore 64, Amiga 2000) and CRT monitors making way for touchscreens, obviously. That’s most sci-fi shows.

– “Reboot startup disk” and “offline” in The Last Day is the first computer speak I can think of. References to computing in 1991 are more like awkward shout-outs for spods (gosub a program loop, “ASC-2 code”). By 1993 there’s enough general awareness of computer viruses to base a story around it. By the late 90s, files are being accessed and deleted from Kryten’s RAM / hard disk / CPU.*

– Not sure how much of a joke Kryten’s ticker tape damage control report was supposed to be in 1989. By 1992 we see his on-screen readout. Terminator did it ages before, so doesn’t really mean anything. Maybe I’m thinking of RoboCop.

– Holly falling in love with a 1980s ZX-81 home computer was obviously supposed to be amusingly anachronistic even at the time, but having mechanoids use calculators and photocopiers as reference points when conversing with each other, maybe for the sake of the audience, gets funnier the more obsolete those become.

Early series Kryten is a car, because that’s technology we understand:

– GTI model variant with sunroof head
– Analogue radio dial / temperature control nipples
– Thumb cigarette lighter (deleted scene)
– 523P surname is like an old registration plate (a stretch, but could also explain why they misremembered 2X4B as being three characters later)
– Even by 2016, his new bodyshell and sound system are a midlife crisis car joke
– Electric charging socket (ahead of their time)
– Not sure whether 3000/4000 Series nomenclature is a car thing, but it could come from computers like the contemporary Amiga 1000/2000/4000 line used for on-set keyboards

– I might just be forgetting, but the modern series has seemingly held back from making too many current internet/technology references, which helps it to stay true to the old spirit and nicely escapist, I don’t want social media jokes. The virus/firewall situation from Mechocracy could have come from the late 90s.

* Bonus observation: Kryten’s RAM is in his head in Tikka to Ride. They use his head as a battering RAM in White Hole. That’s Babylon 5 level foreshadowing.

Maybe there’s something in all that.

[Hamish]

Even by 2016, his new bodyshell and sound system are a midlife crisis car joke

Kryten is also basically shown to be a car when his battery goes flat in Twentica.

[Dave]

I always thought Kryten’s display in Terrorform was meant to be decidedly Robocop-esque, as opposed to the very Terminator-esque Hudzen display.

[Jenuall]

ZX-81 references work because it was a well known UK computer, more specifically it was well known for crashing and often being problematic to load.

In the late 80s to early 90s even a relatively tech phobic audience would have known enough to get the joke

[Warbodog]

Between Red Dwarf and disparaging references in Amiga public domain games, the ZX81’s always had a bad rap second-hand.

I don’t think they’ve specifically targeted other systems since, but Kryten making a Windows joke wouldn’t be out of place.

I wouldn’t know that the hologram error eyes in Trojan were an Apple reference if it hadn’t been pointed out at the time.

I’m basically underqualified to speculate at length about computer references.

[Author]

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