Refresh For The Memory: Series 2 Byte 1

[Ian Symes]

You asked for it. Ahead of the forthcoming 35th anniversary poll, the G&T community is embarking on a big old rewatch, tackling half a series (or one feature length special) per week. This is your designated thread to make notes, share observations and start pondering your rankings.

This week, we’re watching KRYTEN, BETTER THAN LIFE and THANKS FOR THE MEMORY. Have at it!

Previous threads:

Series 1 Byte 1
Series 1 Byte 2

Topic

[Flap Jack]

“Better Than Life” is a really shit name for a video game, isn’t it?

Sure, but video games have crap names all the time. One of the best loved games ever is called “Metal Gear Solid”.

“Better Than Life” is a very similar name to “Second Life” in fact, and not any worse than it either.

[Flap Jack]

Thank You For The Memory – Absolutely a classic episode, and it’s not even the best episode of the series, so it’s going well! (Although it is a blatant rip-off of Dude, Where’s My Car?) As others have mentioned, this one’s full of great lines, and story wise it’s the next big relationship development between Rimmer and Lister. And despite how brief a time it had with the concept, the episode did a really good job showcasing the subjective nature of memory. How Rimmer can see exactly why and how “his” relationship with Lise failed and has understandably mixed emotions about it, while Lister views the exact same memories through a totally different lens.

– OK, so they contradicted Kryten by using the hologramatic projection cage, but eh, maybe the light bee was still on charge. Or perhaps the cage allows Holly to simulate other stuff for Rimmer to interact with in that area, for his death day, while a light bee can only do him and his clothes.

– So was 1988 outside of the era when the supposed copyright holders of “Happy Birthday To You” were getting litigious? Because if not they were skating on some thin ice here.

– Perfect drunk acting by Chris Barrie I think. Just understated enough for it to feel real but still be funny.

– Hollister is “Mr. Fat Bastard 2044”, so Lister and Rimmer’s home time must be the mid to late 21st century. Glad to have that firmly and absolutely established, never to be contradicted. (Don’t think about the fact that we’re now 12 years closer to Hollister hypothetically winning that award than we are to the day this episode first broadcast.)

– Between the jigsaw and Lister’s leather jacket with the custom font, there’s got to be an official Red Dwarf merch store on board the ship, right? I know some companies give their employees pens or T-shirts with their logo on it, but this is on another level.

– When Rimmer jumps into his bed you can clearly see the impact moves the pillow and the duvet. Show ruined.

– I often forget that this was another resurgence for Rimmer’s aliens obsession. Do we get many more of those after this?

– Is it just me, or are Cat and Lister’s legs no longer broken when they go to retrieve the black box? How long were they searching??

– Rimmer’s dream where he’s dancing feels like it’s missing something. Maybe the song just needed a clearer melody to it?

– Holly’s “He knows what he’s talking about, that dude” and Lister’s “Right, that’s it” when he finishes recording his memories are underrated moments.

– Given that from his perspective he just poured his heart out to Lister the previous night about only ever being with Yvonne McGruder and never being properly loved, you’d think that right out of the gate he would be very confused with his new Lise Yates memories. A “how could I have forgotten???” should at least be on the cards.

– When I think of the observation dome, I always picture Rimmer in his Better Than Life dressing gown get up, so it’s strange to see him there just in his regular uniform, even though it shouldn’t be.

– Lister and Cat dropping the gravestone: classic. One of my favourite moments of Series III.

– A few things that seem odd about the memory-erasing plan (I mean… odd beyond the concept itself): 1, that they can just erase living human memories as precisely and easily as they do a computer’s (which will happen again in M-Corp), 2, that they manage to erase their memories from outside the sleeping quarters but wake up in their beds (the skutters brought them back unconscious, maybe?), and 3, that they didn’t suspect their amnesiac selves would solve the mystery, or alternatively that they wouldn’t realise but Lister would just do the same plan all over again.

– It’s a bit over the top how Holly gravely warns them against finding out what happened in the recording, when it seems to me that what messed Rimmer up was personally experiencing having those memories in his head (and moreover his new memories of recalling them). Just learning that it happened shouldn’t be too bad.

– I agree that the ending is a bit on the abrupt side, and it feels slightly wrong that we don’t get any fallout or resolution with the present day crew after the one with the past crew. But the pause at the end where Lister completes the jigsaw (lovely credits transition by the way) means it’s not quite Officer Rimmer.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

One of the best loved games ever is called “Metal Gear Solid”.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

You’ve now got me thinking about how weird a name that is. Something I’d not questioned in 25 years. 

[Warbodog]

Given that from his perspective he just poured his heart out to Lister the previous night about only ever being with Yvonne McGruder and never being properly loved, you’d think that right out of the gate he would be very confused with his new Lise Yates memories. A “how could I have forgotten???” should at least be on the cards.

Probably, but he’s so overwhelmed by the new memories (maybe part of the artificiality of it all or Lister’s inexperienced programming) that he’s already brushing off the massive continuity errors in his backstory until Lister reveals the truth. Maybe some nagging suspicion he didn’t want to admit was why he was looking through Lister’s stuff to find the letters.

When I think of the observation dome, I always picture Rimmer in his Better Than Life dressing gown get up, so it’s strange to see him there just in his regular uniform, even though it shouldn’t be.

I think of Lister’s transparent cap and head in this episode that you can see the stars through.

When Rimmer jumps into his bed you can clearly see the impact moves the pillow and the duvet. Show ruined.

Rimmer’s bedding has to be holographic to work anyway, or he won’t feel it. They just dispensed with the Hs for once.

[Warbodog]

When Rimmer jumps into his bed you can clearly see the impact moves the pillow and the duvet. Show ruined.

Rimmer’s bedding has to be holographic to work anyway, or he won’t feel it. They just dispensed with the Hs for once.

Shit.

[Loathsome American]

The bedding is hologram-projected but visually responds to what would be physical interaction. So Lister is in an empty bunk that is simulating blankets and pillows getting rumpled. (I think there’s a scene in Series I where Cat is lying on Rimmer’s bed too, isn’t there?)

Alternately it’s a cozier application of the holo-whip technology: some very rudimentary hard light?

[Ian Symes]

One of the best loved games ever is called “Metal Gear Solid”.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

[Dave]

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Surely the answer to “how do we get to the restaurant thats a couple of miles down the beach?” in BTL isn’t for them to image a bike or car, but for the restaurant to appear immediately next to them.

[Ridley]

La li lu le lo wo bo ti do

[Flap Jack]

Why are fried egg, chilli sauce and chutney “wrong” on an individual level? They’re perfectly good ingredients/foods. It’s just the combination of the three which you expect to be bad but it isn’t.

You’re talking bollocks, Rimmer.

[Jonathan Capps]

La li lu le lo wo bo ti do

[International Debris]

Cheers for Memories

Not much to add to this well-discussed episode either. It’s probably my second favourite Red Dwarf episode, maybe third, we’ll see when it comes to voting next year. Just a wonderful character piece with a very clever plot and a stupendous amount of great gags. What more could you ask for?

My least favourite bit: Craig trying to say “and doing jigsaws?” with the identical intonation to Danny’s “by breaking legs?”. It sounds so, so awkward.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

La li lu le lo wo bo ti do

do to bo wo lo le lu li la

[Formica]

Sure, but video games have crap names all the time. One of the best loved games ever is called “Metal Gear Solid”.

“Better Than Life” is a very similar name to “Second Life” in fact, and not any worse than it either.

Maybe – although those names at least sort of sound like names. Better Than Life just sounds like a review or a tagline. It’s like if they’d made the proper name of MGS “Tactical Espionage Action” or “Beautiful, Engrossing, and Innovative”. Perhaps that’s just what’s in fashion for titling at that time, though, I could see it happening.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Why are fried egg, chilli sauce and chutney “wrong” on an individual level? They’re perfectly good ingredients/foods. It’s just the combination of the three which you expect to be bad but it isn’t.
You’re talking bollocks, Rimmer.

Individually those ingredients would be fine in a sandwich. I think Rimmer is talking about, individual for that sandwich it all sounds wrong. It shouldn’t work. But somehow, miraculously it does. 

I know that sounds like I’m just explaining the joke but I think there is a distinction, however slight between the separate ingredients and the ingredient choice for the sandwich. 

[Dave]

Maybe – although those names at least sort of sound like names. Better Than Life just sounds like a review or a tagline. It’s like if they’d made the proper name of MGS “Tactical Espionage Action” or “Beautiful, Engrossing, and Innovative”. Perhaps that’s just what’s in fashion for titling at that time, though, I could see it happening.

Bliss

[Stabbim]

I do find it interesting, in retrospect, that Kochanski doesn’t appear in Better Than Life. Given how thematically important Lister’s fixation on her is to the show as a whole, and how indulgent/addictive BTL is supposed to be (especially in the novel), it makes so much sense for her to be a key part of the game’s trap for Lister.  [After all, the game constructs McGruder for Rimmer; her one and only appearance.]

Guess the show depicts the early “boring” non-addictive version of the game referenced in the novel.

Well, I suppose they eventually covered that ground with the Psirens and the Euphoria(?) Squid in Back To Earth.

[Stabbim]

Why are fried egg, chilli sauce and chutney “wrong” on an individual level? They’re perfectly good ingredients/foods. It’s just the combination of the three which you expect to be bad but it isn’t.
You’re talking bollocks, Rimmer.

Rimmer’s a little higher up the social chain than Lister (not as much as he’d like to be), I just assumed this was just supposed to be a reflection of some [food] snobbery on Rimmer’s part.  He does invoke the sandwich as a metaphor for Lister, after all.

There’s nothing wrong with those ingredients, they’re just “lower class” from where Rimmer’s [wishing he was] sitting

[Flap Jack]

I do find it interesting, in retrospect, that Kochanski doesn’t appear
in Better Than Life. Given how thematically important Lister’s fixation
on her is to the show as a whole, and how indulgent/addictive BTL is
supposed to be (especially in the novel), it makes so much sense for her
to be a key part of the game’s trap for Lister.  [After all, the game
constructs McGruder for Rimmer; her one and only appearance.]

Well, even in the novel, Lister says that if he’d known it was all fake, he would have been dating supermodels and playing for the London Jets and such. Kochanski is part of his fantasy for an idealised real life, but TV BTL’s “have or do anything you want for an evening” fantasies are a bit different. Maybe Lister would be interested in a date with Kochanski in BTL, but ultimately he decides against it because he knows it’d just be his brain’s idea of her, not her for real.
Rimmer’s interest in McGruder is clearly a lot more superficial, so she fits in the fantasy for him.

[International Debris]

Lister doesn’t seem to get any sex in BTL, unlike the others, which is odd.

[Stabbim]

Lister doesn’t seem to get any sex in BTL, unlike the others, which is odd.

well, he’s had more of it IRL than the others.  Cat’s a virgin and Rimmer’s only ever been with one person for one time.  Sure, 3 million years into deep space they’re all desperately lonely now, but at least Lister has his memories of Lise Yates et al.  Cat and Rimmer just have What Ifs.

BTL’s programming probably read their minds as being more desperate to experience it, and thus provided them with partners more immediately.  Lister probably would have eventually dreamed up a supermodel, or Kochanski, or Pete Tranter’s Sister, but they stopped playing BTL before the game could get around to it.  His fantasy prioritized things he’d never done, like eat something as “classy” as a caviar vindaloo.

[Warbodog]

On the topic of Series 2 Byte 1, the lack of early series photoshoots is painful.

Interesting that they did need to credit the Happy Birthday song. Also interesting that the US cover is slightly different, using a different shot I’ve not seen before.

Presumably they’re pulling more American-friendly faces in that one.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

The background is different too.

[Flap Jack]

A random further thought I had about Better Than Life – was it a missed opportunity that Tony Hawks’ guide character never turns villainous as a result of Rimmer corrupting the game, he just stops appearing? It could have been fun to see how he played that.

[Unrumble]

A random further thought I had about Better Than Life – was it a missed opportunity that Tony Hawks’ guide character never turns villainous as a result of Rimmer corrupting the game, he just stops appearing? It could have been fun to see how he played that.

Bit obvious, but I couldn’t resist 

[Jonathan Capps]

[Flap Jack]

A gross insult to Mr. Hawks’ incredible range as an actor… ! He disappears into all his roles, he’s like the Daniel Day-Lewis of Dwarf.

[Dave]

[clem]

BTL is my least favourite episode so far. Some really good stuff in the first half but once they’re in the game I find it unengaging overall. An ambitious idea that doesn’t quite come off and is vastly better served in the novels. 

That mermaid costume is incredibly ropey.

With hindsight, Rimmer’s fantasy with the jam and ants is clearly inspired by what his brothers are doing to him in the home movie in Polymorph. 

[Flap Jack]

#DwarfFact: After filming his scenes as the Compère in ‘Backwards’, Tony Hawks spoke and walked backwards for a year to prepare for the role.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

A random further thought I had about Better Than Life – was it a missed opportunity that Tony Hawks’ guide character never turns villainous as a result of Rimmer corrupting the game, he just stops appearing? It could have been fun to see how he played that.

Like Jumanji, I thought the tax man was meant to be Rimmer’s dad. 

But Tony Hawks turning villainous would have been great. 

[Dave]

#DwarfFact: After filming his scenes as the Compère in ‘Backwards’, Tony Hawks spoke and walked backwards for a year to prepare for the role.

He also insisted on being referred to only as Skwah Ynot.

[Stilianides]

Thanks for the Memory – 

A very high quality episode and it was nice to hear Rob speaking with such obvious pride about it in the Lockdown commentary. As he said then, the combination of the mystery element and the character stuff makes it Dwarf at pretty much its best.

The location filming works well and it’s nice to see the four characters attempting to get along together as uneasy friends. It was a very smart decision to dispense with Rimmer’s cage from this point onwards, though.

I love the sandwich scene and think the whole first half of the episode is very strong. Even the deleted scenes contain a few decent gags.

The Remastered version has some of the most pointless changes with the music removed from Rimmer’s dancing dream sequence (why?) and music added to some other scenes that only distracts from the dialog.

[Dave]

The Remastered version has some of the most pointless changes with the music removed from Rimmer’s dancing dream sequence (why?)

Thanks For The Mimery

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

In the Thanks for the Memory opening Holly says they have enough food and drink to last 30,000 years.  But just the other week they were using dog milk.  I’d say that they took supplies from Nova 5, but wasn’t Kryten meant to come later in the series original?

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Also, Cat isn’t wearing his gold space suit … again probably because Kryten was meant to come later.  But its a glaring plot hole!

[cwickham]

Kryten was recorded fourth, and moved up to first because it came out so well.

Series 1 was definitely recorded in the order it was meant to go out in, with Future Echoes getting moved from fourth to second, felt most likely to keep viewers watching, yadda yadda, but AFAIK we don’t have any proof that that was also the case (or not) for Series 2 (obvs Queeg was done last and Parallel Universe fifth for some unknown reason, but that could have just been having to swap them over for some production-related reason and they were otherwise RXed in planned TX order).

[Flap Jack]

In the Thanks for the Memory opening Holly says they have enough food
and drink to last 30,000 years.  But just the other week they were using
dog milk.  I’d say that they took supplies from Nova 5, but wasn’t
Kryten meant to come later in the series original?

Well, just because they have thousands of years worth of food in general, doesn’t mean they have plentiful supply of everything (hence the shake ‘n vac and after eight mint gags). Adult human beings – and cats – do not need dairy to live. Let alone dairy from a specific animal.

I’ve no idea how Red Dwarf had enough food to support the entire cat race for 3 million years and still has anything left over, but that’s another question.

Also, Cat isn’t wearing his gold space suit … again probably because
Kryten was meant to come later.  But its a glaring plot hole!

I guess he just put in extra effort in Kryten because he was expecting to meet women. You can argue it’s out of character for Cat to settle for a regular spacesuit, but it’s also out of character for him to repeat outfits anyway.

[Jenuall]

30,000 years is how long dogs milk lasts

[Formica]

It’s possible that for a while Queeg was meant to be the final episode until they came up with the ending to PU. It’s not exactly made of finale material otherwise, whereas Queeg at least plays with the concept of a major cast change the way Me² does.

[cwickham]

The cliffhanger – which they were committed enough to to start writing “Dad” and only abandoned it because they felt they couldn’t make it work – does sort of mean you have to put it last though. And Tongue Tied does have a definite end-of-term feel about it.

There is that very strange improvised ending on the Bodysnatcher docco, though, where it turns out Rimmer was only joking and Lister isn’t pregnant… wonder if that was filmed as a contingency plan or something.

[Rudolph]

I’ve no idea how Red Dwarf had enough food to support the entire cat
race for 3 million years and still has anything left over, but that’s
another question.

I’ve always had a theory that the botannical gardens mentioned in a few episodes were one of the areas sealed off from the radiation leak, and that the Cats used it for farming. It gave me the idea for an episode, where the crew venture deep into this miniature jungle in the belly of the ship and find the Temple of Cloister.

[clem]

This might just be me but they’re running around and jumping up and down so much that I’ve never noticed that Rimmer’s kids in BTL have Hs on.

[Unrumble]

This might just be me but they’re running around and jumping up and down so much that I’ve never noticed that Rimmer’s kids in BTL have Hs on.

Mind blown, I too have never noticed this! Also, why?! 

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

I’ve no idea how Red Dwarf had enough food to support the entire cat
race for 3 million years and still has anything left over, but that’s
another question.

I’ve always had a theory that the botannical gardens mentioned in a few episodes were one of the areas sealed off from the radiation leak, and that the Cats used it for farming. It gave me the idea for an episode, where the crew venture deep into this miniature jungle in the belly of the ship and find the Temple of Cloister.

I’ve always thought that too!

30,000 years is how long dogs milk lasts

Why’s that, then?

[clem]

This might just be me but they’re running around and jumping up and down so much that I’ve never noticed that Rimmer’s kids in BTL have Hs on.

Mind blown, I too have never noticed this! Also, why?! 

The H doesn’t necessarily denote hologram in the game, but maybe Rimmer fantasised a horrible accident and they all died. 

[Warbodog]

Rimmer says in Holoship that every time he sees the ‘H’ in the mirror it brings self-deprecating insults to mind, so he could be worrying that his kids are unavoidably marked by his failings too.

I’ve noticed him touching the H out of habit when he catches his reflection in the sleeping quarters mirror a couple of times through series 2.

But yeah, I hadn’t noticed it before either.

[Author]

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